Connect TC Play Acoustic > Bose L1C

[troggg]

Originally Posted by AndyC

A word of caution - it can be quite difficult to get the perfect balance between guitar and vocals when just relying on the Play Acoustic.

If you can stretch to it, by far the better option would be to use the individual outputs of the Play Acoustic into a small mixer and then send a blended mono signal from the mixer into the L1C.

The little Allen & Heath Zed6 at under $100 would be perfect.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...th-zed-6-mixer

As in a good balance at home might not translate into a good balance when playing out? Then you'd have to menu dive into a device at foot level? Am I close? Tell me more.

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by troggg

As in a good balance at home might not translate into a good balance when playing out? Then you'd have to menu dive into a device at foot level? Am I close? Tell me more.

You've got it.

It's easy to adjust levels on the fly with a small mixer.

[gfirob]

+ 1 on two outputs into a mixer. I do that so that I can adjust the voice and guitar levels separately in the room and on the fly.

[troggg]

Ummmm .... er ... okay ... but then how do I go from mixer to L1C as in what kind of cables from which type of outputs into which input(s)? Then Tonematch on or off, etc?

So much for simplicity

[Chriscom]

Originally Posted by troggg

Ummmm .... er ... okay ... but then how do I go from mixer to L1C as in what kind of cables from which type of outputs into which input(s)? Then Tonematch on or off, etc?

So much for simplicity

Two lines out of your Play Acoustic into a mixer.

One line out of the mixer into the Bose L1C--assuming the mixer has a mono line out where it combines its signals. Very common feature--your PA is similar, tweakable by menu apparently.

Experiment with the Tonematch, you'll prefer it one way or the other. I would try Line In first.

What kind of cables? The cable from your mixer into the L1C must be 1/4 inch (whether TRS or simple guitar jack, TS) on one end, and whatever the mixer has available for its combined mono out, either XLR or 1/4 inch.

Your two PA-to-Mixer connections will be female XLR on the PA end, and whatever input the mixer likes on the other end--likely you'll have a choice between (probably male) XLR and 1/4 inch.

In terms of the quality of the signal, this should be fine--you have a solid chain and all the easily accessible EQ and volume controls you'd need.

In terms of elegance and simplicity, yeah, it's a lot of hoops to jump through. We're not even counting your vocal and mic inputs into the PA, in the description above.

Open to correction by others.

[JakeStone]

Originally Posted by troggg

Ummmm .... er ... okay ... but then how do I go from mixer to L1C as in what kind of cables from which type of outputs into which input(s)? Then Tonematch on or off, etc?

So much for simplicity

Let's back up a second..

As a solo acoustic guitar / singer .. I've used my Play Acoustic into my Bose L1 Compact many times without a "mixer. That is the beauty of the Play Acoustic!
No tonematch... sounds great... easy to set the output mix and volume.

[troggg]

Originally Posted by JakeStone

Let's back up a second..

As a solo acoustic guitar / singer .. I've used my Play Acoustic into my Bose L1 Compact many times without a "mixer. That is the beauty of the Play Acoustic!
No tonematch... sounds great... easy to set the output mix and volume.

Well I'll certainly try out the beauty of the Play Acoustic by itself content in the knowledge that there's an inexpensive Plan B if I encounter voice/guitar balance issues down the road.

[troggg]

So I was reading the Play Acoustic manual ... and I come across a line which says something to the effect of: "All guitar settings are global; while voice settings change with different numbered presets, the guitar does not."

Really????

Is that true?

So far there is no doubt that using the Play Acoustic with a Bose L1C is way better than not using it for my K&K equipped Collings dread and vox. But what good is having all those sweet TC effects if you're stuck with the same guitar sound for every song??? Hopefully I'm missing something?

[troggg]

Hmm. Maybe I have an old manual? Strange. Downloaded it from the TC Helicon site.

[troggg]

Ah. Maybe something about turning off a Global Effects setting in the System menu. I'll try that. (later) Phew. Thought my time with the Play Acoustic was up after 2 days.

It sounds pretty good although the Advanced EQ stuff isn't that easy to wrap my head around. Then again EQ is always my Achilles heel. Anyone got any tips (Play Acoustic specific) for a K&K Pure Mini passive and a Collings CJ35 which is their take on a vintage Gibson J45?

[Guitaurman]

If you have the latest firmware download you can turn off the global effects. That's what I did and now I can have one preset with the chorus effect on and switch to a different preset and have a nice un effected guitar sound. It's easy to download the latest firmware.

[Marty C]

One issue I always had with TC is, “when you update the firmware to include major changes like being able to have guitar delay and being able to save different guitar presets, why do you not update the manual so we don’t have to figure this out on our own”.

The online manual is the same manual version that came with my unit when they first came out years ago. They should at least have an amendment. I assume that is why the manual list a date.

Honestly you have to use this forum (or TC Heicon forum) if you want to learn this.

If you guys know different let me know.

[troggg]

Yeah the firmware was already updated to the latest -- the problem was definitely the un-updated manual! That's what I get for RTFM

Another point of confusion is that parametric EQ settings are buried under "BodyRez" settings, as if everyone would automatically assume EQ is a subset of BodyRez.

That said, the unit isn't that tough to get around after playing with it for a few hours. I was definitely way happier practicing with it than without it.

Regarding having to use a small mixer with it ... I can see how that would be both more and less convenient. Yes, I did feel like adjusting vox/guitar levels several times, although I was just getting used to the unit and it wasn't "dialed in." But the mix level isn't buried that deep in the menus, you can just raise or lower the guitar level at a pretty "high level" of menuing (although bending over to do so at a gig would in fact be inconvenient).

Then again, with adding a mixer, then you'd have to take along another piece of equipment along with the accompanying cabling and find a place to put it onstage which also complicates the issue in its own way.

Option 3 would be going straight into an effect-equipped small mixer ... which adds the flexibility of knobs and being able to accommodate more players quickly. With that you'd lose the ability to save presets unless it was a digital mixer in which case you lose knobs.

And so on and so on. It's funny, when I first hopped on this forum 6 months or so ago, I couldn't figure out why the regulars were changing their rigs all the time. Well ... I know now!

[gfirob]

There are advanced settings for Body Rez, and you can massage it to find the best setup for your guitar since, after all, guitars are all different. I have zeroed out the Body Rez in favor of a Tonedexter for guitar processing.

So I bring three boxes to the gig—a Play Acoustic, a Tonedexter and a little Mackie 802 mixer. The three boxes are velcroed to a music stand with short cables so they are wired as a unit and stay together for packing in and out and I use the 3 button TC Helicon remote pedal to control things. I take one balanced TRS cable out of the mixer into the Aux-in in a Fishman SA220, rather than using their preamps (in order to avoid stacking too many preamps). So I just use the Soloamp as a PA.

That gives me individual levels for voice or guitar on the mixer close at hand and three bands of eq at the mixer as well to adjust for the room if I want to.

Obviously there is a tradeoff between how much stuff you pack in and how much convenience you have at the venue (or how much you can control how you sound).

[rob2966]

I also run a small Mackie mixer between my Play Acoustic and my Bose L1C.

I like the added flexibility the mixer offers and it isn’t too much effort to pack around and set up.