Small Church Sound

One of my past times is play music with a couple of my friends in a band; we are called findingbethel. (We are available any time). We currently all live in a small town named Bethel in Missouri. Bethel also means House of God so the name has a double meaning for us. Dan is our lead singer, band director, and keyboard player. Jared is the drummer and computer wizard when we need one. And I am the bass player and soundman.

Often people ask us what we are using for gear. Everything from cables, to amps, to software, to instruments and strings. This page is designed to be a starting place for gear that I would recommend as a standard for use in any audio situation. I will also put some equipment on this page for our church set up that we use in a more permanent installation. Of course, this in not a comprehensive list but it has some good highlights.

Dan’s Gear:

- He primarily plays a Yamaha CP-70b, its a cool old rock piano from the ’70s that is fun to play and hard to find. To find one you will probably need to go here.

- A Shure Beta 87A wired mic is the mic of choice right now, but a wireless version is in the works, stay tuned. This is a great vocal mic. It is very clear and cutting, yet still smooth in the high end.

Darin’s bass rig:

- The bass is a 1997 5-string Fender Squire P-bass with wide spacing. It has passive pickups, but still sounds decent. You can get one on ebay. Honestly, just buy something new.

- For about the last year or so I have been a huge fan of Ernie Ball Regular Slinky 5-String Bass Strings. They make my passive bass sound very crisp, yet they still register the low end with some growl. Overall a pretty aggressive full sound.

- I use a Shure UT series instrument wireless. It is very solid and the bass is passed through fairly transparent. (Ok, a little thin). It was the forerunner to the
Shure PGX14 series wireless which I recommend for instruments, particularly for the price.

- The control center of my bass rig is the Radial Tonebone Bassbone. It’s an active direct box and control center with eq and solo/insert boost. Oh yeah, it sounds really good too, definitely a must have as a bass DI.

- For effects and dynamics the Boss ME-50B is my do it all swiss army knife. I use the compressor, eq, noise gate, alone with occasional effects like hollow bass, reverb, delay, and even bass wah. It has good sound and a handful of useful effects.

Jared’s drum kingdom (The highlights):

- The main kit is a Mapex 6-Piece Set although Jared only uses 4 pieces. This set has been around awhile and has traveled like a road warrior. With a little maintenance and work it always sounds good.

- We use Evans EC2 Clear 12/13/16 Standard Drum Heads for the batter side and the resonant side has the factory mapex heads still on them. The Evans heads sound smooth and rich with some forceful attack. Really pretty decent sound for any genre. The kick has an Aquarian 2 heads for both sides.

- Jared’s secret to tuning the drums is the Drumdial Drum Tuner. Once you get comfortable with using this thing the drums start to sound magically delicious, and tuning goes fast.

- Vic Firth Peter Erskine Signature Drumsticks Wood is what Jared predominantly uses on the set. They are light, yet reasonably durable (unless your church worships to hard rock or metal music). They are also thinner so they fit well in your hand. Yeah, they lean to a jazz style stick, but still good for some harder stuff.

I know this list is not as full as you might like. I will continue to update and add new gear posts with additional gear that we are using. I will also put up some gear that we are using at church as well from time to time. As always, please post a comment or question. Or you can feel free to email me at darin@smallchurchsound.com.