I've been gigging for a while now with just a Mackie SRM 150 as an amp. I do a lot of gigs in small rooms where I don't need much more volume than my bass itself, and the Mackie works really well as a small personal monitor. It's very light, very small, and effective. But it has no bass response to speak of, and at higher volumes it's lousy. I use a Schertler Dyn-B as a pickup, and it matches surprisingly well with the Mackie, which has a built-in preamp. I posted pretty extensively on it.
Recently I did some higher volume gigs where the Mackie was just pissing me off. So I decided to blow some hard earned money on a QSC k-8.
Caveat: I'm just a small time local gigger. I never went to music school; I'm not that good. I play mostly in bars/coffehouses/receptions and at local swing dances in straight ahead trios and quartets and in a Gypsy jazz band.
So I was looking at the K-8, because it's smaller and lighter than the K10, but would have more "oomph" than the mackie, by several orders of magnitude. I wound upinstead looking at the EV ZXA1
The ZXA1 is a powered monitor with 800 watts (vs 1000 for the QSC). But it's 7 lbs lighter, was $150 bucks cheaper, and is listed down to 60 hz, instead of I think 68hz for the QSC K8. I went to chuck levins and tried to demo it against a K8. The K8 they had on display didn't work: only the tweeter was making sounds. So I compared it to a K10.
I thought the EV sounded better. The K10 sounded to me like the bass was a little "hyped" or pushed, while the EV had a more natural sound. (Admittedly, a quick test under less than ideal conditions, could be an artifact of the pickup, YMMV etc.). So--lighter, cheaper, sounds better? Sold.
Initial downside compared to the QSC? The handle is dumb. It's just a recess, not a handle you can get your fingers around. I know there will be some point where I'm schlepping lots of gear and its raining and it starts to slippppp..... Also it has less eq options than the QSC, fewer input jacks/controls, and no remote volume provision. It has a locking power cord jack but doesn't come with a locking cord. But it can take an mic and a line input simultaneously.
Ok, so how does it sounds? Well the first thing is, it makes all the deficiencies in the DYN-B much more apparent--honkiness and weird resonances. I like the general sound of the DYN-B better than any piezo, but I'm under no illusions about it being perfect. In general, the sound out of the EV is really good--very transparent, maybe a little middy, not a huge amount of bass but really, a huge amount of bass equals a huge amount of gear and a huge amount of feedback onstage. I was able to crank it very loud at home without causing my bass to feedback.
But I saw an EDB1 for sale used, and picked it up it time for a couple weekend gigs, one at a high-ceiling crowded restaurant, with two guitars, accordian, and clarinet, and the other an outdoor gig with Guitar and drums.
It's a hard combination to beat. The EDB1 let me dial out what's most annoying about the DYN-B. it's straightforward and clear to use. I found that a slight cut in the highs/high mids and a narrow notch cut at about 400hz sounded great outside, and inside I used it with the same eq and the notch at around 800. Still not sure what the "presence" on the EDB1 will do for me. But I was able to get more than enough volume and no feedback and a good, full sound.
So I'm extremely happy with it--should be, for the dough it cost. If you are looking at a powered monitor, the EV ZXA1 is worth a look. I think with my rig it had a much more balanced sound the the QSC, and it's smaller and lighter.
Recently I did some higher volume gigs where the Mackie was just pissing me off. So I decided to blow some hard earned money on a QSC k-8.
Caveat: I'm just a small time local gigger. I never went to music school; I'm not that good. I play mostly in bars/coffehouses/receptions and at local swing dances in straight ahead trios and quartets and in a Gypsy jazz band.
So I was looking at the K-8, because it's smaller and lighter than the K10, but would have more "oomph" than the mackie, by several orders of magnitude. I wound upinstead looking at the EV ZXA1
The ZXA1 is a powered monitor with 800 watts (vs 1000 for the QSC). But it's 7 lbs lighter, was $150 bucks cheaper, and is listed down to 60 hz, instead of I think 68hz for the QSC K8. I went to chuck levins and tried to demo it against a K8. The K8 they had on display didn't work: only the tweeter was making sounds. So I compared it to a K10.
I thought the EV sounded better. The K10 sounded to me like the bass was a little "hyped" or pushed, while the EV had a more natural sound. (Admittedly, a quick test under less than ideal conditions, could be an artifact of the pickup, YMMV etc.). So--lighter, cheaper, sounds better? Sold.
Initial downside compared to the QSC? The handle is dumb. It's just a recess, not a handle you can get your fingers around. I know there will be some point where I'm schlepping lots of gear and its raining and it starts to slippppp..... Also it has less eq options than the QSC, fewer input jacks/controls, and no remote volume provision. It has a locking power cord jack but doesn't come with a locking cord. But it can take an mic and a line input simultaneously.
Ok, so how does it sounds? Well the first thing is, it makes all the deficiencies in the DYN-B much more apparent--honkiness and weird resonances. I like the general sound of the DYN-B better than any piezo, but I'm under no illusions about it being perfect. In general, the sound out of the EV is really good--very transparent, maybe a little middy, not a huge amount of bass but really, a huge amount of bass equals a huge amount of gear and a huge amount of feedback onstage. I was able to crank it very loud at home without causing my bass to feedback.
But I saw an EDB1 for sale used, and picked it up it time for a couple weekend gigs, one at a high-ceiling crowded restaurant, with two guitars, accordian, and clarinet, and the other an outdoor gig with Guitar and drums.
It's a hard combination to beat. The EDB1 let me dial out what's most annoying about the DYN-B. it's straightforward and clear to use. I found that a slight cut in the highs/high mids and a narrow notch cut at about 400hz sounded great outside, and inside I used it with the same eq and the notch at around 800. Still not sure what the "presence" on the EDB1 will do for me. But I was able to get more than enough volume and no feedback and a good, full sound.
So I'm extremely happy with it--should be, for the dough it cost. If you are looking at a powered monitor, the EV ZXA1 is worth a look. I think with my rig it had a much more balanced sound the the QSC, and it's smaller and lighter.
