S1 Pro system experiences running on battery power

[Ric1]

Other than experimenting with my Bose S1 Pro early on, I have not publicly plugged mine in to AC power or mounted it on a pole in any public performance. It's either been flat on a table or tilted up on the ground and always on battery power. Setup and tear down time have been greatly reduced. My Behringer 1002B battery powered mixer, along with stomp box preamplifiers for instruments allow me to run an entire band through mine, including a U-Bass. The clipping signal LED is very useful in keeping the sound loud and clean.

[ChetDude]

It's so cool isn't it.

I've done a number of gigs with the Behringer 1002 on rechargeable 9v batteries, 2 S1 pros on batteries and a large capacity 9v battery powering my guitar effects...for up to 4 hours...

I've run my ubass through the setup once or twice as well...

[Cristof]

Where are you connecting the mixer to the S1? The Aux in?

[CityFolk]

I’m thinking about getting that 1002B to replicate your mixer/S1 setup. It sounds very flexible and a perfect mating of a mixer to the S1.

I assume you just run a 1/4” TS (not TRS) cable from the main out of the mixer into Channel 1 of the S1?

Do you use rechargeable 9v batteries in the 1002B? What do you use and how long do the rechargeables last?

[Archtop_Eddy]

Nice full battery-powered setup. There's been a lot of discussion here about the desire for more versatile EQ options on the S1 Pro. Do you get a better, more versatile EQ mix using the 1002B than by using just the S1 Pro alone?

[CityFolk]

Speaking to my setup which involves 2 SM-58A Beta mics, 2 acoustic guitars through a non battery Behringer 1202FX mixer, then I would have to say yes. The mixer offers on each channel individual gain controls, 3 band EQ, variety of effects, etc. so one can fine tune a bit more.

Having said that, going direct into the S1 with 1 vocal and guitar hasn’t been objectionable at all. If you have different connection scenarios for the S1, this extra flexibility would be nice to have. If you have a fairly constant setup, perhaps not as much. We use the same mics and guitars each time.

Eventually, we would like to get a second S1 and have each of us in our duo format plug into our own S1s for sake of simplicity and have the option to use battery power. Until then, we need the extra channels that a mixer offers.

[ChetDude]

I use a Behringer 1002B with 3 EBL Rechargable 9v batteries.  (I bought 12 batteries and an 8 position charger and use them everywhere).  On batteries it even provides enough phantom power to drive my Neumann KTS105 and C1000 microphones.

I HIGHLY recommend a balanced (3 conductor) cable from the mixer to the S1.  I use a TRS 1/4" to XLR cable because I have lots of them but a 1/4" TRS to TRS cable will work just as well...

And of course since you have EQ on each channel I can get more control over each instrument/vocal.  For even more flexibility you can pan all of the vocals to one side on the mixer and the instruments to the other and use 2 - TRS to XLR cables to send vocals into channel one on the S1 and the instruments to channel two and have some more flexibility...

[ChetDude]

PS: I've done a 2 1/2 hour gig on batteries and still had power left on the EBL rechargeables in the 1002B.  And of course, the batteries are cheap enough to carry 3 spares and if necessary take the 2 minutes to change them during a break. 

[CityFolk]

Thanks @Chet. Interesting idea on panning vocals and instruments into two outputs! Very cool.

[Archtop_Eddy]

Thanks fellas for the info. The 1002B sounds like a good compliment to the S1 Pro for battery-powered gigs and appreciate you guys bringing it to our attention. I may need to look into it for my live rig. Having improved EQ and extra channels are clear bonuses. It's nice to have extra options during a gig.