The SoloAmp Project

The Easy To Carry Line Array PA System

I've noticed an extraordinary amount of Google generated traffic to this page, apparently seeking new information about the Fishman SoloAmp product. As the original designer-creator of that product, I hope the story and information I have posted here help you understand the benefits of small line arrays for portable PA use -- and, that you then do not buy a SoloAmp for $1,000, but instead buy one of my own BagAmp products for $500.

A Little SoloAmp/BagAmp History

After almost 30-years of experimenting with small full-range loudspeakers, in 2002 I realized that a substantial need in the market was not being met. Solo guitarist-singers did not have a small, easy to carry sound reinforcement product. They were being forced to haul heavy traditional PA gear to small venues. I realized my expertise in small loudspeakers might yield a solution, and I began a commercial development project I called "SoloAmp."

Thin Is In

My first decision was to focus my efforts on creating a small vertical line array, as this is the perfect driver arrangement for the typical wide, smallish room -- bars, clubs, restaurants, coffee shops -- where my customers needed a small, effective PA solution. I'll skip the gory details and simply say that by Fall of 2005 I and my engineering team had developed a ready-to-manufacture SoloAmp product that successfully satisfied many live trials at the hands and ears of Nashville's finest guitarists.

I developed two versions of SoloAmp, one with a subwoofer cabinet, using a line array of (12) 2" x 3" rectangular drivers, and the other without a subwoofer, using an array of (6) 3" x 5" rectangular drivers. Between 2003 and 2005 I invested about $170,000 into developing these custom drivers and the other mechanical and electronics systems that went into the SoloAmp platform. The photo here shows the then-current engineering prototypes of both versions set up in my living room in October of 2005.

Licensing SoloAmp

Faced with the challenge of going to market myself as an all-new brand in the M.I. market, or licensing the product platform to an existing manufacturer, I chose to offer the SoloAmp to Larry Fishman, CEO of Fishman Transducers. In November 2005, we signed a licensing agreement, I sent Fishman all of my prototypes and development bits and pieces, and prepared to help steer their project to immediate production using the manufacturing assets I already had in place. Fishman agreed to pay me a flat monthly fee for the SoloAmp rights.

Well, along the way Fishman's staff began making suggestions for changes, and my ready-to-build product began to get mired down in continuous waves of re-engineering, one change after another after another. So, instead of having the product ready at the Summer NAMM Show in 2006, that show was missed, then NAMM Anaheim 2007 was missed, then Summer NAMM 2007 was missed, and then NAMM Anaheim again was missed in 2008. Then finally, Fishman released its version of what they named SoloAmp at the Summer NAMM Show 2008. And, it promptly won the NAMM University Best In Show award.

Modernizing The Product

While the Fishman crew was wasting 2-years in an internal turf war over who could tack what feature changes onto my circa 2005 product design, I continued to rapidly evolve the project on my own, adopting newer, more effective technology and methods. The result, BagAmp, is being unveiled in the Fall of 2008 and will be released at the NAMM Anaheim show in January 2009. I'll be posting images and more data on the new product before November 1st, so check back.

BagAmp is 20% smaller, 30% lighter, with 100% of the acoustic performance of my 2005 SoloAmp design, and will sell for one-half of the Fishman SoloAmp street price. I'm pretty sure the market will respond appreciatively to these substantial improvements, and that BagAmp will be the amazing market winner that the SoloAmp was originally intended to be.

What Is A Line Array?

Normal loudspeaker systems produce sound at the front of the speaker cone and then send out that sound energy in a spherical pattern. The sound travels away from the speaker equally in all directions. In the 1930's and 40's an effect was noticed where multiple speakers placed very closely together showed an entirely different manner of producing sound. This tight grouping of speaker drivers was named a 'line array,' and has been a well-known idea in the field of acoustics for many decades. And, while used extensively in modern arena sound reinforcement systems, the line array concept has never been successfully introduced in products aimed at the everyday musician.

A line array system does not send sound forward in the shape of a sphere, where as much energy is lost up and down as is transmitted into the audience. Instead, the line array sends out sound in the shape of a column, where the sound is almost completely contained in a forward moving 'slice.' That slice of sound can be aimed directly into an audience, and the result can be amazing.

A Column Of Sound

Today, when the sound produced by musicians needs to amplified, it is normally done by a fairly complex system involving some amplifiers and speakers on stage, more amps and speakers used to provide monitors for the musicians, and large amps and speakers set up to project the amplified sound into the audience. This approach is the one used in nearly any situation requiring louder sound than that produced by an unamplified performance, and, this approach is universally used, regardless of the size of the room or area in which the performance is taking place. There are some common characteristics of this approach.

The normal approach to an amplified live music performance creates a complex muddle of sound for both the musicians and the audience. While the loudness of such a system is normally set to be optimum for someone seated in the middle of the audience, the loudness is typically too loud very near the speaker systems, and too soft at the back of the audience. This is because, again, normal speaker systems produce sound in a spherical pattern. The sound gets rapidly weaker as you are farther away from the speakers. And, this explains why you are sometimes overwhelmed with the loudness of the music at the front of a nightclub or auditorium, yet, you cannot hear or understand the music when you go to the back of the room. The sound gets much weaker, very quickly, the farther you go away from the speakers.

The column of sound produced by a line array speaker system behaves much differently. When line array speakers are used in a live performance, and the sound's loudness is set to be optimum for someone seated in the middle of the audience, the loudness at the front of the room and at the back of the room are much closer together than with normal speakers. It is not nearly as loud at the front, and is much louder at the back. Everyone in the audience enjoys much the same loudness level from the performance.

The Musician As A Sound Source

The BagAmp is the tool for taking live music performance back one-hundred years, to a time where the sound created by a musician was broadcast to an audience directly from where the musician was performing. This is an element of a live music performance that has been lost with today's high-powered amplifier systems. Today's live performance typically has the bulk of the sound being broadcast from a pair of large speaker systems at the sides of the stage, not from each individual musician. The result is that the audience is not able to match the location of the musician to the sound being created. And, the musicians on stage have the same problems.

The BagAmp is intended as an extension of the musician, to become part of the musician's 'instrument.' The ideal performance would have one BagAmp used behind each musician, so that the sound from each instrumentalist or singer would be completely under that performer's control, and that the sound created would be physically broadcast from the performer's location. The audience, and the other musicians, hear the sound as coming from the performer creating the music.

With the BagAmp's uniquely wide and flat sound dispersion traits, and with on-stage sound levels lower than now common for amplified performances, the stage becomes a place where it is easy to hear each other, easy to play together, and easy to play for long periods without the deafening ear strain often part of 'normal' amplified performances.

In the largest facilities, the line output from each BagAmp can be fed out to a larger public address system, to provide added loudness to remotely located areas. But, in all the rest of the small and medium size venues, the BagAmp approach provides both the musicians and the audience with strong, full, richly detailed sound. And, BagAmp does this without the complexity and sonic clutter of back-line amplifiers, stage located monitors, or huge P.A. columns.

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	The SoloAmp Project The Easy To Carry Line Array PA System I've noticed an extraordinary amount of Google generated traffic to this page, apparently seeking new information about the Fishman SoloAmp product. As the original designer-creator of that product, I hope the story and information I have posted here help you understand the benefits of small line arrays for portable PA use -- and, that you then do not buy a SoloAmp for $1,000, but instead buy one of my own BagAmp products for $500. A Little SoloAmp/BagAmp History After almost 30-years of experimenting with small full-range loudspeakers, in 2002 I realized that a substantial need in the market was not being met. Solo guitarist-singers did not have a small, easy to carry sound reinforcement product. They were being forced to haul heavy traditional PA gear to small venues. I realized my expertise in small loudspeakers might yield a solution, and I began a commercial development project I called "SoloAmp." Thin Is In My first decision was to focus my efforts on creating a small vertical line array, as this is the perfect driver arrangement for the typical wide, smallish room -- bars, clubs, restaurants, coffee shops -- where my customers needed a small, effective PA solution. I'll skip the gory details and simply say that by Fall of 2005 I and my engineering team had developed a ready-to-manufacture SoloAmp product that successfully satisfied many live trials at the hands and ears of Nashville's finest guitarists. I developed two versions of SoloAmp, one with a subwoofer cabinet, using a line array of (12) 2" x 3" rectangular drivers, and the other without a subwoofer, using an array of (6) 3" x 5" rectangular drivers. Between 2003 and 2005 I invested about $170,000 into developing these custom drivers and the other mechanical and electronics systems that went into the SoloAmp platform. The photo here shows the then-current engineering prototypes of both versions set up in my living room in October of 2005. Licensing SoloAmp Faced with the challenge of going to market myself as an all-new brand in the M.I. market, or licensing the product platform to an existing manufacturer, I chose to offer the SoloAmp to Larry Fishman, CEO of Fishman Transducers. In November 2005, we signed a licensing agreement, I sent Fishman all of my prototypes and development bits and pieces, and prepared to help steer their project to immediate production using the manufacturing assets I already had in place. Fishman agreed to pay me a flat monthly fee for the SoloAmp rights. Well, along the way Fishman's staff began making suggestions for changes, and my ready-to-build product began to get mired down in continuous waves of re-engineering, one change after another after another. So, instead of having the product ready at the Summer NAMM Show in 2006, that show was missed, then NAMM Anaheim 2007 was missed, then Summer NAMM 2007 was missed, and then NAMM Anaheim again was missed in 2008. Then finally, Fishman released its version of what they named SoloAmp at the Summer NAMM Show 2008. And, it promptly won the NAMM University Best In Show award. Modernizing The Product While the Fishman crew was wasting 2-years in an internal turf war over who could tack what feature changes onto my circa 2005 product design, I continued to rapidly evolve the project on my own, adopting newer, more effective technology and methods. The result, BagAmp, is being unveiled in the Fall of 2008 and will be released at the NAMM Anaheim show in January 2009. I'll be posting images and more data on the new product before November 1st, so check back. BagAmp is 20% smaller, 30% lighter, with 100% of the acoustic performance of my 2005 SoloAmp design, and will sell for one-half of the Fishman SoloAmp street price. I'm pretty sure the market will respond appreciatively to these substantial improvements, and that BagAmp will be the amazing market winner that the SoloAmp was originally intended to be. What Is A Line Array? Normal loudspeaker systems produce sound at the front of the speaker cone and then send out that sound energy in a spherical pattern. The sound travels away from the speaker equally in all directions. In the 1930's and 40's an effect was noticed where multiple speakers placed very closely together showed an entirely different manner of producing sound. This tight grouping of speaker drivers was named a 'line array,' and has been a well-known idea in the field of acoustics for many decades. And, while used extensively in modern arena sound reinforcement systems, the line array concept has never been successfully introduced in products aimed at the everyday musician. A line array system does not send sound forward in the shape of a sphere, where as much energy is lost up and down as is transmitted into the audience. Instead, the line array sends out sound in the shape of a column, where the sound is almost completely contained in a forward moving 'slice.' That slice of sound can be aimed directly into an audience, and the result can be amazing. A Column Of Sound Today, when the sound produced by musicians needs to amplified, it is normally done by a fairly complex system involving some amplifiers and speakers on stage, more amps and speakers used to provide monitors for the musicians, and large amps and speakers set up to project the amplified sound into the audience. This approach is the one used in nearly any situation requiring louder sound than that produced by an unamplified performance, and, this approach is universally used, regardless of the size of the room or area in which the performance is taking place. There are some common characteristics of this approach. The normal approach to an amplified live music performance creates a complex muddle of sound for both the musicians and the audience. While the loudness of such a system is normally set to be optimum for someone seated in the middle of the audience, the loudness is typically too loud very near the speaker systems, and too soft at the back of the audience. This is because, again, normal speaker systems produce sound in a spherical pattern. The sound gets rapidly weaker as you are farther away from the speakers. And, this explains why you are sometimes overwhelmed with the loudness of the music at the front of a nightclub or auditorium, yet, you cannot hear or understand the music when you go to the back of the room. The sound gets much weaker, very quickly, the farther you go away from the speakers. The column of sound produced by a line array speaker system behaves much differently. When line array speakers are used in a live performance, and the sound's loudness is set to be optimum for someone seated in the middle of the audience, the loudness at the front of the room and at the back of the room are much closer together than with normal speakers. It is not nearly as loud at the front, and is much louder at the back. Everyone in the audience enjoys much the same loudness level from the performance. The Musician As A Sound Source The BagAmp is the tool for taking live music performance back one-hundred years, to a time where the sound created by a musician was broadcast to an audience directly from where the musician was performing. This is an element of a live music performance that has been lost with today's high-powered amplifier systems. Today's live performance typically has the bulk of the sound being broadcast from a pair of large speaker systems at the sides of the stage, not from each individual musician. The result is that the audience is not able to match the location of the musician to the sound being created. And, the musicians on stage have the same problems. The BagAmp is intended as an extension of the musician, to become part of the musician's 'instrument.' The ideal performance would have one BagAmp used behind each musician, so that the sound from each instrumentalist or singer would be completely under that performer's control, and that the sound created would be physically broadcast from the performer's location. The audience, and the other musicians, hear the sound as coming from the performer creating the music. With the BagAmp's uniquely wide and flat sound dispersion traits, and with on-stage sound levels lower than now common for amplified performances, the stage becomes a place where it is easy to hear each other, easy to play together, and easy to play for long periods without the deafening ear strain often part of 'normal' amplified performances. In the largest facilities, the line output from each BagAmp can be fed out to a larger public address system, to provide added loudness to remotely located areas. But, in all the rest of the small and medium size venues, the BagAmp approach provides both the musicians and the audience with strong, full, richly detailed sound. And, BagAmp does this without the complexity and sonic clutter of back-line amplifiers, stage located monitors, or huge P.A. columns.