L-Acoustics KARA picked for Jack Johnson’s tour of North America

Rat Sound Systems provided an L-Acoustics system for singer-songwriter Jack Johnson’s tour of North America, which concluded this week.

California-based Rat Sound has been Johnson’s live production supplier in the US for 13 years now, and deployed an L-Acoustics KARA rig for the star’s recent spate of gigs in support of new album From Here To Now To You.

The Rat team typically flew 15 KARA line source array loudspeakers below two SB18 subwoofers per side, with an extra two SB18 subs per side set up on the floor. For the venues with extended balconies, however, the left and right hangs were divided into two arrays – eight KARA in the air, along with seven KARA positioned over two SB18 onstage for the orchestra level. LA8 amplified controllers – also from L-Acoustics – powered and processed all systems.

Apparently, although Rat Sound also had a further four SB28 double-18" subs in its arsenal, they were never required due to the impressive low end delivered by the more compact single-18" SB18 units, which cover LF down to 32 Hz.

"A number of the theatres on this tour had fairly deep balconies, so getting sufficient coverage below presented a challenge," said systems engineer Andrew Gilchrest. "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 certainly 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."

Keep up to date with the latest developments from the world of pro audio by registering for our free daily newsletter.