Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Thanks to everyone who helps me out on this board. It's really great.

I've been pricing speakers and amps all day. But I have yet another 
question. Is it foolish to play directly through a PA system, given 
that it has enough power? Would it be better to buy an amp and then 
run that into a PA? 

The problem is that in Japan, the places to play are all screwed up. 
Most bands play at a "live house" which is a special club for live 
bands. Here's the catch. THE BAND HAS TO PAY TO PLAY. The cheapest I 
have seen is about 500 dollars for a 2 hour show.On top of that there 
is a rental charge for every piece of equipment you use, PA etc, even 
a guitar chord=5 bucks an hour. Some bands spend over a 1000 dollars 
to play on a Saturday night. It's impossible to get that money back. 
So ,what my group does, is find places with enough space to play and 
ask if we can play for free. But these places don't have any PA. So 
we gotta bring it all. 

My problem lately is that the clubs are getting bigger and our sound 
sucks. So I'm looking into a reasonable PA / drum amp that can fit 
the bill. Our band gets money for the gigs, but not a lot.

I'm not sure what advice I'm looking for, but if anyone has any 
thoughts, I love to hear them.

Thanks again.

Jon in Japan