How I powered an intimate concert with the JBL Eon One Compact speaker and PA system

I was excited, if a little apprehensive, when I received the JBL Eon One Compact portable speaker for this article.

Even without considering the spectre of playing in front of others, a larger portable speaker such as this is not the kind of device that I use on a daily basis. Often, the best wireless speakers for me are the handheld ones that I can take outside to soundtrack whatever I’m taking care of in the moment. But, most of those speakers, along with the best bluetooth speakers (and there’s a lot of overlap), are not really equipped to do what the JBL Eon One Compact can do.

Yes, this is a portable speaker capable of lasting up to 12 hours on a single charge. And yes, it’s Bluetooth capable. But, this speaker blends the concept of a portable speaker with that of a PA (portable address system), which is why the price tag is $599 / £479 / AU$899.

Most wireless speakers are not going loud enough for a block party. And they certainly don’t have the ports of features available to project a live performance, whether it’s a speech, karaoke, or an acoustic performance.

But the JBL Eon One Compact can handle all of that, so I used it for a living room performance with enough volume that I had to worry about not disturbing the neighbors. And while it can easily function as a powerful Bluetooth speaker (and it sounds pretty good for that purpose as well), I’m going to discuss how it makes an ideal all-in-one solution for the singer-songwriters, aspirational live creatives, and fiery corner orators among us. And – deep breath – I'm going to do it through my own personal experience.

The features

This speaker is not just a PA (as well as being a regular speaker), it has the functionality of a four channel mixer. Now, only two channels support microphones so this is not going to work for bigger setups, such as mic’ing the whole band, but it’s ideal for a coffee shop solo gig or open-mic night. Along with the two mic inputs, there is an additional line input that accepts quarter-inch cables, whether you want to plug in a keyboard or acoustic guitar. And then, the fourth channel accepts an Aux and Bluetooth input. There’s also a passthrough quarter-inch jack to add an additional speaker as well as two USB ports capable of charging.

While I did use an electric for this article, the PA is not going to replace a guitar amp without a little extra processing in the form of an amp-in-the-box pedal or modeler. On the bright side, all the controls are digital and can be adjusted per channel.

Because of that, I pressed the channel button to select the first channel and adjusted the volume (or gain as it’s labeled), treble, bass, and reverb to taste. Then, I did the same on the following channel where the guitar was plugged in. There are options for phantom power if you want to use a condenser mic (some mics need additional power to function) and you can also enable ducking that will bring down (or 'duck') the volume of music playing, say from a Bluetooth source, every time a signal goes through the first or second channel – aka, speech. This is a pretty cool feature for DJs or anyone wanting to make an announcement during a party, say, but not so useful for me.

Lastly, there’s a stand mount on the bottom if you need to project audio a little further – something that wasn’t necessary for my needs. It’s also worth noting that there’s a companion app too.

The setup

The first thing I did upon receiving the JBL Eon One Compact was to charge it up, even though it had plenty of charge out of the box. Then, I had to figure out the ins and outs since it’s a new product to me – us audio experts are surprisingly tentative and reverent with a new piece of kit, aren't we?

Then, I grabbed a mic stand, XLR cable, and a mic – I used a Shure beta 58 in this instance, but any dynamic mic will do. Despite the fact that this speaker does have phantom power, condenser mics aren’t really ideal for live situations so I decided to not use one.

Next, I had to try a couple of different guitars as I didn’t have an acoustic to use that had a built-in pickup, and wasn’t prepared to mic my acoustic. I also found that some electric guitars sounded too dark going directly in (again, it's not quite a match for your larger, versatile electric guitar amp – but that's hardly fair), so ended up using a brighter one of my axes that sounded decent through the JBL Eon One Compact.

As mentioned, I had to spend some time adjusting the two channels I was using, mainly in regards to balancing the volume between the guitar and vocals as well as turning the reverb up, though the reverb is more on the subtle side.

All told, it took maybe five minutes to set up, and it probably wouldn’t take anyone much more unless they’re doing some intense sound-checking.

The performance

Now, I won’t go too much into my warbling, or what I (but no one else) would recognise as chords being played on a guitar, but the results – performance notwithstanding – were loud and clear. With 120W of power available to me (150W peak), there was plenty of volume available to cover a much larger space than the living room I was playing in.

In fact, the JBL Eon One Compact has more than enough power to see you through any café or restaurant performance. And since it functions without the need to be connected to a power source, it can be used anywhere. If you want to use the JBL Eon One Compact for busking or street performance, you’re only limited by your imagination (and local legal limitations).

When I played, I was sitting in a plush chair without a care for where the nearest outlet was. In preparation for this performance, I had even moved around a few times to see what was most ideal before picking the chair, and I didn’t have to worry about where I was in relation to power.

Besides having plenty of volume, the music emanating from the speaker was plenty clear enough. My midwest-ish enunciations of words were distinct enough that one of the comments I received after the gig was how I made the Snow Patrol song, Chasing Cars sound pop-punk (just to reiterate, this is not a review of my own capabilities). And whether I wanted it or not, any nuanced playing or mistakes were also easily heard.

As mentioned, the reverb was fairly nuanced so you’re not going to get a lot in terms of effects here. So, if you want to get a little crazy with that sort of thing, you’re going to need to bring some extra outboard gear.

How the JBL Eon One Compact works for other situations

Besides being an ideal all-in-one solution for singer-songwriters hitting the coffee shop circuit, the JBL Eon One Compact is also good for playing music at an informal party. The ducking feature I mentioned earlier is good if you need to announce that someone’s car is getting towed (or whatever announcement you might make at a party). And it’s a good feature if you plan on making some kind of speech, but want some backing music.

I actually think there are more use cases thanks to the Bluetooth connectivity. For example, you could easily have your own Karaoke setup with this. I can’t speak to syncing up a screen with lyrics on it, but the JBL Eon One Compact allows you to speak or sing through the first two channels while simultaneously play music via Bluetooth or the Aux input on the fourth channel.

Now, it’s not something that you can use to 'cheap-out' on a sound system, if you’re going for a nightclub atmosphere. The frequency response is 37.5 - 20kHz, meaning that the sub-bass of dance music and hip-hop is mostly lost. And there’s no subwoofer out port. But if you're working on song lyrics ready to try them out at your local jam night, you might have just found your ideal bit of kit. Now get back to work – we need your music…

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