Anybody using Bose L-1 PA system?

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

I am taking a very serious look at these things. I have heard them and they sounded great on vocals, which is all I will use them for. They sure solve a lot of common problems with traditional PA systems, if you can believe all the hype that Bose says about them. I did have Bose 802's at one time, and they were great, so I pretty much trust Bose.

Keith Cordell · From: San Diego

I used to sell those and briefly had one myself. Very cool and highly portable, they solve a lot of problems by providing portability, room dynamics and simplicity of setup. Not a lot of cables and takes up little room. I love them for smaller rooms.

Webb Kline · From: Orangeville, PA

I've had one for several years now. I use it when I play with another guy who also has one or if I'm playing alone. They sound great, although I miss having stereo for my keyboards.

Here is what you need to be concerned about, however:

1. The sound carries better and farther than anything I've ever played through except for a large FOH system, so when you are playing with other musicians, if they don't also have the Bose system, you may have a hard time hearing your own playing without being too loud in the mix out in the audience. This is because conventional amps necessarily have a louder stage volume in order to get the sound out there. I know it sounds crazy, but there is very little difference in the volume of an L1 at the back of a 150 ft. long room as there is right in front of it, so the other amps will be much louder on stage than the Bose will.

2. I tried using it several times in a large club and for a couple of large outdoor concerts where we had a large main system. The sound man had to pan me all the way to the opposite side of the stage and my side was still louder even though the other instruments were much louder than I was on stage. I couldn't hear myself and I wound up monitoring myself through one of the monitor wedges.

I summary, while they are a great system when everybody has one, they just don't work out that well in company with mixed amp and speaker configurations. I've never had any other rig that gave me that kind of problem.

Keith Cordell · From: San Diego

Good point, Webb. These systems are definitely meant to be stand-alone or used with another identical system. When doing an instore demo of the unit, an entire acoustic band played through two of the systems with the bass units; it was clearer throughout the room than our highest end PA and was true stereo. It was actually quite unsettling at first, since I have a problem with tinnitus I tried to get to a quiet spot in the room; there wasn't one. ANYWHERE.

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

This is great information. On the Bose website, I downloaded photo's of bands using the system. Some bands had two systems, each spaced out some distance from the drummer and at the very back of the stage. No monitors or FOH speakers. According to Bose, this is supposed to let the band hear what the audience is hearing and there is no need for monitors, since the speakers put out sound at 180 degrees. Our country band does not play at loud volume and seldom for more than 200 people, usually about 75 to 100. We do not mic anything. Would we have trouble hearing our own amps or the singer, coming through the L-1's?
Bose is very generous with a 45 day return policy, no questions asked. They suggest (of course!) that we try them and if they don't do what we need, simply return them. Decisions, decisions.........

John Roche · From: England

If you want a small but powerful PA then i would recomend this, http://www.citronic.co.uk/product/product.php?s=170.180
you will not belive how good is, we took ours along to a gig where they were other artist playing , all of them had the normal setups, big speakers and so on and when we started playing they were amazed with the sound we were getting, when we finished each of the acts came over to us and asked what we were using. As far as know six of the acts have changed over to this system.
They are ideal for ladies who do solo spots as they are light weight and take up very little room, in fact you can get one of the speakers into a carrier bag.
Sometimes people laught when they see the size of the speakers on their stands, then we laught when we see their faces when we start playing

Webb Kline · From: Orangeville, PA

George, if you can get them on a 45 trial, I think I would go for it. It sounds like they might work well for you. We have run our 2 Bose that way and we were happy with the results. You'll have to add a mixer and everyone will need Pods or some other kind of amp modeling system, but you will be surprised how well they work in that context.

The only thing that will happen is that you will have people coming and telling you to turn down and you won't believe them because it will seem like you aren't loud enough. Takes some getting used to, but once you adjust, it's nice no longer having to compete in the volume wars, and you won't have to deal with monitors.

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

I don't follow why I would need a seperate mixer and I don't even know what a Pod is. Only one person sings at a time in the band, using the same mic. There is nothing to mix. We would not be running anything except the one vocal mic. There are two mic inputs with each unit, so can't we just plug in the mic and be ready to rock? I have a Lexicon reverb I can add, if need be. Doesn't the L-1 have some EQ controls built in also? Also, for male vocals, would it sound too thin without the extra bass bin? And, would just one system be adequate? We have steel and fiddle on one side of the stage and bass and lead on the other side. In the middle is drums and the vocalist is centered in front of the drums. I guess the obvious is t just get one of the darn things and try it out. That would answer all the questions.
I really appreciate the feedback. It really has helped a lot.

Scott Appleton · From: Ashland, Oregon

We used a single one with the bass extention unit with
a mixer to get the fiddle, acoustic guitar and 3 vocals
into the aux input .. worked great .. we also used
some additional mains and monitors for some odd shaped
rooms.. some times the crowd is just too loud for us to hear the unit clearly so we just augmented where needed.the rest of the band .. steel .. electric gtr
Bass went with stage amps. we miked the kick sometimes.
It always worked great .. in the small venues we often
just used the Bose and the mixer ..
Scott . Stuart Rosh and the Geniuses.

Webb Kline · From: Orangeville, PA

I thought you were looking to run everything through the Bose. That's why I mentioned the using a mixer and the Pod, which is an amp simulator. I use one for my steel and Strat and I don't have a regular dedicated stage amp.

It is when you gt into mixing other amps with the Bose that you run into dynamics conflicts. The bass amp is a whole other story. Since bass frequencies are omni-directional, you can get away with using a bass amp with the Bose.

As for the sub that is offer with the Bose, I can tell you that it makes a world of difference for all the acoustic instruments--just a lot fuller sounding. We have one on each L1. I haven't met anyone yet who has been satisfied without the sub.

As for the EQ on the Bose, the cool thing is that there are settings for just about every kind of mic you would ever use. It models the EQ for that mike and even for certain guitars. There is a setting on there for my Taylor 410 w/Fishman pickup and it makes it sound just like I'm sitting in the living room playing. Those EQ settings will eliminate about 98% of any feedback problems. Feedback is seldom an issue.

But if you're going to use other amps on stage, I would want to gig with the Bose for a show or two before you decide to keep it. I'm not saying that they won't work for you, but from my experience, I know that mixing them with other amps can be problematic. I'm thinking that the fiddle player and the vocalists might have trouble hearing over the other stage amps. If that proves not to be an issue and if you can maintain a balanced mix back through the room, then I think you'll be quite happy with them.

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