Mixer or Powered pa speaker

[ianjm]

Could someone give me a bit of advice on which way to go.
Me and a mate have a jam night in a room at a local club.  My guitar amp is a Crate GTX65.
We use an old laptop for the backers which go into my amp using a stereo phono lead.
If I got a small mixer such as a Behringer xenyx or an ashton mxl6 would I be able to put the laptop and a couple of mics through my amp or would it put too much strain on my speaker.
The other way is a powered pa speaker but the drawback is that it is alot more expensive

[Geir]

A guitar amp is not very good for other than guitar.

I'd try to get a cheap powered pa speaker if you're gonna do this more than once !

[Tony W]

A guitar amp will work, but you won't sound very good through it, I know I've tried. You can pick up a relatively inexpensive Powered 4 channel PA system, but you gotta plan for what you want to do in 2 years, not tomorrow.

I've went down this rabbit hole myself, and I chose to go with an unpowered mixer, unpowered speakers and bought an amp to drive the speakers. The more modular it is, the easier it is to upgrade, that was my theory.

Of course the speakers I picked up could do a large outdoor gig, but the price was right. I picked most of my stuff up via word of mouth. I would never take my system gigging without a half dozen roadies. I went old school and got some over sized gear. Today you can buy stuff half the size with the same power, and better sound quality.

Basically I've given you no advice, other than try to plan ahead, get appropriate sized equipment, and look for a deal.

[64Guitars]

Doesn't the club have its own P.A. system that you could plug the laptop into? Check with them. They probably do. If not, call the local music shops and find out about renting a suitable P.A. system. Then you'll have a better idea of what to look for later if you plan to do this regularly and need to buy your own P.A. system.

Guitar amps are intentionally designed not to have high fidelity sound. Instead, they are designed to sound good with an electric guitar which has a limited frequency range. They usually are noisy and distorted.

[tonyblue]

I use the Boss Micro, behringer Xenyx, Marshall amp, and it works.
The Boss plays any backing track I wish to use. and I play a lead guitar through the Boss
The Xenyx allows me to plug a mic into the mix.
and the lot plugs into the amp.
if the place has a PA system, I output in to it.
it was the cheepest way I could find that would allow me to play solo, and live.
TonyBlue