wedding season w a new FOH look

[abzurd]

We've done a few this year, but yesterday marked the beginning of the 6 months where nearly everything we do is a wedding. I got to try out my latest FOH configuration. I've done the JBL PRX718XLF and FBT Vertus Cla604a before, but never with the lights attached. It's a bit of a deployment nightmare getting the Vertus tops secure to the subs and I'm still noodling with that, but the result is an extremely clean look with some decent horse power that should be able to handle any size wedding we do and puts the top of the lights at about 8 1/2 feet.

 

 

 

[RoadRanger]

Looks great !

[loco_p_man]

Very elegant....

[agedhorse]

Nice packaging

[StratGuy22]

Looking really good!!

[OneEng]

What is keeping the speakers from tipping over?

 

Looks like a very compact system!

[abzurd]

What is keeping the speakers from tipping over?

 

Looks like a very compact system!

 

I reversed the phase on the tops

 

 

But seriously folks, I have a normal speaker pole in sub and have O ring clamps like the kind you use for lighting, that has a bolt through it that goes through to a plate on the speakers. 2 clamps on the bottom speaker. The top speaker attaches securely to the bottom, but does wobble a bit so I have a heavy duty zip tie going from a plate on the top speaker to the pole and it's very solid.

 

I'm not entirely happy with it because the nut can't be put very tight on the bolt. I used tape to make sure it didn't vibrate loose. I'm going to reverse the bolt and see if I can get the bolt head on the other side of the plate so I have better access to the nut to snug it. If there's room for everything I'll get a lock nut.

 

[Mike M]

Not sound related..... The skirt on the keyboard stand cleans up the presentation....however......to me it gives your band's look a "DJ'ish feel. Do you really want that? Probably not... If everyone in the band is "vibing" to the groove of a song the skirt will cover up some of the "live-ness" of your group.

Just my opinion at first glance.

Good luck with the new PA. It looks really "corporate clean"!

 

[abzurd]

Not sound related..... The skirt on the keyboard stand cleans up the presentation....however......to me it gives your band's look a "DJ'ish feel. Do you really want that? Probably not... If everyone in the band is "vibing" to the groove of a song the skirt will cover up some of the "live-ness" of your group.

Just my opinion at first glance.

Good luck with the new PA. It looks really "corporate clean"!

 

Thanks, but yes, that's the look we want in the sense it needs to be covered or looks terrible. He has all kinds of cabling going on back there. We also usually hide the hazer and light controller behind him. He's 6' 8" so there's plenty of him showing behind the curtain. In fact he's darn near as tall as the rest of us standing.

[onelife]

I like the visibility it provides. The talent is not hidden behind a big pile of speakers.

 

Do you feel there is any compromise in the audio quality?

[trevcda]

I'm guessing wedding coordinators are going to love the format of those speakers. Probably more so if "you could just make them white for the evening. Thank you soooo much!"

[abzurd]

I like the visibility it provides. The talent is not hidden behind a big pile of speakers.

 

Do you feel there is any compromise in the audio quality?

 

No compromise in sound. Actually the highs are best I've heard in any PA speaker ever. The mids are a bit "honky" but can be tamed easily enough and the low mids (250 - 400 Hz) needs a little bump, which can be done by engaging the crossover on the subs, but running the tops with the crossover off. If the party really gets going I can engage the crossover on the tops and get a little more SPL out of them. And actually the subs that come with them do a great job and are on par with anything 2X their size in terms of output and extension (around 50 Hz). I just really like the thud of the JBL subs, which get down in the 30's. It sounded huge in that room during sound check. It was like a good sounding arena show. I bypassed all efx as the room was very live, but not so much as to get super mushy. I just needed to keep it dry.

 

The real challenge with the tops has always been deployment. Just a terrible design all the way around there. The vertical dispersion is extremely narrow at 20 degrees so you really need to be thoughtful on height. There are some accessories that help, but they are stupidly expensive.

[abzurd]

I'm guessing wedding coordinators are going to love the format of those speakers. Probably more so if "you could just make them white for the evening. Thank you soooo much!"

 

LOL. I know what you mean. We were asked once to cover the kick drum logo because their colors didn't match our drum head. At this gig we heard "no fog or smoke machines" and that a DJ set off their fire suppression system before. I obliged but did let them know we actually use a hazer and not much haze at that and explained the difference. I was cool with getting rid of it though. Many venues don't allow it and I don't even bother setting it up 1/2 the time.

 

Then I had another facility person ask if anyone had talked to me about their volume policy. I deflected by letting them know that we've played the venue before and that we also weren't the typical DJ with poor gear and a worse ear and that issue went away.

[OneEng]

 

LOL. I know what you mean. We were asked once to cover the kick drum logo because their colors didn't match our drum head. At this gig we heard "no fog or smoke machines" and that a DJ set off their fire suppression system before. I obliged but did let them know we actually use a hazer and not much haze at that and explained the difference. I was cool with getting rid of it though. Many venues don't allow it and I don't even bother setting it up 1/2 the time.

 

Then I had another facility person ask if anyone had talked to me about their volume policy. I deflected by letting them know that we've played the venue before and that we also weren't the typical DJ with poor gear and a worse ear and that issue went away.

 

Yep. It has been my experience that the "loud" that people don't like is the one that ice picks into your ear. A well mixed FOH with that "HUGE" sound you were talking about from those XLF's generally gets more requests for turning it up rather than turning it down

 

Good to hear you are still lovin on those XLF's. They are a very nice sounding sub!

[dcastar]

Looks very clean. How are those FBT's? How far do they throw / coverage pattern?

[abzurd]

Looks very clean. How are those FBT's? How far do they throw / coverage pattern?

 

Not super easy to deploy, but throw well with a clean sound. I don't use them for bars because people stand in front of them and block the sound, but for upscale stuff they work well and look good doing it.

[Dookietwo]

 

Not super easy to deploy, but throw well with a clean sound. I don't use them for bars because people stand in front of them and block the sound, but for upscale stuff they work well and look good doing it.

 

I was wondering if the tops could be tripod mounted? Help with the people standing in front of them?

 

Dookietwo

[abzurd]

 

I was wondering if the tops could be tripod mounted? Help with the people standing in front of them?

 

Dookietwo

 

Yes they can. The issue is, because they have such a narrow vertical of 20 degrees, you can't put them as high as you would a normal speaker. In small venues, if you put them as high as traditional speakers, the highs blow over the dance floor. Also, being less than 6" wide and 3 ft long, a body can block most of the speaker because a good bit of it has to be rather low.

[toober]

I'm with Mike M on the keyboard skirt. I'd rather see the keyboard stand and KNOW from the crowd that it is a keyboard and not a table. Overall it looks like a non-busy setup. I like it. I've wondered why more bands don't attach lights to the top of speakers now that lightweight led's are out.

[abzurd]

I'm with Mike M on the keyboard skirt. I'd rather see the keyboard stand and KNOW from the crowd that it is a keyboard and not a table. Overall it looks like a non-busy setup. I like it. I've wondered why more bands don't attach lights to the top of speakers now that lightweight led's are out.

 

I'd rather he stood as well, but our keyboard player just turned 62. We typically do 3, 1 hour sets and I'd rather he make it through the show :-) Also, as mentioned, he's closer to 7 ft tall than 6 ft so him sitting actually looks better on some ways to standing. Bass player is 5' 8". I'm 5' 7". Drummer i maby 5' 3" and guitar player 5' 6". So we're a bunch of guards and a center.

[nchangin]

I have a question, have you thought about or tried using it like some people use the Bose's with the array's behind the band? In this example is it really necessary to have monitors since yall in such a tight footprint? Nice to have Edrums so there should be quite a bit of forgiveness on feedback issues?

 

Love the lights very very cool!

[abzurd]

I have a question, have you thought about or tried using it like some people use the Bose's with the array's behind the band? In this example is it really necessary to have monitors since yall in such a tight footprint? Nice to have Edrums so there should be quite a bit of forgiveness on feedback issues?

 

Love the lights very very cool!

 

Nah. These are NOT like the BOSE L1's. These are meant to be used as a FOH speakers and not designed to be behind you or have things blocking them. The SPL is too much and the driver configuration is not like the BOSE, which are all about reflecting the sound all over the place.

[WynnD]

Cleaning up keyboard cords. I have a few attached velcro type tie wraps and I also have a black wiring tube attached to one of the legs with double sided tape. It snaps open and hides the cables from the bottom of the keyboard to the bottom of the legs. I have 8 or 9 wires running down to the floor and at rehearsals, I just let them hang. But I hate spaghetti during shows and bother to run the wires down the tube. My pedals are connected to each other and one of my sustain pedals is also attached. (Need to add my additional sustain pedal to that.) So while I don't have all the cables bound together, the tube is nearly invisible to audiences and it cleans up the look so much. (And it didn't cost much.) Works with my 11 pin leslie cable, all the power, signal and control cables through that one tube.

[toober]

 

I'd rather he stood as well, but our keyboard player just turned 62. We typically do 3, 1 hour sets and I'd rather he make it through the show :-) Also, as mentioned, he's closer to 7 ft tall than 6 ft so him sitting actually looks better on some ways to standing. Bass player is 5' 8". I'm 5' 7". Drummer i maby 5' 3" and guitar player 5' 6". So we're a bunch of guards and a center.

 

Who said anything about your keyboard guy standing? I've seen many keyboard players sit, and their X stands look good too, uncovered.

[abzurd]

 

Who said anything about your keyboard guy standing? I've seen many keyboard players sit, and their X stands look good too, uncovered.

 

Your opinion and you're welcome to it. It does not look good in our case. Stand mounted monitor, vocoder, light controller, attached mic boom, cupholder, 6 outlet power strip, that's completely full, sustain pedal. It's cluster of wires and "stuff" and we want it hidden. Trust me, it's not worth the time to wrangle all that together to look good. A simple scrim takes care of it and looks clean.