Some of these posts may be a little more relevant to Elvis impersonators or other performers. Hey, one of them might run across this page someday, you never know.
Since I had never entertained before, when I started the act in 2003 I had to buy everything that goes along with putting on a “small” show using backing tracks. Large venues with a band usually require a big, professional-level sound system, but on day one I had no band and was starting small. I’d like to share my impressions of the two “personal-sized” public address (PA) systems that I have used over the years, the Fender Passport PD-250 and the Bose L1. This post will focus on the Fender unit.
Of course, I knew nothing about sound systems…so off to Google I went, reading forums, blogs, whatever I could find. There are a ton of large, powerful sound systems out there. Unfortunately, most of them weigh a ton and require a small trailer or minivan to transport them. While they serve a purpose I’m sure, I’m not into minivans. One of my numerous personality flaws is that I am usually swayed by whatever is “cool-looking”…minivans are not cool-looking. Except possibly the Chysler Town & Country minivan a few years back, maybe a subject for a different post, though.
What was I talking about? Ok, sound systems. I settled on a unit from Fender called the Fender Passport PD-250. Why? Probably because it was somewhat cool-looking. Let’s take a look.
Fender Passport
The Passport comes with almost everything you need to get started, amp, speakers, all the cables and 2 decent Fender microphones. The only additional purchase I made was a pair of tripod speaker stands so the speakers wouldn’t be sitting on the floor.
The PD-250 delivers 250 watts of power. That doesn’t sound like much compared to some of the larger systems, but for a typical room that might seat anywhere from 50-150 people, it does a really good job. There were plenty of inputs for microphones and/or instruments and you could add some reverb to the vocals if you wanted. I’m not a big fan of reverb, a little goes a long way.
It literally take about 5-7 minutes to set up and be ready to start your show, if you don’t have to spend time changing into an Elvis jumpsuit. Since wearing the fancy jumpsuit is my main reason for perfoming in the first place (Level 10 cool-looking), I always have to allow additional time to change into the jumpsuit. The PD-250 speakers are Bose-designed (the earlier P-250 uses a different speaker system) and deliver clean overall sound.
One of the best features on the Fender is the fact that it all “fits” together when not in use so you can transport and store it like a large suitcase with a handle molded into the top.
Like this: 
All of the cables, cords and microphones fit into a handy storage compartment in the back of the main unit. I figured that would be convenient since I could tote almost ”the whole show” into a venue in a single trip. Even with the added speaker tripods, the whole thing fits into the trunk of my car, which meant I didn’t have to buy a minivan, thankfully.
What I didn’t figure was this meant that I’d have lift and tote “the whole show” with one hand. So, the strength is also the weakness. You end up with a fairly bulky, heavy (approx 55 lb.) suitcase. I eventually bought a small, fold-up dolly for transporting the sytem to and from the car.
The PD-250 served me well for over 3 years. It never had an issue and I never had to have it serviced. It used it in venues as small as a den and as large as a what would pass for a “ballroom” in a smaller hotel (150 people).My sister still uses it for rehearsals and such. From what I can gather, Fender now offers a newer model called the PD-250 Plus, with a built-in CD player (for those that still use them).
I eventually replaced it with the next system I’ll discuss, the Bose L1 system (also called the Bose PAS) because, among other things, it was even cooler-looking.
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