Great review, as always. We have had our ShowBox for about a month and have gigged with it several times now with good results. It fits the bill for a small to medium sized venue system for our duo where we need more inputs. The sound is very good and the features are impressive. My favorite thing is definitely the detachable mixer and the SD card record feature. The looper is pretty useless since it's only one button. I would MUCH prefer their two-button footswitch to be able to use for the looper (dedicated stop/clear) as opposed to one button being used to turn off effects. That's an oversight, IMO. Size is a little large but there is a lot of stuff crammed in there so I guess you can only go so small. Trim 6 inches off the height and it would be much better. Weight is at the upper limit of true busking portability but good enough. The bag is good enough for light transport. I think this system ticks a lot of boxes in the battery powered system category and will appeal to those needing more than two inputs as well as those that don't like using a phone/tablet app for control. I've owned several of the small battery powered systems over the years and this is definitely my favorite so far.
Nice direct-to-SD sound on that cool Maton geetar! What I‘d really love to hear is the how the speaker sounds in a room (and yes, I‘m well aware of the trials & tribulations of micing things up that way) with both guitar AND vocals. And that side-by-side with a well-known player such as the Everse 8 and/or the Bose S1 Pro as a tonal reference point. Why with vocals, too? Because I find that tons of speakers sound fine with guitar, but many start to break up or sound harsh or lack proper bass when vocals are pumped through them. A guitar can sound great through a given system just because the guitar‘s (or pickup‘s) weaknesses are somehow being compensated for by the speaker, which, itself, might have a skewed frequency range. And the audience doesn‘t know how that particular guitar is supposed to sound. But with vocals as another point in reference, we can start connecting the dots…and with a side-by-side comparison with a familiar speaker, we can guess fairly accurately at the tonal differences between the two.
The problem is that all microphones and voices are different too. One persons voice may sound great but another may sound harsh due to their tone. Then double that with the natural EQ of the microphone. A comparison would be interesting with the same singer through every system. Even then it wouldn’t be perfect.
@@aaronshortmusic Totally agree, of course. With you as the singer in all cases, we’d have a comparative reference point. ;-) And maybe a Shure SM 58 would make more sense than a Sennheiser.
I regularly use the Everse 8 for small restaurant/winery acoustic guitar/vocals performances. It provides plenty of volume and sounds great, even in a busy/packed restaurant. In your experience, can this compete? I love all the features of the mixer and would love to have additional inputs for guest performers....but not at the expense of sound quality and volume. 😊
For me it did BUT the Everse app allows more customization so I would say try one first to be sure. A lot of it depends on the pickup and mic you are using. I wish someone would make a unit with the detachable mixer and an app as well but that would also drive the price up.
Wow! Six inputs? The price point seems to be pretty right on nice looking bag too. I’d be curious as to how it sounds compared to the Bose S1 pro. Do you think it would be louder? If so, this could be killer
Hi Aaron, I bought it the week it came out. I loved the concept of the breakaway mixer but it just didn’t have the power for me. It distorted when I cranked it up. I now have the Everse 12 and I’m more than happy with it for busking.
Mine distorted too until I realized it has a gain setting as well as volume. Once I set that it was fine. The Everse 12 is a whole other product, I’m sure it sounds great but for me it’s no longer in the ‘portable’ category at 31.22lbs. I’m sure it sounds great though!
@@aaronshortmusic I did the same thing, Realized I was too high on gain and I was able to clean it up. This item exceeded my expectations. I have a looper on the floor so having send return fx loop makes my life easy as well. Agreed, The Everse 12 probably sounds great but I wouldn't compare it to this, It is out of the portable range for me as well. I am also running a Roland spd X Pro as an electric drum set and loop my drums from it and play solos at times on the drums and I was worried that the 8" woofer on this wouldn't be able to handle the SPD X Pro and all its effects, loops and kits but once again, it exceeded my expectaions and is more than adequate Love this thing.
@@GUIDESPERSPECTIVEare you a drummer? Or a guitarist/vocalist who loops drums with the SPDX? I have a few questions dependent on your answer. Thank you
I know it would make the unit heavier and perhaps more expensive, but I'd be very interested in a 12" speaker version; although you could line it out to another active speaker. Also what type of battery is on board and how long does it actually last for under gig condition?
I don’t get the 12” thing unless it’s for DJ’s but I don’t run bass or tracks through my PA. My main PA speakers for my band shows are 10”. Even then I’d personally be fine with 8” speakers. The 12” also makes it a lot less portable. They say the battery lasts up to 12 hours on a full charge depending on what is connected.
Too hard to compare. The Mackie is larger with double the inputs. The Everse has an app and the Mackie has a physical mixer. Choose which suits your needs the best.
Hi AaroN and thank you for your efficient videos on the subject (that I have just discovered..) persecuted musician in France where I had to abandon my professional studio and so my house too.. over time I took up music again... installed in a small van I made by hand (without electric tools) numerous native flutes with a substantial repertoire at the same time.. not very fortunate and without much knowledge of new Bluetooth products, I spotted a light and promising partybox on the go compact.. I bought a second-hand one.. but the bass is unmanageable and the reverb effect distorted by a sort of phase shift... customer service unable to tell me a compatible app at least to equalize this thing.. (I haven't finished watching this video and I already know that Mackie is serious) but it's financially inaccessible to me unless I'm sponsored.. but what can I do? Before J take a look at your video on the Ev everse 8 too.. very intersting. In short, your wise advice would be very useful to me, I think. Thank you✨👍🏼
The Bose S1 Pro Plus, Everse 8, ShowBox etc are all excellent and all very different. It’s impossible to recommend one without knowing your exact needs.
@@aaronshortmusic : you know J 'm playing native flutes and sing a lot on that directory.. J just need a lightweigt amp with a simple but good reverb or delay as light as possible.. not really powerful but offering a well-balanced sound or easy to equalize.. obviously bluetooth stereo.. if possible with connector easy for recharging in my small van.. that would be perfect 🪶🤗 (in the meantime could you suggest a compatible application to manage the frequencies of my temporary jbl "partybox on the go"?)
Thanks! That’s so subjective. Also remember you can’t go in and tweak like you can with the Everse but with this particular guitar I’m kind of blown away.
@@ElliottHerrington Not sure what you mean. Like I said with my guitar I like both. It depends on the gig I am playing as to whether I use the S1, Everse 8 or Showbox. I have all 3.
Like I say in the video these are all so different. I like the Everse 8 a lot but if you like physical controls then you might be frustrated as it only has DSP controls and an app. Also the Mackie has double the inputs so the question is- how many inputs do you need, how important is the weight and do you want app control or a classic mixer?
@@WWeiss-nv5vz I sent you a message on your channel. But to me the EV has a more professional design and it is dead quiet when not playing it. The biggest plus is that the tone is just beautiful compared to acoustic guitar amplifiers or other powered speakers. Have a great day 👍
I think they should let the price like that to keep it affordable, but add extensions, like a pedal looping or looping pad as a extension machine to work with the amp doing and update and charge por the looping pedal or looping pad. And keep adding many other futures just charge them as extras and keep the original price. But this product seems to go to be true I will be getting mine soon, let’s see how it does.
@@aaronshortmusic : je parlais de la petite enceinte " freeplay live" (sa petite sœur) j'èspère que tu pourras répondre à mon autre commentaire si tu l'as vu 😉
@@aaronshortmusic 7lbs is a lot of extra weight if you're lugging to a busking spot As well as the sound the insert features of the Plus make it a killer unit for the solo acoustic musician Just wish it had a foot switch for reverb mute and master volume
Not at all. I played Maton guitars long before Cole Clark. With all the discussion of stainless frets I thought I should play this for a while to see if I really do like them.
