Bose S1 Pro's most dangerous feature

[Methos1979]

Any of you out there that follow my many posts about my gear and setup know we are going into our third year of exclusive use of the Bose S1 and our second year of the EAE StompMix X6. Most also know of my love of the Bose S1. It packs a somewhat limited but very useful set of features into a very small and lightweight package.

Since adopting the Cole Clark guitars as my primary gigging axe I've had the Bose S1 and X6 combo dialed in perfectly. Normally I resist the temptation to 'tweak' settings and for a good reason: It can be dangerous! But I have the relatively new Martin D-1 Custom and way too much time on my hands so I've taken to trying to dial in some decent tones with the various setups like straight into the S1, through the Headway EDM-1, through the Boss AD-2, and last, today, through the X6.

Since I'm loving the new Martin dread so much I figure there might come a time when I actually want to take it to an amplified gig that requires our full setup which means going through the X6. And since I only use 3 of the 10 'scenes' (memory slots) on the X6 for my Cole Clarks I figured I avail myself of the power feature set of the X6 to see if I could dial in a decent tone through the Dimarzio Black Angel sound hole pup in the Martin.

After a lot of tweaking here and there I found a decent enough tone. Certainly not as good as the Cole Clarks but good enough that the average listener in a gig audience wouldn't know the difference or at least care enough to notice. Overall I was very happy. Then just for giggles (and to make sure that everything was still otherwise normal) I plugged in the Cole Clark Fat Lady 2 (dread) into channel 1 and went to scene 7, the normal scene.

O!M!G! It sounded AWFUL!! Wicked bright, brash and tinny! Scene 8 & 9 - the same. I was horrified. I tried the Cole Clark Angel 2 (GA body) with the same results. It didn't make any sense. I had plugged in the Martin to channel 2 (previously unused) and deliberately setup the Martin in scenes 1 thru 3, also unused. It should not have affected any of the other channels or scenes. We've got no gigs coming up so I have time to fix this but the issue was still horrifying and I was kicking myself for touching the X6 at all! Darn this forced isolation! Too much time on one's hands is not a good thing for us gear geeks and tone tweakers!!

Not wanting to mess things up too bad I did a minor tweak of the global XLR output that got things back to normal or at least close. If I figured out what went wrong I didn't want to really mess things up with the X6 settings and get too far from what had been a perfectly dialed in tone. So I took a step back and started looking at all the pieces in the puzzle that could go wrong. The X6. The Martin. The Cole Clarks. The Bose...

The BOSE! Then it hit me! On the few occasions the past few months when we plug into practice it's been straight into the S1. Her mic in channel 1, my guitar in channel 2 and tweaking the tone with the onboard reverb, treble, bass and - wait for it - THE TONEMATCH SWITCH! AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH! IDIOT!!!

Yes, folks. The Tonematch switch may be a powerful little feature but it's also a dangerous one. Especially for us aging folk that forget little things here and there that we haven't played with in awhile. I have the X6 setup to run into channel 1 of the Bose with Tonematch switched to OFF!!! With it on, especially in the Vocal/Mic position, the tone from the X6 is wicked shrill and tinny.

Now, if I'd been in regular gigging season/mode I would have remembered this since I've run into this issue before. But it's been so long since I've used the X6 and I completely forgot that since we practiced a few days ago straight into the S1 and had her mic in channel 1 with the Tonematch set to mic I needed to turn it off. Duh. Anyway, I was able to go back and correct my global XLR EQ out tweak and all is right in the world.

I thought I'd share as a reminder to those that have the S1 and run a mixer or preamp in front of it as well as a cautionary tale for those that are considering this type of setup. Beware of the Tonematch switch. It can be a powerful tool or, in the hands of the forgetful, a dangerous feature!

[leew3]

Thanks for the humble reminder. I leave mine set for guitar (channel 1) and vocals (channel 2). However, as a fellow old guy have forgotten and plugged in opposite this with similar frightening results! Fortunately I quickly realized what I'd done as it was at a gig. All is now well as I've learned my lesson...until the next time I forget!

[Vancebo]

Been there, done that!

[hotroad]

Also been there, done that. I also gig with two S1's and the EAE Stomp mix 6. I love the wealth of eq and effects with these three pieces of battery operated lightweight gear. This combo is perhaps the best sound available anywhere in this weight range.