Bose L1 Compact - Dick Tater & The Tots - Don't Be Cruel

[MalusCarmen]

And great playing guys, you all play and sound great!

[MalusCarmen]

Awesome band name!

[PeterVred]

@MalusCarmen Yes it is, next to Stroller Goat!

[MalusCarmen]

@PeterVred Touche my friend... Keep it up... Just ordered a Bose L1 M2 for the Goat... when we grow up, trying to be like you... haha. good times!

[rskibo]

How does the L1 do with a condenser mic? I play in a bluegrass band and was wondering how it would do with all the instruments gather round the mic?

[PeterVred]

@rskibo @rskibo There are lots of discussions in the Bose L1 forum about bluegrass applications. It can work well. Do a search there for "bluegrass, one mic". In your case, the L1 has to go "beside" the band, on one side or the other, or two systems. It's not the best scenario, as the band doesn't hear it so much, but then again, that's what you are used to hearing.

[JEFFFAIRCHILD]

Hi, I'm thinking of purchasing the compact. I have a band and need something for the house for rehershal for the singers. I also will use it for a couple of gigs a month for 60 or so people for Elvis parties. Do you think the compact is what I'm looking for?

[PeterVred]

@JEFFFAIRCHILD It could be. The Compact is clean and clear but is not all that loud at a distance. If the "Elvis" audience is attentive and not loud and rowdy, and the room is not too large it would work. Personally, I'd prefer the Model II w/Tonematch mixer. That would cover all the bases. It is costly though. Buy from Bose.com, get 45 day trial, full refund if not happy, can't beat that. -P

[tobytarby]

GREAT SOUND,,SO IF ITS SET UP BE HIND YOU ,,,WHAT ABOUT FEED BACK FROM THE MICS?

[PeterVred]

@tobytarby If you play too loud, and have to turn up the vocal mics too much, it will feedback. With L1s array speakers though, the sound travels further than speaker on a stick, so you don't need to be as loud as you are used to being. Unless you just prefer getting blasted! :)

[PeterVred]

@UncleJoey12 What I love most about the L1, is that you are "in-the-mix", it's not like being behind a pair of Speakers on a stick, and floor monitors. Two L1s for a duo is even better, for that, you could go with two Model Is. The sound on stage and imaging to the audience improves with added systems. Where are you, I might have Bose L1 friend near you who can help out.

[PeterVred]

@UncleJoey12 A Model II w/2-B1 bass modules and a T1 mixer would be wonderful for your use, $3200 new. The T1 has 3-XLR inputs, and a 2-ch Line input, enough for the two vocals, acoustic, and drum machine. The power stand has another line input as well with volume, but no EQ. The guitar synth could easily go there. You could cover a small venue to medium depending on ambient volume. The L1 spreads the sound, and it is very smooth and clear. The T1 has effects. It's an investment. Do it.

[PeterVred]

@UncleJoey12 There is little talk about "power", because stated specs can be relative. The unit has two 250W amps, one for the towers, and one for the (up to 2) bass modules, you can add more w/ extended bass pkg.

The L1 SOUNDS great, and it it a new approach to live music, as they go "behind" the performer, in the intended application. Some don't want to use it that way, and want to just be loud, not actually sound "good". I love the L1, and owe my continued musical life to it. Research.

[patchcords]

That system just sounds awesome!!!!

[jaybyrd77]

You guys sound great! Really tight, and awesome BGVs. Does the L1 compact do well as a monitor? I just can't wrap my head around the idea of a monitor behind my back. I notice you guys are not using the traditional monitor setup. What are your thoughts?

[PeterVred]

@jaybyrd77 The L1 speaker family of products were designed to go behind the player and we use them that way. No monitors needed. We love it. It takes very little time to get used to hearing everything from behind you, and you find yourself "in-the-mix" when all sounds come from behind. You will no longer have to ask, at the break, "How do we sound?" You will know as you are playing how the mix is. What you hear is what they hear.

[BornIntoMusic]

Hey Peter, I spoke to you about 8 months ago. (See page 2 of comments). I'm about 3 weeks away from purchasing 2 Bose L1 Model 2s with a total of 4 Bass Modules. Or for the same amount of money I could buy 3 Bose L1 M1's with 6 Bass modules. We play pop rock and my plan is to run this through a mixer. Is there any chance I could talk to you about this? Or if not email will be fine as well.  Before I dump 6K into this, I'd like to get some perspective :)

[arjunkaul]

Great sound and nice band. How big a crowd would this setup be able to rock?

up to 500 people maybe?

[PeterVred]

@arjunkaul Bose says that the L1 used one-per-player in a band will cover 500, but "rock" them? Not in the traditional too-loud way that you might be thinking. If it were an attentive, quite crowd, yes, no doubt. A rowdy crowd, maybe not too much. The strength of the L1s is clarity, and the fact that the band is "in the mix" when the systems are behind. I think that most musicians will have a learning curve, and have to adjust to playing more quietly, which for me, is a good thing.

[arjunkaul]

@PeterVred Thanks thats a great reply. Yes I completely understand. I agree about playing better instead of being louder. I did some research and found a Website where this guy was answering questions about the L1.

blog mp3backingtrax com

I love the portability. Thats a massive advantage and of course the quality of sound.The only thing thats scary is the price. basically if we're four people, we'll need four towers and maybe six bass bins. Thats probably 8 thousand greenbacks. Holy Sh**!! :D

[PeterVred]

@arjunkaul You get the picture, "Playing better", is exactly right. L1 forces you to do that by exposing subtle nuances. It makes you arrange your music so the vocal and lead instruments are heard when they need to be without getting into volume wars.

It's costly, I have over $12K invested, but as young a guy as you are, you have your whole career ahead of you to earn that money back. The L1 will help you do that, and so much more.

[arjunkaul]

@PeterVred That's a nice way of putting it. Thanks a lot for the advice. Much appreciated!

[raidereddie]

Great band name! Are you plugging the bass and guitar directly in to the Boses? That's what it looks like. If so, then what about guitar effects, reverb, delay, etc. on vocals vs. guitars? Thanks.

[PeterVred]

@raidereddie - Bass is direct into Bose T1 mixer on bassist's L1 (kick drum mic into this L1 also). Guitar is in a Roland Micro Cube, Line out into Bose L1 Classic, no mic. Guitarist uses an old DOD FX box inline.

[raidereddie]

@PeterVred Good information!  Thanks man.

[PeterVred]

@raidereddie About vocal effects...bassist uses a touch of T1 reverb, and I use T1 delay, and Modulation, very sparingly. Mostly dry vocals. Using effects tends to clutter what I hear onstage, and so I prefer the clarity, and let the venue supply the ambiance. Guitarist has a Digitech vocalist that has reverb although he too doesn't use efx.

[OrchestraGemelli]

Bravi!!!!

[BornIntoMusic]

Hey Peter - my band recently started performing gigs which required our own PA system. How far do you think one L1 system would take - 2 vocalists, bassist, drummer, and guitarist? I've also wondered, can you bring your own laptop, run everything through an audio interface and then output it into the L1 system? That way you would have a connection for every instrument by running the stereo output from the audio interface to the Bose.

[PeterVred]

@BornIntoMusic - If the L1 is just for vocals, and you are not a loud band, one would be good. Bear in mind that the L1 is not a traditional sound system, and the big benefit is that the band gets to be "in the mix" with the L1 behind. Spacial imaging, the position of players onstage is important, that's why the one-per-player approach by our band. Make sure this is the direction you want to go...being in the mix, hearing what the audience hears. Otherwise, go traditional speaker-on-a-stick.

[BornIntoMusic]

@PeterVred Good to know and thanks for the reply. I'm of the mindset of trying to stay away from the speaker on a stick method, just because it takes so long to setup and we don't play large gigs... usually no more the about 50-150 people. I've been reading some specs and it's rated for one Bose L1 can extend to a crowd of 500?? We are a loud band persay but we're really starting to focus on controlling our dynamics. We've all sort of realized this is more important then full blast approach

[MatthewCartagena1989]

@PeterVred

now what if your band is loud and you just wanna use it for vocals,

we have more of a hard rock/heavy metal sound,

and with other PA systems i've used, my voice only comes through as Murr Murrs even at some rehearsal studios

[PeterVred]

Hi Matthew,

The L1 is clean and clear, not LOUD loud. In your case, it would perform well as a stage monitor for the band, but you might have to Line Out into a big system for your venue sound.

[PeterVred]

Hi Matthew,

The L1 is clean and clear, not LOUD loud. In your case, it would perform well as a single stage monitor for the entire band, but you might have to Line Out into a big system for your venue sound.

[mpecoraro]

I bought an L1 Compact for live gigs with just one vocal and acoustic guitar. I am getting a lot of feedback from it. Did you have any problems with feedback at all? Also does it seem to have too much high end? You guys sound amazing through it!

[PeterVred]

Hi mpecoraro, A typical L1 needs to be about 5+ feet behind and to one side of the player by a foot or three. The Compact seems to be a bit different. As a rule-of-thumb, take one step forward from the Compact, then about two steps to the side...give or take. That should get you into a sweet spot. On my Compact, I usually have to cut low end to 9 o'clock, and the highs to about 10 o'clock. See what you get.

[PeterVred]

Oh Yeah...and get right ON the mic...not too distant as you would on a typical PA or you really lose the low end. Lips touching, or almost so is a good place to be.

[mpecoraro]

@PeterVred thanks for the info. Next gig went 1000x times than the first one without a hint of feedback.

[PeterVred]

@mpecoraro That's good to hear. The L1 family of products take a bit of adjustment and time to change the way we have been used to doing things. The payoff is in spades though, isn't it?

[mpecoraro]

@PeterVred thanks for the advice. We did another gig and changed some stuff. result was 1000x better!

[MrDickTater]

Mysticradio, thanks for the comments. Your keen observations are pretty much correct :P

My dad's name was Tater Salad and he got the same respect. Thanks for stopping by. You can also find many of our original videos by searching "The Cubs Band". We changed the name because Dick Tater and the Cubs just didn't sound right. Thanks again everyone for the wonderful comments.

[Vlaqq]

Great stuff. Congrats, you have fantastic sound. the drums are unbeatable at such venue. bravo!!!

[injunlee]

Curious as to what the drummer is running through the compact? Our two piece band uses the L1.  I play electronic drums (Roland TDK-20) and am wondering if the compact could handle my drums and vocals.

[PeterVred]

injunlee, the Compact definitely CANNOT handle a V-drum kit. I am running ONLY my vocal thru the compact. My kick drum is in the bassists system. When using V-drums in most of my other videos, I used an L1 w/4-B1s and a Bose Packlite amplifier. It rocked.

[mysticradio]

DICK TATER AND THE TOTS..... thats funny..... cool

but is Dick Tater a dictator? lol or a potato shaped penis or has a potato that looks like a dick .. lol... just funnin boys

[PeterVred]

Although I can't comment on his penis dimension, Dick (Rick Dennis) Tater has always had cool band names, such as Liquid Chicken and The Killer Wisemen. This is my favorite so far. Audiences and venue owners have liked it much better than our old name (The Cubs).

[korguser2007]

Wonderfull sound Peter ! We also use clean sound but your is better !

Is the Compact L1 good as system II in live performance ? I mean - volume, presets ...?

[korguser2007]

Woooow - great sound !!!

I have also 5 piece Bose L1 system II !

look at video response.

Can you explain your preset - reverb-delay-comp ?

[PeterVred]

Hi Korguser2007,

Presets used by guitarist/bassist are Beta58, mine on the Compact is just the Compact's mic preset, I'm using an Audix OM5.

No compression, reverb, delays, etc.

We play it clean.

Thanks!

Look forward to seeing your clip.

[jdn4rlb]

Great sound, vocals and musicianship! Enjoyed it much!

[feiticeiroptcbr]

Good work guys

[UpTempo2009]

@feiticeiroptcbr

Fantastic sound, you guys must be our second favourite video on the BoseLive site.