The L1® Model II system helps Butcher achieve an accurate acoustic guitar sound while performing his “unplugged” iteration Two Roads East
Framingham, Massachusetts, October 31, 2013 – For decades, songwriter and guitarist Jon Butcher has been thrilling audiences with his brand of rock and blues, criss-crossing the country with his electric act Jon Butcher Axis and, more recently, an acoustic show Butcher calls Two Roads East. “In recent years, I divide my touring schedule for any given year so it’s nearly 60/40 electric/acoustic,” he notes. Finding the right sound system solution for an acoustic guitar with pickups can be a challenge, as any acoustic performer knows, but Butcher has been able to dial in the perfect sound with the L1® Model II portable system and B2 bass module from Bose® Professional Systems Division. He uses two L1 systems, arranged at 45 degrees, each with a B2 bass module, placed behind him on stage.
He states, “The L1 system has really focused my guitar sound and allowed me to play in such a way that is full and vibrant with none of the thin and unarticulated acoustic guitar sounds that most guitarists have been wrestling with their entire career. Anybody who plays acoustic guitar knows what I’m talking about — its a bear to get the thing to sound authentic and organic in person, because you know that is the nature of piezoelectric pickups. But the L1 Model II System has been articulate, inviting and spatially-wide. I continue to use it for those reasons.”
Butcher has been using L1 systems since around 2009, when he traveled to the east coast from his home in California to record with occasional collaborator Charlie Farren. “Charlie introduced me to the original L1 system,” notes Butcher. “I was immediately drawn to the system. It solved so many problems for me. On the road with Two Roads East, sometimes I use a percussionist, and I use both a Taylor and a Martin acoustic guitar. The L1 Model II works great for all of these scenarios. The guitars don’t sound condensed and honky, but rich and spatially-wide. I have been gigging with the L1 system for that reason alone. It gives the instruments character and allows them to breathe.”
He also feels a strong connection to the music and the audience through his use of the L1 system. “The instruments sound the way they should, and the people in front of you are hearing what you want them to hear. And as a performer, standing next to the L1 system, it allows me to feel the music in the way that I need to so it sounds authentic to me. And then I can communicate that to the audience, and it’s a better performance for everyone present. There are all types of systems out there. I stick with the L1 system because it furnishes a natural, pleasing, warm, broad sound.”
