HELP! Bose S1 Pro positioning questions

[Methos1979]

Just got my Bose S1 Pro today and have only barely scratched the surface of checking this little unit out. I'll definitely be posting a more detailed NAD thread once I've put it through it's paces. Today's short test run was not impressive. Guitar straight in was pretty awful.

Through my normal pre-amp/mixer chain it was much better. But I still struggled with feedback and not at high volumes. My living room is small so maybe that's an issue? I'm not used to the wide dispersion feature of the Bose systems.

So, for those that are experienced with this amp, what is your best positioning of the this amp in relation to you as a guitar player and/or singer for both small practice rooms in your home and then at the small gigs you have had such good luck with? Floor, tilted? Chair? Table? Stand? Off to the side? Behind you? In front of you? How far away from you?

I plan to really give it a go during practice on Saturday and if I can get some decent tone and solve the feedback issue then I might give it a spin at a gig on Sunday morning at an acoustic brunch we play. But first I need to tame that little beast a bit. Any actual personal experiences with regard to the above that help shorten my learning curve is appreciated.

Thanks.

[Marty C]

Hi Methos1979,
First off can you tell us about your setup.
1. What guitar?
2. What pickup?
3. Does you the guitar sound good going straight to any other amp or powered speaker?

Now about the S1.
1. Which preset are you using?
2. What didn’t you like about the sound?

So far, I run everything through my Play Acoustic with my Martin 000 with stock Fishman. It sounds really good as do the vocals I run my Martin D16 with Baggs Anthem SL direct in with preset off. It sounds great. I don’t like this guitar through the Play Acoustic.

So far really happy with mine. Not a fan of the reverb but I use my Play Acoustic for vocals anyway.

Update.
Saw your other post. I used to have k & k in my D16 and never could get good sound without some form of preamp with lots of eq adjustments. I heard other guitar with k & k that sound great. I just couldn’t get mine to sound like I wanted. Afraid I can’t give much help there. I know others here have k & k with the S1 and use it direct with no presets on. Maybe they can help.

[Methos1979]

Hi Marty,

Only tried my Martin 000-18GE with K&K. But my other two guitars are the same anyway. I can usually get a decent sound out of any amp albeit with a significant treble boost and low and mid cut - typical of the K&K. I also play fingerstyle with no nails so more muddiness that requires significant EQing. When I was trying straight in I tried the flat, guitar and mic switch positions. I could hear where the Tone switch was trying to help but likely just not enough signal. Maybe it's designed more for active pickups with onboard EQ and people playing with a pick?

I do use from time to time the little K&K beltclip pre-amp which would likely get me more signal and enough EQ to make the difference. The mixer/pre-amp setup I alluded to earlier is a volume pedal, BodyRez, TC Helicon harmony G-XT (guitar through), Para DI, to the mixer. Great tone out of that but still with the feedback seemingly no matter where I place the amp. I tried floor, tilted, coffee table and pole mount with me placed in front, next and behind. In front facing (several feet away) was best but can't use that at a gig! I'm wondering if my smallish living room coupled with me not being used to the Bose 'sound throwing' capabilities is part of my issue? I'm trying to turn it up louder to volume levels I'm used to hearing and maybe it's just too much for the small room?

[Marty C]

You are probably correct about the room and probably the weak signal. I notice a mic signal direct requires about 30-50% higher volume setting on the S1 as compared to a guitar signal with an active pickup.

My k & k was also prone to feedback.

I have yet to really turn mine up. I have used mine only in a small room at low volume. It’s suppose to be nice out this weekend in NC. I will take mine outside and see what the volume can do.

[The Bard Rocks]

Before you draw conclusions, try it in a much larger room or out of doors (brrr). And let us know what changes, if anything.

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by The Bard Rocks

Before you draw conclusions, try it in a much larger room or out of doors (brrr). And let us know what changes, if anything.

Definitely will do this. It was 62 up here today but no time. Nor'easter tomorrow with 60 mph gusts so probably won't have power to test it anyway! We'll be setting up Saturday evening in a large room (restaurant) for a Sunday morning brunch gig so we'll see how that goes. Will bring the line array just in case.

[jseth]

Methos;

Did you actually read the manual for the thing? Just to make sure that you know what to adjust where and what positions might sound like "what"?

(Or are you one of those 'who needs a manual, anyway" guys?!)

I say this because until I really dug into both my L1 unit and my T1 mixer thingamabob, I wasn't satisfied... found out I was doing a couple fundamental things incorrectly for those units.

Another easy place to find REAL answers (as opposed to conjecture, hyperbole, opinion, etc.!) is the Bose Forum... all the mods are actually folks who work for Bose, so when they give you answer (might take a day), you get the STRAIGHT POOP, as it were...

With everything I've heard and read about those little amps, it should sound REALLY good if it's set-up correctly.

Please let us know what ends up working for you!

[AeroUSA]

I’ve used the Ultra Tonic straight in with the guitar tonematch preset and it was great. I suspect your issue may be the K&K, they can feedback easily.

[varmonter]

i'd say your issue is probably just how you
describe , a combination of kk small room
and trying lol to turn it up too loud. probably
have better luck at your gig.
i hope you fair the storm well . it's gonna mostly
miss us here in northern vt.

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by jseth

Methos;

Did you actually read the manual for the thing? Just to make sure that you know what to adjust where and what positions might sound like "what"?

(Or are you one of those 'who needs a manual, anyway" guys?!)

I say this because until I really dug into both my L1 unit and my T1 mixer thingamabob, I wasn't satisfied... found out I was doing a couple fundamental things incorrectly for those units.

Another easy place to find REAL answers (as opposed to conjecture, hyperbole, opinion, etc.!) is the Bose Forum... all the mods are actually folks who work for Bose, so when they give you answer (might take a day), you get the STRAIGHT POOP, as it were...

With everything I've heard and read about those little amps, it should sound REALLY good if it's set-up correctly.

Please let us know what ends up working for you!

I actually had not read the manual as of the initial writing only because I didn't have the time. That said, I actually AM one of those guys that reads the manual backwards and forwards and usually several times to get the absolute most out of every little detail of any new and complicated gadget. THAT said, I did take the manual to work last night. It's about four pages long and mostly pictures and drawings. This is no a complicated piece of gear by any means. There's just not that much to it. This is nothing like the L1 or ToneMatch mixer.

Great suggestion about the BOSE forum. I'll have to check that out at work today.

[martingitdave]

I own the Bose S1 Pro too. It's a nice speaker, but a bit of an odd duck. It has a very small woofer 6.5" and three additional small drivers. So it straddles the monitor/amp category and the PA speaker category with it's design. In my opinion, it is more of an amp replacement than a true flat response speaker. That's not a bad thing, it's just a thing. In my case it works very well for rehearsal and small venues. But, back to the "odd" stuff. Bose designed the small enclosure to project really well for such a tiny speaker. So, I think you actually need to have a little distance between you and the speaker to develop the sound when it is sitting flat or on a pole. (It sound best to me in the "pole" position.) On the other hand, in your case, it might be as simple as flipping this little guy over on it's side into monitor position for your rehearsal space. Small rooms tend to accentuate the bass and cause feedback. The monitor side positioning mitigates some of that.

[Methos1979]

A little better news today. I had about an hour before work to play around with it and was able to get some much better tones. First up I tried my guitar through the K&K belt-clip pre-amp with the usual settings - treble dialed up, mids and lows dialed back. Straight into the Bose flat sounded much better than yesterday. Dialed a little more high in and bass out on the Bose EQ and better still. Then flipped from flat to the guitar ToneMatch setting and better still to the point where I needed to dial out some of the highs on the K&K.

From there I switched over to the full mixer/PARA set-up (no K&K pre-amp) and this time used the mic. Going into the Bose flat and was quite surprised with the vocals. I can see what everyone is talking about. It still took a little while to dial in the guitar but I eventually got a really decent tone. The biggest issue was a boxiness in the mids right around D#. It took a fair amount of dialing on the sweepable mids and notch to mitigate that. The X20 was generally easier to dial in than the Martin likely due to the 000-18GE's preponderance of mids.

I was bummed I had to stop playing and leave for work. I'll hit it again tomorrow and then we're setting up Saturday night for the Sunday morning gig so that will allow some experimentation in the larger room. But as of this writing I'm feeling that I should definitely be able to get what I need from this little beast which will be awesome. Stay tuned...

[Captain Jim]

Originally Posted by Methos1979

A little better news today. ...

I was bummed I had to stop playing and leave for work. I'll hit it again tomorrow and then we're setting up Saturday night for the Sunday morning gig so that will allow some experimentation in the larger room. But as of this writing I'm feeling that I should definitely be able to get what I need from this little beast which will be awesome. Stay tuned...

As a retired guy, I can see how that work stuff gets in the way of your playing time! I'm looking forward to hearing how your Sunday morning gig goes with the S1. Enjoy!

[jseth]

Glad you found some sound you really like... I will await your gigging report!

Oh - I've found that when I try to play an amp or PA overly loud in a smallish space, I can get some weird frequencies rolling around - and they usually disappear when the space grows to let the volume fill it.

I have a little AER Compact 60 that I really love, but it sounds WAY better when I have a little distance between myself and it... let's the sound "bloom" out of that little box... suspicion that the S1 may have a similar net result.

Have fun with that thing!

[Murphy Slaw]

And, post a video of that thing in action......