[Methos1979]

And now for the final test of the Bose S1 Pro/Boss VE-8 combo for the ultimate in traveling light and fast setup - tomorrow's acoustic brunch will feature just the Bose S1, the Boss VE-8 (both under battery power), the Martin 000-18GE Custom, one mic, two cords, Xvive U2 wireless, a strap and a capo. Set list is on my phone.

I tested the system today in the backyard - slick. Photos come in next post and update on live performance tomorrow but not expecting any issues. I will say it's nice to be traveling so light. Everything fits in the Gator Pro-Go gig bag (minus the S1, of course) so just carrying two things. Setup time is under 5 minutes.

Update - post gig!

I figured I'd update the all battery/no external power up here rather than down below in a follow-up post to make it easier for those coming in for the first time! We used the 'ultra-light' setup today for our bi-weekly Acoustic Brunch and although it was a shortened gig due to a family issue cropping up, the gear was a huge success.

The first thing we did was arrive much later than usual. We normally get there a full half our in advance to unpack everything, get everything plugged in and turned on and tweaked before going live. Today we got there less than 10 minutes before the hour. Right out of the gate we ran into an issue in that our normal playing area was in disarray from the previous day's events. Yesterday was comic-book day so our normal bench that sits behind us (where we place our S1) was moved to another area and still had a ton of comic books on it. So instead we just grabbed a high bar stool/chair from the bar and used that.

This ended up being really cool because it placed the S1 a good foot higher. We have run the S1 in several locations at this venue and we have found that having it sit directly behind us, vertically and angled up is the best position. We hear it perfectly (obviously) and the sound is thrown just right, up and over the bar which sits right in front of us. For those that have followed my many threads on the S1 we have found that we much prefer either the S1 sitting vertically angled up (as opposed to sitting flat) or up on a stand. Setup of everything could not have been easier or faster. Even after moving the comic book-laden bench out of the way (along with a couple boxes that were on it), moving the bar chair over, placing the S1 on it, put the VE-8 on the floor, run two chords to it (one from the mic, the other to the S1), plug in the wireless Xvive U2, turn the units on and we were ready to play at 9:57.

Everything sounded GREAT. Not that that was surprising since we had used this setup before just not with AC power. It definitely sounded better today but only because of the slightly elevated positioning of the S1 on the higher chair. We could both hear everything crystal clear and we got a lot of compliments from patrons and workers at the cafe. I did bring my Cablephyle bag with extra cords (just in case) but that stayed in the car's trunk. Better safe than sorry. But boy, oh boy, let me tell you, when it comes to a simplified setup, what we did today was perfect. I pretty much plan to go this route from now on - even when power is readily available. Why wouldn't I? I just wish my Mooer Ocean Machine pedal ran on batteries. But even on occasions when I use that, that's just one thing I'll need to plug in.

The S1 continues to impress and I'm extremely happy with the Boss VE-8. Someone remarked in a post below about a lack of EQ on the VE-8. The Boss does have EQ. You press two buttons and it goes into EQ mode and then you've got low, high and mid EQ with tweakable mid sweeps, low-pass and other options. Some have remarked this is 'too hard' to remember and you need to make sure you have your manual with you but I have not found this to be the case.

Besides, I've now got the VE-8 dialed in to a T for both guitars so I never have to mess with it anyway. Any final minor tweaks are accomplished on the S1 high and low and even then that is mostly just cutting the low to fight off any tubbiness or flubbiness when the volume gets high. The S1 gains detent at the halfway mark and indeed the volume seems to be the best there. It's a slow rise until about the fourth notch then from four to five (halfway) the volume increases dramatically until the detent and from there on it increases incrementally.

I have set the guitar and mic preamp gains on the VE-8 so that the individual volumes on it are down around 30% and with the S1 at the full halfway detent that gives a very full, relatively loud volume that is clean, crisp and clear. If I need more I'll dial up the volume on the VE-8 as needed but so far this has not been necessary except for when I did the outside test and I wanted to see how loud I could get it to go. But for the average small to medium venue my current setup seems to be just right. Patrons, workers, and most importantly - the owner - have been extremely happy with the sound levels.

At this point I have pretty much covered everything I can think of and I don't know what else I can report about this setup. It works for us. If we were playing louder and/or larger venues where we needed more power than we might need more. I don't see that happening for us anytime soon though as the venues we play are all about the same size and type. I was planning on grabbing a QSC k8.2 for this but at this point I think I'm just going to ride it out until I find myself running into this issue.

Again, for us it's a matter of the type of music we play - mellow to mid-tempo acoustic covers and originals - and the fact that it's just me on guitar and her on vocals. I think we have found the perfect PA and mixer/preamp/effect pedal combo. I couldn't be happier with the tone but I'm over the moon with the fast and easy setup and super-light and easy portability.