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#61
02-16-2020, 06:45 PM
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#62
02-17-2020, 11:02 AM
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The sub is a bit heavier than my L1C sub, but the bigger issue is the size and shape of the sub. The 30M sub is larger and has the shape of a cube vs. the L1C which is smaller and has a tapered shape. The tapered shape of the L1C makes it easy to carry. I found that the 30M was banging into my legs as I carried it. I haven't decided whether to purchase the rolling case yet. Maybe after carrying the sub from the parking lot to the venue a few times I will want the rolling case.
The set up was as simple as setting up my L1C: place the sub where I want it, insert the two extension poles, and place the speakers on top, and run the power cord. All the pieces just slide into position, no screwing pole pieces in and are held into position using magnets. I felt that the tower was much more sturdy than my L1C. I've had occasions where members of the audience have come up to talk and they like to reach out with their hand and lean on the speaker column (drives me nuts!!!). The app is very easy to use. The "thumb wheel" control on each channel page makes fine tuning a setting very easy and accurate. Once down in the channel page, you can scroll left or right to the other channel pages as well as the Main, Aux, and Effects pages. Very simple and easy. At the gig, I connected the app to the 30M, recalled my preset, and made some minor adjustments using the app. I did notice that about 2 hours into the set, the app had lost its connection to the 30M and I had to reconnect. Not sure why.
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#63
02-18-2020, 01:07 AM
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I bought the Evolve 30m today from GS (got a sweet 15% off). I have been testing the sound for last few hours and I am just not happy with the reverb for vocals. I feel it's too "shiny" (if that makes sense). I recently sold my Fishman SA220 and comparing to SA220 the reverb sounds bad. Also I wasn't impressed by guitar sound either until I plugged in a Donner chorus pedal.
I am not a professional musician nor a sound engineer but so far I am not impressed by the sound. I will test the system for few more days and see if I want to keep it. 
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#64
02-18-2020, 04:26 AM
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I too bought the Ev30m and tried it at home. I have few gigs coming up and will report afterwards, but here are my impressions so far :
The sound is nice enough. Not the best, but one of the best. Tight bass, the mids are there, a bit laking in the low mids but not as bad as other columns. It's a bit "hard" sounding and the trebles have to be watched. There is something about the trebles that smears the sound a little, I feel there are not as precise, detailed and upfront as they could be (the RCF Jmix8 was better in this regard, great highs, details and depth of soundstage galore you were swimming inside the record). I dunno, it sounds like a phase issue but this is very subtle and the unit sounds alright. I do have some random dropouts with the Bluetooth, it's ok for me but if I had to use the Bluetooth at a gig I would check this, not acceptable. I don't like the reverbs for my voice. I generally don't like any onboard reverb, even the Roy's reverb I found bad. The app is great, I wish we had more information about what the presets are doing. The EQ moves are more subtle than others, which is good. As said before, there is only a level knob per channel, which I believe is volume. I believe gain is set automatically, because when plugging my dynamic and my condenser mics they have almost the same output at the same levels, and they shouldn't ! The condenser has way hotter output. I don't know how this works, it is not explained. The strangest thing is with the phantom power. So there is +48v on channels 1 - 4. But no switch to be found. Actually, it seems that the phantom power is always on, but this is again written nowhere. Or maybe it automatically detects when a device needs phantom power? I'd be cautious about that, if you plan to plug some ribbons in for instance. I don't know if that's a result, but the back of the unit and the cables that are plugged in get quite hot. Also, by default every channel is on with the gain up, and the master up. Strange. Because if you want to plug anything you must turn down everything before, and that might not be intuitive when there is no physical volume knob per channel. Last complain is about the column, why did they design it like that... I mean you can only use it with the 2 extension poles, which is stupid. Many companies use a simple design that allows use of only 1, or even 0 to adapt the height of the unit... I saved the last good thought for the end. This is a big deal for me, might not be for others... But I had many noisy units that drove me nuts. This one is really quiet !! Very little to no speaker shhhhhhh, no fan noise. Yeah this is a relief. To sum it up : apart from the Bluetooth dropouts and the quality of the reverbs, nothing really wrong with the unit. That's quite something. More to come after the gigs. Last edited by Rockin'Robin; 02-18-2020 at 04:38 AM.
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#65
02-18-2020, 07:58 AM
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Hmmm? Great reviews! Still waiting for more live use reviews before I decide... But im starting to think a used ev 50 with a good mixer/reberb?
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#66
02-24-2020, 11:46 AM
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Last complain is about the column, why did they design it like that... I mean you can only use it with the 2 extension poles, which is stupid. Many companies use a simple design that allows use of only 1, or even 0 to adapt the height of the unit...
I haven't investigated this further to verify, but I was playing around with placing an order at Sweetwater for the 30m just to see how long shipping would take, and a recommended add-on was a short extension pole for the Evolve 50.
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#67
02-28-2020, 07:41 AM
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So I had 4 gigs with the Evolve 30m and here are my findings :
- First, the sound from an audience perspective is awesome. Lows are here, deep and tight, highs extend and are very clear. Mids are present and solid, there's a lot of punch out of the Evolve 30m. I had a gig in a smallish pub where I usually use my Bose S1 Pro. The difference was huge. I usually struggle there to get the people dancing and shouting, and this time although the crowd was relatively smaller than usual they went crazy and the party was wild. When comparing to the Bose S1 Pro side by side, there is no real comparison even at low volume. The S1 sounds dull, small... and the Evolve 30m huge, punchy and clear. Yes I repeat clear because that's the comment that kept coming from the audience members. They could hear everything, while still having the punch and the bass. Great. I know comparing to the S1 isn't fair, but honestly 2 S1 pro + a small mixer is the price of the Evolve 30m, and the same weight when you add 2 stands. I would choose the Evolve 30m for all but my smallest gigs. Tonight I have a gig in a small cosy jazz club, the S1 pro is perfect for that. Compared the the Bose L1c and the JBL Eon one pro I once had, this has real bass, real mids, and more clarity. It's way more detailed, sounds more expensive. - Then, the mixer. There are many EQ options to choose from. I'll start with the less obvious : the sub level. At first I disregarded it because why would I want to mess with the sub lvl when I have a master EQ. But this is doing something slightly different. I found that I like to boost that by 1 or 2, and it is doing a kind of broad bass boost that brings up warmth, unlike the other bass boosts. It is actually nice to boost the sub lvl and then reduce the bass at the EQ, you get more warmth but keep the bass under control. A kind of pultec trick. Other EQ options are plenty : Bass Mid Treb at the channels, at the main out AND at the general section + the star of the show for me which is the main out graphic EQ. So that's a very useful, good sounding 7-band EQ that helps tremendously to adapt to the various venues. Usually though, it is very tasty to boost 12k to get some air in the sound that the speaker is capable of producing. Makes you sound very expensive. And boosting 6k to get more presence is also awesome. It is not harsh up there. A word on the EQ presets : they are also plenty. But apart from the low cuts that might be useful to reduce plosives, I didn't like any of them on voice (but I have some nice mics, didn't try with a sm58) or acoustic guitar. There is a preset for Ac guitars but really... I tried with a k&k Gibson and a Martin D35 retro, and the presets (all of them) didn't do anything for me. BTW having such a good sounding system made me realize harder the huge jump in quality between the k&k and the Aura F1+. Yes I tried the k&k with Orchid Muting DI, with Sunnaudio Stage Pre, even with my RNDI but it is no-match vs the Aura F1+ system. The compressor is OK, I remember liking the Yamaha one knob comp more. A little goes a long way, I settled mine at 14/100 for my vocals, less for the guitar. And the reverbs... this is where it starts to fall apart for me. I'm foremost a vocalist and need good quality reverb that blends with the sound, and augment it. These aren't that. They are many many presets but all sound too detached and ringy for me, apart from the room preset which sounds like your bedroom so you don't want that. I found the "Concert hall" presets the best out of the bunch, they are not as annoying as the others but still I bring its level very low or it becomes really annoying and unnatural. Interestingly, I found that a bit of this reverb was beneficial to the guitar. I normally don't put any reverb on my guitar but with the Evolve 30m, the dry sound sounded really dry and upfront and not natural. A bit of that Concert Hall reverb helped bring cohesion and realism, and somewhat "blend" the guitar back in the mix. A last word on the app... it is awesome. And having the mixer right on your phone makes a huge difference when you do your soundcheck and when you have to adjust things on the fly. There's no going back to knobs for me. - A word on the physical attributes : for me the size and weight of the unit are very manageable. The sub alone is pretty light and can be carried around with ease. The tops being in a backpack are easily transported aswell. Be careful that the backpack is only padded at its bottom, the rest is quite thin material. Set up is a breeze, the pole units assemble very smoothly. I'd say it's the smoothest set up of all the tower units I've tried. But of course the difference is small maybe you need 20 sec for setting up the Evolve 30m vs 30 sec for a Bose L1c... One thing : the top handle on the sub isn't placed at its center of gravity or whatever. Which means that when lifting the sub, it swings down forward quite much to find its balance. No big deal but that means that you can't easily move the unit around when the tops are mounted. EV actually state that doing so you could damage the tops, and I believe this is true. So just disassemble the tops. - Last but not least : the sound from the performer's perspective. This is where I had the most troubles. When standing at the side of the tower, even a bit forward, what you hear is a LOT of harshness from the top. You need to be a good 2 meters away from the unit to mitigate that, but usually in the places I gig I don't have that much space. So my head is maybe 1 - 1.5m away from the top and I hear harshness. It even prevents you from hearing the bass. I think the tops are pulling a lot of 2 - 4k on its sides. Bad engineering here*? What that means is you get your sound right, in front of the unit. Levels are nice. Then you start your gig and you hear yourself and you're like "I hope this is not what everybody hears, I will tear everyone's ears off". I'm not sure how bad it can be for our hearing but surely it's not good. During the gig there was some point when I believe I adapted my hearing somehow because I could find the bass again in the sound and it didn't seem as harsh as when I just started. Still it was harsh. But the worst thing is that you now hear much more guitar than voice, the guitar having lots of content in this area. So your balance is off - for yourself. So as a PA + monitor solution it is... usable but you must be careful. Also, I found that in smaller rooms these 2 - 4k being thrown to the sides bounce off and build up, bringing harshness even in front. Fortunately you can use the Graphic EQ to reduce 2.5k with good results. Now, will I keep the Evolve 30m? I'll have to test it further, but I'm not sure yet. Not liking its reverb, I have to bring another piece of gear + cable that this all-in-one solution should have eliminated. And the harshness in my left hear while performing was really annoying. OTOH it's been great for my audiences in these 4 gigs and I could feel the audience was delighted. Plus it is very quiet, and is perfect for listening to music at home with its "Music" preset. But again, it is 1200€. Maybe I could replace it with another system like a Maui 11g2 + external mixer with a reverb I like... Or even a Maui 5go to go smaller but battery-operated.
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#68
03-01-2020, 11:13 AM
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Another great review! Man I just don't get it? How can these companies not put out a product with good Reverb these days? It's flat-out what everyone wants!
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#69
03-02-2020, 09:24 AM
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Just wanted to say thanks tons for this wonderfully detailed review.
Please be careful with your ears! If it's crazy harsh from the side it could be damaging you--and so where possible maybe repositioning even a little may help mitigate that.
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#70
03-07-2020, 11:24 AM
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Just curious if there are any more gig experiences with the EV 30m? Any feedback issues..any more pros/cons to share? Thnx👍
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#71
03-10-2020, 01:30 AM
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Last time I wrote on this forum I was not so happy with the 30M. I did more testing and I also got Bose L1 Compact and S1 Pro to try it out. Here is my opinion about the 30M (only tested at my home). It took me a while to tweak the setting to get the sound I was looking for.
Evolve 30M + Guitar sounds really good with a bit of chorus added. You can really get a good low end if you need it. + Vocal sounds good (3 band EQ and reverb). It's not the best reverb in the world, but it works. Maybe they will do a firmware update and improve the effects + Built in mixer with lot of inputs + Ability to control everything via an app – this is just really really really awesome + Bluetooth music streaming is awesome - I hate the fact that you HAVE to use both the extension poles. I wish they had designed in a way where you could use 1 or 2 extension poles. When I am playing at home I don’t want the speakers up so high. - There are a lot of effects but most of them don’t sound good and are very similar to each other. I really hope they update this with a new firmware. - System is a bit heavy (relatively speaking). It’s about 45 lbs (sub is about 30+ lbs) and that could be an issue for some. - Not very cheap but if you factor in the built-in mixer maybe it’s not too bad. I got 15% off from GC so can’t complain - Physical mute button would have been good. Every time I need to mute I have to pull out my phone and go into the app and mute. Or I need dial down main knob 5/6 times until system shows "mute" (just not convenient) Bose L1 Compact without any mixer is just not usable for me (especially without reverb). Bose S1 Pro sounded pretty good and I will probably buy that at some point. 
Last edited by schataut; 03-10-2020 at 12:21 PM.
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#72
03-10-2020, 06:34 AM
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Another good review.. 👍 Pretty much everyone doesn't like the reverb and the other effects are "okay" in many reviewer's ears. Sound is kind of harsh up close but good dispersion and bass... App is awesome...im reading this everywhere. Not sure i could pull the $1,300 trigger on this unit.
I will say, to the last poster, I own the S1 pro and would NEVER part with it...for many reasons (not related to sound...but other logistics) I try not to lug my L1M2B2 to any gig I don't "need" it for..so I've pushed the S1 and it has delivered most every time ("most" is why I'm stalking this thread..i NEED a mini l1m2..sorry, no l1 compact as im going for a truly "all-in-one for this purchase dispersion, monitor, mixer, effects and passable lows without a sub)..probably gonna grab a Fishman 330 since this unit isn't getting the greatest reviews.
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#73
03-10-2020, 07:26 AM
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I hate the fact that you HAVE to use both the extension poles. I wish they had designed in a way where you could use 1 or 2 extension poles. When I am playing at home I don’t want the speakers up so high.
I think I mentioned this before but I can't help myself and will add a link this time: Apparently a short-pole produced for the Evolve 50 will fit in this unit, since it pops up as a popular accessory for the 30m at Sweetwater (I would verify of course before ordering). https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...n-speaker-pole The harshness-while-close and the reported mediocrity of the reverb have had me holding back on this one (well plus there's no pressing need for me to have this right now but I want it, or something like it.) Last edited by Chriscom; 03-10-2020 at 10:29 AM.
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#74
03-10-2020, 08:20 AM
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I'm using a Mic Mechanic 2 before the mixer for my vocals and it works great. So the reverb itself is not a deal breaker for me. Actually I've been using my Mic Mechanic 2 with any system/mixer I've tried so far as its delay+reverb seems way better than anything else. Including the reverb on the S1 pro that I find usable, can save the day but not great.
I've yet to see what I can achieve with a digital mixer like a behringer XR12. Supposedly the effects are awesome and can be tweaked.
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#75
03-10-2020, 12:27 PM
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Quote:
 ) After I sold my SA220 I actually wanted to buy the SA330 but with all separate pieces that I'd have to buy I looked elsewhere for a complete system and ended up with EV. One more purpose that the EV will serve me is playing music at parties - sounds really good with lot of thump.
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