WHERE YOU PLUG YOUR THEREMIN TO?

i have a couple of friends who own them, and i tried my theremin thru it. it sounds beautiful.Full and the sound seems to be everywhere. now i just need the 1800 bucks of what ever they cost

Andy

Yup, the Bose PAS is just pure excellence, but it really doesn't make much sense for most of us to pay three times the price of our instrument for the amplifier... But then, if you can afford it, I believe it to be the absolute best solution, mainly because of its versatile nature. I was covering a small gig of a rock quartet playing on Bose PAS's a couple of months ago and, honestly, I got paid to do nothing! The band really mixed themselves without even using the monitor speakers.

I've used the Bose PAS since it first came out. It's an amazing feat of engineering. It functions as my PA system, and I use it in conjunction with a small M-Audio FastTrack. Instrumental accompaniment comes from my computer and goes through the FastTrak to the PAS. My theremin goes directly to the PAS. Once I have the two sounds perfectly balanced, it truly sounds like a I have live band playing with me.

The system IS very expensive. It's price has remained steady at $1,995.00 for the power stand, speaker towers and the subwoofer. For most people I'd say it's unnecessary -- there are plenty of more cost effective ways to get good sound. However, if you really do a lot of traveling around, playing in venues ranging from small clubs, rooms in museums, to huge concert halls, the PAS is well worth the investment. It virtually guarantees that you will sound great and you'll never have to get stuck using someone else's shoddy sound system. That has happened a number of times -- I get to a place and the set-up is either very weak OR it's configured in a way that makes playing really risky -- for instance, many places have nice sound set-ups but they're all geared to what most musicians require, a PA that faces out to the audience with some sort with a monitor system FACING the musician. If you've ever tried to play a theremin with the sound coming directly AT you from one source and the sound moving AWAY from you from a PA (what the audinece hears) that's IN FRONT of you, you'll know what I mean. It's very disconcerting and takes a lot of getting used to. I've never worked anywhere where the people in charge knew that, for a theremin player, it's best that sound come from BEHIND the player. BOSE, however, engineered the PAS to do exactly that, regardless of what instrument you play.

I like it, besides sounding great, because you really don't need any monitor (except if you use pitch preview) The sound surrounds you. I
i'm going to be playing a couple of parties with a guitarist, so i'm going to rent one of these systems from one of friends and try putting us both through it.
One of these friends has an endorsement deal with Bose.If only they'd want a theremin promoting there product. mmmmmm...
Andy

Just for grins, I checked on Ebay and there is a Bose system with a Bass module currently bid up to $1250 (which would be a steal).

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bose-Personal-Amplification-System-B1-bass-module_W0QQitemZ190032483006QQihZ009QQcategoryZ47094QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If I had some extra $$ I'd consider bidding on it myself.

The good news about this system -- they seem to hold their value very well. I have seen systems on Ebay go for nearly the same price as new.

If one were to acquire such a unit for a few hundred under the cost of new, one might be able to use it for a few years and recover most of the initial investment.

Top-of-the-line equipment seems to be more expensive to acquire yet cheaper in the long run.

Now, I best stop writing else I will talk myself into bidding.

Oh yes... I got to try out schielenkrahe's system -- it has a sweet, silvery sound that fills the space without hot spots.

My ideal theremin set-up would be the Etherwave Pro and the Bose PAS with my effects processor between the two.

I may take my Etherwave standard down to the Bose store and try out the system.

I am afraid that I will fall in love with it, though.

It is hard to justify the purchase when I am not gigging that much anymore.

Best thing I ever bought - apart from my theremin - a SR Jam 150 - I see they have a new one out with longer reverbs which would be nice. It handles the bass really well - I run my keyboard thru it with bass on left hand - no problems. It's nicely compact and I've played some big spaces with it. It aint cheap but it's all the PA I really need.

http://www.sr-tech.net/jam.htm

Somebody mentioned having to have the sound coem from behind the player.

Is this really important?

I find that as long as I can hear what I am playing it doesn't matter what direction it comes from.

I do like to have the speaker closeby so I can "sneak preview" a note before it is so loud that the audience hears it but that can happen from the side or even in front of me through a stage monitor.

If the sound comes from behind the player, they're the first to hear it, so they have the earliest potential to adjust incorrect pitch.

If the closest members of the audience are three and a half metres away from the player and there is a single speaker behind the player, the player will have an advantage of one hundredth of a second over the audience. Not much.

On a one speaker set-up, you ideally want the speaker pointing at both the player and the audience. If the player is facing the audience there is only one sensible place to put the speaker. Behind the player.

From my vast experience of two rather short live performances I preferred the sound on the second one, when I put my little practice amp on a table behind me and suggested to the sound guy that he put a mike in front of it, on the basis that the theremin should be thought of as an acoustic instrument that just happens to need electricity to work. From where I was standing it sounded just like it does when I practice.

Mind you, having just looked at the Bose PAS on their website, I wouldn't mind upgrading my theremin's speaker to one of them. Well, apart from the price.