Everse 8 First Impression

[lpa53]

I got an Everse 8 on Monday and these impressions have been made only after two days of fiddling with it and with the knowledge that I'm a total know-nothing about amplification technicalities.

The build is solid. I was surprised that it won't fit on my Fishman 330x stand. The Fishman's pole is slightly larger than the Everse's cup. Odd. I have two Fishman tripods, one from the original 220 and one I got when Fishman replaced the 220 with a "factory second" 330x. I'd hate to have to buy yet another stand. I wonder if there's an adapter to transition to a smaller diameter.

DSP and APP
The Everse app works well on both my Android phone and tablet, but I've had the Bluetooth connection drop a few times. That may be due to user error, specifically my having navigated back to the "Select Speaker" page. I'm a bit disappointed that effects can't be applied per channel, but then I rarely use anything other than reverb. The supplied presets don't affect any of the channel settings displayed in the app so I'm not sure what they do. I've sent a query about it to Electro-Voice. I've also noticed that in two pages that allow you to mute the main, the setting in one isn't mirrored in the other. Again, it could be user error or my just not understanding the app, which by the way comes with no instructions as of yet.

SOUND
As with other amps, the mic channel (1) had to have the gain really cranked to get a volume from my SM58 equal to the guitar, which didn't require much gain. The Shure A85F transformer that I've used to boost output to the Fishman amps produced a high-pitched whistle on the Everse. Though I may look for a higher-output mic (another thread I've posted) using a just-purchased Triton FetHead Inline Preamp made a huge difference. I get good mic volume with gain on both channels at or just above zero. For some reason I can't even get the mic to clip. I will say that so far, I've not heard any breaking up of the sound, something that caused me to return a Loudbox Mini and the JBL EON ONE Compact. I assume this is due to the higher wattage. I'll have to put it through a test with both vocals and guitar to see if this holds.

At first blush I thought I liked the out of the box sound but a crude recording test has me thinking I need to fiddle with it. I prefer the 330's warm sound and hope there's a way to move the harsh-sounding Everse toward the 330. Again, I'm an "Acoustic Amplification for Idiots" guy and don't know what tweaks would accomplish that, or if it's even possible.

Below is the crude comparison, recorded by my phone with volume equalized in a DAW. Amp EQ was set flat and no effects were added. The phone was about 10 feet from the amps. On the amped samples there's probably some bleed-though of the guitar as I didn't move away form the phone when recording those.

The three samples are 1) the unamplified guitar (Hoffman Jumbo), 2) the 330x, and 3) the Everse 8.



I'm still torn about the Everse, partly because I'm averse to spending money. Weight isn't a controlling factor since I don't travel on trains to gigs and almost always take two guitars. A one and done trip from the car is pretty rare. I do like the idea of controlling from the app and I'm trying to go wireless because I don't care to fight with cables. I've also never had a backup amp and have had times when the 220 went out on me before a gig and I had to borrow from an amp from a friend. Right now, if I can get to a point where I can get a sound I'm comfortable with I'll probably keep it. The alternative would be a CP8 and a mixer. That would cost about the same but would require more setup time and cable mess.

[Chriscom]

Great detailed review. I've been tempted on this one for awhile.


The Fishman's pole is slightly larger than the Everse's cup.

I could be wrong, but I think it's the Fishman pole that departs from the industry standard, not that that helps you any.


The Everse app works well on both my Android phone and tablet, but I've had the Bluetooth connection drop a few times.

On my 30m, mine has been rock-solid at a brewhouse and farmer's market I play. But that's just two environments. And your select-speaker thought may explain it. Once after not using the PA or the app for ages I couldn't connect, and had to uninstall/reinstall the app to connect again.


The supplied presets don't affect any of the channel settings displayed in the app so I'm not sure what they do. I've sent a query about it to Electro-Voice.

Looking forward to what they say! My first thought is that sets a different EQ baseline, just doesn't display it how we'd expect--because the EQ settings don't specify what frequencies are emphasized, it's just a numbering system. So e.g. in its standard setting, the Mid shows zero, let's say that's 1.5 kHz. But if I choose Acoustic Guitar, that same "0" is actually 1 kHz. I think something like that would be the "mid-scoop" you hear about on some acoustic guitar settings to make it sound less muddy. But the above is just a guess.


I've also noticed that in two pages that allow you to mute the main, the setting in one isn't mirrored in the other. Again, it could be user error or my just not understanding the app, which by the way comes with no instructions as of yet.

The lack of documentation is one of the top complaints of otherwise happy Evolve 30m/50m owners and I see that hasn't changed on the Everse.

With the "two pages that allow you to mute the main," the one doesn't affect the other because one is actually Speaker, and the other is Main.

And thanks to your question I think I finally noticed the difference, which was stumping me. The Speaker setting controls the volume of sub, and then bass/mid/treble for I presume the stick. And there's an overall volume for a litte more tweaking. So these have nothing to do with EQ (and if my theory above is right, is why none of those settings change with different presets).


At first blush I thought I liked the out of the box sound but a crude recording test has me thinking I need to fiddle with it. I prefer the 330's warm sound...

Based on your recordings, strong agree! Some owners have stated that the Everse isn't nearly as pleasing out of the box as the Bose S1 (which I have and love, for its appropriate purpose). Most say they can get much better sound with tweaking though. In the long-running comparison thread, a bunch are asking necrome, who just got his hands one on, to share his EQ tweaks.

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...=657690&page=8


(Re the Speaker control, maybe for other users: A common error with new users of the app is failing to unmute all three locations: Speaker, Main and the invidual channels, and at least in my case it was because I thought Speaker and Main were the same thing. And once you dive into the Mixer settings, it's easy to overlook how to get back to Speaker; it's small grey text at upper left.

Another good feature to know is that you can add text to the channel names. So instead of just "1" you can make it read "1 Chris mic" or whatever. This may be more useful on the 30m with more channels)

[lpa53]

Chriscom:

I too think it's Fishman who departed from the standard, and that's not playing nice.

Concerning the supplied presets, here's Electro-Voice's response, which supports your thoughts:

"When using the Quicksmart app there is no Diagram where you can see what parameters changed, it works internally in the DSP but you cant see the difference, there is no documentation for each preset, we have many of them so what we do is load a preset and if it sounds good for you, if you have good audio in the output that is it."

I just discovered the app section that allows multi-band EQ and also has options for high and low pass filters among others. I'm thinking that even these would sit on top of the presets selected elsewhere, making for a ton of possible combinations. It might be best to start the search for one's desired tone by applying the "Flat" preset and then trying the offerings under PEQ. I'm going to tinker with it in the coming days.

[Chriscom]

Originally Posted by lpa53

I just discovered the app section that allows multi-band EQ and also has options for high and low pass filters among others. I'm thinking that even these would sit on top of the presets selected elsewhere, making for a ton of possible combinations. It might be best to start the search for one's desired tone by applying the "Flat" preset and then trying the offerings under PEQ. I'm going to tinker with it in the coming days.

That and their reply (at least they replied) shows how hilarious the lack of documentation is for such a great ability to shape the tones.

Given the rabbit holes you can go down and then forget, it's worth noting that you can save up to five settings, what Bose and maybe others call scene-saving. The manual explains how to do it on the back of the PA--what EV calls their DSP, whatever that stands for--but I don't know if that can be initiated or switched from the app.

Originally Posted by lpa53

I just discovered the app section that allows multi-band EQ and also has options for high and low pass filters among others. I'm thinking that even these would sit on top of the presets selected elsewhere, making for a ton of possible combinations.

Who knows, and I'm sure EV is pulling for us!

[shufflebeat]

Good work, folks.

[RogerPease]

The Fishman pole is indeed larger than the current standard.
I bought a cheap sub pole. It slips *inside* the Fishman pole and has a standard, smaller end on it.
I stick my S1 Pro on top of the sub pole to elevate it. Should work fine for an Everse.
If that's not enough info let me know and I'll figure out/look up exactly what I bought.

Cheers, _Roger

[lpa53]

Originally Posted by RogerPease

The Fishman pole is indeed larger than the current standard.
I bought a cheap sub pole. It slips *inside* the Fishman pole and has a standard, smaller end on it.
I stick my S1 Pro on top of the sub pole to elevate it. Should work fine for an Everse.
If that's not enough info let me know and I'll figure out/look up exactly what I bought.

Cheers, _Roger

Yes, I would like to see what sub pole you used. I've been thinking of an adapter that goes outside the tube but inside sounds easier now that I think of it. How did you secure it in the Fishman pole and were you still able to use the holes to adjust the height?

[RogerPease]

Hi, Paul. Since you asked: :-)

I bought this: Gator GFW-SPK-SUB60 from Sweetwater for ~$18, it's ~$30 now.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...table-sub-pole

Other people have it, too, of course.
It has swaged end that fits into the top of the Fishman stand after you take the end plug out of the Fishman’s tube.
The sub pole then has its own holes and pin.

A couple downsides:
- The Gator sub pole is steel and a little heavy. An aluminum sub pole would be lighter, but more $$.
- The minimum height for this arrangement will put the top of the Bose S1 Pro at about 6 feet.
(The max possible hight is about 9 feet to the top of the S1, but that might not be safe. Be careful!)

There could be other sub pole options that would work better, lighter, etc. So do some research.

Here’s something I forgot I did!
I took a 38 inch long piece of 1 inch schedule 40 PVC pipe and drilled 3 holes in it to line up with the Fishman pole holes.
Then I painted it flat black.
Finally I wrapped just enough black duct tape around each end to fit smoothly into the Fishman tube and into the socket on the bottom of the S1.
To use, slide the end with holes into the Fishman tube until the desired holes line up.
Then slide the Fishman pin through both tubes.
The PVC version weighs a fraction of the steel sub pole but is a bit fussier to use. Very cheap, though. :-)

Again, attention should be paid to stability.
The Bose is light weight. I wouldn’t use either rig on a 15 inch powered speaker, for instance! Just saying.

Hope this helps. Good luck and happy hunting. Cheers, _Roger

[lpa53]

Originally Posted by RogerPease

Hi, Paul. Since you asked: :-) ...

Here’s something I forgot I did!
I took a 38 inch long piece of 1 inch schedule 40 PVC pipe and drilled 3 holes in it to line up with the Fishman pole holes.
Then I painted it flat black.
Finally I wrapped just enough black duct tape around each end to fit smoothly into the Fishman tube and into the socket on the bottom of the S1.
To use, slide the end with holes into the Fishman tube until the desired holes line up.
Then slide the Fishman pin through both tubes.
The PVC version weighs a fraction of the steel sub pole but is a bit fussier to use. Very cheap, though. :-)

Thanks for the link and the suggestions. Funnily enough, prior to seeing your reply I came up with a solution similar to your cheap one. I noticed that on the stand Fishman included with the 330x replacement for my malfunctioning 220 there was a bolt-through knob at the top of the pole that wasn't on the 220's pole and which also does not appear in the stand images on the Fishman website. What it's for I don't know, but it allowed me to use only a short section of PVC into which I drilled a single set of holes.

I moved the cap from the top of the pole to the bottom, slid in the PVC (with a few plastic strips added to reduce wobble) and bolted through it with the seemingly superfluous bolt assembly. The Everse does wobble a bit on the slightly too narrow PVC pipe but the two attempts at widening I tried made in nearly impossible to either turn or remove. So I'll leave well enough alone for now - except to paint the PVC tube black. I also don't need the height provided by the Gator pole at this time. If I need better projection I'll use the 330x.

[Rudy4]

There are two "standard" speaker stand pole diameters. The pole diameter and the socket diameter have to mate, of course.

One of my stands had the swagged smaller end at the opposite end of the upright telescoping section and the center section could be slid out and re-inserted so the swagged end was exposed. Check for that possibility before making are purchasing an pole size adapter.

Gator Frameworks instructions:
"Includes dual diameter inner tubing for 35mm and 38mm speaker mounts. Simply release the tension knob, pull the inner tubing out, flip it and re-insert it to use the other size."

The other thing I would HIGHLY recommend is to adjust the tripod feet so the center supports are horizontal, allowing the legs to extend to their maximum footprint for stability.

[lpa53]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

... The other thing I would HIGHLY recommend is to adjust the tripod feet so the center supports are horizontal, allowing the legs to extend to their maximum footprint for stability.

I usually do this but just set it up quickly to see it the modification worked decently. But I'll fix it now in that I'd hate to ruin the new amp.

[lpa53]

I've been fooling around with the Everse EQ options and found that adding a high pass filter and upping the bass on the guitar gave me a better sound. I did another set of recordings, this time with my old but still working ZOOM Q3.

The first sample is the Fishman 330x with bass boosted and mids down, to match what I did on the Everse.

The second sample is the Everse on tripod (with that setting), high pass set very high, and bass boosted with mids and trebles reduced.

The third is the guitar unamplified.

To my ear, the Everse 8 with these settings sounds close to that of the unplugged guitar and definitely doesn't sound as brittle as it did before the high cut.

I'll note that after hearing, and not much caring for, the muddiness of the 330x with my usual bass boost, I'll record the 330x flat to get a better feel for the difference and may decide that's a better way to go, despite my thinking it sounds better to my ear as a player with the bass upped.

[ZackPomerleau]

Originally Posted by lpa53

I've been fooling around with the Everse EQ options and found that adding a high pass filter and upping the bass on the guitar gave me a better sound. I did another set of recordings, this time with my old but still working ZOOM Q3.

The first sample is the Fishman 330x with bass boosted and mids down, to match what I did on the Everse.

The second sample is the Everse on tripod (with that setting), high pass set very high, and bass boosted with mids and trebles reduced.

The third is the guitar unamplified.

To my ear, the Everse 8 with these settings sounds close to that of the unplugged guitar and definitely doesn't sound as brittle as it did before the high cut.

I'll note that after hearing, and not much caring for, the muddiness of the 330x with my usual bass boost, I'll record the 330x flat to get a better feel for the difference and may decide that's a better way to go, despite my thinking it sounds better to my ear as a player with the bass upped.

It sounds really good. I think the thing with the Bose is there’s a good mid cut on them so a flatter eq is brighter.

[JackB1]

use channel one for guitar and two for vocals. That will bring the two closer together. If you use two (high z) for guitar, it will boost it ever more. I use channel one for my guitar and there’s about 15 difference in the two gain levels to have them equal.

[ZackPomerleau]

Originally Posted by JackB1

use channel one for guitar and two for vocals. That will bring the two closer together. If you use two (high z) for guitar, it will boost it ever more. I use channel one for my guitar and there’s about 15 difference in the two gain levels to have them equal.

Input 2 isn’t just hi z, there’s a little thing that pops up telling you if you’re utilizing it or not.