Ordered an EV ZXA1-90...

D

DJD100

Power User
...and I should have it in three days. I hope it's sufficient for monitoring the Axe with clean to medium gain blues/roots rock type patches at roughly 100db stage volumes (we'll see)?

I went with this rather than the FBT 8ma due to it's higher powered amps and greater SPL, so here's hoping that the added headroom will allow for a little low end EQ boost as well?

The other user who tried it mentioned distortion which must have been either bad gain staging or a defective unit as many on the web are really liking these speakers, though I still believe that the FBT 8ma would ultimately sound better by looking at it's response curve. I do think however that a little EQ could close the gap enough for stage use, and that the little EV should ultimately have a bit better bottom end at gig levels due to it's higher headroom, so I'll report back ASAP.
 
DJD100 said:
...and I should have it in three days. I hope it's sufficient for monitoring the Axe with clean to medium gain blues/roots rock type patches at roughly 100db stage volumes (we'll see)?

I went with this rather than the FBT 8ma due to it's higher powered amps and greater SPL, so here's hoping that the added headroom will allow for a little low end EQ boost as well?

The other user who tried it mentioned distortion which must have been either bad gain staging or a defective unit as many on the web are really liking these speakers, though I still believe that the FBT 8ma would ultimately sound better by looking at it's response curve. I do think however that a little EQ could close the gap enough for stage use, and that the little EV should ultimately have a bit better bottom end at gig levels due to it's higher headroom, so I'll report back ASAP.
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good luck the one i demoed was not good.. curious to see how your experience was.
 
Ok, it arrived today and I got to briefly test it in the control room as I was running late, but initial thoughts are that that it's clean and quiet, that it gets very loud, and that it has very good bottom end, though it needs a fairly extreme curve in the mid-range to sound ballpark with the studio monitors (this with it sitting in it's floor monitor position on carpet in a treated LEDE room). The monitors are Urei 813's, Westlake BBSM-4's, Digidesign/M-Audio DSM2's, and Yamaha NS10's.

The tones tested were clean to barely breaking up Brownface through pushed Dumble and Matchless tones thru RedWirez IR's and my custom tube stages (no high-gain), via a mahogany Les Paul Studio with P-Rails and a 65 Strat.

I'm using it at a gig tomorrow so we'll learn more about it's stage manners then.
 
Ok, the gig was outside on a small stage under a tent at a winery, and it did fine keeping up with the mic'd acoustic drums, electric violin (Roland AC-90), electric piano (12" JBL EON), and an electric bass, all in close proximity and surprisingly loud under the tent. I actually had to turn the low end down as the little 8" EV pushes some respectable low end with a A=440Hz standard tuned guitar. Style was original blues and roots rock, and I was using a pushed Dumble patch via Redwirez Marshall IR's, with a mahogony Les Paul Studio equipped with P-Rails.

Since I have a tube amp in my loop, I pan rows 2 and 3 L + R, and add a GEQ as the last block in row 3, so Out 1L goes to FOH, and Out 1R goes to the stage monitor. I'm fairly sure that this little speaker will do a fine job of stage monitoring if your volume requirements aren't too demanding (it was around 100db on stage and it had plenty more to give if needed), and if you don't detune as it's still only an 8" woofer. As for corrective EQ, I found the little EV to be bright and boxy sounding in general, so I had to dial out some 500Hz and 2Khz, though I was late to the sound check and didn't have much time to mess with it.

So, the first stage report is positive, and I have 44 more days to test it before it's mine.
 
Ok, I spent some time with it in the bigger studio area today and came away impressed! It produces plenty of bottom end without any EQ'ing down low, and only really needs some mid-range dipping at 500Hz, 1K and 2K with the GEQ. I tested today with the clean to mild breakup Brownface, a pushed Plexi, and a pushed Vox AC30TB (all through Redwirez IR's, with patches dialed on the studio monitors mentioned above). I did prefer it in it's horizontal monitor position up off the floor as it didn't need to couple with the floor to create enough low-end (which was surprising to me).

With corrective EQ the little EV sounds plenty good, and it's plenty powerful for my use as it's good to around 120db sans limiter with a naturally compressed pushed mid-gain sound (a little more with the limiter lighting up). Since that's way too loud for my ear's health I'll be happy with it for sure at the max 100db levels I play at, so I'll recommend them for use as a stage monitor with the Axe.
 
Glad to hear you're getting good results. I'm still not sure if it would be loud enough for my 8-piece band. But the easy portability is very tempting.

BTW, if you think the ZXA1 is bright, good thing you didn't get the QSC K8.
 
Thanks, I was pleasantly surprised as a matter of fact as I wasn't thinking that the low-end would be as good as it is with just one 8" woofer? As for volume with horns, it would likely be loud enough IMO (played many years with horns), and of course you could always use two for greater coverage? There's also supposedly a 100* model (horn throws 100* X 100*), though I haven't seen them advertised?

Of note is the fact that if you heard it at a store and didn't get to dip the mid-range you'd probably be dis-satisfied (it's small size makes it boxy sounding IMO), and IMO it really needs the corrective EQ to sound good doing elec guitar sounds. Also, keep in mind that I exclusively use the Redwirez which typically are flatter than the stock cabs, so the low-end would probably require some EQ if using the stock cabs.

To dpeterson, I can only guess that the one you tested had a problem as this one works well keeping in mind it's corrective EQ needs.

Ideally if I had a crew I'd prefer something bigger and heavier LOL, but at it's 19lb weight and reasonable cost I think the EV ZXA1-90 is good deal. Finally, I got this one from Musician's Friend for $439 as it was a return/open box, and it came with a 45 day try out period (can't beat that!).



burningyen said:
Glad to hear you're getting good results. I'm still not sure if it would be loud enough for my 8-piece band. But the easy portability is very tempting.

BTW, if you think the ZXA1 is bright, good thing you didn't get the QSC K8.
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Okay I had the opportunity to try the EV ZX1-90 (passive version of ZXA-1 from Sam Ash) side by side with the passive Atomic Reactor cabinet. I'm using the Rocktron Velocity 300--- ZX1 on the left, Atomic on the right channel.

Also, I'm using the Digitech GSP1101, I know, I know, it's not in the same league as the Axe-Fx but if you hold off on the cork sniffing, and keep an open ear you'll find the amp & cab models to be very good for the budget price of $659 shipped with a foot controller.

Back to the ZX1 vs Reactor. The ZX1 right off the bat exhibited very harsh reproduction of the treble/high end frequencies. I'm not talking subtle/cork sniffing here. I'm talking blatant night & day difference. As if the tweeter section is overloading/distorting and I'm not even playing at concert levels. Compared this to the Reactor which gives out very smooth highs (I have the tweeter knob set to Noon---flat according to the manual). The reactor does a great job of mimicking a guitar cab tone! Whereas, the ZX1 sounds like its gurgling the signal. I tried real hard to jam with both on at the same time, on one side I'm hearing smoothness, on the other side was harshness. I had to stop after half an hour.

I have both channels set to equal volume. I tried it out with different amp models in the GSP. All the same result: treble distortion on the ZX1 and smooth highs on the Atomic. Maybe the ZX1 needed break-in period? Well so does my brand new Atomic. Maybe the ZX1 I got was defective? Too bad, I returned it the next day.

Could it be attributed to the "sound quality" of the GSP? Then why won't it sound that way with the Reactor?

I wanted to see if I can get away with 1 reactor that would sit behind me and a ZX1 to be used as a wedge in front of me. No-Go. I'm waiting for the next Atomic cab to become available for sale.
 
You didn't mention how you setup your test sounds (on what monitors or cabs, and in what environment)? You also didn't mention EQ'ing the EV speaker which I noted was necessary to curb the upper mid-range harshness and boxy-ness? The GSP1101 might not have an EQ available to correct the little EV like the Axe does, I'm not familiar with them, but you should somehow use some corrective EQ with the little EV to properly evaluate it. That said, the quality of the 1101's sounds vs the Axe's shouldn't matter in evaluating the speakers.

There's no way the little EV will give you the "in the room experience" of a 12" Reactor which is a much bigger/heavier box, though if your patches were created on quality FRFR studio monitors in a decent environment they would translate accurately to the little EV (with a little corrective EQ to tame the EV's harsh upper mids and boxy-ness). I haven't tried the Coaxial FBT's or QSC's, but all the semi-modern PA speakers that I've tried with the Axe have had a relatively harsh upper mid-range and all needed some corrective EQ to tame it (JBL, Mackie, Yamaha, and Peavey tested).

6stringriffs said:
Okay I had the opportunity to try the EV ZX1-90 (passive version of ZXA-1 from Sam Ash) side by side with the passive Atomic Reactor cabinet. I'm using the Rocktron Velocity 300--- ZX1 on the left, Atomic on the right channel.

Also, I'm using the Digitech GSP1101, I know, I know, it's not in the same league as the Axe-Fx but if you hold off on the cork sniffing, and keep an open ear you'll find the amp & cab models to be very good for the budget price of $659 shipped with a foot controller.

Back to the ZX1 vs Reactor. The ZX1 right off the bat exhibited very harsh reproduction of the treble/high end frequencies. I'm not talking subtle/cork sniffing here. I'm talking blatant night & day difference. As if the tweeter section is overloading/distorting and I'm not even playing at concert levels. Compared this to the Reactor which gives out very smooth highs (I have the tweeter knob set to Noon---flat according to the manual). The reactor does a great job of mimicking a guitar cab tone! Whereas, the ZX1 sounds like its gurgling the signal. I tried real hard to jam with both on at the same time, on one side I'm hearing smoothness, on the other side was harshness. I had to stop after half an hour.

I have both channels set to equal volume. I tried it out with different amp models in the GSP. All the same result: treble distortion on the ZX1 and smooth highs on the Atomic. Maybe the ZX1 needed break-in period? Well so does my brand new Atomic. Maybe the ZX1 I got was defective? Too bad, I returned it the next day.

Could it be attributed to the "sound quality" of the GSP? Then why won't it sound that way with the Reactor?

I wanted to see if I can get away with 1 reactor that would sit behind me and a ZX1 to be used as a wedge in front of me. No-Go. I'm waiting for the next Atomic cab to become available for sale.
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6stringriffs said:
Maybe the ZX1 needed break-in period? Well so does my brand new Atomic. Maybe the ZX1 I got was defective?
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There's always a chance the ZX1 is translating what the Rocktron amp is actually producing and the Atomic is successfully masking it. And it seems likely to me that the ZXA1 sounds better than the Rocktron+ZX1 solution, assuming of course that EV put some thought into pairing the built-in amp to the speakers.
 
I'm of the belief that EQ'ing should only correct for subjective taste as well as the room environment. I shouldn't have to correct for a very obvious harshness in the treble (or upper midrange as someone put it). Besides, I also turned up the tweeter knob on the Atomic and while I got the spiky highs and certainly not how I would set it on a day-to-day setting, it dids not exhibit harshness or fizziness the way the EV ZX1 was. If a lot of those PA monitors are going to exhibit that harshness that has to be EQ'ed out, then I will stick with the reactors.

As for the Rocktron, if anything the V300 will smooth out or reduce highs because it is attempting to sound like a tube amp especially with the Reactance knob. And I always leave that reactance know to 10:00 or below.
 
I just read up a little on the V300 and am not surprised it doesn't work well with the ZX1. Isn't it meant to drive guitar speakers, not FRFR monitors? Based on past shootouts, it sounds like people find that the Atomic FRs smooth over the highs relative to other monitors, which might explain why you're getting good results with the Rocktron paired with the Atomics and not with the ZX1.
 
This is why folks should dial in their test patches on known reference systems, and then compare the systems to be tested from a known source. If you're merely adjusting the 1101's amp model's bass, middle, treble, and presence controls which mimic a tube amp's Tone Stack then you're not using the EV PA Speaker in a PA environment (where both the monitors and FOH speakers typically have EQ available for corrective purposes). If you were to use the Reactor and EV for PA purposes the EV would probably sound more accurate in that role and the Reactor would need the corrective EQ.

I'd certainly agree that the Reactors sound more like guitar cabs due to their construction and size, but not that there's anything inherently wrong with the little 8" EV's. There's really no way a small composite box with an 8" woofer is going to sound like a way larger wooden box with a 12" woofer, though properly used the smaller EV does an admirable job of being a "monitor" with impressive low end and high SPL for it's size and weight.

That said, it's certainly great that we have all these choices these days!

6stringriffs said:
I'm of the belief that EQ'ing should only correct for subjective taste as well as the room environment. I shouldn't have to correct for a very obvious harshness in the treble (or upper midrange as someone put it). Besides, I also turned up the tweeter knob on the Atomic and while I got the spiky highs and certainly not how I would set it on a day-to-day setting, it dids not exhibit harshness or fizziness the way the EV ZX1 was. If a lot of those PA monitors are going to exhibit that harshness that has to be EQ'ed out, then I will stick with the reactors.

As for the Rocktron, if anything the V300 will smooth out or reduce highs because it is attempting to sound like a tube amp especially with the Reactance knob. And I always leave that reactance know to 10:00 or below.
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