Jack 112 Lites & Wedgehorn 6's for PA, LOW power required

[kekani]

I've done a few gigs with my previous setup of the Jacks & Wedges, with a Soundcraft Gigrac 1000 in front. This was good, enough. Better than the previous JBL mains and Yamaha monitors. Call me a victim of BFM, because will all of the info here, I felt something was missing in the form of eq.

Fast forward to my current low buck upgrade from the Gigrac: Soundcraft MFXi8, mono out into a DBX231 (using iPad Octave app to flatten in the house, no mic - outside wind was too noisy- then adjusted to taste, mostly taking down some mids) used from the bay, into a QSC GX5. Yes, one eq/amp channel for mains and the other channel for monitors (@ 4 ohms).

Suffice to say, the volume settings are ridiculous. First, the mains, Jack 112 Lites.

GX5 set at 11:00 (5:00 is max) - the main slider on the mixer didn't go past about -7, and the sound travelled over 100' filling up an outdoor restaurant, from the outdoor bar across the pathway. Not war volume of course, but the permeation of sound throughout the dining area was very unusual coming from a single source bar area. We could've gone a LOT louder.

BTW, custom P&J 4 string with active Bartolini's, through my new Eden WTDI, through the mains had too much lows, with everything flat. I mean booming lows on the E string, so that had to be adjusted out. I just wanted to add this in case anyone was wondering about a bass through Jacks as mains, and not having enough range, they do.

Wedgehorn 6's from the aux channel. GX5 set at 10:30 or so. The main aux output didn't go past 9:00, and neither did any of the vocal or instrument aux outputs on the individual channels (no bass of course). I gotta say this again, aux output on the channels at 9:00, main aux output on the board 9:00, and amp setting at less than 1100.

In the end, my 'ukulele player has never liked his vocals so much, he said, "Keep those settings, it made me WANT to sing tonight!"

Guess what I'm trying to say is these cabs are really efficient! And they sound great, especially when eq'd, even if not done "properly". I don't see too many Jack and Wedge 6 reviews, so I thought I'd share. I don't think we'll be doing any raves, nor do we intend to. As it stands, I'm good - no DR's or T39's in our future. We'll try the Jack 110 Lites on the next gig at that restaurant.

Oh, we had 3 pieces last night, 'ukulele (& tiple), guitar, bass, and two vocals.

Aaron

[AntonZ]

Wedgehorn 6's from the aux channel. GX5 set at 10:30 or so. The main aux output didn't go past 9:00, and neither did any of the vocal or instrument aux outputs on the individual channels (no bass of course). I gotta say this again, aux output on the channels at 9:00, main aux output on the board 9:00, and amp setting at less than 1100.

I'm not surprised actually. Two weeks ago we had my Wedgehorn 8's (pair) on a Crown Xti1000. Accidentally had it running with a -12dB limiter setting on the amp. Plenty of monitor volume on a loud stage. These things cut through.

Thanks for the review Aaron.

[kekani]

Update with some comments from my guitarist friend that was in the audience, and who played a few songs during our break.

Basically, enough said about the Wedgehorns, they work, well, and he was wondering how so much sound came out of such a small box.

From his seat, he noted that there were no "hot spots" coming from the Jacks. Because the tables were so close to the stage, we jacked (no pun intended) the mains up high so that we wouldn't blow out the conversations at ear level. Yes, I know this is not good for vertical dispersion, but it worked anyway. A bass player on their table noted that the sound was everywhere, and wondered how we did that.

My guitarist friend had actually played a gig with the Jack 112 Lites previously (the `ukulele player borrowed it from me, before he got his Jack 110 Lites of his own), and was impressed. He reminded me and asked if that was the same speakers - they were. Except this time, they were eq'd MUCH better, because of the 31 channel DBX. He runs sound as well, and noted how even though it was a small gig, the equipment was simple enough, and setup well. He's looking forward to coming to our next gig.

I've resigned myself to add to the comment that Jacks "take eq well". I don't think they just take eq well, they need eq to get the most of out the sound. Of course, they DO react well to eq, hence the first statement, so I'm being redundant. If I had known this prior to building them, I would not have been as anxious to build them as PA mains, admittedly being the cheap, lazy ass that I am and not wanting to spend money, or carry equipment.

Bottom line, dropping another $850 on top of the speakers is WELL WORTH IT! For reference, my added costs from my Gigrac was as so (and I searched for and got deals on all, some used, some B-Stock):
SoundCraft MFXi8 - $425
DBX 231 - $120
QSC GX5 - $300

Of course, this is not counting the rack I built, or the custom cables I cut just to keep everything tidy in back.

Only thing I'd do differently so far is to drop the $$$ on the Kappa. I don't need the volume right now, but nice to know that I have it.

Jacks are bad!

Aaron