Renting

Do alot of bands rent equipment every time they play a gig, because i am saving up for pa equipment and its alot of money to get the big stuff, i wasthinking about just getting enough stuff for practice and then rent equipment every time i need a gig, is that a good idea???

How serious are you about getting your band off the ground ?

If the answer is very, I'd sort your selves out with a second hand ~1k PA Rig for vocals and backing vocals.

You will need:

1x1k power amp (or 2x500W, one for the left channel one for the right channel)
A big EQ (optional)
An effects unit (very old and cheep, this is to add a little echo)
A 4 or 6 channel desk
3 or 4 Shure SM57s
Cheep mic cable (about 30ft x number of mics)
2 monitor wedges (this is optional but also a good idea)
L and R speaker stacks (capable of about 750-1000 W each)
Lots of speaker cable
Some sort of road case for all your amps and electronics

Next you need a wiling friend to do your sound and a place where you can make a lot of noise with out getting arrested. Then you need to set it all up and practice like crazy.

If you are going to do 2 nights a week practice and one or two nights a week gigging, it is going to be more expensive hiring a PA than buying a second hand one. You can also open up a side line in hiring it out to other bands.

As your band progresses you will play more and more venues with there own house PA, at which point you only need to use your one for practice and hiring out to other bands. It is still a very good investment.

thanks, i have some other questions also..
1. I read this thing that said never plug an output of the speaker on your amp directly to the sound board....i thought thats what you are supposed to do. it says you could ruin a channel on the board. I need someone to explain that.
2. I have a good rough idea on how the pa system is set up but could somone explain to me how to set it up and how to run it good? i would appreciate it alot! t

Hey Dude, you don't want to ever plug the speaker cable from your amp into a mixing board. You will break something and you may hurt your self. This is because there is quite a lot of "amplified" juice running down you speaker cable and very little "amplified" juice running from say your guitar to the amp , or from the guitar to the stomp box to a desk. Or from the headphones out of your amp to a desk.

As for setting up a PA well, you will have to be a bit more specific about what kit you want to piece together and we will see what we can do!

ok well isnt there a plugin on an amp that can go straight to sound board or what do i need to put it in before it enters soundboard? i am kinda confused.

As far as the pa goes i am going to buy 2 1000 watt peavey speakers and i am going to buy a sound board and a power amp that has probably 750 pers side or 1000. so how exactly do i set that up? o and later i am gonna buy some yamaha monitors and a power amp for that. I just need to know how to set that up so i dont blow anything. thanks

Well, some amps have a line-out, or you could use the "effects send" output on your amp (if it has such a jack). If not, you'll have to mike it.