By Cecil Yancy

As a single or a duo, how many trips do you make to your vehicle before all of your equipment is on stage at small venues?

If you answer, “More than one,” chances are you may want to look at something akin to the Jbl Eon One. These systems have gained in popularity over the last few years. With the Eon One, you can carry it in one hand with guitar in the other. More importantly, however, it’ll give you the type of sound across the Audience because of “patent-pending speaker configuration and unobstructed 10’’ bass  reflex subwoofer.”

That’s marketing talk to describe thin speakers that easily stack on top of each other and pan out in different directions to reach your audience.

I’ve recently been introduced to the JBL Eon and can report it’s ease of use in dialing in sound that gets noticed in a positive way. The built-in 6-channel mixer with EQ makes it easy. Simply plug in your microphone and guitar. I usually get nervous around sound systems, especially when I’m performing by myself. What this allows me is confidence in knowing that my true sound is getting out to the audience, after only a few tweaks. The interaction during sets testifies to the power and nuance of this system.

During breaks, you can even stream Bluetooth from any mobile device. The same goes for plugging in pre-recorded accompaniment as you perform. Easy to use and it sounds great. If I had one drawback to list, it would be the difficulty of taking the speakers apart and placing them back in the all-in-one carrying system.

JBL lists the price on its website at $999.00.

Editor’s note: We are not affiliated with JBL or any musical equipment company. Any reviews we do are based on our own experiences with gear we are actually using.