JBL Eon, good enough for live vox?

[symeboy]

Hi all,

I'm in a metal band and I want to invest in my own speakers for vocals. We play pretty loud!

Would an older style JBL Eon 15" be adequate for small venues?

Thanks!

[speakerjones]

I would shoot for 2 speakers (at least), and if you're just putting vocals through them, 12" tends to work a little better for vocals. I'm not a big fan of the older generations of EONs. Pretty weak, IMO. And if you're getting vocals over hard hitting drummers and half stacks you're going to need some real firepower. What's you budget?

[straightblues]

I have an older JBL Eon and use it for small venues. I play in a blues band an it is plenty loud for us. We played to 100 people with it on Saturday and I think it was around 1/2 way up. I would say, it depends on how loud your drummer is but it should be enough.

[speakerjones]

requires different SPL than




IMHO

[RSRD]

LoL J

Since he's in a metal band I'd assume the drummer is REALLY loud

[straightblues]

Originally Posted by jalford

requires different SPL than




IMHO

That is funny. Yeah, it does require a different SPL. But I still think its doable.

[rogwerks]

no worries on da EONS, JBL is cool like dat...

[Ulysses]

There are several "older' style EONs. The powered EON G2 15 is surprisingly loud and clear. Much stronger than the new EON 315 and some say sound better than the 515. I travel with a singer that insists on carrying a G2 150 nights a year to all venues regardless of the fact they have 20,000 - 80,000 watt systems and massive amounts of stage wedges. I've seen FOH techs come on stage in disbelief and contempt of the singer wanting to use the EON and to try and match the output and tone of the G2 with the house pro concert monitors and fail. No matter how loud the stage is we can always hear the G2 blistering the vocals back at us. I would think a pair would do a decent job if all the were asked of them were the lead vocal. You will not mic drums and guitars through them and sing metal for sure. The G2 has a decent pre and EQ on board so if it's just you all you need is a mic (and maybe an FX unit), no mixer required.

[Steve_2020]

I've had 4 JBL G2s for over 8 years and they work fine for vocals, 2 would do it. And - as noted above, they work great for monitors...that's why JBL gave them that weird shape. I would stay away from any 'EON/G2 10' or 315 (also a 10"). Not enough horsepower, imo.

Also, the original EON 15s only have half the power so be careful as they have the same cab and MF sold a ton of them, literally for years after they were discontinued (around 2000-2001). The orignal EONs were generally considered underpowered and were fairly quickly replaced by the G2 (or Generation 2) which have 300w to the woofer, 100 to the horn, iirc. Plenty of punch here.

I've worked shows where the new 515s were being used and I wouldn't have a problem using them either. They are lighter to carry and seem to have about the same amount of power/db output. These were used with a driverack processor, so they sounded about as good as they can sound.

With the 515 being the hot new replacement speaker for the G2-15 (which JBL claimed was the biggest selling powered speaker in the world a few years back) I think a couple used G215s in good condition could be had at a good price and would more than carry your vocals..

And with the G2's flexible mini-mixer (something the 515 cut back on a bit, and many powered speakers either don't have or don't do a very good job with) they are very flexible, eg: if you were doing a gig were you needed to play part of it (low volume) in another area with maybe a guitar, keyboard and mic- you could do it -all running through one G2...when you are done with the low volume stuff (dinner music or whatever), grab the G2, run back to the stage and in about 30 seconds your full PA is back together and you are ready to rock.

I've seen these speakers used in all kinds of ways. Even heard a story that the Grammy broadcast used to run G2s to the immediate backstage area and to dressing rooms with the FOH house mix running through them so folks could have a handle as to what was going on..

And of course, for years Larry Carlton used 2 G2s to run his guitar effects through... micing his dumble speaker, adding effects via a small mixer next to the amp and feeding the totally wet signal out in stereo to the G2s (which were also miced and sent (along with another mic on the dumble cab) to the house PA. And I've seen/heard this setup fake out at least a couple sound guys over the years who put (only) 'totally wet Larry guitar' into the house PA, till they figured things out...usually pretty quickly if Rick was anywhere nearby ..

[symeboy]

Originally Posted by jalford

I would shoot for 2 speakers (at least), and if you're just putting vocals through them, 12" tends to work a little better for vocals. I'm not a big fan of the older generations of EONs. Pretty weak, IMO. And if you're getting vocals over hard hitting drummers and half stacks you're going to need some real firepower. What's you budget?

Hi! Could stretch to around $450 (I am working in £ over here in UK though).

Yeah, I noticed a pair on ebay and was wondering if they would do the trick...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...tab%3DWatching

[symeboy]

Originally Posted by Big Country

LoL J

Since he's in a metal band I'd assume the drummer is REALLY loud

Yeah, he is particularly loud!

[symeboy]

Originally Posted by jalford

requires different SPL than




IMHO

This is great!!!

[speakerjones]

All of the examples given here (vocal wedge, green room monitor, blues/jazz PA) are all well and good, but don't prove that it will be able to amplify vocals over a metal band.

I'm not saying that they definitely won't work. Just that there's a good chance they'll run out of steam before your drummer and backline does. Physics, it's not just a good idea, it's the law. However, for your budget, you might not do much better...