The 'Painless Load-In' PA? Electro-Voice Evolve 90 Walkthrough And Gig Test

Guitar World

Powerful, portable, professional. The Electro-Voice Evolve 90 is a column loudspeaker built for large, high-energy events. With an 18" subwoofer, eight HF drivers and proprietary waveguides, it delivers 134dB of massive sound with 28Hz low-end extension and 120° wide coverage. It's also easy to load in, easy to use and looks classy at gigs!

Transcript

00:00This is my usual rig for weddings and corporate events.

00:03It's big, it's heavy, it requires many trips to load in, but it's reliable.

00:08And this compact rig right here is the new Evolve 90 system from ElectraVoice,

00:13which claims to do everything that this whole thing does and sound better doing it.

00:19Tonight we are heading to a hometown club gig that has no PA system,

00:25and I'm just betting the whole night on this system right here.

00:29But will it actually matter?

00:32Will anyone care?

00:33And will the room feel it?

00:35A gig that used to take five people to load in, now I can do by myself.

00:42A fast reality check here is that the better your PA system is,

00:46the more professional you look, the better gigs you land.

00:49Because clients want loud, clear music.

00:52They want to be able to hear the speeches.

00:54And above all, a clean stage look.

00:56And that's why I'm bringing the Evolve 90s out tonight.

00:58But it's built for bigger rooms, it promises tight low end,

01:02and it looks way cleaner than my old mess of speakers.

01:05Let's go.

01:06So yeah, so I think that if it keeps the people dancing and keeps the venue happy,

01:10then it'll pay for itself.

01:11One painless load in later, and we are patched, powered, and ready.

01:15Look at this.

01:16The cleanest setup we've ever had.

01:18It's beautiful.

01:19It does feel weird at first seeing such little gear on stage, though.

01:24It's like half the footprint of what I'm used to.

01:27Hopefully it actually fills the room once we hit.

01:29That first chord hits, and these columns flood the whole room.

01:33That 120 degree waveguide means that even the people tucked under the balcony

01:38get the same mix that we do on stage.

01:41As far as the 18-inch subs go, tight and punchy, down to 28 hertz.

01:47The kick drum feels like it's glued to the floor, but nothing's boomy.

01:51Mid-set, I needed to make a quick adjustment,

01:53and I was able to make that adjustment right from Electro Voices' quick smart app.

01:58And it took two seconds, and I didn't have to crawl behind racks or anything.

02:022,000 watts on tap, and the Evolve 90 still has headroom.

02:07And it's loud, but it's never harsh.

02:10And as we're getting to the end of the night,

02:11I'm realizing that teardown is going to be a breeze.

02:16No cable spaghetti, no stack of boxes.

02:19That thought alone put a huge smile on my face.

02:22It is currently about 2 in the morning right now,

02:26and I just got done playing my first ever gig with the Electro Voice Evolve 90.

02:31Column Array Speakers.

02:34Technically, the Evolve 90 doesn't take it up one notch.

02:37It takes it up two notches,

02:38but it feels like it takes it up 1,000 notches.

02:41The Evolve 90 is built for bigger events.

02:45It's designed for you to play weddings and corporate events and bigger clubs.

02:50And at that level, this system can easily handle anything that you could possibly throw at it.

02:56I'm not going to get into specs too, too much in this,

02:59but there's a few things that you do need to know.

03:01The Evolve 90 pairs a massive 18-inch subwoofer

03:05with a custom array of 4.7-inch high-frequency drivers.

03:11So what ends up happening is basically three things.

03:13You get massive, butt-tight low-end.

03:17You get crystal-clear highs.

03:19And above all, I just left the gig.

03:21It's 2 in the morning, and my ears are not ringing.

03:24I think as a band, we have a hard time competing with the feeling and the heartbeat,

03:30that bass that DJs can produce.

03:33And having two 18-inch subwoofers tonight, you could feel it in the floor.

03:38And I think everyone in the room was able to feel it because the crowd responded accordingly.

03:43It was incredible.

03:44One more thing on the sound that I think is really important is, as a guitar player,

03:48we spend a lot of time building our rigs and our tones,

03:53and no one ever compliments how good our tone is.

03:57We're the only ones that really notice.

03:59And that kind of goes for speakers as well.

04:03You don't really get complimented on how crystal clear the band sounded.

04:07And tonight, we did.

04:09People who have seen us multiple times, and multiple times at that venue,

04:13which, mind you, is a hard venue to mix in because it's just concrete walls,

04:17people were coming up to us actually saying that this was the best we sounded,

04:21in a sense that they could hear everything crystal clear.

04:25Now, as a wedding and corporate gig musician,

04:28there's something that I don't think gets talked about enough.

04:31People couldn't believe how clean our stage looked.

04:35The Evolve 90 has a sleek, modern design

04:38that blends in with any professional setup, just effortlessly.

04:42Just a clean, streamlined column that looks as good as it sounds.

04:47We didn't need it tonight, but connectivity is a big deal

04:50because at certain events, we will need to play music over some sort of Bluetooth device.

04:55And this speaker has Bluetooth connectivity.

04:58Having both an analog and a digital in-out,

05:01and just dial in your EQ a little bit or your preset right from your phone,

05:05just another added level to how simple and professional these things are to use.

05:09And the setup and breakdown of these speakers is super easy,

05:13thanks to Electro Voices' Evolve 3-2-1 setup.

05:16It's three pieces, two clicks, and you're ready to go.

05:19Fast, clean, reliable, sounds great.

05:22It's just the way it should be, especially if you're handling your own production.

05:26I was fully confident going to this gig tonight

05:28that I could load in and out this entire gig by myself quicker than usual.

05:33I didn't have to bring in 20 speakers,

05:36and I did not have to wait for my bandmates to get there to help me load in and out.

05:39And if you want to find out more about the Evolve 90 system,

05:43check out the link in the description below.

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