QSC K-12

rp911

rp911

Inspired
While I am waiting for the Verve 12MA's that are on backorder, I decided to pick up a QSC K12. It arrived today.

I have not had a huge amount of time to listen to it, but I will be gigging with it on Friday and Saturday.

I've spent a lot of time the last week dialing in my basic tone for the AxeFX, using a pair of powered 2-way 8-inch woofer Behringer B2031A monitors, with the treble at -2db. They are decent monitors for the price, and I have got the guitar sounding perfect through them. My basic tone is clean through a blackface Twin Reverb and JBL speakers, and man, I have got it dialed in beautifully over those 2031A monitors.

I had some trepidation about the QSC speakers, mostly from the reading I'm doing that the while the HPR 112i is a good speaker for the money, it's not particularly flat, it has a bit of a midrange hump which makes it good for vocals, and some says the highs can be harsh.

However, I was pleased to see that the K12 has two settings, one for "flat" response, and a "vocal boost" setting, presumably one with that midrange hump. So I set it flat, plugged it in, and A/B'd an Axe recording of my guitar over the 2031A's and then played through the Axe into the K12 at similar volume levels.

I'll be damned if it doesn't almost exactly match the 2031A's, same low end response, highs are crisp, maybe slightly more trebly than the monitors, but not by much, and probably easily dialed out.

I still want to listen to the Verve 12MA, mostly because they are a little smaller and the dispersion is probably better, but I like the K12 a lot so far. I will report back after the gigs, one is indoors at a club with a very small stage that is really difficult to play with my "big" rig, and the other is outdoors on a huge stage. Should be a good trial run.
 
rp911, thanks for the report.

I am looking forward to hear how they sound on your gig.

I got a call from my local guitar center and they got them. I will be stopping by this weekend (probably not a great idea) and test them.
 
K series looks really nice. about 20 lbs lighter than my Hpr122i.

If the sound quality is there with the HPR series, it should be a winner.

Im not sure what the cost is. Wondering if its in line with the Hpr122i?
 
rp911 said:
I still want to listen to the Verve 12MA, mostly because they are a little smaller and the dispersion is probably better, but I like the K12 a lot so far. I will report back after the gigs, one is indoors at a club with a very small stage that is really difficult to play with my "big" rig, and the other is outdoors on a huge stage. Should be a good trial run.
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I am very interested to hear what you think, having the gigs under your belt.

The Verve 8ma and 12ma look extremely interesting to me, but getting them in Canada and getting warranty service is somewhat difficult. My local Pro Audio shop showed me the K8, but it would not configure as a wedge. The K10 looks like an interesting solution. It also has the "flat" switch and is a little smaller / lighter. Still puts out way more power than I need (127db).

Terry.
 
I can tell you that the K12 had more than enough power and projection to work on a small, crowded stage (we have two drummers), and on a good-sized outdoor stage. I had no problem hearing myself, and the band could hear me as well. We were damn loud on the small club stage, too. I was running the gain on the QSC at about 75 percent and the output on the AxeFX was halfway up. I play clean, not high-gain stuff for the most part. I could have been a lot louder if I wanted to be.

Come to think of it, since the K12 has two separate channels, I suppose you could feed it left and right off the AxeFX and run it even hotter. That's a really nice feature if you want to run stereo to the board but mono on stage, because it gives you two inputs, two straight outputs and one mixed output with both channels down to one. It also accepts XLR or 1/4 inch on the inputs, another nice feature.

I didn't get a chance to talk to the sound guy at the outdoor gig, because it was a festival with two side-by-side stages, so one band was setting up while the other was playing.

But the sound guy at the club was thrilled with the AxeFX and the sound he was getting from me to the board (I gave him a DI off the 2nd output and used output 1 for the QSC, so if I futzed with my stage volume it wouldn't affect his level).

I am still awaiting the Verve 12MA's but I would not be hesitant about the K12 if it fits your needs. I am considering just picking up a second one, so I can use it as backline and have a little more control over how much of my guitar is getting heard in the house, we don't have a regular sound guy. I wonder how well it would work to just set them up one facing out and one facing in to make sure the people up front are hearing me.
:shock:
 
rp911 said:
I am still awaiting the Verve 12MA's but I would not be hesitant about the K12 if it fits your needs.
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The benefit to the QSC K series is that I can try it out before I buy it, and warranty is local. The K10 and even K8 look very interesting. The downside to the K8 is that it won't physically sit on stage as a monitor. The K10 seems to hit a sweet spot. It's 32lbs, is a bit smaller and has more dispersion than the K12 (90 degrees).

rp911 said:
I am considering just picking up a second one, so I can use it as backline and have a little more control over how much of my guitar is getting heard in the house, we don't have a regular sound guy. I wonder how well it would work to just set them up one facing out and one facing in to make sure the people up front are hearing me.
:shock:
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Should sound fine, but how would you know if the level is correct?

I appreciate the information.

Terry.
 
rp911 said:
I am still awaiting the Verve 12MA's but I would not be hesitant about the K12 if it fits your needs.
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BTW, any idea how far off the 12ma's are? You will be in an interesting position, being able to test the 12ma and the new / smaller QSC.

Terry.
 
I still have a pair of 12MA's on order, although I am hearing it could be 2-8 weeks before they get in.

But I had to post again, because I've been pretty obsessed with the AxeFX and haven't done much else with the K12. But I just plugged my Roland TD-12 V-drum kit into a single K12, and holy crap, the K12 really kicks a-- on the low end. The kick drum is just shaking my studio, and it's barely turned up. You know how if you go to a rock concert, and the sound guy has the kick drum perfectly miked, so it's just a solid force into your chest? That's what it's like. With one 12" woofer. Wow. And that's on the "flat" setting, without their DSP low end "deep" enhancement turned on. I'm afraid to try that, it will knock the walls down.

I really think QSC has hit a home run here. It's light (42 lbs.) and powerful. Plus, right now, if you register online, you can get a 6-year warranty extension on it for free. That's the one thing that makes me a little nervous about the Verves, where can you get them repaired if they go down? QSC is pretty ubiquitous.

I'm going to see how it does with the low B on my 5-string bass.

See my previous thread on ebay pricing, I got a pair for $645 each yesterday, they are arriving today.
 
The K12 sounds good at low volumes, to me. I was using my studio monitor for reasonable level practicing, but I think the K12 does just fine for that, too.

YMMV, of course.

I'm still looking forward to comparing with the 12MAs; even if I really like the 12MA, I will keep the K12s for the rehearsal studio.
 
supersecretjim said:
Id like to hear a comparison to the QSC Hpr122i ......
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I am sure many people are interested in this, including me.
I currently have a pair of Hpr122is and i I love their flexibility (upright, on their side, on a pole, loud, quiet, etc). Ok, I'm a guy, sue me.
 
rp911 said:
I can tell you that the K12 had more than enough power and projection to work on a small, crowded stage (we have two drummers), and on a good-sized outdoor stage. I had no problem hearing myself, and I didn't get a chance to talk to the sound guy at the outdoor gig, because it was a festival with two side-by-side stages, so one band was setting up while the other was playing.

But the sound guy at the club was thrilled with the AxeFX and the sound he was getting from me to the board (I gave him a DI off the 2nd output and used output 1 for the QSC, so if I futzed with my stage volume it wouldn't affect his level).

I am still awaiting the Verve 12MA's but I would not be hesitant about the K12 if it fits your needs. I am considering just picking up a second one, so I can use it as backline and have a little more control over how much of my guitar is getting heard in the house, we don't have a regular sound guy. I wonder how well it would work to just set them up one facing out and one facing in to make sure the people up front are hearing me.
:shock:
Click to expand...

just so I understand, do you think a single K12 would be enough for a small club even without also going to the board?
I don't want to just use it as a monitor, but as my proper backline
 
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