Anyone gigging RCF Evox J8 or 9

Stratavarious

Might grab one for some venues I play… private functions, breweries, restaurants.. mainly voice, acoustic and piano?

One enough? Any feedback issues?

Dont need huge volume - got other options for that.. but clarity, presence and good bass separation.  Good low volume performance handy.

Don’t need mixer/bluetooth.. got a digital desk.

Gulliver

Stratavarious said:

Might grab one for some venues I play… private functions, breweries, restaurants.. mainly voice, acoustic and piano?

One enough? Any feedback issues?

Dont need huge volume - got other options for that.. but clarity, presence and good bass separation.  Good low volume performance handy.

Don’t need mixer/bluetooth.. got a digital desk.

I gig with J8s - both in the band as a solo with voice and acoustic. I think they sound fine - the crossover between the array and the bass speaker may not be in the best place for all acoustics. I use an IR loader from my guitar's piezo to dramatically alter the sound, so it's better than straight piezo quack.

relic245

We use a pair of J8's for our covers band.

Before we got them the consensus on here was they would not be up to the job.

I was against buying them based on that.

Turns out I was wrong and they sound fantastic to me.

We use them for:

Vocals x3
Bass drum
Occasionally snare depending on venue
bass guitar. Probably 50/50 between backline and through the pa.
Guitar - miked up marshall DSL40CR most of my volume is coming from the amp but I go through the pa for spread.

Very simple and good sounding.

newi123

We use a pair of J8s in a covers band. As above, great!

Drummer is loud, and they cope very well in pub sized venues. Also 3 x vocal, bass drum, guitar and occasionally bass for spread if needed.

Stratavarious

Thanks all..

I did audition the J9 and will likely pick up at least one, possibly a pair, this week. The J9 is a three way version.

The wide dispersion pattern was very obvious.

LooseMoose

I’ve seen loads of bands with the J8. I’ve never liked the vocal sound in any mix so far, They just don’t have the midrange punch that I expect to hear in a live environment.

it’s absolutely not to say that they are bad and there is every chance it’s purely personal preference and a mixing tweak is all that would be required but it was enough to put me off and stick to good quality full range ‘traditional’ speakers.

Musicwolf

Having prevaricated for some time as to whether to buy a column speaker / which one, I finally settled on a single EVOX J9  which will, hopefully, be with me tomorrow.  I'll get to try it out at practice a week from today.

keithf

I had a set of them, used them for about 18 months, 
2 vocals, backing tracks, acoustic and electric guitars.
played some places up to 200 ppl , 
Never ran out of headroom, more than enough poke for
"normal pub/club gigs" .
Recommended

Stratavarious

Will be using my new J9 for an acoustic vibes - guitar & piano & vox night at a nice little brewery based music venue.

I may also test using it as a wide side fill monitor with full band lineups and standard mains and subs.

Musicwolf

My J9 arrived last week.  So far I've only been able to give it a quick test in the house (it sounded great with plenty of low end, which was lacking from my Yamaha DXR12s).  I'll be taking it to practice tomorrow night to see how it performs against a drummer.

Stratavarious

Been configuring mine with my A&H digital desk. The three way J9 design really opens up the frequency spread.. the bass is full, clear and distinct and does not get congested with the mids with both piano and acoustic. The lack of beaminess is very impressive and you can use it to monitor your FOH mix very easily from the side.. ideal for a duo/trio.  No IR needed with my Taylor.. just a bit of compression to warm it up.

Completely impressed… and load in is far easier now. 20 seconds to set up and plug in.

it can work with an RCF 15” sub too

Musicwolf

I tried my J9 for the first time at rehearsal last night.  Very simple to set up (quicker than seting up a speaker stand and lifting a DXR12).  I just had one guitar and three vocals going in and it sounded very clear.

At the end of the evening I quickly ran a couple of backing tracks for one of my other bands through it (a gig coming up in 10 days with no rehearsal before then).  There was way too much bottom end so I'm going to book at hour or two in a local rehearsal studio to sort things out ahead of the gig.

Danny1969

The issue I have with all the column systems we have tried, inc the Evox J8 is the lack of any real solid low end and too much 60 to 70 ish low end.  And the lack of power in a proper full on rock band scenario. But they do shine in some situations we use them. Acoustic shows with keys, Shadows club for backing tracks. Anything that doesn't need that proper low end thump is fine. We've done quite band shows with the J8 system and got away with it but they weren't proper ticket shows where the crowd expect a proper live sound really. 

Some of this might be my preference but I think some of the problems are caused by the need to protect the drivers against too much low frequency energy. There's DSP in the cabs that blocks the real low end but exaggerates frequencies a little higher to give the impression the units do have low end. This works but in a congested "one note" kind of way to my ears compared to the cleared more defined bass you get from simple 15 and 18" bins. 

You get the same kind of thing with the little Mark and Phil Jones bass rigs .. it's just physics caused by size constraint I think. 

You wouldn't want them for a reggae gig but with some surgical hi Q fiddling it's possible to improve that a bit to the room you are working in. 

Musicwolf

The problem that I'm facing is that the backing tracks were recorded and mixed in my home studio on Neumann KH80's with limited bottom end (-6dB at 53Hz).  The Yamaha DXR12's have a similar roll off.

I would have made use of high pass filtering when doing the original mixes but, for the J9, I've removed the HPF and given myself independant playback of drums, bass, keys etc.  All of the songs employ the same Superior Drummer 3.0 kit and all the bass parts were played using the same bass / Kemper profile, so it should be a fairly quick job to EQ things at the mixer.

Stratavarious

Done a few intimate venue gigs with the J9 now… very impressed by the clarity and bass/highs separation.  Acoustic guitars and pianos sing.  Really fills rooms and throws detailed expressive vocals a long way.  The three way adds that breathiness. You can tame the brightness on the desk if you find it too airy with heavier numbers.

Getting a second for a band PA option for some smaller venues and will get the bass extension with a 15” sub if we need it.

Musicwolf

I've now done several gigs / rehearsals with the J9 covering three different bands.

It sounds great.  I'm still getting used to where the switches / controls are around the back but my only gripe is the carrying handle.  It's fine for picking up the sub and moving it a few yards (any more than that, then I use a sack truck) but it is useless for lifting the sub in or out of the car.  In fact you risk breaking your wrist if you hold it that way.

Danny1969

One of the bands I'm in has just brought one. We had used the j8 system for a few gigs. I wasn't impressed with that and I probably won't be with the J9 but this is mainly because I'm used to playing with big bass bins in other bands. First gigs in a couple of weeks so we will see.