Fender Passport Upgrade Path?

[brancher]

Hi, All,
I'm at a little bit of an impasse....

I use my old Fender passport 300 Pro for hosting open mics, doing small outdoor gatherings, and small-med gigs in bars, listening rooms, etc, and their assorted patios. As you giggers already know, acoustics are always all over the map in these places, so I need some quick flexibility as well. The Fender works well, could use a little more power, but it is clear and pretty easy to set up. But as demands on my setup evolve to bigger venues and louder humans, I am looking to upgrade a little bit.

But I also have a Fishman Artist and a Bose S1Pro. Both are excellent amps with the Fishman edging out on guitar, but the Bose actually doing very well on voice... really they both do an excellent on both, but my ears like the Fish for my guitars.

Anyway, I am looking to gain a little volume without breaking the bank, and I'd love it if I could use existing resources (Fish and S1) instead of springing for a new L1 or SA330 w sub, Carvin/mixer, etc, etc.

So, some options:
1. Buy a complete SA330x w sub (or the corresponding Bose).
2. Just upgrade the Fender to a Venue or something... (not first choice, but these really are good, decent systems..
3. Stick a pole mount on the Artist and use the Artist And S1 Pro together for horizontal spread and projection.
4. Spring for a Bose Sub1, use it with the S1 Pro and Artist.
5. Dump everything, buy an accordion, and start over

I am an acoustic player, interested in clarity, quality, voice complement, some percussion when available. And I am a little behind on the amplification part, and in case nobody noticed, the more research I do, the more confused I get!

Any suggestions? I'd love to hear from folks who've optimized usage of the Artist and/or S1Pro....

But Anyone with any experience, please jump in with suggestions.

Thanks All!

[rmp]

I use a Fishman Artist and a Bose S1, I do like the ability to use ear buds so I run them from a small 12ch mixer as a stereo setup

I use the phones out to my ear buds.

The Bose on a pole, the Artist on tall bar stool kind off to each side, I stand a bit behind them.

I never had a problem where it didn't do the job with mix of both inside and outside settings.

I probably don't do this as often as you tho.

[YamahaGuy]

If you want/need to do "LOUD" well, nothing beats a powered speaker (or two). The new ones are light, powerful, barely use any power at all, and add an immense amount of flexibility to your setup, i.e. as FOH, as monitors, as satellite speakers.

Use the stereo line out to dual XLR and on to a couple powered speakers.

[Murphy Slaw]

I have an S1-Pro and use it with 2 mics. One (SM58) for voice, and the other (SM57) for acoustic guitar or mandolin or dobro.

If you want louder and simple, just run a line out of it into a Bose L1-Compact, or a powered speaker on a pole.

My L1-Compact covered a pretty large room the other night, and I had forgotten how well it disperses sound, but got to spend some time walking around the room while the opening act played.

It's magical.

[Methos1979]

I'd say your cheapest route to get a lot more power and spread would be to pick up a second Bose S1 and put both S1's on a single pole with a dual adapter out front using your Fishman Artist as a monitor/mixer sending out the signal to the dual S1's. As you likely know, the S1 gets pretty loud when the signal is preamped. So as long as you put them out front (so you don't blow your ears out) you'd get a lot of volume and spread (angle the S1's out from each other) for probably around $500. You could also just throw a QSC k8.2 into the mix but I like the symmetry of the dual Bose S1's. I used a dual S1 on a single pole for year with an EAE StompMix X6 floor mixer and it was great. These days I've gone to the excellent Evolve 30M. You could always sell your Fish, Bose and Passport and be well on your way to a 30M or better yet, a 50M and have all the power and dispersion you would need for just about anything.

[edward993]

Originally Posted by brancher

Hi, All,
...Anyway, I am looking to gain a little volume without breaking the bank, and I'd love it if I could use existing resources (Fish and S1) instead of springing for a new L1 or SA330 w sub, Carvin/mixer, etc, etc. ...Thanks All!

So you want more volume because the systems you have don't have enough punch to get you there, is this right?

Powered speakers, and done. You could definitely add another SA330 or S1, but that's bucks. Try getting one Yamaha DXR (10 or 12, both superb but I prefer the 10 over the 12 for its size/weight advantage). The DXRs are more than merely "loud," they are crisp, balanced, and flat-out sound great bottom to top without ever sounding harsh, especially when cranking! Easy to find used and save yourself serious dough. Add one to your setup and see what you hear.

Edward

[brancher]

Boy, thanks for all the responses - family emergency took me away from this thread for awhile.... so, update!

I did a smallish gig in a smallish bar, under 70 people, didn't wanna tote my Fender, also I took Methos79's suggestion and hooked up my S1 Pro thru my mixed line out (Mix DI out) on the Fishman Artist, land the sound was pretty phenomenal.... I was very impressed with the crispness, projection, and consistent volume across the whole room. Truth is, the S1 Pro with my Artist was significantly nicer than the Fender as far as sound quality and consistent freq response and room coverage.

By the way, a big shout-out to Methos79 - we have had a very good conversation and his video reviews are very good as well -- after our conversation I dropped by a GC and did a cursory test of four units - the L1 Pro8, the Evolve 30m, the JBL MkII, and the Harbinger. Unfortunately, the only 'demoing' going on was from the worker's cell phone, less than 4 feet away, horrible conditions - and so not the best articulation. But I did find out I like the L1 Pro8 and the Evolve 30m the best out of the four I looked at.

I've also heard that the Mackie SRM Flex is 'best bang in the mkt' at its price point, and so I will test one of these - with a real guitar - today. And (of course), another friend is pushing a Samson unit that's supposed to be great as well.

But - to be honest - it may come down to a decision between a Sub1/additional S1 Pro purchase -- or the Evolve 30m. Coincidently - the Evolve 30 costs just about the same as a Sub1 an additional S1 pro.... actually, slightly less, and it has a great mix capability with lots of ports - and an app...

Ain't it funny how the industry figures out how much the average solo guy is willing to pay, then engineers itself to cost exactly that much? The world's a funny place.

P.S. I may never get to the end of this path.....

[Murphy Slaw]

Originally Posted by brancher

Truth is, the S1 Pro with my Artist was significantly nicer than the Fender as far as sound quality and consistent freq response and room coverage.

It's an amazing little box, that's for sure.

[Br1ck]

Huge fan of powered QSC speakers, with one or two Beheringer powered 8" speakers for monitors and a small mixer. This would of course, mean starting over.