Line array sound for the masses!
Recorded direct with a Taylor Builder's Edition Grand Concert 912ce through a Focusrite 2i4 interface.
RatingsPros:Immaculate sound. Handy, easy-to-use app. Powerful EQ features. Cons: EQ controls can feel vague. Limited reverb control. Only three inputs. Street: $1,119 Bose L1 Pro 8 bose.com | Tones: Ease of Use: Build/Design: Value: |
Nothing can make or break a gig quicker than a temperamental sound system. So it’s nice to be able to eliminate worry about a borrowed or house P.A. by using your own. Obviously, toting your own P.A. can be a cost prohibitive and space intensive for a lot of folks. But the original Bose L1 system was a big step forward for solo acts and small groups confronted with those problems. It was a true grab-and-go line-array PA that was affordable and easy to set up. Better still, it sounded great. The line-array system dispersed sound through a room with remarkable efficiency and it was way more powerful and detailed than its compact dimensions would suggest.
The new-generation L1 Pro8 reviewed here is even slimmer and lighter, thanks in part to a 7" x 13" oval RaceTrack subwoofer. The Pro8 is also enhanced by the new downloadable, Bluetooth-enabled L1 Mix app, which can help you mix wirelessly, save your own presets, and access Bose’s ToneMatch library of EQ presets, which are effective and sound fantastic.
Maximum Dispersal, Minimal Hassle
Modern PA systems usually fall into two categories: line array and point-and-shoot (or point source). The main difference between these systems is how the sound is dispersed. Point-and-shoot models project sound in a very direct manner, and can sound drastically different depending on where the listener is in relationship to the speaker. Line-array models, like the L1, use many small but powerful speakers arranged to spread sound more evenly through a space. The L1 Pro8 accomplishes this feat via eight articulated 2" neodymium drivers arranged in a tall enclosure that is affixed to the mixer/bass driver enclosure.
Setting up the Pro8 couldn’t be much easier. It comes in three pieces: the mixer/bass driver enclosure and two speaker sections that make up the tower. Before firing up the Pro8, I downloaded the L1 Mix app, which is available in both iOS and Android versions. With the app, you can remotely control EQ, reverb, and volume as well as access preset “scenes,” and use the system’s ToneMatch library of presets. The app is easy to use and could be indispensible to groups who want or need to mix on the fly in the absence of a front-of-house engineer.
The Pro8 is the smallest of the trio of new L1 models. (Bose also offers Pro16 and Pro32 models, which have 16 and 32 speakers, respectively, and can be supplemented with an optional subwoofer.) The output, however, is impressively loud. My first test was to crank up a playlist from my phone via Bluetooth, and in this simple, straightforward application the Pro8’s fidelity was excellent. The app controls were responsive and I didn’t notice any lag or latency when it came to volume or muting.
One standout feature on the new Pro8 is the ToneMatch function. It’s essentially a library of EQ presets designed to best match and enhance the characteristics of common acoustic guitars, basses, electric guitars, mics, and keyboards. You simply choose the closest approximation to the make and model of your instrument and the Pro8 adds a customized EQ profile.
I tested the system with a Taylor 912ce, so I went into the app, opened up the Taylor section and found 11 different options based on the model and whether I wanted to fingerpick or strum. Although the lack of a graphical EQ readout makes it hard to tell exactly what settings make up an EQ recipe, the ToneMatch preset really made the Taylor sound more alive, full, and crisp compared to the settings I found intuitively. The differences between the strum and fingerpick settings aren’t huge, but the high end seemed more pronounced in the latter mode. It can even be fun to assign a ToneMatch preset for, say, a Gibson Hummingbird or Guild D-25 to an entirely different guitar. Even without the ToneMatch presets, the EQ is flexible and powerful. And once you have a tone dialed in, it’s a snap to save it as a “scene” that you can recall later. You can also “share” scenes by connecting your app to a different L1.
The Verdict
When it comes to portable, all-in-one sound systems, the Pro8 sets a high bar. Assembly is easy enough that I was up and running with top-notch sound in five minutes. The mix app is also super-effective and easy to use and download. If you’re working with a bigger band, you might want more than the three inputs that are available here. But if you’re a solo performer, instrumental duet, or a band that primarily needs sound re-enforcement for vocals or an acoustic instrument or two, it would hard to find a more well-designed, simpler, or more convenient solution than the Pro8.
The latest iteration of the company's portable line-array systems pack in a wealth of new features including an app that tailors the EQ specifically to your guitar.
Bose L1 Pro Portable Line Array Systems
Dialed in for pure performance, L1 Pro portable line array systems advance a PA category invented by Bose into a new era of on-the-go audio for singer-songwriters, mobile DJs, and bands. Three models offer legendary 180-degree horizontal coverage, unmatched clarity and tonal balance, plus extended bass response with a unique RaceTrack woofer design:
The most portable L1 Pro system — L1 Pro8
A balance of power and portability — L1 Pro16
And the most advanced L1 ever — L1 Pro32
Built-in multi-channel mixers offer EQ, reverb, and phantom power, plus Bluetooth® streaming and access to the full library of ToneMatch presets. And the intuitive L1 Mix app places wireless control in your hands, giving you the flexibility to roam the room and fine-tune and the freedom to instantly adjust your mix anytime.
Premium sound on stage. Practical portability everywhere else. With an L1 Pro, you can get from parking to performing with ease and from setup to setlist in minutes. It's the power to sound your best and simply perform.
The Bose L1 Compact is a portable, light PA solution for some gig situations
Since then, I’ve had a lot of experience working with and playing through the L1. I was a “house” performer at a restaurant where the L1 was the house system, and after about six months of weekly performances I thought I sounded funny through most anything else. The Bose is the single most transparent PA system I know of, which can be good or bad, depending on the rest of the signal chain.
When I heard that Bose had released a smaller version of the L1, I was excited and immediately contacted them to get one to review. Small, light, compact, and easy to transport are all very good and attractive things in a PA system. It arrived in two deliciously light boxes, and we set it up in under a minute. We plugged it in. We looked at it with some puzzlement.
There are two channels, one with an XLR in for a vocal mic, and the other a 1/4" in for acoustic guitar pickups, keyboards, basses and other instruments, a 1/8" in for an mp3 player or a portable audio device, and an RCA stereo in for CD or DVD player, video game console, DJ mixer or keyboard. The vocal channel has Hi and Low EQ and Volume. The guitar channel has a single knob: Volume. That’s all. Period. Well, I thought to myself, that’s idiot proof. Each channel has a clip indicator: green when signal is present, red when it’s clipping.
There’s also a switch called ToneMatch that you engage when plugging in an acoustic guitar. Engaging the ToneMatch, according to Bose, “instantly optimizes the sound of your acoustic guitar to the L1 Compact.” This input also allows the L1 Compact to interface with the outboard Bose T1 ToneMatch audio engine (retail $499), though in order to use the T1 you have to turn off the ToneMatch setting on the console. There is no digital interface on the L1 Compact for the T1. The T1 has guitar and pickup presets that you can use to optimize your guitar, and it has additional tone-shaping tools, as well as more inputs so you can use it like a little mixer. If you have a small combo, or want to take multiple guitars with you, purchasing the T1 will allow you to use the L1 Compact in that way. The ToneMatch T1 will require its own power outlet.
The rear panel has two outputs: a 1/4” which accepts TRS balanced or unbalanced, or TS, but the manual states that there is a 6 dB drop when using a TS cable. The other out is RCA, a mono line-level out for connecting to audio devices such as CD recorders. I plugged in a Takamine Glenn Frey model, and sure enough, it sounded terrific. I didn’t have a vocal mic around to try, but figured it’d pretty much sound like a Bose (which indeed it does). Here ended the initial phase of testing, as there really wasn’t a whole lot else we could do with it. I decided to take it home and see what could be discovered.
Hooray! Field Trip!
The lack of control over the guitar EQ was a new challenge for me, and since Bose didn’t send me a T1 ToneMatch audio engine along for this review, I ended up assembling a pedalboard with two Baggs ParAcoustic DIs and an Aphex Acoustic Xiter through a Road Rage Pro Gear TBEL, so I could dial in the tone I wanted for each guitar andmake them sound more consistent when played one after another. This eliminated the tonal discomfort I was experiencing, but added more components to pack, transport, load in, set up, and plug in—and as the L1 Compact does not have phantom power, it meant I needed another power outlet.
It was time for a field test in a medium-sized open room with auditorium-style seating and a high but uneven ceiling—fairly lively acoustics. Load-in and setup went quickly; soundcheck was another story. Once I got the guitars dialed in for the room and the vocal mic balanced against the guitar, it was time to add my bandmates to the mix. Dan had his own bass amp, and Eric was just playing acoustically in the room. Here’s where the lack of a Master Volume became critical. We quickly determined that this was not the gig for the L1 Compact, and I ended up using a different amp.
A few days later, I tried the L1 Compact at a coffeehouse-style bakery. It was a solo gig, so I had only myself to contend with. I took one guitar, the Gallagher A-70, and went direct, as Bose intended. I’m told that the Bose sounded great in the L-shaped room, and that the sound carried perfectly and beautifully through the entire place. However, from where I sat, every time I played an F# or G chord I felt like I was being pummeled in the side of the head by the bass frequency—which is interesting because that guitar usually only acts up on A if it’s going to at all, and A was perfectly smooth in the mix. My son was next to me for a while, and heard exactly what I was hearing. The single-eyebrow-raised look of vexation he learned from me passed between us.
I’ve grown used to responding to what I hear in the monitor and trusting that what the audience is getting is good. The L1 Compact is supposed to serve as both monitor and main, so this fierce bass frequency distracted me and made me change the way I was playing to compensate. However, I learned that at about 10–15 feet away the frequency was smoothed into the rest of the sound. As the crowed ebbed and flowed, controlling the sound without a Master Volume was an additional challenge.
The Final Mojo
The Bose L1 Compact is a Bose, so it will reproduce with alarming accuracy anything you plug into it. It doesn’t do much else and that seems to be by design. In the right room, a player with minimal needs will appreciate the amp’s simplicity. Its size, weight and ease of transport are beyond my wildest dreams. This is not the amp for you if you play larger rooms or rely on features like a Master Volume, EQ for the guitar channel, phantom power, an effects send/return or a built-in reverb.
Buy if...
you love light, compact, easy, fast, stylish and simple, and you can completely control the environment at every gig you get.
Skip if...
you need a truly viable and versatile piece of gear that is gig-friendly.
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MSRP $999 - Bose - bose.com |