My nephew plays high school ball and behind the backstop, there’s a guy there with his laptop, a microphone, and a couple speakers. He announces batters, plays rally music…stuff like that. I’d like to do that for my little league team. I don’t need a big, elaborate set up, just something that the kids and parents can hear. So, what do I need? I suppose an amplifier, microphone, and speakers.
I wasn’t on the a/v club in high school…:smack:
Where are you located? How much do you want to spend? I would recommend a low-end but decent microphone like this low-end model for under $30. I have a Shure SM-57 which is good for mic’ing instruments, OK for speaking but I don’t like it for singing, it’s about $90-100.
Next is a combo amp, which is amplifier + speakers. You don’t need a lot of horsepower for what you have in mind, you can probably get an amp designed for guitar and stay under $100. Consider buying used.
Then you need cables, the mic might not come with a cable. Plus a cable to connect your music source to the amp. That would be a 1/4" phone plug cable, standard for musical instruments. If you use a laptop or MP3 player with a headphone jack, you can get an adapter that accepts the 1/4" plug and turns it into a stereo mini-plug.
This kind of paints the big picture. You will find out that there are lots and lots of choices, although you probably want to keep the price down so that will narrow it down a bit. If you want to order online, the outfit I linked above has a decent reputation and I have also had very good luck with Sweetwater. If you live near a Guitar Center, they will probably have something that suits you. Also check out independent dealers.
If possible, I’d get a headset with a mic instead of a handheld mic. It’s more convenient and you can also use it for narration on the computer, or for webcam chats.