# Any experience with the Bose L1?



## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Let's put the Bose bashing aside, I admit I don't like their consumer crap either!

For a 3 person acoustic band, I'm seriously thinking of going with the new L1 Model II system, 2 bass bins and the T1 mixer.

http://www.bose.com/controller?event=VIEW_STATIC_PAGE_EVENT&url=/musicians/index.jsp

1) I'm trying to solve your standard monitoring issues, stage volume and feedback with acoustics.
2) Like the fact that it's very portable.
3) Our crowds aren't that large so one system might do us.


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## JCJ (Jan 3, 2008)

I've been thinking about this system as well. For my needs, it could be just right.
Played through the L1 at the Hamilton fingerstyle guitar open-mic night--very promising. They used a separate board though (seemed so anyway).

Look forward to hearing from others with more experience with it...
cheers

james


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

boomer said:


> I've been thinking about this system as well. For my needs, it could be just right.
> Played through the L1 at the Hamilton fingerstyle guitar open-mic night--very promising. They used a separate board though (seemed so anyway).
> 
> Look forward to hearing from others with more experience with it...
> ...


Alot of people use a mixer when they need the extra inputs.

Promising? How did it sound and how was it dynamically?


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## JCJ (Jan 3, 2008)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> Alot of people use a mixer when they need the extra inputs.
> 
> Promising? How did it sound and how was it dynamically?



Well, it sounded good, considering the venue was the upstairs of an old crap pub...so it promises to me at least that if a PA can sound good in that environment, then in an acoustic-enhanced environment...could be really nice.
Plenty of headroom.
Great size...didn't watch them tear it down, but not much to the set-up..I like that a lot. Doesn't take precious space away from stage set-up...sometimes small stages leave little room for players after PA tripod stands.
Lots of different guitars/guitar sounds that night, from piezo to mic's and hybrids...all were enhanced by PA (could have been the sound man, but unlikely).
Vocals were clean and crisp. No muddy stuff at all.

Hope that helps.


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## suttree (Aug 17, 2007)

welp, someone's gotta disagree, might as well be me. it's just a heavily overpriced acoustic amp. bose stuff is what it is, it's not very fidelic, and it throws short and wide (which is excellent in a small space, if you don't mind dropping the bundle o' cash on it, it does work very well for any acoustic ensemble with controlled volumes). if you expect to play rock and roll through it, you're in for a big disappointment. also, it does NOT replace monitors, it's a constant struggle to hear yourself clearly if your audio path is obstructed. i think you'd be a lot better off saving a couple grand and buying a fender acoustisonic amp, or spending the same money on 4 good powered speakers and a small mixer. and let's not even begin adding up the dollars if the whole band buys one each. 

it's not that it's bad. it's just WAY overpriced and unsuited to anything over about a 50 person audience. oh, and you can definitely make the thing feedback.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

suttree said:


> welp, someone's gotta disagree, might as well be me. it's just a heavily overpriced acoustic amp. bose stuff is what it is, it's not very fidelic, and it throws short and wide (which is excellent in a small space, if you don't mind dropping the bundle o' cash on it, it does work very well for any acoustic ensemble with controlled volumes). if you expect to play rock and roll through it, you're in for a big disappointment. also, it does NOT replace monitors, it's a constant struggle to hear yourself clearly if your audio path is obstructed. i think you'd be a lot better off saving a couple grand and buying a fender acoustisonic amp, or spending the same money on 4 good powered speakers and a small mixer. and let's not even begin adding up the dollars if the whole band buys one each.
> 
> it's not that it's bad. it's just WAY overpriced and unsuited to anything over about a 50 person audience. oh, and you can definitely make the thing feedback.


Appreciate your feedback.

We do plan on playing rock and roll through them, but with our acoustics. I think you meant an electric band?

I've already have good powered speakers and a mixer. The problem I'm trying to solve is a monitoring issue and controlling the stage noise. We don't want to go to 3 stage monitors, we have enough feedback issues with one. In ear sounds like crap, the acoustics are dead through them.


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## suttree (Aug 17, 2007)

Paul said:


> Jeff.....seriously, send an @mail to the band to which I linked. They do the electric stuff and had/have great success with the Bose PAS. You can learn a lot more from people who have had success than from people who have not.
> 
> The only thing that stops me is the price.


ok, are you saying that because i didn't like it, that negative experience isn't as important to hear as someone else's positive experience? you should go into marketing... 

and it's actually not that i don't like it. the basic idea is sound, and bose stuff is certainly well made. it's just that i don't think it's worth the money, even if you can afford it. the stick and sub closes in on $3,000 per player. if you look at a 4 piece band, that's close to $12,000 for a _monitor_ system that can't provide FOH for a club bigger than say 100 people? man you're now in the price range of a meyer, turbosound or EAW monitor rig. why the holy hell would you buy a bose at that point? frankly, why not buy some nice high end in-ear monitors and use the money you saved to buy the band a nice van, or something.

jeff if you're getting feedback from two decent powered speakers in an acoustic band, then i'd say that something isn't being run correctly? is there an experienced soundguy in the band? are you running a graph on the monitors? are you sure of how to set up a series of gain stages? i have some very PA savvy friends in calgary who would be able to help you ring the system out for you, PM me if you would like to try that before dropping all kinds of cash on a solution to a problem you might not even have.


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## suttree (Aug 17, 2007)

Paul said:


> Sorry....sound bite typing leaves much to be desired. I should have been more clear.
> 
> Most folks that dislike the Bose system only used it once or twice, don't get what they want from it, and dismiss it as a viable option. This is my one sentence summary of internet forum reviews.
> 
> ...


yah i do agree that bose is a polarizing company in the audio field... the thing is they have very effective marketing, and they spend a lot of time in making the running of things very automatic... but that doesn't mean they're the best option for the money, and in my experience they're usually purchased and used by people who buy their marketing hype, and then proceed to use the system in inappropriate venues. 

i designed a system many years ago for a hockey rink, with bleachers on the one side.. the bose products were perfect for the job, as they throw short and wide, and they have a small physical footprint... so, it's not that i've not had success with bose... 

the local jam i've been going to was being run with an L1 system for many weeks. it was simply underpowered for the job, and it wouldn't balance well with the electric amps throughout the range of the bar. they throw very short distances, and guitar amps dont, so the L1 was inappropriate for the gig. i was actually very impressed with how hard it tried to keep up. but bose makes apples, and claims they're the same as oranges, too. and that's just not the reality. if you're in the market for one, be very careful to have a clear idea of your needs, and in my own experience, traditional PA is much more versatile and powerful for the money... of course, i am lucky to have had the training and time to learn to make traditional PA sound very nice.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

suttree said:


> jeff if you're getting feedback from two decent powered speakers in an acoustic band, then i'd say that something isn't being run correctly? is there an experienced soundguy in the band? are you running a graph on the monitors? are you sure of how to set up a series of gain stages? i have some very PA savvy friends in calgary who would be able to help you ring the system out for you, PM me if you would like to try that before dropping all kinds of cash on a solution to a problem you might not even have.


No soundguy is going to solve our problems. We have bridge plate pickups in extremely resonant high end acoustics. Going Piezo isn't an option, the K&Ks sound too good.

We only run one monitor because we are tight on stage. At first I was thinking more than one monitor would just make things worst, but maybe some seperation between the two guitars will actually help keep our levels down.

Either way the bose won't do the job, I took one on a spin last night. Bringing the volumes up causes just as much feedback with our acoustics. Add in that it's hard on the ears with that thing blaring into the back of your head. My ears are killing me today.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Paul said:


> If the possibilty of dropping thousands on a BOSE was in play, then quality in-ears are still an option.....you'd likely need a fx to monitor unit to keep some of the deadness out of the guitars.


We tried man, 3 rehearsals of eqing differently and throwing effects at it. Even tried running through my ultrasound amp first. What we need is sometype of speaker simulator or something.

The in ear was awesome for vocals though.


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## JCJ (Jan 3, 2008)

My post was referring to a night where there was just one person performing at a time. Still sounded good.
I did not hear the system with a trio or band...but I suppose for a single it would be a really efficient system.
The price seems high, though...would it be more viable to rent/lease an elite system as needed?
Just some thoughts...

cheers

james


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

boomer said:


> My post was referring to a night where there was just one person performing at a time. Still sounded good.
> I did not hear the system with a trio or band...but I suppose for a single it would be a really efficient system.
> The price seems high, though...would it be more viable to rent/lease an elite system as needed?
> Just some thoughts...
> ...


I think it probably shines in an environment of a single performer, with critical listeners where you don't have to push it and the environment is very controlled.


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## suttree (Aug 17, 2007)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> I think it probably shines in an environment of a single performer, with critical listeners where you don't have to push it and the environment is very controlled.


this is where it will shine, but then, so will an $800 fender acoustisonic. 

here's an option you maybe haven't considered. run a magnetic soundhole pickup like the EMG or the fishman at the same time as your K&K. route only the magnetic pickup to your monitors for you to hear, and the K&K to the FOH. means you'll need more channels than before, but it's about the only workaround i've ever come up with for that kind of situation...


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## RIFF WRATH (Jan 22, 2007)

this is coming from a total noob, but i just read somethin about PA systems to do with "ringing" the room........this is done by lifting the mike up to the height of the FOH and carefully working with the EQ to eliminating the frequencies of the feedback, 1 offending frequency at a time.........now could this not be also done with the guitars........just an off the wall thought, to stimulate discussion.


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## suttree (Aug 17, 2007)

suttree said:


> i have some very PA savvy friends in calgary who would be able to help you *ring the system out *for you, PM me if you would like to try that before dropping all kinds of cash on a solution to a problem you might not even have.



not that off the wall riff


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