Geelong, Victoria, Australia — April 2016…It’s been said that tribute bands are a dime a dozen, but great tribute bands are few and far between. As tribute bands go, BABBA is certainly in the latter category. For more than 20 years, the band has been selling out halls across Australia, Asia, and New Zealand, transporting spellbound crowds back to the heady days of the 1970s with tight harmonies, stunning costumes, and razor-sharp choreography.
The band’s authentic musical tribute is all the more impressive thanks to their compact but powerful Fulcrum Acoustic PA rig. The band’s audio director, Simon Stavenuiter, has long been an advocate of Fulcrum loudspeakers.
Stavenuiter, or “Stav” as his friends call him, employs a simple but powerful system for BABBA, comprising a single FA22ac dual 12-inch coaxial loudspeaker per side. The portable, self-powered three-way system features a rotatable horn and on-board DSP. Each side is pole-mounted atop a Fulcrum TS215AC subwoofer, delivering more than enough horsepower to fill the dance floor. “Fulcrum Acoustic systems deliver exceptional power and performance compared to other systems we’ve taken out,” Stav asserts. Two FA12AC wedges provide monitors, with a single FA28AC handling monitors and click track for the drummer.
Stav points to the Fulcrum system’s portability as another asset. “Our earlier system used a pair of 12-inch cabinets stacked on top of an 18-inch sub per side,” he observes. “The Fulcrum system transports a whole lot easier; there is only one cabinet and one sub per side, and the top is light enough for me to mount on the pole without assistance. The sub is definitely substantial – a bit heavier than what I was using previously, but still not too heavy for the very rare occasion we have stairs to load up.”
The on-board DSP is an essential feature for Stav. “Between the rotatable horn and the built-in processing, I’m able to tailor the system coverage for pretty much any space we need to fill,” he asserts.
Stav concludes, “every previous system we’ve used, we’ve pushed to their extremes, but with our Fulcrum system, I’ve never encountered a room where we have not had enough PA.”
