Busking - so picked up an EV Everse 8 secondhand. Battery powered, loud and small!

[funkle]

Howdy all

 

My current band is getting out a bit more, and our guitarist wants to start busking. Fair enough.

 

He has plumped for a Bose S1 Pro Plus which sounded great with his pedalboard. I was astonished that it could actually do not too bad a job on bass when I plugged into it. Battery powered as well, loud enough, and actually had some first harmonic bassiness going on with it. Not much happening below 65 Hz, but still, great sound considering it's being run on batteries!

 

I did my own research to pick up my own little battery operated bit of fun to match. I found a bunch of different solutions for bass, all of which have compromises somewhere, and I plumped for a secondhand Everse EV8 (£400) as my balancing point. It's tiny and has an 8" woofer with a decent sounding compression driver. https://products.electrovoice.com/na/en/everse-8/

 

 

 

 

It has an F3 of 60Hz, though the graph shows it drops off pretty steeply after that. (Of course it's meant to be crossed over to a sub for most use cases.)

 

 

After some tinkering, I've set it up with the 'Live' EQ setting so I don't get the huge hump at 80Hz, I've EQ'd it a bit to get rid of the dip at 1.2kHz as best as I can, and I've ruthlessly HPF'd it using the Stomp at about 60Hz as well to maximise my useful output.

 

I am astonished at how loud it is, and very portable at 17 lbs. It sounds really good. It's really quite liberating to not have to worry about power for a cab, and it will power my Helix Stomp too.

 

Note it's not necessary to use the Helix as a preamp - the output from even my passive basses is good enough to give good volume - but it's nice to be able to run effects without plugging into the wall as well.  

 

I took it out to a full rehearsal with drums/guitarist/me and it held up well, and after 2 hours was down by 1/3rd of battery power. What a joy. I plugged the guitarist in at the same time as me and the cab held up well to both of us playing through it. Fab.

 

I'll try some busking this weekend or next with my guitarist and see how we do. My drummer might buy a cajon and we could probably mic him into the cab too, if we wanted. 

 

It's not got the same depth as my LFSYS Silverstone has - @stevie is still my favourite cab builder - but rather than having to get a Jackery battery power supply and cart it about with my B-Amp and cab, which would probably need a trolley and mean I was carting around 40-50 lbs of amplification gear, I can carry the EV8 in one hand and my bass/helix/other bits of kit in my gig bag on my back. 

 

I had no idea battery powered stuff had come so far until I had to look into it recently. 

 

Pete

 

  

 

Edited March 19 by funkle

[fretmeister]

Would it keep up with a drum kit?

[funkle]

It definitely did in a rehearsal space, and it wasn’t straining at all. I took it out busking with just the guitarist last weekend and we decided to try plugging him in to it too (he brought his Bose S1 Pro Plus). It coped fine with both us at the same time, and when we tried him solo, it absolutely beasted the Bose for volume, and the Bose was pretty loud…

 

My drummer is buying a compact kit for busking. I anticipate zero problems

Edited March 30 by funkle

[funkle]

I forgot to say. This might end up being useful to others trying to power the Stomp portably.
 

It turned out the USB-C port on the back of the cab didn’t kick out enough current to power my Stomp. So I went hunting for a cheap solution. 

 

End up with a cheap USB power bank capable of 5A current (https://amzn.eu/d/jdfMPtF) + a cheap USB-C cable + a MyVolts USB-C to 2.5mm 5v to 9v Step Up adapter (https://myvolts.co.uk/product/84651/myVolts_USB-C_PD_Step_Up_Tip_9V_c-ve_2.1mm_2.5mm) to power the Stomp instead. Works great, though it has to be plugged in to each other in a specific order.

 

The Step up adapter has to be connected to the power bank first, which lets it negotiate the voltage/amperage, and THEN plus it into the Stomp. It’s a clever wee adapter. 

[funkle]

Just did another open air busking type gig with this setup. Kept up with my drummer on a portable kit and a guitarist through a Bose S1+ with no issues and volume to spare. 

[stevie]

My problem with plastic cabs is that, while they sound OK with full-range music, when you only have bass going throught them, they sound like you're playing in a bucket. I'd expect the effect to be much less evident with a smaller cab like this one.

 

I strongly suspect that the dip in the FR at 1k5 is a cabinet artefact, which will disappear off axis. So, I wouldn't worry too much about correcting it.

[funkle]

It’s hard to tell how well damped/braced it is internally. But it works for busking, so I can’t complain.
 

I still take out my best cab - yours! - for pub gigs though. Covers everything I need with plenty headroom to spare. Everyone asks me about it when I use it too!

[stevie]

On 05/06/2024 at 20:00, funkle said:

Just did another open air busking type gig with this setup. Kept up with my drummer on a portable kit and a guitarist through a Bose S1+ with no issues and volume to spare. 

 

Just got to say - open-air busking in Edinburgh in the summer is my idea of heaven.😀

[mcnach]

On 11/06/2024 at 17:30, stevie said:

 

Just got to say - open-air busking in Edinburgh in the summer is my idea of heaven.😀

 

Summer? What Summer?

[Beer of the Bass]

On 11/06/2024 at 17:30, stevie said:

 

Just got to say - open-air busking in Edinburgh in the summer is my idea of heaven.😀

 

I grew to hate it, to be honest. I did several summers a few years ago. Getting around the crowds with a double bass, the insufferable bragging hustle culture of the other buskers, the variable weather, the difficult punters, the drawn out quibbling over heaps of coins...

[funkle]

Fair enough. We’re in the honeymoon stages of it and probably just going to use QR codes and the like for payment. Punters, well, people are people no matter where I go…