Road Tests

If you asked me what I thought was the most important piece of outboard gear in a soundman’s arsenal, I would say, without hesitation, a good graphic EQ. Whether you agree with me or not, you can’t deny the importance of this type of gear. Well, Mackie has pulled out all the stops with its new digital Graphic QuadEQ. I don’t know the backstory on the research and development of the EQ, but this new device can do just about everything that you would want a graphic to do and more. 

What’s the biggest problem doing live sound for a monster truck rally or a motorcycle supercross event? Well, lemme ask you this: What’s the best day of the week for a monster truck or supercross show? If you didn’t say “SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!” in your loudest and deepest TV an-nouncer voice — well, you just haven’t been watching enough late-night TV. When the commercial for your event delivers teeth-rattling SPL, your rig better be able to bring it. And when Yamaha recently gave us a call to check out the Supercross finals at Sam Boyd stadium, we got a chance to see if NEXO could do just that.

X5 HANDHELD CONDENSER VOCAL MIC
By Bill Evans

Any of you who have been reading FOH for a while have probably heard me openly refer to myself as a condenser slut when it comes to mics for vocals. I own a bunch of mics and am probably unusual in that I actually own more vocal condensers than dynamics. A condenser just has that “air” and open feel that it is tough to get from a dynamic, and I generally find that the audio quality of the vocals goes up substantially just by replacing dynamics with condensers.

Ask questions about the Vi6 at the end of this article!

This is the first time for FOH (and, indeed, for any audio magazine that I can think of) to do an actual in-the-field Road Test on a piece of gear with a $90K price tag. Because we have worked at making and maintaining good relations with regional sound companies, we were able to hook up with a company that was demo-ing the eagerly awaited Vi6 digital console from Soundcraft. This is not something we could have pulled off on our own so we need to start off by thanking the crew at H.A.S. Productions in Las Vegas for making it possible. It took some doing and some coordination — including an overnight trip to the bustling metropolis of Parker, Ariz. — but it was worthwhile. (BTW, to you other manufacturers reading this, we are open to other Road Tests following this method. You have my number, give me a call.)

L-ACOUSTICS P Series Powered Speakers
Jamie Rio

I have written many times in the past about the joys of a small sound system — especially one that sounds great and can reach a lot of people. Of course, the whole concept of “small” is very relative. However, if your mains are the size of your grade school lunch box and your subs are the size of a milk crate, we would definitely call that small.

Put yourself into Crown Audio’s product managers’ shoes: You have the renowned touring audio power amplifier line called the I-Tech, and you have the task to create a smaller mass music market version that sells for a competitive price but still has the features and power ratings this market wants. In this pursuit, I believe Crown has succeeded very well with the XTi line of amplifiers.

I don’t know about you, but I have noticed a trend with “affordable” condenser mics sounding “clunky” and requiring a lot of help in the EQ dept. Why bother making it affordable if it sucks? Add that with the reputation for delicacy — especially in some large diaphragm models more suited for the studio — and many of us avoid using them live. But these mics came to me in a very cool quasi-flight-looking case. For the price I was sur-prised AKG made the effort! The mics are very retro studio looking, and are extremely rugged (more on that in a minute).

Presonus has made some great live stuff over the years. I can’t even count the number of their 8-channel comps and gates I have seen in racks. I remember an EQ that had a special secret weapon — a button that killed 60-cycle hum. Loved that. But over the past decade the company has been going more and more in a digital/studio/recording direction and we have had little to talk about in regards to their gear. So when I got the call about the Digimax FS, it was a pleasant surprise.

But the alarm bells went off when he uttered The Phrase. “It was designed for the studio but we are seeing a lot of them used live."