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Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 7:00 pm
by guilleonline
So I am now a hppy owner, even though it hasn't come in the mail yet, of a compact system from Bose. I was looking for something lighter for my solo acoustic gigs so I read a millionr eviews and was inclined towards the new EV active speakers or the QSC K series but when I tried them in the store, the Bosewas just years apart. People complaint about the volume but it's plenty loud, and I usually entertain less than 100 people, more like 40 or 50 regularly.

I'll try mic'ing my AD30 through it just for the hell of it once I get it. But the vocals were amazing. It actually makes you more concious of how you are singing. It's so clear that If you make a mistake it will be noticeable but when you sing good....man... Fantastic is all I can say.

Bought it online because of the payment plan thatsome stores offer now. No interest plus it gets shipped right away.

Thought soeone might want to know about this unit. Many different opinions out there about it.

Re: Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 7:23 pm
by baytamusic
Wow, those look nuts! Congrats.

I recently got a Electro-Voice ZLX-12P and it sounds decent. Just one has just enough volume to hear vocals with a loud rock band. I'm using it as a floor monitor though with no other PA support for practice. I think once I get a second it's going to work pretty good for band practice and could probably do ok for a small show.

Re: Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 7:43 pm
by Jondog
Those look interesting. The Line 6 stuff looks alright too, regardless of their amps. http://line6.com/stagesource-l3m/seehear

Re: Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 8:26 pm
by guilleonline
Jondog wrote:Those look interesting. The Line 6 stuff looks alright too, regardless of their amps. http://line6.com/stagesource-l3m/seehear
They had a whole setup of the newest line6 equipment in the store and even though it look amazing the speaker also look like a tank (and also like it had the same weight) and seem overkill for what. I wanted. They are 57lbs so def. not friendly for my needs. I was getting annoyed with my 46lbs. Amp.

The Bose fit the bill perfect at 29lbs. Plus the weigh gets distributed since you hold the woofer in your hand and the posts and speaker have their gig bag for soulder carrying. The free hand gets the guitar :mrgreen:

Re: Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:32 pm
by bclaire
Every acoustic guy around here has the L-1. The other guy I play with acoustic has one - what we end up doing is using the L-1 for front of house with my Turbosound monitors and Crown power amp for our wedges. Frankly, it sounds better and louder coming towards us than the Bose does out front but I'm OK with that. :mrgreen:

The Bose is really good for quick set-up and ease of use for an acoustic guy. It takes some getting used to having it behind you and as loud as it needs to be to fill a room (yes, and with no feedback). But there's still something about it that I don't like sound-wise...

My Turbosounds sound incredible though - when I do solo acoustic gigs, I face the wedges toward the audience and use them. I've been leaving the poles and mounted speakers at home!

One thing about the Bose's though - if you gig near the ocean, they won't hold up. My brother plays guitar for a living down in Fort Myers Beach and he says the sand gets into them and ruins them in nothing flat.

Re: Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 10:50 pm
by guilleonline
bclaire wrote:Every acoustic guy around here has the L-1. The other guy I play with acoustic has one - what we end up doing is using the L-1 for front of house with my Turbosound monitors and Crown power amp for our wedges. Frankly, it sounds better and louder coming towards us than the Bose does out front but I'm OK with that. :mrgreen:

The Bose is really good for quick set-up and ease of use for an acoustic guy. It takes some getting used to having it behind you and as loud as it needs to be to fill a room (yes, and with no feedback). But there's still something about it that I don't like sound-wise...

My Turbosounds sound incredible though - when I do solo acoustic gigs, I face the wedges toward the audience and use them. I've been leaving the poles and mounted speakers at home!

One thing about the Bose's though - if you gig near the ocean, they won't hold up. My brother plays guitar for a living down in Fort Myers Beach and he says the sand gets into them and ruins them in nothing flat.
Good to know about the sand!! I was thinking I could also usi it for some of my beach wedding gigs which usually happen right on the sand. I usually do them acoustic only, andjust position myself so that the wind can carry my voice and guitar further but was giving a thought about bringing the L1 with a powerpack, but I guess I can cross that idea out.

Re: Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 10:56 pm
by guilleonline
guilleonline wrote:
bclaire wrote:Every acoustic guy around here has the L-1. The other guy I play with acoustic has one - what we end up doing is using the L-1 for front of house with my Turbosound monitors and Crown power amp for our wedges. Frankly, it sounds better and louder coming towards us than the Bose does out front but I'm OK with that. :mrgreen:

The Bose is really good for quick set-up and ease of use for an acoustic guy. It takes some getting used to having it behind you and as loud as it needs to be to fill a room (yes, and with no feedback). But there's still something about it that I don't like sound-wise...

My Turbosounds sound incredible though - when I do solo acoustic gigs, I face the wedges toward the audience and use them. I've been leaving the poles and mounted speakers at home!

One thing about the Bose's though - if you gig near the ocean, they won't hold up. My brother plays guitar for a living down in Fort Myers Beach and he says the sand gets into them and ruins them in nothing flat.
Good to know about the sand!! I was thinking I could also usi it for some of my beach wedding gigs which usually happen right on the sand. I usually do them acoustic only, andjust position myself so that the wind can carry my voice and guitar further but was giving a thought about bringing the L1 with a powerpack, but I guess I can cross that idea out.

BTW Bclaire let me ask you, when u use it for front of the house for how many people do u guys play for? Or better yet for how many people you think this unit can hold up for? I'm not worry about feedback so much. When. I was testing it st the store I got crazy feedback at first until another employee told me he uses one and showed me where to stand and voila! Plenty loud great monitoring and no feedback

Re: Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 10:36 am
by bclaire
We've used it at small-ish venues with 100 - 175 people capacity with no problems. In this situation it's usually us running through my mixer and then sending an out to the Bose and the other out to my Crowns/ Turbosounds.

The proper way to use these is to match the type of microphone with the Bose DP switches as mentioned in the manual. That helps to eliminate any feedback - there are minimum inputs on the Bose itself but if that is sufficient for you, then it works great.

I saw a wedding band once where everyone in the band had their own L-1. It was pretty cool although they were early versions of the units and I found them to be harsh sounding. It worked well though, for their wedding band purposes!

Re: Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 10:37 am
by bclaire
I forgot to mention that one of the other reasons so many guys around here use them is that we're only about 6 miles away from Bose's factory in Framingham MA. I think there are a number of employee discounts in use!

Re: Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 12:03 pm
by Jabberwocky
Played an acoustic gig through one of those recently and was quite impressed with the size, weight and sound. It was quite a large venue so unfortunately did not cut it on grunt for me and my singer, and I thought it a bit light on the bottom end, but other than that, I thought it an excellent unit for smaller gigs.
Enjoy your new toy !!

Re: Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 12:38 pm
by conkerandco
I have the compact too! I worked in a Bose retail store here in the UK for a year and got a pretty good deal on it to say the least! I've used it mainly for a P.a and bass amp at band practices so far and as I'm 18, a few house parties too :mrgreen: Enjoy it, it's a fantastic bit of kit!

Re: Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 1:30 pm
by sidvicious
i'm curious. how would it work for a three piece blues rock band doing a small club? using small combo amps, would you mic them or use stage volume?

Re: Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 5:21 pm
by bclaire
sidvicious wrote:i'm curious. how would it work for a three piece blues rock band doing a small club? using small combo amps, would you mic them or use stage volume?
Stage volume and use it for vocals. I'm assuming you'd have the matching subwoofer, too, as the stick alone is not going to cut it....

Re: Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 11:18 pm
by guilleonline
Bclaire you might be talking about one of the bigger brothers in the line. In the COMPACT model the Sub woofer is also the base of the unit where you connect the inputs. It would be ipossible to use it without it. On the regular L1 or series II model the sub woofer comes seperate to the side.

But still, do you think he would really need a sub jst to run vocals through it?

Re: Bose L1 compact for gigs

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 11:23 pm
by guilleonline
sidvicious wrote:i'm curious. how would it work for a three piece blues rock band doing a small club? using small combo amps, would you mic them or use stage volume?
I agree that probably voices only would be the best bet, but if you wanted to mic and just have a hair of the amps coming through the Bose you could do it with a mixer and then connecting the output of the mixer to a line of the Bose.