Dear Virtual Friends and Neighbors,

I'm an old, weary and gray bluegrass/folky fingerstylist who "retired" from playing out about 15 years ago. Recently, however, I got the opportunity to start doing some shows again, either solo or with a backing flatpicker. (We're pretty hot, if I do say so myself.)

Anyway, all of a sudden we've gotten busy enough where the question of buying our own sound reinforcement has raised its ugly head. Mikes, monitors, enclosures, board, amp -- the works.

My technical know-how is way out of date, and there are scads of new products out there. Any of you youngsters using stuff you really like? Right now I'm leaning toward a small Peavey or Yamaha powered console, since we seldom play rooms with more than 500 folks. Frankly the brave new biamped/stereo/digital/preset world intimidates the heck out of me. But it all sure sounds good for them as know how to push the right buttons. Our system, by the way, would need to support two or three voices, a couple of guitars, two autoharps, mandolin, etc.

Any suggestion appreciated. Keep in mind that I'm an old, decrepit, lazy folksinger who hates carrying hardshell cases -- let alone heavy speaker enclosures. We need something lightweight, easy to run from the stage and VERY clean.

Best wishes to all, TONY