First let me offer some heart felt words of thanks to the team at Bose who worked on developing this system. I have long wished for such an innovation and have fantasised that I might one day design a speaker that sounds natural, Thanks guys for doing it on my behalf.
I have often wondered why I seem to be the only audience member who can only enjoy the music with hands pressed flat on ears, I have had to develop a thick skin and not mind the disaproving stares. Perhaps I have unusually sensitive hearing, the fact is I really appreciate subtlety in music and conventional amplification butchers that quality.

I have purchased a three L1 + four B1 system for the band I play with. We did a private party at our favourite local pub venue to try it out, having invited members of the audience at a conventional gig the night before to come hear our new PA. Two experienced sound engineers who work at a local dance hall helped me set up and run the PAS through the evening. They were well impressed with the quality of sound and the equal-loudness-at-back-of-room effect. Members of the band agreed that it was very refreshing to be able to hear each other on stage especially when singing harmonies. Also impressive was the full sound I got with electric bass (Ibanez BTB700), even with only one B1 module it seemed to fill the room very well. I will use two B1's next gig though as I noticed a loss of low end depth whenever my notes coincided with kick drum beats. I also play with a jazz trio and look forward to hearing sax, tablas and accoustic guitar PAS style very soon.

I intend to read these pages regularly.

CJE.

Welcome, Colin!

Thank you so much for purchasing our product and for this heartfelt report! That jazz trio - sax, tablas & acoustic guitar - How cool! Can you tell us a bit about the other project? Instrumentation, etc.? Are you working toward having each artist control their own sound?

Thanks again and welcome aboard!

Hi Colin,


Who in your band was using 2 x B1s if it wasn't you with the Bass?


If you'd like to share your stage layouts with us, take a look at The Sketcher. It's a quick, online tool for describing how you set up on stage.

Colin,
Great to hear from you! The thought of hearing a band with PAS in a Scottish Pub makes me want to go buy a plane ticket! (I had the good fortune of traveling through a portion of your beautiful Highlands on my Honeymoon 14 years ago). Thank you for posting your experiences with the PAS, please keep us all updated. (Send us some photos).

Jeff
http://www.theunmentionables.com

My wife is travelling to Scotland in August for a holiday. Any chance she could catch you playing?

Also, I can totally relate to your problems with conventional systems. In fact, those complains, shared by so many, were the motivation for starting the live music research now some 12 years ago.

We very much look forward to your contributions to this community.

Welcome,

Ken

quote:

Originally posted by Chuck-at-Bose:
Welcome, Colin!

Thank you so much for purchasing our product and for this heartfelt report! That jazz trio - sax, tablas & acoustic guitar - How cool! Can you tell us a bit about the other project? Instrumentation, etc.? Are you working toward having each artist control their own sound?

Thanks again and welcome aboard!

The jazz trio (SALT by name) has for some time been a closet activity but we are beginning to get out there to find our audience. We played at a private party, set up our gear in the corner of the kitchen (very noisy with conversation) using a trace accoustic combo amp and a small powered-speaker stereo, the sound was dissapointing, and the experience likewise. A lengthy de-briefing ensued after the gig to restore our collective self esteem.

A single stand PAS fresh out of its wrapping gave us a very satisfactory sound when we played to an audience of parents and children at a pilot project children's musical workshop. Although the youngsters were quite wild at times we played confidently knowing that at least the adults seemed attentive at the back of the hall. Questioning later revealed we were heard loud and clear over the front row chatter.

PADDY RASTA is a five piece Cletic Reggae band featuring tenor banjo, Drum kit, electric bass guitar, Button box accordeon, whistle, and occasional 5 part harmonies. Our music is very danceable, solid reggae drum and bass underpinning bold lyrics with traditional cletic melodies.

This band is very much out there playing regularly to local audiences creating a stir. I am keen that we should rehearse regularly with the full PAS set-up, we have to learn the controls so we are confident with it and not distracted during gigs. All the band members loved the clarity of sound and ease of use when we debued the system. Our sound engineer guys helped us with set up and sound check. They understood that DIY control is the ultimate aim but I wanted the band to have a good experience auditioning this new system so to help us focus on the music the guys with the technical expertise attended to the remote controls as needed during the concert.

Mac and I took the system to the same venue last night providing sound for three folk sstyle acts at a private party. We learned a lot from the ecperience and all the performers were amazed at the great sound coming from the three un-imposing looking flag poles behind them. I handed out several business cards and hope for further intereset from other bands.

This hiring out of the PAS system raises some interesting issues about who should be in control of the sound. Clearly a band who use PAS regularly will gain confidence and know how to get the best sound and the ballance they want. However if I am providing a sound system for some other band I feel I want to provide a good service, so do I train the band members to do the DIY thing during an extended sound check or do I put my musical and technical know how at their service by ballancing the sound remotely? I'll keep you posted on that one.

Colin

quote:

Originally posted by ST:
Hi Colin,


Who in your band was using 2 x B1s if it wasn't you with the Bass?


If you'd like to share your stage layouts with us, take a look at The Sketcher. It's a quick, online tool for describing how you set up on stage.

Thanks ST for giving me the link to this useful sketching application. Wnen I have more time to spend on it I'll do a sketch.

The stand with double B1 units was for the drumm, Reggae sound needs a strong deep sound from the kick drum. Even so he was a little dissapointed with the lack of whack and bassy thud from the kick drum. Having read with interest the post in the DRUMS discussion on using a mic near the pedal side of the drum I plan to try this next time or if that fails cut a hole in the out-facing skin.

Colin

quote:

Originally posted by Ken-at-Bose:
My wife is travelling to Scotland in August for a holiday. Any chance she could catch you playing?


Also, I can totally relate to your problems with conventional systems. In fact, those complains, shared by so many, were the motivation for starting the live music research now some 12 years ago.

We very much look forward to your contributions to this community.

Welcome,

Ken

--------------------------------
reply:
Ken, your wife would be very welcome at any of our gigs. have a look at http://www.paddyrasta.com for upcoming gig dates.

when I first discovered the web pages detailing the PAS, especially the comments made by musicians, my heart was lifted somewhat to find kindred spirits. For me the whole issue of stage amplification is quite an emotive subject.

oolin

quote:

Originally posted by holliwil:
Colin,
Great to hear from you! The thought of hearing a band with PAS in a Scottish Pub makes me want to go buy a plane ticket! (I had the good fortune of traveling through a portion of your beautiful Highlands on my Honeymoon 14 years ago). Thank you for posting your experiences with the PAS, please keep us all updated. (Send us some photos).

Jeff
http://www.theunmentionables.com

---------------------------
Reply:
Hi Jeff.

I had a peek at your band website. Nice looking Bass, is it an Ibanez or Warwick? How does it sound plugged straight into the PAS mike/instrument input. I'm fielding for bass payer's tips here, I wonder if you find it helpful to insert a pedal or signal processor of any kind between your instrument and the amplifier. How do I get the bass to cut through without being too loud?


Colin

quote:

Originally posted by Colin Edwards:
...The stand with double B1 units was for the drumm, Reggae sound needs a strong deep sound from the kick drum. Even so he was a little dissapointed with the lack of whack and bassy thud from the kick drum. Having read with interest the post in the DRUMS discussion on using a mic near the pedal side of the drum I plan to try this next time or if that fails cut a hole in the out-facing skin.

Colin

Hi Colin - Was the kick drum run through Ch1 or Ch2? If so do you know what preset was used? There are several presets for kick-drum specifically. We just tried an Audix D6 mic using version 2 presets #71 (ok on #70 too) and our drummer really liked it. Very solid thud with enough high-end to really stand out. If you haven't upgraded the presets to Version 2 it is worth doing to get the best sound.

With respect to your question on Bass volume, both the kick-drum and the electric bass can share the same system with 2-B1s (or more - I use three B1's + outboard bass combo amp for large rooms and outdoors). There are several ways to accomplish this - check posts that provide connection details on the Bass forum. You may need to adapt a method described in the posts to fit your situation. We typically run the drum mics (kick & overheads, sometimes snare/tom) through a mixer and then into the bass PAS Ch 3, or 4,since the other channels with presets are used for vocals.

For bass I plug my Rick 4001 direct into Ch2 (mic on Ch1) and generally use preset 66 and it's good to go. Tone is varied with the tone controls on the guitar and remote, and by switching pickups on the bass

quote:

Nice looking Bass, is it an Ibanez or Warwick?

Colin,

That is an Ibanez bass, and it sounds pretty awesome plugged straight in. I think Todd sounds better than ever through PAS, plenty of bass gets out there with 2 B1s, and the mix is almost always great onstage.

Jeff
http://www.theunmentionables.com

Chuck

I am so impressed with the PAS system I am planninig to hire out the equipment (along with myself as sound engineer) to other bands in my area.

I have made a draft business card design but before printing them I'd like to check that I am not infringing any copyright laws. the card is worded like this:

P.A.S. SOUND
PURE AND SIMPLE
STAGE AMPLIFICATION

Q1. Would the Bose corporation object to me naming my business P.A.S SOUND?
Q2. Should I make some reference to BOSE on the card?

I would also like to pursue an issue mentioned in a previous post about having a sound technician control the PAS for musicians who are unfamiliar with it. Should I start a whole new subject heading for this question?

I would prefer a personal reply to this e-mail address if you don't mind please:
singing.colin@btopenworld.com

Colin Edwards

Hi Colin,

I'm not with Bose, but I was curious so I did a search on the web for

pas sound

and

passound

Depending on where you are in the world, you may run into some others who are using the name.

Just a consideration before you do a lot of printing.

Hi Colin,

We're really glad to hear about your plans, and hope very much that you keep us up to speed with how it goes.

PAS is the name of a pro audio company and thus we do not use this term so as to avoid any confusion.

If you'd like to suggest some alternatives to brand your idea, I'm sure we'd be willing to comment on them.

Ken

[ken added a missing "not" thanks to ST]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Ken-at-Bose,

Hey Colin,

Great to hear how pleased you are!

I think that ST and Ken covered the "PAS" question. Let us know if you're at all unclear there...

quote:

I would also like to pursue an issue mentioned in a previous post about having a sound technician control the PAS for musicians who are unfamiliar with it. Should I start a whole new subject heading for this question?

You may be surprised at how quickly your clients will take to this new kind of amplification. It is, after all, a far more natural and organic approach than the conventional 'triple amplification system' paradigm. I guess that having you there to help them with gain-staging, etc. wouldn't hurt. This all seems like the makings for a great discussion. Feel free to start a new thread, perhaps under Technical Questions & Issues, or wherever you see fit...

quote:

Originally posted by Ken-at-Bose:
Hi Colin,

We're really glad to hear about your plans, and hope very much that you keep us up to speed with how it goes.

PAS is the name of a pro audio company and thus we do use this term so as to avoid any confusion.

If you'd like to suggest some alternatives to brand your idea, I'm sure we'd be willing to comment on them.

Ken

Huh? I always wondered why PAS wasn't used more often around here. As you know I use it to describe the system in most of my posts. Maybe we need a "name the system" contest for something?

Couple ideas (in jest) - BPS = Bose Personal Sound -or- BPSC Bose Personal Sound Cannon -or maybe- Bose Minuteman? Oh well, I bet that sound company get's a ton of hits from PAS.

You bring up a good point, ASAT (as usual). We call it the Personalized Amplification System™ because that's exactly what it was designed to be. You may have noticed that we 'at-Bosers' always use the long form. It's but one of the many ways that we try to change the way that people think about playing and listening to live music. Another example is the B1 Bass Module, designed to give the most and most natural bass from an optimized and very portable enclosure. We don't call it a subwoofer because, technically speaking, it's not a subwoofer (not reproducing sub-sonic frequencies).

quote:

Maybe we need a "name the system" contest for something?

I was thinking about this some time back, and came up with a few ideas. Here they are, along with some examples of how you'd use them in everyday speech.

Personal Amplification Tower (PAT)
"Hey, have you heard my PAT?" "I keep mine in the PATty wagon." "I overheard my husband saying he's in love with PAT! Should I divorce him?"

Cylindrical Amplification Tower (CAT)
"Hey, them's some cool CATs." "Yeah, I'm hip to the CAT." "I'm doing a survey to see who is using the new Bose speakers. That's right, I'm doing a CAT-scan."

Personal Amplification Column (PAC)
"Using a PAC definitely makes your voice heard." "Care to donate money to my PAC?"

Audio Reinforcement Tower (ART)
"Wow, your sound is definitely a work of ART." "I see you're a supporter of the ARTs."

Sound Cylinder for Audio Reinforcement (SCAR)
"Have you seen my big black SCAR?" "Our SCARs make us stronger musicians."

Columnar Individual Amplification for Live Incredible Sound (CIALIS)
"The CIALIS (*) always gets a rise out of my audience." "My stage presence is much larger since I started using CIALIS."



In the hopes of that last one making it past the moderators-AT-BOSE :
* CIALIS(R) is a registered trademark of Lilly ICOS LLC. The use of the term CIALIS in this post is merely for the sake of humor, and should not be interpreted as any kind of statement or opinion about the actual product from Lilly ICOS LLC.

quote:

Audio Reinforcement Tower (ART)
"Wow, your sound is definitely a work of ART." "I see you're a supporter of the ARTs."

So if someone made a permanent installation in a club, would that be a "Fixed Audio Reinforcement Tower"?

Jeff
http://www.theunmentionables.com

[QUOTE]Originally posted by acappella:

Columnar Individual Amplification for Live Incredible Sound (CIALIS)


Yea this one would be great for those weeks when I have gigs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.