KingstonCrim Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 I need to upgrade my stage monitor. Currently I have a Klipsch floor monitor which I power from a rack mount BGW 400W power amp. Last gig though, it just wasn't doing it for me anymore. I'm giving some real thought to getting one or two Thump 15's to replace the Klipsch and BGW combination. Seems lighter, more portable, and would allow me go to stereo so I can wallow in the Ventilator stereo effect around myself. Anyone else using the Thump 15s on stage these days? Pros? Cons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meisenhower Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 There were a couple of very recent threads that included opinions of the Mackie Thump series. Give the search function a whirl . . . just remember to put the dates as "older than one day" and "newer than . . . . oh maybe six months." A couple of forumites liked them, especially for the price, IIRC. Yamaha C7 Grand, My Hammonds: '57 B3, '54 C2, '42 BC, '40 D, '05 XK3 Pro System, Kawai MP9000, Fender Rhodes Mk I 73, Yamaha CP33, Motif ES6, Nord Electro 2, Minimoog Voyager & Model D, Korg MS10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CEB Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 My predecessor used that speaker. I thought the live video and audio recordings I listened to sounded fine . "It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne "A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!! So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delaware Dave Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 The dead band I played in used them on the stage for monitors and also they are used for the mains. They always sounded a bit on the dark side to me but it could have been how our soundman had them EQ'd.. 57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn Delaware Dave Exit93band Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkphingerz88 Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 the 12' version sounds much tighter and punchier than the 15'.. i tested them extensively side by side..12' thump is MILES better Chief Product Officer at Rhodes®. Project leader and designer of the Rhodes MK8 piano and V8 Plug-in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaime Chimuelo Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Exactamente...... The 12"s are the best Keyboard monitors IMHO. I have used Barbettas for decades and even used the 41 Sub with it. I do miss the Sub, but the Thumps are punchy, deep and round. I bought them the first time I demo'd them at Guitar Center, where I never buy anything. I took my XITE-1, Solaris , and Studio Electronics SE-1X to try them out, and the very first balls to the wall sound from the SE-1X told me what to expect. Then the pure 96k processed audio from Solaris revealed lots of motion and detail. I suggest buying them as they are quite powerful and mobile. I will get a Sub maybe but right now I dont really need it in the rooms Im doing. Magnus C350 and a TV Dinner Tray Stand http://soundcloud.com/you/sets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JpScoey Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 the 12' version sounds much tighter and punchier than the 15'.. i tested them extensively side by side..12' thump is MILES better Interesting... 12 foot & 15 foot speakers - getting into Behringer territory there aren't we? ! I've been considering my options re: amplification recently, & after going to a friends gig (who uses 12" powered Thumps) I did think that they sounded very clear - & loud too! John. some stuff on myspace Nord: StageEX-88, Electro2-73, Hammond: XK-1, Yamaha: XS7 Korg: M3-73 EXpanded, M50-88, X50, Roland: Juno D, Kurzweil: K2000vp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analogholic Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 Exactamente...... The 12"s are the best Keyboard monitors IMHO. I have used Barbettas for decades and even used the 41 Sub with it. I do miss the Sub, but the Thumps are punchy, deep and round. I bought them the first time I demo'd them at Guitar Center, where I never buy anything. I took my XITE-1, Solaris , and Studio Electronics SE-1X to try them out, and the very first balls to the wall sound from the SE-1X told me what to expect. Then the pure 96k processed audio from Solaris revealed lots of motion and detail. I suggest buying them as they are quite powerful and mobile. I will get a Sub maybe but right now I dont really need it in the rooms Im doing. Now this great to hear! Actually I had the same idea, to take my SE-1X to the shop to see if those Thumps can deliver. Do you find them noisy? I read somewhere that the digital amps in them behave a a little weird and give them a little to much noise on low volumes? Also great to know that the 12´s are better. All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingstonCrim Posted December 11, 2011 Author Share Posted December 11, 2011 Thanks for all the input so far everyone. I actually have read that somewhere else too (maybe here) about the 12" punchier than the 15". I actually have searched this forum at least half a dozen times going back through the last year of posts reading people's comments. I hope no one minds another thread on the topic, but I was just seeking some fresh info. Lots of the reviews all over tend more towards the DJ use, not quite as many reviews (but there are a few!) as keyboard monitors. I did get to test one out at the gig last night. Our guitar player has one sitting around that he might sell, so I used it last night. The jury is still out a little bit... due to some other surprise entertainment going on last night before our two sets, we didn't get the luxury of an unhurried set-up and a chance to sound check anything. So it took me about half the first set to get myself dialed in to where I felt comfortable. I had changed my setup and mixing configuration last night to accommodate the new Ventilator in stereo with the other 'boards in mono. I had along a borrowed Peavey KB-100 amp that I used for one channel of the sound and the Mackie for the other channel. So yeah, not totally balanced to begin with but once I got comfortable with the sound I felt good about it. I didn't seem to be getting the amount of output I was expecting from the Mackie, but again I need to work it when I can spend some time setting things right. About the punchiness, there is that video on youTube where the guy shows how to improve it by putting weatherstripping under the front cutout for the 15. Says it helps the speaker a lot. Hard to tell from the video how it actually sounds, but it seems a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaime Chimuelo Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 I don't notice any noise at low volume, and the SE-1X is the best possible speaker tester for low end, even better than a PBass from the '70's. You'll ;ike the Thumps. THink of them as a cheaper set of SRM350's with cleaner highs and mids. Solaris hardware synth is processed at 96k and it really is noticable in the Filters and the quality of the Prophet VS and Waldorf Wavetable Oscillators. THe Thumps just seem to really please me in every frequency range, and at any volume... Magnus C350 and a TV Dinner Tray Stand http://soundcloud.com/you/sets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stillplaying Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 @KingstonCrim You've done the searches on here. So now you know that the order is (cheapest first): Behringer thingies (B212D and others ) Mackie Thumps (the 12 and 15As) RCF (variety - think the RCF 310As get an honourable mention) EV ZXA1 (19lbs - nice, good for piano) QSC K8 ( and K10 and ...) and lastly the TT01 or something or other that's really really expensive where I am and I'd like one and I haven't the cash and I've forgotten the model number as it's too painful for me. Good luck. Buy something. Keep gigging. I'm the piano player "off of" Borrowed Books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanL Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 I used a 15" Thump for a year or so, and then bought a 2nd and now use them for our PA, and I got a K10 for my keys. I like them. No noise or anything like that. Light and easy to transport. No issues with reliability so far and they've seen many gigs. I'd be interested to hear the 12's. Live: Korg Kronos 2 88, Nord Electro 5d Nord Lead A1 Toys: Roland FA08, Novation Ultranova, Moog LP, Roland SP-404SX, Roland JX10,Emu MK6 www.bksband.com www.echoesrocks.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecorbett Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 I used a 15" Thump for a year or so, and then bought a 2nd and now use them for our PA, and I got a K10 for my keys. I like them. No noise or anything like that. Light and easy to transport. No issues with reliability so far and they've seen many gigs. I'd be interested to hear the 12's. That is interesting. The K10s are at a different price point than the Thumps. Do you feel like it was a significant upgrade to your monitoring sound by switching from the Thump to the K10? Is the price difference between QSC range and Mackie justified in your opinion and experience? Thanks We are all slave's to our brain chemistry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingstonCrim Posted December 12, 2011 Author Share Posted December 12, 2011 New twist to my story now. The Mackie I used the other night (that belongs to the guitar player,) he had TOLD me it was a Thump and I took that at face value. Luckily he let me bring it home to spend some time with it. So now that I have time to actually LOOK at it, it's not a Thump but the SRM450-V2. This is supposedly a much better speaker than the Thump. I'll work with it in my home here until our next gig in January and really try it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 After reading this thread I decided to check out the 12" Thump by reading online reviews. On Amazon half of the reviews mention problems. One might think that only people with problems get online to do the reviews but other monitors don't have this ratio of complaints. There was only 1 review on Americanmusical and it was positive. On Guitarcenter.com they only had the 15" Though reviews were generally positive there were many complaints about crackling at the low end and how quick these are to clip. Maybe this is why they are half the price of QSC K's and JBL Eon's. This post edited for speling. My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stillplaying Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Maybe this is why they are half the price of QSC K's and JBL Eon's. Maybe. A largish music shop here (that used to be Sound Control) were a bit down on the latest batch of Mackies they'd had in. A couple of the staff mentioned build and reliability issues. They're now pushing Italian made RCFs rather than Chinese assembled Mackies. That's still an incredible price for the Thumps though. I'm the piano player "off of" Borrowed Books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meisenhower Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 New twist to my story now. The Mackie I used the other night (that belongs to the guitar player,) he had TOLD me it was a Thump and I took that at face value. Luckily he let me bring it home to spend some time with it. So now that I have time to actually LOOK at it, it's not a Thump but the SRM450-V2. This is supposedly a much better speaker than the Thump. I'll work with it in my home here until our next gig in January and really try it out. Much better and double the price. Yamaha C7 Grand, My Hammonds: '57 B3, '54 C2, '42 BC, '40 D, '05 XK3 Pro System, Kawai MP9000, Fender Rhodes Mk I 73, Yamaha CP33, Motif ES6, Nord Electro 2, Minimoog Voyager & Model D, Korg MS10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanL Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 That is interesting. The K10s are at a different price point than the Thumps. Do you feel like it was a significant upgrade to your monitoring sound by switching from the Thump to the K10? Is the price difference between QSC range and Mackie justified in your opinion and experience? Thanks It was a pretty significant upgrade. Smaller and more powerful, it fit better into my stage footprint where I set the monitor up on my rack so it's at ear level. It has about the same amount of bottom end when the boost mode is used on the K10 (which I don't use). I think the price difference was justified. The Thumps are a decent speaker and have served us well as PA tops (we have some SRM1801 subs too)on medium size gigs, and do a good job on small gigs where we only use vocal mics. I wouldn't put the whole band thru the Thumps without subs. They have decent low end, but they do clip pretty easy. It's not a clip where you hear distortion, but the protect circuit will come on pretty quickly if you are pumping a lot of low end thru them. My initial plan was to buy a 2nd Thump and run in stereo, but around the same time I had sold my Leslie and had extra cash on hand, so I decided to get the K10 to be like everyone else here I got the 2nd Thump and moved them to the PA where we were using some older JBL 2 way 15" cabs that weighed 60lbs and were passive. We hooked up our Driverack and let it do it's EQ thing and the Thumps sounded better than the JBL's when we A/B'd them, they were half the weight, powered, easier to deal with overall. Live: Korg Kronos 2 88, Nord Electro 5d Nord Lead A1 Toys: Roland FA08, Novation Ultranova, Moog LP, Roland SP-404SX, Roland JX10,Emu MK6 www.bksband.com www.echoesrocks.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darc68 Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 I have 2 Mackie Thump 12s and I think they`re great. I`ve had them for about 6 months now with no problems. Alao they are very light weight. Motif ES7 Korg Triton Pro76 Roland Fantom X8 CP -33 Custom B-3 Chop w/ 145 Leslie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsquatch Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 When using powered speakers as monitors are you folks using a small mixer as well so that you also can get a front of house feed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanL Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 I use a mixer, because i have too many signals to send to the speaker. If I'm doing a gig with 1 board, then I'll plug right into the speaker. Live: Korg Kronos 2 88, Nord Electro 5d Nord Lead A1 Toys: Roland FA08, Novation Ultranova, Moog LP, Roland SP-404SX, Roland JX10,Emu MK6 www.bksband.com www.echoesrocks.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanL Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 I use a mixer, because i have too many signals to send to the speaker. If I'm doing a gig with 1 board, then I'll plug right into the speaker. Live: Korg Kronos 2 88, Nord Electro 5d Nord Lead A1 Toys: Roland FA08, Novation Ultranova, Moog LP, Roland SP-404SX, Roland JX10,Emu MK6 www.bksband.com www.echoesrocks.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsquatch Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 I use a mixer, because i have too many signals to send to the speaker. If I'm doing a gig with 1 board, then I'll plug right into the speaker. So when you are using 1 board do you have a monitor as well as your powered speaker so that you can hear the rest of the band, or can you hear the group well enough by keeping your own volume in check? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stillplaying Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 So when you are using 1 board do you have a monitor as well as your powered speaker so that you can hear the rest of the band, or can you hear the group well enough by keeping your own volume in check? If I've understood what you want to do - no, not a monitor and a powered speaker. The powered speaker is your monitor - use a DI to feed a signal to the PA (on an XLR) and one back to your powered speaker. Use the volume knob on your powered speaker and try to leave the one on your keyboard alone. EDIT: should have asked you first if you're all through the PA or is it just the vocals? Also - how loud is the onstage volume and is there a side fill monitor or ...? I'm the piano player "off of" Borrowed Books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingstonCrim Posted December 18, 2011 Author Share Posted December 18, 2011 I decided to go ahead and buy this SRM450v2 from our guitar player. He shot me a pretty good price on it, and it's in good shape and I've had time to check it out here in my home studio. Now I can take my time and shop for a stereo mate to it on eBay or somewhere. It really is a nice sounding speaker! Can't wait to get the second one now so I can get in the middle of the stereo Ventilator field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe P Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Reviving this thread. I'm considering buying a single 15" Thump. Is a single 15" loud enough for a loud bar band? My typical band is not loud and I go through the PA, but I would want to be prepared to accept gigs where the Thump would be my main amplification. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkphingerz88 Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Dont buy the 15"..get the 12". Lighter, punchier and a tighter sound. The 15 was baggy sounding and the enclosure rattled badly.. Chief Product Officer at Rhodes®. Project leader and designer of the Rhodes MK8 piano and V8 Plug-in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoodyBluesKeys Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Look in the KC Classified and check out the EV SXA350's in Hammonddave's listing - they are 12" and I think you will like the sound a LOT better than the Thumps. I have a pair of EV's cheaper SXA100+ that sound very good with keys. Howard Grand|Hamm SK1-73|Kurz PC2|PC2X|PC3|PC3X|PC361; QSC K10's HP DAW|Epi Les Paul & LP 5-str bass|iPad mini2 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe P Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Dont buy the 15"..get the 12". Lighter, punchier and a tighter sound. The 15 was baggy sounding and the enclosure rattled badly.. Funk, in your opinion is one 12" loud enough to be primary amplification in a bar band? Geometrically, it looks about the same as our mains, which are 12". MBK, I appreciate your input but I have to watch the bottom line closely. I'm trying to make saved gig money go as far as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanL Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 i posted some comments above, but i'll summarize and say it worked fine for me. Live: Korg Kronos 2 88, Nord Electro 5d Nord Lead A1 Toys: Roland FA08, Novation Ultranova, Moog LP, Roland SP-404SX, Roland JX10,Emu MK6 www.bksband.com www.echoesrocks.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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