From 7 till 8 P.M. this evening I did a Concert in the Park in Aberdeen, Maryland, the largest outdoor venue I have performed to date. The park area measured approximately 500 feet by 800 feet wide--big to say the least. I was in a pavilion that was about 5 feet above ground level, and while it had a roof, the sun angle was such that I had to sheild the keyboard and computer by putting up a black umbrella on the side of the keyboard stand to block the sun.

The PSR-3000 main volume was set at the 1 O'Clock positon while the bose volume level on the remote was set at 1/3 of maximum volume. The 3-band EQs were all set at the 1 O'Clock position.

The bottom line is everyone in the park, which was a pretty large crowd, said they loved the music, and there were several comments about how clear the music sounded in contrast to other groups that had performed at the same location during the past two months.

The folks that hired me for the concert said "This is the first time in the three years that we have been holding the concert that people have actually got out of their seats and danced--this has never happened in the past!"

They said they will be calling me in the next few days to book me for next year's park concerts, and also for concerts in two other city parks.

When I set up the system I fired up a midi file directly from the keyboard, and walked throuout the park while it played. While there was some fall-off in volume at about 150 feet from the speakers, it wasn't more than maybe 20 percent at the most. The amazing thing was that the volume remained pretty constant beyond that point, all the way to the opposite end of the park. Ironically, the guy that owns the barber shop which was located 250 feet behind the pavilion said he was enjoying the music as well, and said he was amazed at how much volume was flowing from the pavilion to his shop. The tower and sub were both facing the audience--180 degrees away from his shop--neat!

Just thought you would like to know how the Bose L1 perfomed in a large, outdoor venue.

Cheers,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

First time I ever heard the Bose PAS was over 3 years ago at private party outdoor venue. As I approached the music, I couldn't tell if it was a live bluegrass group or a recording. It sure sounded live, but I also considered that a PA system wouldn't sound that good... and that's when I was ~ 500 feet from the source! Of course I was thrilled when I realized what it was.

Later, I was talking with a musician standing 7 feet from the Bose. He had never seen or heard of the PAS. He was in disbelief when he realized where the sound was coming from. Yes, the Bose L1 certainly does the job outdoors.

Glenn

BTW Gary, congrats on another victory!

Glenn

Gar, congratulations on your big success with your Concert in the Park. Terrific to hear (as expected) that your Bose L1 setup covered your outdoor venue so well. On another note: as far as my next PA system upgrade goes, still haven't decided between the Bose L1 or EV SxA360 quite yet, but since my equipment budget itself it'n't quite there either, I'm not hard pressed to make a decision for at least a few months yet. I must say though, that your outdoor gig report has helped to form my decision, so I really appreciated your input on this.

Gar: About how many people were out in the crowd and how far away were most of them situated? It would be GREAT if you could post some pics for us to enjoy.

Glad to hear you were able to block the sun enough to view your KB screen ok. I played an outdoor event last week as well and totally sympathize with the frustration of reduced screen visibility (even with shade & umbrellas) outdoors. In addition to an umbrella, to afford better visibility & easier screen navigation and to easier view on screen song lyrics, I had to put together (out of black cardboard) a hooded unit which surrounded my Tyros2's tilt screen and also extended out towards me. Unfortunately I don't have pics to share of it. Like Gary, I keep hoping Yamaha and other keyboard manufacterers will wake up to the needs of us outdoor gigging keyboard players and finally incorporate 'anti reflective' display screens which are viewable outdoors.

Scott

Gary,

Congratualtions on a very successful gig Although the Bose is not in my immediate budget and future I would be happy if you would post a playlist from that event! Love to hear what had them on their feet dancing.

Thanks

[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 08-09-2006).]

Scott,

The audience, which was by actual count by a park attendant, totaled 154 people not including another couple dozen staff persons that were selling hotdogs, softdrinks and taking care of other park duties.

The most distant audience members were approximately 500 feet or more from the pavilion, while the majority of the audience was scattered from 100 to 300 feet away. Later when I asked the park manager why they sat that far from the pavilion she said it was "because some of the bands show up with huge speakers and turn up the volume full blast so the people in the back can hear them. The people sitting close to the pavilion were having their heads blown off, especially as the evening progressed and they continuted to crank up the volume even more." She later commented that she, and her co-workers were amazed that with my sound system the volume was perfect throughout the park. One of the park workers even came up after the concert and asked where my speakers were. Kinda' neat!

Stephen,

I kicked things off with Bad Leroy Brown then played the following:

Bie Mier Bis Du Schoen
Chicago
Kansas City
Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime
Your Cheating Heart
Just A Gigalo
Jambalaya
New York--New York
Crazy
Summer Wind
Key Largo
Beyond The Sea
The Way You Look Tonight
Taquila
Shake Rattle & Roll
Run Around Sue
Johnny B. Goode
La Bamba
Show Me The Way To Go Home
and finished off the night with God Bless America

Cheers,

Gary


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Travlin' Easy

Gary ..... you done good for an old fart !!! ... way to go, man ...
t.

Thanks Gary, that's good to know. I play at least 12 of those selections at many of my 1 hour senior center gigs and I do get good reaction to those tunes. So it pays to listen to you full time pros post here!

Way to go Gary! I had the chance to hear the Bose system Saturday night. It was a first anniversary party at a restaurant I've been playing. I hired two guest musicians to help. One was a keyboard player who used my Carvin set-up. The other was a guitar player who used the Bose.

Frankly, I wasn't impressed with he Bose. It was OK, but not clearly superior. Maby it was because the sound was only a voice and guitar (Martin).

I certainly see no reason to go out and get a Bose system.

At this house job, I use two 200 watt 6 channel heads and 4 cabinets (One a hot spot monitor). Two are permanently mounted on the walls for sound dispersion. It may not be fair to compare a permanently mounted and fine tuned system with a Bose which was brought in 10 minutes before the performance.

Whatever "floats your boat", but right now, the Bose system, two subs and all just isn't for me.


Russ

I would have liked to hear the arranger plugged into the Bose so you could compare the two systems. Intead of "Apples and oranges"