# BOSE L1 PA system.



## james on bass

Does anyone here have any experience with the BOSE L1 PA systems? I know it's been discussed here before. 

One of my guitarists has been casually talking about these systems for about a year now, but now he's become obsessive about these being the way to go for our band. Says he saw a band using this system with 2 columns and 2 bass bins. I just can't see how that could work for our band of 3 guitars, 3 vocals, bass and mic'd drums for bigger rooms?

http://www.bose.com/controller?event...technology.jsp


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## Jeff Flowerday

james on bass said:


> Does anyone here have any experience with the BOSE L1 PA systems? I know it's been discussed here before.
> 
> One of my guitarists has been casually talking about these systems for about a year now, but now he's become obsessive about these being the way to go for our band. Says he saw a band using this system with 2 columns and 2 bass bins. I just can't see how that could work for our band of 3 guitars, 3 vocals, bass and mic'd drums for bigger rooms?
> 
> http://www.bose.com/controller?event...technology.jsp


IMO,

I suggest you rent and try before buying. I did and was happy I did, it went back a day later. The problem I had with it was that there was no seperation between the 2 acoustic guitars sharing the same pole. So it didn't solve any monitoring issues for us. It might have worked if we each had our own but that's wayyyyy too much $$$$.

It really didn't sound that great anyway. The claim of no feedback was BS as well.


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## suttree

overpriced, underpowered, overengineered. they're not bad.... but they're just not as good as what you can easily buy for the same money from other companies. extremely limited IMO.


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## Milkman

I haven't tried the system, but I've heard a trio using them.

Good sound, but no real projection beyond the first ten feet and no real thump. They had three poles and I could only see two subs.

Not suitable for most bands IMO. More appropriate for an acoustic duo or trio.


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## cohenj

*Bose L1*

I have a buddy in Winterpeg who plays in a classic rock cover band that run the whole band through a single stick and it sounds fantastic, carries the room, etc.

Apparently the trick is getting your EQ worked out before-hand and sticking with it. 

The issue of having two similar instruments occupy the same sonic space is not unique to the Bose gear. If you have two acoustic guitars running through a mono mix, you have to EQ the guitars into different sonic spaces (different frequency bands) in order to hear them as unique instruments. The same is true with vocals.

With a little tweaking apparently the L1 is pretty impressive.

Jeff



james on bass said:


> Does anyone here have any experience with the BOSE L1 PA systems? I know it's been discussed here before.
> 
> One of my guitarists has been casually talking about these systems for about a year now, but now he's become obsessive about these being the way to go for our band. Says he saw a band using this system with 2 columns and 2 bass bins. I just can't see how that could work for our band of 3 guitars, 3 vocals, bass and mic'd drums for bigger rooms?
> 
> http://www.bose.com/controller?event...technology.jsp


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## Milkman

I just did a county fair and one band brought a Bose unit.

The only way to get them heard was to mic the damned thing.

They need a lot of work before I would ever consider using them.

It sounded ok but simply does not have the balls to move any air. Even with two of the "subs" the kick sounded like a kleenix box compared to a conventional system.


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## suttree

Milkman said:


> I just did a county fair and one band brought a Bose unit.
> 
> The only way to get them heard was to mic the damned thing.
> 
> They need a lot of work before I would ever consider using them.
> 
> It sounded ok but simply does not have the balls to move any air. Even with two of the "subs" the kick sounded like a kleenix box compared to a conventional system.



and now let's talk about how much money that band spent to be mic'd? 2 subs two tops and a controller??? let's say a (super) conservative $5000? that's a LOT of cake for a system with no mixer and no power.


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## Milkman

suttree said:


> and now let's talk about how much money that band spent to be mic'd? 2 subs two tops and a controller??? let's say a (super) conservative $5000? that's a LOT of cake for a system with no mixer and no power.


Exactly. This was an outdoor stage. It was a trio with a vocalist. Sounded clean, but as I said, no penetration. Compared to a normal system it's a toy.

I get way more oomph from little powered mixers and a couple of 300 watt full range Yorkville cabs.


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## Milkman

Paul said:


> That was the wrong application for the Bose. The Bose is a great hammer. The problem is that there are a limited number of nails it can cleanly hit.


Well, wrong application or not, a conventional system costing a fraction of what you pay for the Bose can do the job much more effectively, whether it's in a club or on a fairgrounds. And, it STILL will fit in the back of a Yugo.

I think the Bose is more of a pair of tweezers than a hammer.


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## Milkman

Paul said:


> Wasn't that where the motor was in a Yugo? Or was that just the Skoda?


Ok then, Smart car. If you're an acoustic duo or a solo act, playing coffe houses. I can see some merit to the Bose system, although it's still not good bang for the buck.

For a band, the Bose sticks have a long way to go to approach even a simple powered board with two small cabs IMO. 

Most times when something seems too good to be true, it is.


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