[Harp-L] BOSE X 2 =

[IcemanLE@xxxxxxx]

way too much fun.
 
I used the original BOSE PAS (now called L-1, I believe) w/2 bass speakers  
for 2 years, dragging it all around the country and using it in all types of  
crazy situations - mostly beyond what the "manual" says to do. Then I added 2  
more bass speakers w/tiny power amp to tackle the shows like "Harmonica Blow  
Out" and some larger live gigs.
 
Last Friday I got a 2nd BOSE PAS (or L-1) tower only. Used this  completed 
system for an outdoor gig at a beautiful Spring Jazz Evening (Leu  Gardens in 
Orlando -beautiful grounds, 3 bands playing in 3 different areas)  with my 
smooth jazz band. Set up a tower behind and on each side of the band,  about 30 
feet apart, along with the 4 low end speakers and ran everyone through  my Mackie 
8 channel board and BOSS digital delay. Unbelievable sound. The other  smooth 
jazz band had a sound system that came in a u-haul truck and consisted of  
banks of speakers on each side of the stage, a grouping of power  
amps/eq's/effects rack units with winking/blinking red/yellow/green lights on  the side 
powering a bunch of wedgie monitors, and 60 feet in front of the band  was a 10X10 
tent with 2 sound men sitting at a 32 channel board resting on  another stack 
of power amps with another group of winking/blinking lighted  
effects/compression/eq doo-dads to the side. 
 
Our sound was crystal clear (like a CD) and totally well balanced no matter  
where on the hill you set your picnic blanket. The other band's sound was  
in-yo-face loud with a too punchy low end and a muddy sounding midrange.
 
Crowd eventually congregated towards us - not especially because we played  
better, but because the sound was better. At the end of the night, I broke the  
system down in 20 minutes and was out of there while the other band was still 
 backing the truck to the site and the sound guy was busy coiling up miles of 
 cables.
 
On Mother's Day, I put a great local jazz quartet into the Captain and the  
Cowboy (my favorite local venue), setting up 1 Bose on stage behind them. The  
second Bose went into the other side of the restaurant building. I ran 150 
feet  of low impedence cable along the floor, up over the doorways, through the 
open  bar area from my mixer on stage, duct taping like crazy. The effect was  
astounding. You could walk through this very large building and it sounded 
like  a CD playing crystal clear, but it was the band in one area on stage. When 
some  of the Mother's complained that the music was too loud, I could walk 
into that  particular room and turn down that BOSE system's volume a bit. It 
still sounded  great everywhere. The musicians started out skeptical at the idea, 
but were  totally transformed into BOSE lovers by the end of the evening.
 
Now I've got 2 towers to play with. They allow a true stereo signal to be  
used creatively. For instance, the drums had a kick and overhead mic. In  the 
live stage room, you could hear the kit just fine. For the other side  of the 
building, I merely turned up the kick and overhead drum mic on the main  mixer, 
but panned it 3/4 to the right - the side sending the signal to the back  
room. Result was fantastic - in the back room, you could hear the drum kit  
(cymbals, snare, etc) just fine and it didn't overpower the sound in the live  stage 
room. Imagine all the possibilities with panning and these 2 systems. It  
boggles the mind, only limited by one's imagination.
 
The Iceman



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