Can I plug directly into Bose L1 Compact?

[reagosie]

Hello!

Background:
I've been playing average size gigs (bars, restaurants, private events) for about 5 years now. I've recently gotten more serious about it and thus, updated my old speaker setup to a Bose L1 Compact. It's been great for the past few months and I've been using it with my old Boss ME-50 pedalboard. But now I'm trying to streamline my setup and get rid of the ME-50 because I absolutely don't need it for what I'm doing.

TLDR:
My problem is when I try to plug my guitar directly into channel 2 of the L1, I get nothing. My guitar is a Takamine G Series (Model No: EG360SC, built-in preamp: TP-4T) and I'm using a standard TS unbalanced 1/4" cable to plug straight in. I'm completely ignorant about line-level vs. instrument-level sound, etc. no matter how much I try to understand so please forgive me if I'm missing something. But I'm trying to avoid buying another piece of gear like a DI box and Bose assures me that I should be able to plug straight in.

Thanks in advance,
Reagan

[Chriscom]

That's a puzzler. I just directly plugged in my Martin Road Series via a 1/4-inch TS to make sure I haven't been hallucinating the past four years, and yep I get sound.

Like yours, my guitar has a built-in battery-powered pre-amp. Other than things unlikely not to have occurred to you, like a dead battery or volume at zero, I don't have a clue. If you've already been feeding Channel 2 with a 1/4 inch coming out of the ME-50, and you've been sending your guitar signal into the ME-50, and you're getting sound that way but not with the direct approach.... no idea.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will pitch in and get you out of the twilight zone.

[reagosie]

Yep, I double checked battery and volume knob on the guitar. I even doubled checked that I was still getting sound when I go through the ME-50 and yes I still am.
So maybe it's just something with the specific preamp in my guitar?

[jricc]

Hi Reagan and welcome to AGF. That is strange. To further troubleshoot, is there any way to plug your Takamine into something else? Even if you go to a store and ask to plug into an amp.
Good luck.

[Lost Sheep]

Shot in the dark:

Are you using the same cord to plug into the amp? I am speculating that there may be insufficient contact by the prongs inside the L1's channel 2.

Sometimes the simplest solution is the one. And, "Out of the mouths of babes..."

[jseth]

There should be no problem plugging your Tak straight in to the Compact... that's what they were made for in the first place!

Check to be sure that there isn't some sort of "line or instrument level" switch/button on whichever channel you're in... also, check the Tpnematch setting to verify that it's what you want (Do the Compact's even have a Tonematch setting?).

Hopefully, someone who owns a Compact will chime in with the information you need... I love my Bose rig (L1 Model II and the T1 mixer/tone generator), but I have limited experience with the L1 Compact.

Please let us know when you find the problem! Good luck... it's probably something incredibly simple...

[Spartacvs]

Silly question... but have you tried plugging anything else into that channel?
Next thing would be to open it up and physically check the pot for continuity and contact with the cable.

[keith.rogers]

The switch on that channel should be set to the guitar/instrument level input, and not LINE. It should work just fine if you have a working cable and the [guitar pickup] preamp has a good battery. You don't need (or want) a DI with the L1 Compact, because the XLR input is really for vocal/mic input, and has some of the "Tone Match" stuff baked into that channel. (My $.02)

[Chriscom]

Originally Posted by keith.rogers

The switch on that channel should be set to the guitar/instrument level input, and not LINE....

For the best sound with a standard guitar and pickup system yes, since flipping the switch to "Tonematch" adjusts the EQ--seems like the main thing it does it reduce lower, bass-y frequencies. But ordinarily you'll get sound in either position.

I also interpreted the OP as saying he'd been feeding that channel with his pedalboard, in which case the channel is alive.

I can't think of anything exotic about that Takamine pickup; Taks are workhorse acoustic electrics. To me the best suggestion is to plug that guitar into any other PA or amp anywhere.

[reagosie]

Hey everyone! Thanks so so much for the help and insight. Of course the issue turned out to be something super simple and (unsurprisingly) user-based.

I plugged directly into my Fishman Loudbox Mini (which I knew I'd gotten sound from before by plugging in directly) using the same cable. This illuminated something: I was getting sound...but only just. So I checked the volume knob on the guitar again which was at about halfway. Turning it up a little helped a little, but the real problem (that I had not checked) was my EQ levels. I had turned my treble down to about 25% (mid and bass were still at 50%) because when using the Boss ME-50, any high notes would come out really tinny. And so for some reason--maybe because it's a bit old--that treble being turned down was causing me to get literally no sound through the L1. Once I turned it to 50%, I got sound through the Fishman, then switched back to the Bose and got the same. Now it sounds super crisp with the Tonematch and honestly much better than it did through that 15-year-old ME-50!

Thanks again!

[Chriscom]

Originally Posted by reagosie

Hey everyone! Thanks so so much for the help and insight. Of course the issue turned out to be something super simple and (unsurprisingly) user-based.

I plugged directly into my Fishman Loudbox Mini (which I knew I'd gotten sound from before by plugging in directly) using the same cable. This illuminated something: I was getting sound...but only just. So I checked the volume knob on the guitar again which was at about halfway. Turning it up a little helped a little, but the real problem (that I had not checked) was my EQ levels. I had turned my treble down to about 25% (mid and bass were still at 50%) because when using the Boss ME-50, any high notes would come out really tinny. And so for some reason--maybe because it's a bit old--that treble being turned down was causing me to get literally no sound through the L1. Once I turned it to 50%, I got sound through the Fishman, then switched back to the Bose and got the same. Now it sounds super crisp with the Tonematch and honestly much better than it did through that 15-year-old ME-50!

Thanks again!

Amazing!

Thanks so much for reporting the solution. Sometimes folks figure it out or use a suggested tweak and never report back--not through any malice, people are busy--and we're left here forever wondering why why why.

I've noticed on my own guitars with built-in EQ adjustment that it can affect volume output, but hadn't thought to that extent. Congrats!

P.S. -- Ain't that Compact great!

[jricc]

That's great Reagan! Glad you found the solution.