Hi everybody

It's been awhile since I've been on here and I guess I just wanted to come by and let everyone know that I'm taking the plunge. I've been a critic, then a tryer, and really I've become a believer, the only thing thats been holding me back the last couple years is price. and since that doesn't seem to be coming down I'm going to suck it up and try to get the money to get my own L1s.

First of all, I want to share a personal experience with everyone here, I think it may be helpful for anybody lurking on the forum (and I know there are many) who is trying to decide what to do about the L1 system.

I don't recall how it is that I managed to get a hold of Garry (bose guy in calgary) but he offered to come demo the units for my band because we wanted to know how they sounded and to see if we wanted to use them for an upcoming show that we were planning that was kind of a big deal.

so he came down to lethbridge were we live (a 2 hour drive) on his own dime to promote the L1, and I have to say that first night didn't go all that well. I did my absolute best to keep an open mind because I wanted to believe it worked, I had to kind of fight with my wife about it (she sang in the band, we weren't married at the time) because she was very apprehensive.

While we were testing everything out that night we just couldn't seem to get the greatest sound. and everybody seemed to have low spirits about it, and I know why the sound was so crappy. (some of you may recall I came on here and posted after that night that I was really disappointed, and I felt bad for it because as I said before, Garry came to help us out and didn't ask for anything in return)

What happened was that I didn't understand exactly how to use the L1 properly. and Garry, with as much experience as he had with them up to that point, told me that he had never really tried to use the for a band, usually he was using them for DJing and such. And so we really didn't have more than a couple hours to play around with them. At the time I had a nice big row of stompboxes I was using and so I cut out the amplifier (as was recommended) and just plugged straight from my pedal into the L1 powerbase. Not understanding at the time just how crisp and clear the L1 was, and that it put out exactly what you put in, I expected the sound to sound as though it came from my amp, but since it was just this digital line signal, it sounded bad. (so the night he came to do our show for us we mic'd my amp instead and it sounded exactly like my amp)

I think that most of the problems people have with the L1s is because they dont have the time to play around with them. I must say that aside from this forum, probably the biggest exposure you get for the L1 are people walking into Guitar Centre and seeing it there (it is guitar centre that sells them for bose right?) I'm on a few other guitar related forums and the big resounding consensus is that Guitar Centre is about the worst guitar store on the planet; without knowledgeable staff, and where nobody will let you really take some thing for a meaningful test drive. so when somebody wants to check out the L1 in store, they are not allowed to really spend the time to really see it, or check out its potential at an appreciable volume (just my hypothesis, we dont have guitar centre in canada. we have long & mcquade, which has basically the same quality of service)

OK ... now that I've gone off on a tangent and made a novel sized post, which i didn't want to do, here I go with my point.

When garry came down the night of the show, things went really well. It was not without its problems. I remember specifically the bass guitarist had a cheap bass that picked up a lot of interference that the L1 heard quite clearly and so we had to plug him into his own amp to cut down on the noise. And every time he managed to step in front of an L1 (since we only had a couple feet of space behind us to put them) all the sound from that l1 became muffled and nobody could really hear it. But I have to say the sound was really really great. If we had had more time to tweak and really play with them I'm sure we could've gotten the perfect sound out of them. And the vocals were the most amazing thing of all. I am not a very good singer, and I always have difficulty hearing myself playing, I've tried in-ears, I've tried everything. With the L1 as I spoke into it my voice surrounded myself and I had no problems hearing it and what felt really odd was that all that volume felt like it was coming straight from my throat, rather than any speaker. I believe the word used on this forum for that exact experience was "intoxicating"
truly.

So really I've been sold ever since, and so has the drummer in my band. We can see the potential and the application of the L1 even if others may have not and we've both decided to try and move in on what we want.

We started our own rock band independent of my wife and our pop band with her, and after a year of playing loud and hauling gear, the band is actually on a hiatus (that personally I don't think will end but that's another story I don't feel like getting into here) And David (my drummer friend) and I have decided to entirely change our direction in terms of gear.

He has a very large drumset that he is sick and tired of hauling around, so he is selling it and getting a digital kit. and likewise... I am selling my 2 Guitar stacks to buy 2 L1 systems.

I use a great deal of stereo effects and also, I'm starting to use synth access and midi with my guitar to play synthesizer and guitar speakers can't handle the range of sound.

So my plan is to sell both of my amps to raise the money to buy 2 L1 model I double bass packages. I want two because I want the stereo effects to work and I think it would be an unreal experience to feel and hear the panning effects I'm using come out of 2 L1s (i'm getting the model I because the model II is just too damn expensive and even after selling both amps i wont have enough money to buy them) Unfortunately I dont have the money to buy a T1 for either one of them either so thats where I need help.

I plan to build a couple of small amplifiers ( like a 5 watt tube amp and a similarly rated solid state amp) to mic with the L1s, something small, full of tone, and quiet enough not to be heard over the L1 when its overdriven. That is if i cannot get a sound I like out of the COSM models in my Boss GT10.

Also, I had a question about the sound dispersion. Since the L1's send out their sound in the pattern in this picture below:



what happens when you are playing to a crowd that has a balcony whose floor is above the cyndrilical radiator? It was one of the problems that we had at the show. the stage was 4 feet off the ground and we kept hearing that when somebody sat down on a chair the sound went all muddled. Has anybody else had an experience like this? Or has somebody come up with a solution? there are many venues in lethbridge where the audience will not be the same elevation as the band, and that has me worried.

Im sorry my post ended up so long and unorganized. i didn't have much of a plan when i started.

Garry, if you're still around on the board, Hopefully I'll get the chance to talk to you soon and all the running around you've done for me will pay off. He really is great people.

also don't forget all of this is moot unless I sell my amps. so if you know of anybody looking for a high end amplifier, I'll ship it anywhere so long as the buyer is willing to pay for it.

thanks
Curtis

Hi Curtis,

Thanks for the background and interesting post. I remember you from last time around

quote:

Originally posted by Voltions Advocate:
Hi everybody
[...]
Also, I had a question about the sound dispersion. Since the L1's send out their sound in the pattern in this picture below:



what happens when you are playing to a crowd that has a balcony whose floor is above the cylindrical radiator? It was one of the problems that we had at the show. the stage was 4 feet off the ground and we kept hearing that when somebody sat down on a chair the sound went all muddled. Has anybody else had an experience like this? Or has somebody come up with a solution? there are many venues in lethbridge where the audience will not be the same elevation as the band, and that has me worried.
[...]


thanks
Curtis

You are right. The Cylindrical Radiator® does not send much sound up or down above or below it. If you are on four foot stage and people are seated below that a lot of the sound is going to go right over them.

You can tilt the L1®s just a little by elevating the back. It doesn't take much. But if the L1®s are positioned at the back of a deep stage and the seated audience is below the stage floor then it may not be enough. Balconies are also a problem and there, you may have to rely on a house system and hope that it provides for zone coverage in the balcony. The L1® isn't going to get there unless you tilt the L1® back a bit, but if you have people directly in front or below you at the same time, the Cylindrical Radiator® isn't going to reach everyone.

Interesting.

Good to know the problem so I can find a work around. It does make playing at some places a little problematic. There's a nice fancy sit in restaurant with a stage built into the old fire hall in town that we're trying to get some bookings for, and theres multiple levels in the place. including a balcony above the bar. thanks for the heads up.

re: balconies and the L1.

The "loss of sound" in a balcony -- when using L1's -- I've found depends heavily on:

the size of the room,

how "live" the room is, and

the balcony's distance from and height above the stage.

If the balcony is rather low and not too close, and the room is really "live", then there might not be much of a problem. The "clarity" (far fewer ceiling reflections) can actually help with the sound in the balcony.

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