PA & Equipment Hire

At Playing Aloud we offer a range of services for customers who wish to hire PA or backline equipment for band performance, dj use or audio presentation. If required we can deliver, setup and run the PA system for you (essential for the larger systems). Prices are generally per night or 24 hours as agreed. Transport from £5 (locally). Note, all power is expressed in watts rms (wrms) per channel (pch). "Music power" is about double the rms figure. PA hire prices include all necessary leads. Connection diagrams supplied.

Please read the small print at the bottom of this page. Note ALL TAKE AWAY HIRE JOBS REQUIRE A CASH DEPOSIT.

If customers are thinking of buying their first PA system for their band, please talk to us first for advice before spending any money. Particularly with speakers, don't go too cheap and buy from a reputable manufacturer.

Tiny PA (200 Watts, Vocals Only) – Basic price £20 + £50 cash deposit

Optional Extras

This setup is suitable for vocal only PA for an acoustic act with a maximum audience of 30 or providing music at a party (from cd player, mp3 player, computer etc).

It will fit in a small hatchback and you should easily be able to operate it with 5 minutes instruction (f.o.c.)

Small PA (300 Watts, Vocals Only) – Basic price £30 + £80 cash deposit

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Optional Extras

This setup is suitable for vocal only PA at small pub gigs with a maximum audience of 50, providing music at a party (from cd player, mp3 player, computer etc) or audio-visual presentations.

It will fit in a small hatchback and you should easily be able to operate it with 5 minutes instruction (f.o.c.).

 

Medium PA (700/1000 Watts, Vocals & Instruments) – Basic price £40 + £150 cash deposit

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Optional Extras - all available for separate hire also

This system is suitable for average pub gigs and larger or higher quality audio presentations.

The basic system will fit in a small hatchback with the back seats down but if you have the monitors or subs then you will need a large estate or a van.

The system is useable by a band themselves or separate sound engineer, which is recommended if many options are ordered. We can run the system for you, see prices above.

 

Large PA (2200 Watts, Vocals, Instruments & Drums) – From £120

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  • Mixer: quality Allen & Heath Mix Wizard 16:2 with 16 mic input channels, 5 aux outputs + effects
  • Top Speakers: 2 quality Peavey UL15, 15", 500wrms with 500wrms pch power amp
  • Sub Speakers: 2 18" DCB (Precision Devices) speakers with 600wrms pch amp
  • Vocal mics: 4 Shure SM58 + quality boom stands
  • Instrument mics: 3 (JTS) + stands
  • Drum mikes: Bass, snare, overhead left and right (JTS)
  • 2 DI boxes (additional adaptors are available for line level signals such as keys and laptops)
  • Monitor system (1,2,3 or 4 mixes to 2,3 or 4 speakers as required)
  • Snake/multicore cable: 30m long, 16 inputs + 4 outputs (connects mixer to stage)
  • Front of house graphic equaliser 31 band, 2 channel
  • Compressors for vocal channels & main mix
  • 40m mains extension lead
  • Engineers time £10 per hour. Note this is the working time from soundcheck to last band off. The setup & takedown time is included in the hire fee. There is a charge of £5 per additional band.
  • Delivery – 50p per mile, minimum charge £10

This setup is suitable for medium sized local venues such as large pubs or small halls with up to say 150 people. Note minimum setup time is about one and a half hours, two hours is more comfortable.

This system is not available for 'dry' hire, we set up and run the system for you, see prices above. If you can prove that you really know what you are doing and have a large cash deposit then dry hire may be negotiated.

 

Largest PA (3500 Watts, Vocals, Instruments & Drums) – From £150

Largest PA

This setup is the same as the Large PA but features a second set of front of house speakers plus 660 wrms pch amplifier. The extra speakers shift more air and make it considerably louder.

We would typically set up channels as follows:Kick, Snare, Overhead Left, Overhead Right, Vox 1, Vox 2, Vox 3, Vox 4, Guitar Left, Bass, Guitar Right. This leaves 5 channels for keys etc.

The guitar amps would be mic'd up but the bass is normally DI'd as most modern bass amp have this facility. We can DI electro acoustic guitars.

This is suitable for larger pubs and small to medium halls with up to say 300 people and can give a clear vocal sound even over extreme metal and punk bands.

Again this system is not available for 'dry' hire, we set up and run the system for you, see prices above. If you can prove that you really know what you are doing and have a large cash deposit then dry hire may be negotiated.

Operation and delivery pricing same as for Large system above. Setup time is about 2 hours.

Example price for a job in Lincoln with 3 bands, souncheck at 6, last band off at 11pm: £150 hire plus £10 delivery plus £50 engineering time plus £10 for bands equals £220. It might sound like a lot of money but there will be two people working from 3pm to 2am in total including the van loading and unloading time.

Optional Extras

  • More vocal microphones + stands & leads if you need more than four vocals – extra £5 each
 

Backline & Other Equipment Hire

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Guitar Amplifiers

  • Crate combo – £5 plus £30 deposit
  • Line 6 Spider II combo – £7 plus £40 deposit
  • Various amp heads – £5 plus £40 deposit
  • Various 4x12 cabs – £5 plus £10 deposit

Bass Amplifiers

  • 100 watt Hiwatt bass combo – £7 plus £30 deposit
  • 200/300 watt Laney bass head – £5 plus £40 deposit
  • Various 4x10 and 1x15 speakers from small to large – £5 each plus £10 deposit

Drum Kits & Accessories

  • Diamond 4 piece (i.e. not including snare), hi-hat stand, snare stand, 3 cymbal stands - £8 plus £30 deposit
  • Tama Imperial Star jazz size kit 4 piece (i.e. not including snare), hi-hat stand, snare stand, 3 cymbal stands - £12 plus £50 deposit
  • Ludwig or Premier 4 piece (i.e. not including snare), hi-hat stand, snare stand, 3 cymbal stands - £14 plus £60 deposit
  • High hat cymbals - £2 plus £5 deposit
  • Ride cymbal - £2 plus £5 deposit
  • Crash cymbals - Paiste Alpha series 16" Thin Crash & 16" Power Crash, Paiste 2002 series 16" Power Crash, all £4 each plus £5 deposit
  • Snare drum - £3 Diamond, £4 Tama/Ludwig/Sonor plus £10 deposit
  • 7 piece drum mic kit (inc stands and leads) – £20 plus £30 deposit
 

PA hire. The small print

At least 24 hrs notice is advisable although we can sometimes supply 'on the day' if necesssary. Local orders can usually be delivered for a small fee, see above for prices. Please either phone 01522 687700 or email playing.aloud@ntlworld.com to discuss your requirements and check availability. Note a CASH deposit is required on all items to guard against damage or late return. Cash means CASH as in actual banknotes. NO DEPOSIT - NO HIRE! Cheques will only be accepted if they have cleared before you take equiment away (please allow 10 working days). Also proof of identity will be required if we don't already know you. Damages will be charged at the cost of repair (parts and labor) or replacement. We will make every effort to repair damaged equipment but sometimes this will be impractical or uneconomic.