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Rat Sounds Takes L-Acoustics Rig out With Red Hot Chili Peppers

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been bringing their own brand of pumped-up alternative funk to the masses for nearly 20 years now and Oxnard-based Rat

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been bringing their own brand of pumped-up alternative funk to the masses for nearly 20 years now and Oxnard-based Rat Sound Systems Inc. has been along for much of the ride. Although the sound reinforcement company has traditionally opted to put up its signature Rat Trap 5 System for the band in the past, this year finds the crew carrying an all-new L-Acoustics V-DOSC/dV-DOSC rig out on the road in support of the Peppers’ latest album, By the Way.

Rat Sound’s Dave Rat said, “With our own proprietary system already hired out on a tour this season, we were faced with the task of finding another suitable world-class rig. I chose the V-DOSC rig for several reasons. First and foremost, it sounds terrific; not only at standard operating levels but throughout the entire volume range. The Peppers are very dynamic and musically diverse, so having a system where the response remains balanced at both low and high volumes was critical. Furthermore, thanks to L-Acoustics’ partner companies like MSI [Japan], Jands [Australia], Gabbison [Brazil] and Dispatch [Europe], I am able to spec nearly identical V-DOSC systems worldwide, giving us show-to-show consistency regardless of the continent we’re on. This enables the sound of the tour to consistently progress rather than starting over with each leg or show.”

Jon Monson, who heads up systems and tours for Rat Sound, said that the company added 50 V-DOSC, 28 dV-DOSC and six ARCS® loudspeaker systems to its inventory in April, most of which quickly went out on the first U.S. leg of the Peppers’ worldwide tour. The loudspeaker complement for the recent second U.S. leg, slightly paired down for shed venues, consisted of two primary loudspeaker clusters each comprised of 12 V-DOSC cabinets, plus three dV-DOSC hung underneath for front fill. A center cluster of four dV-DOSC also addressed the area just in front of the stage, while two additional side clusters, both made up of six V-DOSC plus six dV-DOSC, covered the left- and right-wrap areas.

“We did quite a bit of initial research and ultimately chose V-DOSC because of its sound quality, size, coverage and global acceptability, combined with the fact that it has a similar sonic footprint to our Rat Trap 5 System,” Monson said. “With versatility, predictable coverage consistency, smooth sound quality, high power handling, ease of setup, sightline considerations, overseas availability and system-to-system consistency from the various vendors all being important issues, V-DOSC gives us more successful outcomes than any other internationally available touring system.”

For more on the systems, visit www.l-acoustics-us.com.

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