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Mic adapter +amp?

RFox	Date: May 11, 2006 @ 9:58 AM Alright so we've just got a drummer who is extremely loud...typical i guess we have a mic and a 15W amp but no adapter so we can't use it..i've been told that to plug the mic into a 15W amp would do nothing, and i'm wondering how much power i would need to be audible? what do you guys use?
EvilPicnic	Date: May 11, 2006 @ 1:42 PM No power at all - you just need a mic lead which goes from one type of input to tother. Guitar amps are used to getting small amounts of signal, and the outputs of mics & guitars are similar. You can adjust the volume on the amp.
GeneHilbert	Date: May 11, 2006 @ 2:17 PM 15W amp ....... 15watts..? I would not bother. Your need a transformer low-z to hi-z adaptor - and that is a waste of money. Sing into the room, and make the drummer play softer. Then I recommend, you save your money and buy an 8 to 16 channel powered mixer and some cabinets 150w stereo minimum. If it was me I would shoot for 500watts +...
EvilPicnic	Date: May 11, 2006 @ 2:59 PM It all depends on the mic, of course, but I've never had any trouble running a mic straight into a small amp. And some 15w amps can get surprisingly loud. I use, and regularly see others use, 15w amps as monitors for drummers at band rehearsals all the time. Obviously if you have the ability to get better equipment, do so. But using the equipment you have and an adapting lead you cheaply rig up servicable amplification of the voice until something better comes along.
RFox	Date: May 11, 2006 @ 6:35 PM thanks, we just need something to practice with
Snoogans775	Date: May 12, 2006 @ 1:44 AM I havea loud drummer too, I suggest the idea of asking the guy to play softer, there's more benefits than most people think to being aple to play the gamut of dynamics ona drumset.
pog	Date: May 12, 2006 @ 2:16 AM 15w... we used to have one of those... we called it the 10k compressor As for teh question, I would say that 50w would just about do it.
pog	Date: May 12, 2006 @ 2:19 AM of course, you'd have to tweek the sound with fairly high midranges so it can cut through... a good trick to know is that every adjacent surface to the amp can potentially add 3db in bottom end power... in other words.. put the amp on the floor and it makes the amp twice as loud, in a corner can potentially make it 3 times louder.
RFox	Date: May 12, 2006 @ 5:53 PM thanks guys
Veracohr	Date: May 14, 2006 @ 11:37 AM Guitar and mic outputs are not in fact similar in level, but more importantly they're not similar in impedance, hence the necessecity for the low-z to high-z transformer Gene mentioned, which is called an impedance-matching transformer. Are you wanting to use the guitar amp for vocals? Do you have a guitar playing too? If not, it might be enough--just set the amp up at ear level. If there's a guitar playing, frequency masking will likely bury the vocals from a 15 watt amp. You can get single, powered PA monitors with maybe a couple channels for just a couple hundred bucks.

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