Touring the ‘most beautiful and intimate’ theatres across the North American continent, folk rock singer-songwriter Jack Johnson has been on the road in support of his latest album, From Here to Now to You. Keeping him company on this – as well as tours over the past 13 years – was California-based Rat Sound Systems.
According to Systems Engineer Andrew Gilchrest, the Rat crew typically flew 15 L-Acoustics Kara line array enclosures and two SB18 subs per side in each venue, with an additional two SB18 per side set up on the floor. For venues with extended balconies, the left and right hangs were split into two arrays – eight Kara in the air, plus seven Kara positioned over two SB18 onstage for the orchestra level. LA8 amplified controllers powered and processed all systems.
Although Rat Sound also carried four SB28 double-18-inch subs, they were never used, due to the ample low-end delivered by the more compact single-18-inch SB18 enclosures, which operate down to 32Hz.
‘A number of the theatres on this tour had fairly deep balconies, so getting sufficient coverage below presented a challenge,’ Gilchrest says. ‘However, the ability to ground-stack a portion of the Kara cabinets on top of the subs nicely solved those issues. Also, given the nature of Jack’s music, his show isn’t particularly loud but needs to sound natural and clear, which this system excels at. Kara’s size, flexibility and sound are all fantastic and it was a great choice for the tour.’
Performing to crowds of up to 3,500 fans each night, every single date on Johnson’s recent North American theatre tour were sold out.
