JBL EON Compact Unboxing/Initial Review

[Justinian]

I'm wondering how it would sound with Yamaha's pick systems (SRT, ART) or just electric guitar itself without any pedal.

[AeroUSA]

Originally Posted by Justinian

I'm wondering how it would sound with Yamaha's pick systems (SRT, ART) or just electric guitar itself without any pedal.

Active systems seem fine but it’s always best to test of course.

[AeroUSA]

Originally Posted by DMZ

Really enjoy all the talking points and demo. Would this provide phantom power my Trance Amulet MVT phantom? Not an expert. I don’t have a need for this amp but then that hasn’t stopped me from GAS in years!

It has phantom on channel 1 for the mic...

[AeroUSA]

Originally Posted by stephenT

Being a non-fan of the K&K experience, sadly the demo does me no good in understanding how the JBL will work for me. I know a lot of folks seem to like the piezo disc approach, I'm just not that guy.

My intended use is with a magnetic pickup w/ buffer box used in a four piece acoustic band (no drums) and an acoustic duo. I'll post my impressions later today as soon as FedEx stops by.

Please let me know how it sounds with that pickup. Hopefully I can use some of your feedback in my final review if that’s ok.

[Cuki79]

Originally Posted by lpa53

Thanks for the explanation. What is the dfifference between the line and mic settings on the Eon channels 1 and 2? As I recall, in the video he got more gain for the instrument when setting the channel to mic. I would imagine something is compromised when doing that.

Here is a picture quoted from the EON 610 manual (which is not the JBL Eon one compact... But let's consider it is the same people who made both).


You can see the Mic/Line controls an extra gain stage. The manual is some what unclear... So I will just quote it

Line Input Gain:Infinity to +26.8dB (+14dBu max input level)
Mic Input Gain:Infinity to +29dB (in addition to line input gain)

As I interprete it, there are two gain stages and one volume per channel.
Each channel has:
* a first +29dB gain stage that can be turned ON (MIC mode) or OFF (Line level mode)
* a second +26.8 dB gain stage which is always ON.
* A volume pot that attenuate from - infinity to max volume (which is either 26.8dB in Line level or 55.8dB in mic mode.)

Those numbers are normal, here are for example the gain pots of standard mixers

The maximum mic gain is around 40-60dB and the maximum line gain is around 30-40s.

Note that 55.8dB gain in mic mode is a lot... There is a good chance to overdrive your mixer even with a standard mic... So I might misinterprete JBL notations.

[BoneDigger]

A stupid question...

Are audio drivers hardware or software? Would audio drivers be upgradeable through a firmware update if there were enough complaints or does that require hardware changes? Sorry for the ignorant question.

[AeroUSA]

Originally Posted by BoneDigger

A stupid question...

Are audio drivers hardware or software? Would audio drivers be upgradeable through a firmware update if there were enough complaints or does that require hardware changes? Sorry for the ignorant question.

A good question. Does anyone know?

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by AeroUSA

A good question. Does anyone know?

The preamps are fixed gain class A preamps. They likely cannot be improved through a firmware update. A circuit change would be required.

[Cuki79]

Originally Posted by BoneDigger

A stupid question...

Are audio drivers hardware or software? Would audio drivers be upgradeable through a firmware update if there were enough complaints or does that require hardware changes ? Sorry for the ignorant question.

Analog gain is fixed and is hardware. However is the signal is not too low, they could add some digital gain by a firmware update.

The analog gain brings your signal to oscillate between 0 and 5v. If your signal goes up to 5v you get the best dynamic and best signal to noise ratio. If the analog gain is too low, your signal my oscillate between 0 and 0.1v. In this case it means that among the 24 bits used to encode the signal between 0 and 5v many bits would remain set to 0 since the signal never goes higher than 0.1v... for example your actual signal might only use 18 bits, the other 6 bits being 000000 all the time. In the firmware you can implement digital gain. Let’s say you multiply the signal by 2. Then 19 bits would be used and 5 bits would be left unused... etc. The only problem with digital gain is that the noise introduced by the analog to digital conversion will be multiplied by 2 with the signal. So you will get more digital hum too. This would not occur with a proper analog gain stage.

[stephenT]

Well,.. it's back in the box. I'm afraid I set a high bar as an alternative to hauling my Schertler Jam 400 when I don't need the extra channels and use it as a singular acoustic amp. It is the best acoustic amp I've heard/owned.

Not enough volume for my use, didn't like the initial sound,.. upper mids/top end being harsh to my ear, maybe w/ a mic that wouldn't be a bad thing, might help w clarity. I'm sure you could EQ and get a better sound

From what I recall from my Bose S1 demo at Guitar Center (w my guitar) the Bose sounds better for acoustic. Though I don't think the S1 would suite my needs any better.

All that said I can see how it'd might work great for a solo performer w/ guitar and voice in a small room, two would be better but then for the $$s there are other choices.

Originally Posted by AeroUSA

Please let me know how it sounds with that pickup. Hopefully I can use some of your feedback in my final review if that’s ok.

[AeroUSA]

Cuki and Dave... So is the gain thing a real issue or not? My QSC speakers don’t get to their full potential without a preamp in front of them either...

[AeroUSA]

Originally Posted by stephenT

Well,.. it's back in the box. I'm afraid I set a high bar as an alternative to hauling my Schertler Jam 400 when I don't need the extra channels and use it as a singular acoustic amp. It is the best acoustic amp I've heard/owned.

Not enough volume for my use, didn't like the initial sound,.. upper mids/top end being harsh to my ear, maybe w/ a mic that wouldn't be a bad thing, might help w clarity. I'm sure you could EQ and get a better sound

From what I recall from my Bose S1 demo at Guitar Center (w my guitar) the Bose sounds better for acoustic. Though I don't think the S1 would suite my needs any better.

All that said I can see how it'd might work great for a solo performer w/ guitar and voice in a small room, two would be better but then for the $$s there are other choices.

With all respect that’s like comparing a toy car to a race car..

[stephenT]

That's why I left my review w/ a caveat,.. YMMV. I can see a number of good uses for the EON One Compact.

Originally Posted by AeroUSA

With all respect that’s like comparing a toy car to a race car..

[BoneDigger]

I would certainly expect a $1500 system to work better. I would be performing with just me and a guitar and no band situations. I think I am going to give it a shot and see if it is better than the Loudbox Mini Charge. If not, I'll send it back for a refund.

[Chriscom]

Just wanna say the amount of expertise in this forum is amazing.

Also, weak gain staging, at least somewhere in the product, is a JBL mission statement at this point.