10 Common Challenges With PA Systems (and How Thump GO Solves Them)

10 Common Challenges With PA Systems (and How Thump GO Solves Them)

If you’ve played enough gigs or run sound at enough events, you know countless things can go wrong with a PA system. That’s true for any PA system, but especially portable PA systems and portable loudspeakers, because you can end up using them in any space—including the wide open kind. There are just so many variables. To help you be prepared, we’ve put together a list of common challenges you’ll face when using a PA, from power issues to mic feedback.
 
Our way of helping you meet these challenges head-on is Mackie Thump GO, our battery-powered portable loudspeaker that’s also one of our smartest speakers ever. A lot of “smart” pro audio gear is really code for “complicated” pro audio gear. Not Thump GO. Every smart feature in this speaker is designed to make gigging and events easier and simpler, while improving your sound. Each challenge is a breeze with Thump GO. 
 
Let’s dive in.
 

Challenge #1: Remote Location Without Power

Mackie introduced the portable loudspeaker to the masses (shout out to SRM) because it makes so many things possible. Band practice, shows in temporary spaces, backyard parties, etc.—they’re all possible thanks to these marvels of pro audio. But just being “portable” isn’t enough if you want to take all these advantages to somewhere truly remote, where there’s no power outlet. Let’s say you want to do a DJ set in the desert. Why? That’s your business. But how is our business.

Solution: Rechargeable Battery

Thump GO has the ultimate solution: the GB-100 rechargeable battery. Thump GO works great when plugged in, but works equally well for up to 12 hours on a single charge of the included battery. The battery is removable and rechargeable, with spares available, so you can extend the battery life even further by simply swapping out a spare battery when the first one runs out. You can play that set in the desert from dawn until dusk, then until dawn again. And thanks to the built-in handle, carrying the speaker from the vehicle is easy, too. Challenge accepted.
 


Challenge #2: Microphone Feedback

You arrive at the gig. You’re directed to the area where you will be performing. It’s, well, maybe a little more cramped than you expected. It may just be a corner of an area, or an oddly shaped nook. You manage to set up the PA system in the space you have. But, when you turn on your mic, that dreaded sound begins to build toward a terrible, ear-splitting shriek. It’s our worst enemy: microphone feedback. Permanent PA systems are often installed in a way that helps prevent mic feedback, but portable PA systems don’t always give you that luxury. You need to work with the space, and the space doesn’t always allow those perfect angles.
 

Solution: Feedback Eliminator

Enter a remarkable little button on the back of Thump GO, labeled Feedback Eliminator. It does what it says. We can explain how it works (it controls the frequencies that typically build up and cause feedback) but really, you don’t need an explanation. If you start having issues with mic feedback, even severe feedback, literally just push the button and it goes away. We’d say it’s “like” magic but that’s selling our engineers short. It is magic!
 


Challenge #3: The Gig Is Outside

Back to that DJ set in the desert. Power is not a problem, because you’ve got a battery-powered loudspeaker. But these outdoor shows have another issue: sound works differently outside. You turn on your speaker and start playing some tracks. It sounds like the music is fading away into the air, losing all the depth and heft you count on to get the listeners moving. When you use a speaker indoors, the building resonates. The floor, walls and ceiling all vibrate and reflect sound. Think of how your voice travels farther when you cup your hand around your mouth. Same idea.
 

Solution: Outdoor Mode

Next to the Feedback Eliminator button, Thump GO has another useful button labeled Outdoor mode. Can you guess what it does? That’s right. Thump GO automatically adjusts the EQ of the speaker to compensate for the lack of resonance you encounter outdoors. Like the other features of Thump GO, the engineering can be complex—it involves measuring the frequency changes outside and having the speaker compensate with built-in EQ processing. But the result is simple: push button, sound better outside. Easy.
 


Challenge #4: Speech Isn’t Clear

Mackie loves music, but we know PA speakers are just as essential for other purposes, too. Corporate events, campouts, weddings, you name it. Any time sound needs to be amplified, you need a speaker to do the amplifying. So, let’s say you’re doing a campout with some friends to celebrate a big milestone. There’s a plan for some speeches. But when the first person goes up to speak, many loudspeakers will make their voice sound boxy and muffled, almost distorted. The speech can become unintelligible as a result. Turning up the volume hardly helps, because volume isn’t the problem. The problem is clarity.
 

Solution: Speech Mode

On the back of Thump GO, you’ll find several voicing modes, including the clearly labeled Speech mode. There’s a few things happening when you put the speaker in this mode, all designed to make speech clearer without needing to crank the speaker. Under the hood, Thump GO is essentially applying what pro audio folks call a vocal chain: a combination of amplification, compression and EQ that helps make the human voice pop. But unlike an old-school vocal chain, you don’t need to dial in all those settings. Thump GO just does it. 
 


Challenge #5: Music Sounds Thin

Let’s say you’re still on that campout, and the speeches are done. Now it’s time to play some music. Here you run into the same issue—the speaker doesn’t sound right for what you’re trying to do. If it sounds good for speech, it may not quite sound right for full-on music, which requires a lot more complexity to reproduce all the different parts. That’s true whether you’re playing pre-recorded music via Bluetooth® or plugging in an instrument and playing live. Without the right speaker, you don’t get the right sound. What do you do?
 

Solution: Music Mode

If you have Thump GO, just flip the loudspeaker to a different voicing mode, called Music mode. You’re probably getting tired of having obvious things explained to you, but we can’t help ourselves: Music mode is for music. Behind the scenes, the speaker is accentuating a different set of frequencies than “Speech” mode. A much wider set of frequencies, to cover everything from drums to synths to acoustic instruments. The frequencies getting the most love are the lowest and highest ones, which are where you find a lot of the complex content that matters when playing your favorite tracks. This setting is super versatile, and it is probably how most people will want to keep their Thump GO most of the time.
 


Challenge #6: Too Much Bass When Speaker Is Horizontal

There are a lot of reasons to place a portable loudspeaker on its side. Maybe you’re looking to use it as a wedge monitor. Maybe it’s the best way to place the speaker so the sound hits your audience directly. There could even be a space issue. But when you flip it on the side, you could swear it sounds different. Maybe a little overly bassy and muddy. You flip it back and forth a couple times. You try lying on the ground with your head near the speaker. Now your ear is ringing, and onlookers are wondering if you’ve lost your mind. Is this issue all in your head? Does the speaker sound different on its side? Yes, it does.
 

Solution: Monitor Mode

Remember how we said the floor can resonate with the speaker? That goes double (or more than double) when you put a speaker on its side. Think about it: more of the speaker is oriented along the ground or floor, meaning it will cause the ground to vibrate more. These vibrations are very low in frequency, causing a significant bass boost. This boost causes major problems, especially when you’re a musician using Thump GO as a stage monitor. You need to hear everything clearly, not a huge rush of bass that buries everything else. Monitor mode (labeled “Mon” on Thump GO) automatically compensates for the changes that happen when you turn the speaker on its side. Just tap the button and flip the speaker.


Challenge #7: Not Enough Bass

You’re an electronic musician who has started playing live shows. You love getting away from the studio and engaging with the audience. There’s all kinds of complex low end in your music, with intricately crafted bass lines and drops. But when you build up to one of your favorite bass drops, then finally pull the trigger, the audience can hardly tell it happened. There’s none of that powerful oomph that comes through so clearly over your headphones. It can be terribly deflating. Are you doing something wrong? Don’t worry—it’s probably not your music.
 

Solution: Sub mode + ThumpSub GO Subwoofer

Thump GO has remarkable bass response for such a compact size, but there are basic limits to how much low end is possible with a portable loudspeaker. For complex bass that the audience can feel in their chests and under their feet, you simply need a subwoofer. It’s just physics. There’s no substitute. Luckily, Thump GO pairs perfectly with ThumpSub GO battery-powered subwoofer, which has a slim, portable design and up to 12 hours battery life (when using both battery slots at once). You can even use the SPM400 speaker pole to mount Thump GO above the subwoofer for a minimal footprint. There’s also a Sub voicing mode on Thump GO, which removes the low end from the speaker, letting the subwoofer handle what it does best. As a side effect, Sub mode also allows Thump GO to put all the power into the higher frequencies, making the speaker louder. Pretty nifty, huh?


Challenge #8: Sounds Different in Audience

You’re going to play a set with your portable PA speaker. You just finished the sound check, but you can’t shake the feeling that it might sound different out in the audience. There are several reasons that you may be right. For one, most speakers don’t allow you to make adjustments from where the audience will be standing. You either have to trust someone else to stand out there and give you a thumbs up, or else run back and forth, trying to remember which setting sounded better. Not ideal. There’s also a whole other issue: spaces sound very different with a crowd of people. If you checked the sound in an empty room, there’s no guarantee things will sound the same once the show starts. Is there anything to be done?
 

Solution: Wireless Control App

Connect your smartphone to Thump GO via Bluetooth® and download the Thump Connect 2 app to control the speaker wirelessly from the middle of the dance floor. By “control” we mean just about everything—including all the features we’ve mentioned in this article. You can switch between all the different modes, adjust the mix of the input channels and control the overall volume. The app even gives you an extra sound-shaping feature: a two-band EQ for dialing in more precise adjustments during sound check, or even during a DJ set once the room has filled in with people and the acoustics have changed.
 


Challenge #9: Need to Make an Announcement

You’re DJing an event and the vibe is just pristine. The mix is perfect, people are dancing, the tracks are all hits. It’s just one of those nights where everything is clicking. But the venue manager is approaching you with “that” look—they need something from you. They explain that a car is double parked out front, and you need to announce this information to everyone. Do you bring the music to a screeching halt, stop all the dancing and ruin that mood you carefully built up? Do you refuse, damaging your relationship with the venue manager? It’s a difficult choice, unless you have a trick up your sleeve.
 

Solution: Music Ducking

Believe it or not, Thump GO has technology for this exact situation. When you have a microphone plugged into channel 1 of Thump GO, you can turn on the Music Ducking mode on the back of the speaker. This setting will automatically dim (not mute) the music playing through the other channel whenever you speak into the mic. The effect is seamless—it sounds like someone is turning down the music a tasteful amount while you speak, then turning it back up the moment you’re finished. And that “someone” is Thump GO. The vibe isn’t ruined, nobody gets their car towed, and the venue manager recommends you for future events. Perfect.
 


Challenge #10: Don’t Have DJ Gear

You’re hosting a big party in your backyard or a local event space. You want to have music, but you don’t exactly have the budget for a DJ, and you don’t have any DJ gear yourself. You can use a music streaming app on your smartphone, but those cheap consumer Bluetooth® speakers are not loud enough to get the job done for a party this size. So, you find yourself in a pickle: how do you get the music from your phone out into the party, with enough volume and clarity to keep the party rocking? Can it really be that hard?
 

Solution: Stream Music With Bluetooth®️

Thanks to Bluetooth® streaming, Thump GO combines the convenience of a simple Bluetooth® speaker with the power of a real PA speaker from a professional audio company. It’s as easy to connect and push “play” as you would expect, and there’s a bonus: you can link two Thump GO speakers wirelessly to stream in stereo or dual mono, covering twice the space. Everyone at the party will hear the music clearly, and you can DJ all day and night while mingling and entertaining guests. You can also make adjustments with the app, check that you’re set to Outdoor and Music modes, tweak the EQ and check the battery. We thought of everything with Thump GO, so you don’t have to.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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