I'm a soloist acoustic guitar player and only recently picked up an L1 Compact to take out to gigs, so I don't have to haul around my big speakers and monitor. Plus with all the covid restrictions in California, I am now playing in front of way fewer people, so this seems to be the way to go. I use a Boss Vocal Harmonist VE2 and Shure beta 58 microphone for vocals and I also use a Boss Ad 2 Acoustic Pre Amp on my guitars with a Digitech jamman solo xt looper along with a delay pedal. I also run backing tracks from my IPhone through my mixer using a Band Lab App. I tried running everything from my Mackie Mixer 12FX into the Bose and it sounded great, but it sounded even better when I went direct and used the tone match feature on channel 2 for my guitars. I also plugged my phone direct too using RCA jacks. I'm just curious how some of you have had success with your L1 compact with outboard gear without having to buy the tonematch mixer as I feel it could be a waste of money since I already have a Mackie mixer and effects I'm really happy with. I was thinking of going direct from my vocal processor into channel 1 and using my mixer for my acoustic guitars, stompbox, and backing tracks into the 2nd mono channel so I can have control over EQ on those tracks. Any ideas or suggestions from long time users would be great. I might also add that I'm currently playing live 5 to 6 times a month currently and usually perform outdoors at private parties, wineries, and restaurants.
Hey jtlmusic,
Thank you for your post, welcome to the forum!
If you've already got a solid setup with the FX on the Mackie mixer, I agree that getting a ToneMatch mixer would not be necessary. The best I can recommend is to continue experimenting with your setup and trying different combinations.
If you like the sound of the ToneMatch preset applied to the guitar, try having this separate from the Mackie mixer and going straight into the L1 Compact instead. From past experience, the ideal setup will likely be a compromise between 'best sound' and 'most practicality' for live perormance!
Hi jtlmusic,
you wrote "I tried running everything from my Mackie Mixer 12FX into the Bose and it sounded great, but it sounded even better when I went direct and used the tone match feature on channel 2 for my guitars. I also plugged my phone direct too using RCA jacks."
"I was thinking of going direct from my vocal processor into channel 1 and using my mixer for my acoustic guitars, stompbox, and backing tracks into the 2nd mono channel so I can have control over EQ on those tracks."
Here's something you might want to try:
Connect the microphone to the Mic in of the vocal processor.
If you use the harmony function of the vocal processor connect the guitar to the guitar input of the processor "IN" and then take a second guitar cable from the "THRU" to the Mackie Mixer. According to what I can see from the Manual, the guitar signal will not be routed through the outs of the vocal processor, and the THRU-signal of the guitar will not be coloured.
Then take the microphone signal from the XLR-Out of the vocal processor to channel 1 of the Compact. I don't know how "hot" that signal is, so you'll have to start with a low signal and adjust it as necessary (channel 1 of the Compact is constructed for microphone level signals which means very low so you don't want to be overloading the input of channel 1). The Main volume of the Microphone channel is controlled by using the Volume control for channel 1 of the Compact.
Use your Mackie Mixer 12FX for guitar and the rest of your gear as you described in my quote above.
Pan the guitar channel hard to one side e.g. left (right would work just as well, but let's say left for this example). Take the left Main out from the Mackie to the 1/4" input of Channel 2 of the Compact. Set the switch to Tonematch.
All the other equipment you connect to the Mackie you now pan to hard right. Take the Right main out and connect it either to an RCA input or the 1/8" input of the Compact channel 2. For this you're going to need a specially confected cable or an adapter.
Set the Volume of channel 2 to 12 o' clock. This controls the main volume of everything going through channel 2 of the Compact, so you'll have to do the individual volume mix with the Mackie.
I definitely think that this is something that's worth a try. I would however advise you to have a dummy run before you go to a gig. I'm not sure how the voice processor will gel with Channel 1 of the Compact as I don't know how high the signal output via XLR is, so you'll have to take extra care there and keep the volume levels within the processor low and see how it goes.
I hope that this may be of some help and that you have fun and success trying it out.
Tony