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Is there anyone on this forum that uses this amp (or a similar one) as their main amplifier? My Eastman AR403 CE SB sounds quite nice thru it. I have been bouncing thru several amps and am thinking about trying the Fender '68 Custom Vibro Champ Reverb 1x10-inch 5-watt Tube but for less than that price I could just get another S1 and connect them if I wanted to. I do think I need to get an EQ pedal though to make some adjustments tone wise to the sound but it is quite close to what I am looking for for my chord melody applications.
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12-20-2025 09:23 AM
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If you do a Forum search for "Bose" you'll see a few suggestions..
Originally Posted by John H. Power
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I posted extensively about my experiments with the Bose S1, Everse 8 and JBL Eon One Compact. I got interested after reading that the Bud/Blu were good for both voice and guitar.
Results were that I needed more EQ options than the Bose S1 offers. So even though it sounded great in some situations, I couldn't get what I wanted in some other situations.
I didn't like the sound of the Everse 8 as much, but, to be fair, I didn't experiment with the parametric EQ, which very well might have made a difference.
I currently use the JBL Eon One Compact (and just posted a demo of it for voice and guitar in another thread). Sounds good and lots of EQ options.
Caveats: I don't play an archtop and I'm not using a classic "jazz sound". Nevershould recently posted his view which is that a guitar amp is preferable for the sound he wants. Apologies to Never if I've mischaracterized his viewpoint.
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I read your posts but I have the S1 Pro +.
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You got that right. I played through an S1 a few weeks ago backing a vocalist on a carved archtop. The vocalist brought it with him and was insistent that I run through it. I even used the line out on my Blu 6 to drive it. No amount of EQ or other twiddling got it to sound like the same guitar does through any of my guitar amps and cabs. The sound was a bit compressed, and it sounded like I was playing my guitar through a PA system. The bass was tubby when cranked, and the mids and highs weren't well integrated with the bottom. Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
I've gotten the same impression every time I've played through an amplifier and speaker that were not designed for guitar. I used to have a Gigrac powered mixer. These are great units with Crown electronics inside, and I used it for solo dates and small gigs with limited stage space - along with mics, I ran my guitar plus a keyboard and bass through it if needed. I usually used my Boogie Thiele 1x12 loaded with an EVM - and even that didn't sound like the same guitar did through the same speaker powered by any of my heads (Bassman 50, Boogie 50 caliber, Vox NIght Train 15, Crate Powerblock, etc).
If you want a classic jazz guitar tone, I think you need to use a good guitar amp or a really good DI (like a reddi box) into a superb house system. You can mic your amp into a top quality sound reinforcement system with good results. Also, a really good amp / cab modeler through a top quality sound system can sound great. But I've never heard a smaller sound system like the Bose etc that sounded as good for jazz guitar as any decent little guitar amp.
This is just my opinion, and YMMV. TBH, the sound from the Bose and similar units wasn't bad - it just didn't sound great to me. It's gigworthy, and most member of most audiences aren't going to notice the differences. But I do (or, at least, I think I do...).
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That's the model I tried. I recall an outdoor gig where I thought it sounded great. But, in my rehearsal room and on an indoor gig it was too bassy and I couldn't dial it out with the two band EQ or the presets. Same thing with big band - bass boomed a little and I couldn't adjust it to my satisfaction. A singer friend likes it, but also said he found it too bassy. Originally Posted by John H. Power
My guess is that the bass can be reduced with an appropriate outboard EQ, but I was trying to keep things simpler than that.
On the positive side, with the bass controlled with an outboard mixer, the Bose S1 pro plus sounded best of the three for vocals.
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When you hear jazz guitar recordings, they are 99% of the time through either a guitar amplifier or electronics designed to emulate a guitar amplifier. The guitar amplifier is part of tone and not simply something that makes it louder.
The Bose S1 is basically a high fidelity PA speaker. It does not sound like a guitar amplifier.
The easiest thing I know to try is the Joyo American pedal in front of the S1. It's not the ultimate when it comes to emulating a real amp, but it's pretty good and very inexpensive.
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Well, just for the record (as we lawyers say) I am going to give the Fender '68 Custom Vibro Champ a go. I only play at home so 5 watts is enough power. I recently returned a Henriksen Blu 6 since I could not get the tone I was looking for from it and I tried. Just working thru the list. I have also checked out the Quilter amps and that 4 watt Vox looks interesting also. Too many choices. It's so easy with my Martin 000-28C. No knobs to fiddle with or pedals to agonize over. You just pick it up and start playing.
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A friend borrowed me his Humboldt, transistor built simulator of power tubes, cabs and mic placement. I play it through a EHX 22 class D amp brick and an 8” chinese Celestion “valve” speaker with no housing. Switched to 6L6 sim and instant perfect jazz sound! This from a Les Paul junior P90 that never sounded jazzy and the Yamaha AS500 humbucker which doesn’t sound jazzy straight through the EHX.
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Keep in mind with the Bose S1Pro there are automatic EQ adjustments depending on position of speaker
upright
upright tilted back
on its side tilted
Also the preamp settings (line, guitar, microphone) on the input are important.
just cause you’re playing guitar doesn’t mean you should use the guitar setting if you have a preamp going or something similar.
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Bose S1 has two band EQ with the upper band centered around 7500hz. It has dozens of presets, which are not documented. That is, Bose doesn't offer a graphic showing what each one is doing. It does adjust EQ in accordance with the position of the speaker and has input settings. Originally Posted by alltunes
If those allow you to get the EQ you want, it's a great sounding speaker.
But, if you need more control, typically to tame some boominess in the bass frequencies, you may be out of luck. For example, say, on a gig you want to reduce the boominess. You crank the bass knob down, but it doesn't do it. At that point, what do you do? You can try one of the dozens of undocumented presets, but which one? Try turning the speaker sideways? Switch inputs? Might work, but it's trial and error -- on a gig.
Last night I went to a jam and had to play through a small Bose unit, which was not the S1. I don't know which model. Sure enough, the bass frequencies were way too loud. I asked the host to turn the bass down, which he probably did, although I'm not certain. I couldn't reach the amp. I ended up having to use the coil split feature on the Comins GCS1 to tame the bass. But that caused hum, so I had to go to the middle position on the switch -- both pickups on -- which added some high end I didn't like. I never got a satisfying tone.
I should have brought an amp, but it was raining and I wanted to travel as light as possible.
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