JBL EON One in the House

[JoeInOttawa]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

When playing close to a line array, the nice thing about hearing a lot of the column when performing is that it really aids in monitoring your vocals. Of course, being real close can be of concern for the health of your hearing if the system is turned-up loud. Good Luck next week with your Expos!

I hear ya! I have several friends who have Bose systems (which seem to be the predominant brand in the Ottawa (Canada) area), and they all had this simple observation: If you find it loud six feet in front to the columns, YOU ARE TOO FRICKEN' LOUD!

As the lead guitarist that singers are always telling to turn UP, I can deal with that advice!

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by JoeInOttawa

I hear ya! I have several friends who have Bose systems (which seem to be the predominant brand in the Ottawa (Canada) area),

Message deleted.

[open-road-matt]

Originally Posted by JoeInOttawa

So, proximity effect aside, did you have a pretty good idea of what the mix sounded like -- even if the tonality wasn't quite exactly the same?

Joe

Hi Joe!
Happy to share and I'll keep doing so if folks are interested.

My main concern for hearing myself is my voice. When I can't hear myself well I tend to push with my voice and then I end up fatigued.

I was very happy with how I heard my voice both Friday and Saturday nights with the EON One.

I can't say that I was hearing a perfect mix. Before every show I do what I call the "solo-act sound check." I drag my mic and my guitar out as far as my cables will allow and I get everything adjusted (volume and mix-wise) from there. Then I get back to the spot where I will be standing when I'm playing and make sure that I can hear myself the way I want and that it's not too loud.

There is definitely an element of trust here! I have to trust what I heard and set up prior to the show. Like I mentioned, when I tried to make adjustments Friday night from where I was playing, it wasn't the right thing to do. But that is true with just about any system.

I'm not sure if that helps at all. I'll be able to tell you more as I work my way through my summer schedule.

I'm going to use two of the EON Ones this Saturday and see how that goes!

Matt

[JoeInOttawa]

Excellent! I look forward to hearing about your adventures with the new-fangled gear!

Joe

[cotten]

Any update on your experience with two units, Matt?

cotten

[jimmy bookout]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

It seems to me we all have the same criticism of the mixer. If they did nothing else but provide 4 combination inputs, I think we'd all be happy.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Agreed. I got excited when I read "6 channels" and then I looked at the mixer...

Jimmy

[open-road-matt]

Originally Posted by cotten

Any update on your experience with two units, Matt?

cotten

Hi cotten!
Thanks for the reminder and sorry about the delay! The week got away from me!

Two Eon Ones last Saturday worked well! I was under a small pavilion and when I dragged my mic, guitar and Porchboard out directly in the middle, between the two units I thought the sound was a bit echoey, kind of swirling around with the low roof of the pavilion.

I then brought my mic and guitar outside of the pavilion on each side and I was very pleased with the sound. No one sits under the pavilion so the sound for the audience would be nice and clear.

Some people I know showed up early and they told me it was a bit too loud. So I turned it down and one of the guys went for a walk to see how far the sound traveled. The pavilion faces the street and is maybe 50 feet from the road. He ended up across the street maybe another 30 feet from the road and said you could hear me just fine!

I thought it was too loud from my performance position so I moved back a bit so I was slightly behind the units. During the show I wished I could hear my vocals a bit more clearly so I will need to start using my in-ears or figure out a different monitoring solution.

I played around with trying one vs two units for a bit. I probably could have cranked one up and covered the space but two allowed me to get more coverage with less volume from each unit.

One thing I'm messing with now is taking a left and right out of my mixer into one Eon One. I read this suggestion on another thread about the Fender stick system.

It's interesting! Taking the two outs gives me a much more direct sound. With only one out (and no panning on the mixer) the sound has a bit more space and surroundy-ness to it.

Even when I pan guitar and vocals hard left and take a left out, the sound is more direct (if that makes any sense) taking the left and right out with the channels panned dead center.

I'm not sure if any of that means anything or would ever be useful but it's interesting.

Matt

[cotten]

Thanks, Matt. For my purposes, I'm still happy with my L1 & T1, but then I don't have your playing schedule. I look forward to trying the EON One when I get a chance. I appreciate your taking time to share your experience here.

cotten

[open-road-matt]

Originally Posted by cotten

Thanks, Matt. For my purposes, I'm still happy with my L1 & T1, but then I don't have your playing schedule. I look forward to trying the EON One when I get a chance. I appreciate your taking time to share your experience here.

cotten

My pleasure cotten!

I'm not sure there would be any reason to go with the JBL if you already have the L1/T1. The JBL gives you a faster set up but to get the faster set up you have to lug around a bigger single unit vs several smaller pieces with the Bose.

I'd still really like to hear them side by side. Another forum member compared them and he returned the JBL. My guess is that the JBL is a bit more directional than the Bose.

I added one more piece to the puzzle:

http://www.powerwerks.com/Product/PW4P

I played a loud room on Thursday night and I was having a hard time hearing myself. I tried my in-ears and concluded (like I had years and years ago when I bought my first L1) that in-ears don't work well with these "surroundy" type systems.

I'm still hearing myself from the system. The in-ears then block any sound I'm getting from the system and basically turn that into background noise. I then need to crank up the ears to try and compete with noise!

What I really want is to just add some detail to what I'm hearing from the system. I've always avoided the little hot-spot mic stand monitors. I'm not really sure why but after the show Thursday I decided to track one down.

I looked at the Galaxy Audio ones and found a dealer between me and my next show. He didn't have any of the Galaxy models but he had this little Powerwerks one. I read some review and figured it would be worth a stop. It's perfect!

It lives on my little table and I took an Aux out of my TouchMix and turned it up just enough to give me the detail I need. I played 4 hours last night without a break and I could have vocally, gone another 4!

My show last night was outside and I didn't have the background noise I had on Thursday so I'll have to try it in a loud room to really give it a good test.

I never would have considered this little thing had I not tried it. For me, it's probably better than any of the other mini-monitors on the market. The angle allows me to put it on my table where the other ones (from the pictures) I don't think would angle up enough.

You can see it on my table here:



I should have done this years ago. I don't think I ever would have gotten rid of my Bose!

Matt

[dragonfly66]

I'm seriously looking at getting this, I sing and play the guitar. I have a friend who plays the flute and she is also looking at the EON One. Thank you so much for sharing your experience here.

I saw one review of the JBL EON One on the Sweetwater site which mentioned the unusable low gain of the inputs 1/2 (in line mode) and 3/4. The reviewer also commented on the reverb being overpowering. Have you experienced these same issues with gain and the reverb?

THE BAD:Channels 1 and 2 have the Neutrik combo connections and a button to select line or mic gains. In practice though, the only viable setting for these channels are the mic settings, no matter if you use a mic, guitar, or other line in connection. The reason? The gain levels on the line-in setting are so low that the unit simply isn't loud enough to use. In fact...plugging in a guitar (the Martin listed above for example) using the line-in setting, the acoustic sound of the guitar is louder than the unit, even if the channel and master are turned to 100%. Kind of hard to believe, but that’s the reality. The gain settings are not where they should be in this release.

Channels 3/4. These channels have the same line-in gain issue as described above. Only...there's no way to switch to a mic level gain. Meaning...these channels are not usable without using a preamp. It bears repeating...these two channels are not usable without a preamp going into them. (I deployed a little Samson S-Amp and it raised the gain levels to be a point that is loud enough for another guitar player to play with me using one of these channels.)

The reverb, on the channels that have it, is way overpowered. Luckily, you can turn it off on each channel. If you do turn it on, nothing more than about 5% of the knob is needed. Otherwise, the effect oversaturates the channel and sounds like you're running a myriad of effects.

After a few calls to JBL Pro about these issues, it is clear that the technicians know about these above-stated issues. The gain disparities, especially. There is no current plan to address them (as of the date of this review, at least). I wonder what changes might be made on future units?

[open-road-matt]

Originally Posted by dragonfly66

I'm seriously looking at getting this, I sing and play the guitar. I have a friend who plays the flute and she is also looking at the EON One. Thank you so much for sharing your experience here.

I saw one review of the JBL EON One on the Sweetwater site which mentioned the unusable low gain of the inputs 1/2 (in line mode) and 3/4. The reviewer also commented on the reverb being overpowering. Have you experienced these same issues with gain and the reverb?

I haven't used the reverb at all. I haven't ever used any effects so I can't comment on that.

I did try a guitar with an active pickup into channel 2 with Line selected and even with the volume turned all the way up it wasn't loud at all. I ended up selecting Mic and barely brought up the volume at all.

I think what happens is that all of these companies desperately want flashy marketing materials and neat sounding tag lines, "one trip into the venue!" "Carry your guitar in one hand and the Eon One in the other!"

In order to make these claims of an all in one system they have to have a built in mixer. Instead of doing it right JBL half-assed it and now everyone is disappointed.

Yes you can plug a guitar and mic into it and do a show and that is a nice option when you need it but I might rather see them knock a few hundred dollars off the price and have one input for a mixer and one XLR out to connect to another unit and be done with it.

That way it would just be a nice sounding system. That's how I'm looking at it and that's how I'm using the system. It's just a compact sub with a top in an easy to haul/set up package that fills an area nicely with sound. There might be times when I plug into the built in mixer but those will be few and far between.

Another option would have been more transparency. I'll rewrite their marketing materials for them:

"Hey, we know a lot of you have your favorite mixer or preamp and we've made it easy to connect those to the Eon One. For those who want to be more streamlined, we've built in a couple of channels with some basic controls. Nothing fancy but enough to plug a guitar and mic in for those times you want to leave the extra gear at home!"

Instead they came out with all that six channel mixer stuff, over promised and under delivered. They have taken the positive focus off of a nicely designed, good sounding system. The reviews will always have a "yes, but."

Matt

[dragonfly66]

Thanks Matt, the One is compelling for the coverage that you've described and the very nice sound. The compact storage of the tower is also nice. The mixer is disappointing.

I do have a small external mixer, but I don't use it unless I'm playing with someone. I use the VoiceLive 3 for pre-amp and effects for vocals and guitar. Do you think plugging the VoiceLive 3 direct into the One would be fine for volume?

My friend that play's the flute does not have an external mixer so she will need a small mixer or some type of pre-amp.

I had planned to buy the One this week, but now I'm torn. Should I wait and see what Fishman comes out with to replace the SA220, which had a great mixer, but maybe doesn't sound as good or have the same type of coverage as the One OR get the One and and suck up the fact that I will need a pre-amp or mixer. I'm not convinced the SA220 replacement is coming this summer as I've seen nothing form Fishman just internet rumors.

[Uncle Pauhana]

Originally Posted by dragonfly66

Should I wait and see what Fishman comes out with to replace the SA220, which had a great mixer, but maybe doesn't sound as good or have the same type of coverage as the One OR get the One and and suck up the fact that I will need a pre-amp or mixer. I'm not convinced the SA220 replacement is coming this summer as I've seen nothing form Fishman just internet rumors.

The time to buy is when you need something, of course... but if you can wait to see what Fishman comes up with, you wonʻt end up regretting your Eon One purchase if Fishman knocks it out of the park. I don't know anything more than you do about when the replacement for the SA220 is coming, but I do know that Fishman could not be happy about potential sales going to their competitors while they have nothing to offer. I'm sure they are doing everything possible to get it out the door, and this is not exactly their first product intro, so I'm optimistic. Maybe give their customer service a call and see if they'll tell you anything…

[cotten]

Originally Posted by open-road-matt

...I've always avoided the little hot-spot mic stand monitors... but he had this little Powerwerks one...I should have done this years ago. I don't think I ever would have gotten rid of my Bose!

Matt

Haha! I suspected I wasn't the only one to have ever done this. I played in a good sized room that had only a small corner for a stage. I couldn't get my L1 behind me, and I didn't like what I was hearing with it so far off to the side. I had easy access to an old, powered Hotspot. I hooked it up, set it on a stool about three feet away, and used it at a very low level, as something of a "fill" kind of monitor. While I'd rather not mess with one ordinarily, for this situation it worked perfectly.

cotten

[FunkenBlues]

I spoke to a Fishman rep at Sweetwater's GearFest and he said the new unit should be shipping in about 3 weeks and said it will be a HUGE improvement over the SA220 which I never heard but everyone seems to love.

Another Forum member was able to get more info on this new model.

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=437707

I hope that helps.

Just out of curiosity, I read a lot of posts where many of you can not accurately tell if your mix is good and too low or loud. Why not invest in a wireless mic and guitar system so you can walk anywhere in venue and hear exactly your sound? That's what I plan on doing as I do not have a vocal mic yet. Plus Line 6 just came out with that inexpensive but super cool wireless guitar system. Forgot name but go to Line 6 website and you will see it.