San Diego House of Blues Opens Doors

A brand-new House of Blues opened its doors to a capacity crowd in San Diego, Calif. recently. The House of Blues opted for a sound reinforcement system featuring equipment from Telex Pro Audio brands EV, Midas and Klark Teknik. Dean Cohen is Production Manager at House of Blues San Diego.

“As is the case at House of Blues venues around the United States, the EV rig here sounds fantastic. Our continued working relationship with EV, and in particular EV’s (Director of Special Projects) Monte Wise, means we’re more than familiar with their product lines and high level of customer support,” says Cohen. “Each new EV House of Blues PA design is driven by these factors, by that kind of attention to detail. House of Blues has won numerous industry awards as a club/tour venue, and the quality of our sound is a key element of that success.

“The XLC sounds great night after night, no matter what style of music we have on, with warm sound and precise coverage,” continued Cohen. “I’m also a big fan of the X-Subs. The Wailers played on opening night, and the X-Subs really delivered the low-end you need for Reggae. Simply put, those boxes will suck the pants right off your legs, there’s so much low-end frequency running through them! As a former FOH guy, it’s really nice for me to get behind the Midas desk and fire up the system. The XLC has a really true, crisp response, and mixing on it is a real pleasure – you never have to fight to get a decent mix. In fact, it’s so crystal clear it’s almost dangerous! We have so much headroom here we could keep pushing the rig until the light fixtures start to shake, still with no distortion, and still with decibels to spare!”

Cohen added: “And as for the Midas consoles? You can’t get any better – there’s no other line of mixing consoles so responsive and so warm-sounding. The channel EQs are just great. You tell a Midas to do something and it does it. That’s why they’re the most rider-friendly boards around – they work well night after night, and nothing sounds better. Sometimes we run 15 shows a week, so it’s easy to see why having that degree of recognition and reliability is important to us. All in all, the PA sounds fantastic – it’s already proven itself with a wide range of shows, from four nights with Bad Religion, to Fischerspooner, to Damien Marley and Ozomatli. Every night we had a very positive response from the engineers, many of whom made a point of commenting on the responsiveness and clarity of the PA.”

House of Blues San Diego EV®/Midas®/Klark Teknik® equipment list:

Front of House

Console: Midas Heritage 2000 48/4/8 Stereo Modules

EQ: Klark Teknik DN9340 Helix Digital Equalizer

Gates/Comps: (2) Klark Teknik DN514 Quad Gates; (2) Klark Teknik DN500

Stereo Comps; (2) Klark Teknik DN504 Quad Comps

Main Speakers: (16) EV XLC 127+ Flown Line Array (8 per side)

Main Subs: (4) EV Quad 18-inch X-Subs (left and right)

Main Amps: EV P3000

Sub Amps: EV P3000

Upstairs & Downstairs Under Balcony Delay Speakers: (4) EV Xi-1082 (per floor)

Monitors