Anyone with JBL JRX experience?

M

Martin Primus

Freshman
Dec 4, 2012
10
0
1
Bennington, NE
So this weekend I'm having my first encounter with a JBL JRX rig, mixing a friend's country band. I believe the setup is 1 over 1 per side, JRX125 over the single 18" sub. I've heard this rig used by another band and it was underwhelming to say the least. I am bringing in a Presonus Studiolive 16:4 for mixing duties so that I have as many tools at my disposal as possible, and it's something I'm completely comfortable working on.

Since I only have about 90 min to dial in/sound check, I'm just wondering if anybody who has worked with these boxes has any input on getting the best performance possible. This is a 300 person room, very reflective (of course!)...so I'm going to be in for a challenge, no doubt about it. I'm guessing no processing will be available beyond a basic analog crossover and what I'll have in the SL. Should be "fun", but hey it's a decent paycheck at least :)

Thanks in advance for any input/well wishes..haha. :lol:
 
Re: Anyone with JBL JRX experience?

Good luck with that. About the only advice I have is don't expect too much, and keep everything out of the PA that can stand on its own so the JRX gear has less to do.
 
Re: Anyone with JBL JRX experience?

If you can get the band to work with you (guitar amps aimed so that they actually help with stage monitoring; overall stage levels kept in in check, etc.), you might be okay on output for the vocals to come through. I'd center cluster the subs if possible and try to keep as much gack out out of the speakers as possible (aux-fed subs, HPFs on vocal inputs, etc.).

Let us know how it goes (well or not).
 
Re: Anyone with JBL JRX experience?

Aux feeding the subs was something i was kicking around pretty seriously, just a matter of whether I can repatch everything in a timely manner. This was last minute fill-in type work, so I don't have a lot of detail on the rig in general, just what I remember from seeing/hearing it once before. Planning on less-is-more for this one, it's not metal or anything where huge SPL will be a priority. My biggest concerns are vocal clarity from the quasi-three way tops and trying to get the lower-crossed 15 in the top to play with the subs in some kind of manner that minimizes the muddiness.
 
Re: Anyone with JBL JRX experience?

Jordan Wolf said:
If you can get the band to work with you (guitar amps aimed so that they actually help with stage monitoring; overall stage levels kept in in check, etc.), you might be okay on output for the vocals to come through. I'd center cluster the subs if possible and try to keep as much gack out out of the speakers as possible (aux-fed subs, HPFs on vocal inputs, etc.).

Let us know how it goes (well or not).
Click to expand...

You don't need to center cluster them but just put them together if a L/R setup is not ideal. I often find a L/R setup works well if you end up near the walls.
 
Re: Anyone with JBL JRX experience?

Martin Primus said:
So this weekend I'm having my first encounter with a JBL JRX rig, mixing a friend's country band. I believe the setup is 1 over 1 per side, JRX125 over the single 18" sub. I've heard this rig used by another band and it was underwhelming to say the least. I am bringing in a Presonus Studiolive 16:4 for mixing duties so that I have as many tools at my disposal as possible, and it's something I'm completely comfortable working on.

Since I only have about 90 min to dial in/sound check, I'm just wondering if anybody who has worked with these boxes has any input on getting the best performance possible. This is a 300 person room, very reflective (of course!)...so I'm going to be in for a challenge, no doubt about it. I'm guessing no processing will be available beyond a basic analog crossover and what I'll have in the SL. Should be "fun", but hey it's a decent paycheck at least :)

Thanks in advance for any input/well wishes..haha. :lol:
Click to expand...

Everyone trashes these boxes, but I've mixed a few bands that have these speakers and if you do some EQ'ing to smooth out the harshness of the horns, and power them properly, you can certainly get acceptable results. As a sound tech, you have to deal with what you are given and make the best out of it. :)~:)~:smile:
 
Re: Anyone with JBL JRX experience?

The worst scenario I have seen is multiple JRX boxes deployed next to each other. Because they are cheap we can buy 4!!
 
Re: Anyone with JBL JRX experience?

Update...well I survived...and the best news is I didn't have to deal with the JRX FOH at all, just the horrible JRX100 wedges and PV wedges they had. The club (just reopened) had a new system installed, not deployed too well for bands (4 speakers hung, aimed at the dance floor from each corner, subs were on stage). But it was QRX212's x4 and QRX218's x 2. High frequency coverage was terrible because of where the boxes were aimed, but I was able to coax a pretty good mix.

I almost got twice the fun, because I found out that night that they were playing a Sunday night gig just up the road, and again intended on using their JRX FOH. This is a two-band/two-stage night that usually has anwhere from 4-600 in attendance in an old ballroom. After the positive results from Fri-Sat, the band realized that they had no chance of adequately serving that room, so we got better FOH (SRX 715's (2 per side) over EV T18s (4 per side), and put on a third succesful show. Best news is that the lead singer (band "owner") got a very good demonstration of what it takes to play the nicer venues in the area, and we'll be sittin down in the next couple weeks to build them a new rig. He's been budgeting for a while and we have a good starting point for a club rig that will serve them nicely.


PS...cheap wedges suck...there is no way around it. Luckily the band had good quality sound to work with through FOH, because I spent most of three nights trying to manage enough clear SPL's from the JRX's to keep the singers happy, and I never did quite get what I consider "good" from them. I guess we'll call it a mostly succesful weekend :)
 
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