I was gifted both the Electro-Voice Evolve 30M and 50M this Spring 2021 and I’ve never been the same. Evolve changed my music career for the better. How can a sound system do that? You might ask. Let’s jump in.
I was gifted the 30M back in March and received the 50M in April from Electro-Voice and I’ll actually go a little into both systems and which one might work best for you. But first, I’m here to tell you that the Evolve sound system will literally change your life. It did mine. I’m going to go over a few things, including the set-up, sound quality, how it improved my shows, got me more gigs and why it’ll do that for you too.
I’m a full-time musician and I would recommend this system to any artist. I know a lot of DJ’s use this system, which I hear is a game changer for that niche, but I’m here to tell you that as a musician, this is also the system to go with. I’m a singer-songwriter. Concerts and gigs are opening up and it’s time to upgrade. I can’t tell you how many shows I lost because of poor sound, so I was thrilled to become an EV Ambassador this year. I’ve had a 100% return rate since. Your sound matters and you should make up for what you spend on this in just a few shows.
Yes, I AM an EV Ambassador but they encourage me to give an honest review and I’m honestly here to tell you that I love it. Here are some specifics.
Setting up: The ease of set-up/carrying in is beyond anything I thought imaginable. I remember the days of carrying super heavy speakers into a room and looking for the strongest guy there to help me lift it onto the stands. With this system, I’ve eliminated stands! Literally the bain of my existance. There’s nothing I hate more about my set-up than stands. The carrying, the loading in the car, just everything is so awkward. And piecing it together is so easy. You simply place the sub down, plug it in, and stack the speaker on top. You cannot screw this up if you tried. The 30M breaks down into 3 pieces and is smaller and a bit lighter in the sub, but not by much. And although it fits into a backpack, which is super convenient, I do not mind the carry case for the 50M at all. It’s doesn’t seem like it takes up that much more space.
If you’re going to use two 50M’s, it’s super easy to connect the two. You really just need an ethernet cable and I bought a 50 footer off Amazon, which is WAY more feet than I need. But you never know! Recently, I played a gig where the audiences were broken up into two so it was really nice to have both systems and enough room to spread them out. As long as you’re close to an outlet, of course. I recommend purchasing two long extension chords because you never know what scenario you’ll find yourself in. The 30M’s do not have this feature, though you can connect the speakers, it’s just not as easy as the 50M’s. So keep that in mind when deciding which system is best for you.
What’s nice about this system is the speakers actually fan out internally, so you don’t really need a monitor depending on where you place them. I prefer mine to be next to me. It doesn’t feed back easily so you can stand in front of it, but I don’t recommend it. Simply because the bass is a little much for me being that close to the sub. Some ears won’t be bothered, it does of course depend on the space and depends on your preference. In ear monitors are always a great option to avoid vocal injury but I don’t use them. Another great thing about having two speakers is you can use one as a monitor, if you’d like.
So, do you need one or two? That really depends on the type of gigs you’re doing. If you’re a solo artist or a duo, even a trio, one might be plenty for you. But then you lose the ability to point one of the speakers another direction or use as a monitor per mentioned above. If you’re a full band, I, of course, recommend two. Though sometimes you’d still be okay with one, depending on the space.
My set up and tear down has gone from 45 minutes to 20 minutes with these babies. That’s including load-in, set up and sound check. That saves me so much time and as you know, time is money. Let’s get into sound.
Let’s talk about sound quality. My other favorite thing about this system, okay they’re all favorite things, is the built in mixer. It takes six channels and I love that I don’t need an external mixer anymore. If you need more than six channels, you might need one. Or get two systems. Then there is the ability to mix right from my phone or ipad. I use my phone because I like to leave my ipad free for chords and lyrics. But it seems to work just fine and connects easily to each speaker. You can re-name them, which helps with organization, save your mixes and best of all, the mute button! How many times has some drunk person come up to try and speak into your mic on break and succeeded because you forgot to turn the volume knob down? Drunk person no more!
You can also connect to Spotify or whatever you use to stream music with for your set-breaks, pre-show, etc. I love that I’m no longer a slave to the venue turning off the break music, which they never seem to do on time. Not their fault, everyone is busy. But still nice.
Then there is the sound quality itself. I’ve never owned a nicer sounding PA. I’ve tried them all and there are of course some really nice ones out there. To me, this blows everything out of the water. It sounds amazing equally at both loud and soft volumes, depending on the need of the room. You will find an incredible mix for every situation. The sound quality is super close between the 30M and 50M. I don’t think one is really louder than the other. But I’ll tell you this. I like the 50M better. Why? I have no clue. I just do. Cool, so now that we’ve become super technical, I can tell you this. There is a part in one of my original songs where I tap on my guitar for a little percussive effect. I’ve never been able to hear it clearly through any other sound system until I started using the Evolve. Both of them. That’s how clear it is. It’s well balanced, warm and you can even add delay right from the app. Which, by the way, you do not need the app, you can still mix directly from the built in mixer itself. If you like to go old school sometimes, like me.
I’m not great with technology. So there was a small learning curve but that’s mostly because I was scared of it when I got it. Which was totally unnecessary. I only had one issue which happened with the 30M at my very first gig and I still have no clue why. I went to turn it on and nada. So I basically turned it off and on again and it was fine. This still baffles me but hasn’t happened since. Sound Gremlins be gone!
I mentioned earlier that this system has improved my show and also got me more gigs. You’re probably wondering, how can a sound system do that? Remember when you were first learning guitar, piano, violin, etc? You probably played some beat up to just an okay instrument. Then you got your first GREAT instrument and you instantly got better. Because you could hear everything better, play easier, etc. Well this is the same. Your show improves when you get better of course but comes with upgrading your instruments. Your sound system should be treated the same.
I can’t count how many times I heard “I can’t hear this, you’re too soft, too loud, feedback, too bassey, too shrieky, or that time my old PA literally started screaming at the audience. I don’t mean feedback. I mean literally…screaming. I definitely didn’t get invited back to that place. I’ve never had any of these issues with Evolve. Every venue is really complementary on how clear, warm and even everything is, as well as how it looks. So yah! This gets me gigs! I even put it in my e-mail pitch. “I play through a beautiful brand new Electro-Voice Evolve 50M that is great for any stage.” Nobody wants to hire someone that uses a screaming system.
I would like to touch briefly on microphones. This is about Evolve but EV also sent me two beautiful microphones. I won’t lie, at first, I didn’t love them so much. I felt like some of my other mics were louder and picked up more but actually, I really just didn’t have them EQ’d well. Now that I am dialed in, I recommend anything in their ND series. They’re not too expensive and produce a well balanced and warm sound, just like the speakers. I was also gifted the RE-20 Black for my podcast, Crimes Against Folk. I use this to record everything! Including guitars, vocals, piano and more. It’s incredible.
To wrap things up, I 100% recommend the Electro-Voice Evolve 50M, as well as the 30M. Depending on your needs, both are fantastic and will not only improve your sound but also save you time, stands (ew), and just make your life easier overall. Thank you, Electro-Voice!
I was gifted the 30M back in March and received the 50M in April from Electro-Voice and I’ll actually go a little into both systems and which one might work best for you. But first, I’m here to tell you that the Evolve sound system will literally change your life. It did mine. I’m going to go over a few things, including the set-up, sound quality, how it improved my shows, got me more gigs and why it’ll do that for you too.
I’m a full-time musician and I would recommend this system to any artist. I know a lot of DJ’s use this system, which I hear is a game changer for that niche, but I’m here to tell you that as a musician, this is also the system to go with. I’m a singer-songwriter. Concerts and gigs are opening up and it’s time to upgrade. I can’t tell you how many shows I lost because of poor sound, so I was thrilled to become an EV Ambassador this year. I’ve had a 100% return rate since. Your sound matters and you should make up for what you spend on this in just a few shows.
Yes, I AM an EV Ambassador but they encourage me to give an honest review and I’m honestly here to tell you that I love it. Here are some specifics.
Setting up: The ease of set-up/carrying in is beyond anything I thought imaginable. I remember the days of carrying super heavy speakers into a room and looking for the strongest guy there to help me lift it onto the stands. With this system, I’ve eliminated stands! Literally the bain of my existance. There’s nothing I hate more about my set-up than stands. The carrying, the loading in the car, just everything is so awkward. And piecing it together is so easy. You simply place the sub down, plug it in, and stack the speaker on top. You cannot screw this up if you tried. The 30M breaks down into 3 pieces and is smaller and a bit lighter in the sub, but not by much. And although it fits into a backpack, which is super convenient, I do not mind the carry case for the 50M at all. It’s doesn’t seem like it takes up that much more space.
If you’re going to use two 50M’s, it’s super easy to connect the two. You really just need an ethernet cable and I bought a 50 footer off Amazon, which is WAY more feet than I need. But you never know! Recently, I played a gig where the audiences were broken up into two so it was really nice to have both systems and enough room to spread them out. As long as you’re close to an outlet, of course. I recommend purchasing two long extension chords because you never know what scenario you’ll find yourself in. The 30M’s do not have this feature, though you can connect the speakers, it’s just not as easy as the 50M’s. So keep that in mind when deciding which system is best for you.
What’s nice about this system is the speakers actually fan out internally, so you don’t really need a monitor depending on where you place them. I prefer mine to be next to me. It doesn’t feed back easily so you can stand in front of it, but I don’t recommend it. Simply because the bass is a little much for me being that close to the sub. Some ears won’t be bothered, it does of course depend on the space and depends on your preference. In ear monitors are always a great option to avoid vocal injury but I don’t use them. Another great thing about having two speakers is you can use one as a monitor, if you’d like.
So, do you need one or two? That really depends on the type of gigs you’re doing. If you’re a solo artist or a duo, even a trio, one might be plenty for you. But then you lose the ability to point one of the speakers another direction or use as a monitor per mentioned above. If you’re a full band, I, of course, recommend two. Though sometimes you’d still be okay with one, depending on the space.
My set up and tear down has gone from 45 minutes to 20 minutes with these babies. That’s including load-in, set up and sound check. That saves me so much time and as you know, time is money. Let’s get into sound.
Let’s talk about sound quality. My other favorite thing about this system, okay they’re all favorite things, is the built in mixer. It takes six channels and I love that I don’t need an external mixer anymore. If you need more than six channels, you might need one. Or get two systems. Then there is the ability to mix right from my phone or ipad. I use my phone because I like to leave my ipad free for chords and lyrics. But it seems to work just fine and connects easily to each speaker. You can re-name them, which helps with organization, save your mixes and best of all, the mute button! How many times has some drunk person come up to try and speak into your mic on break and succeeded because you forgot to turn the volume knob down? Drunk person no more!
You can also connect to Spotify or whatever you use to stream music with for your set-breaks, pre-show, etc. I love that I’m no longer a slave to the venue turning off the break music, which they never seem to do on time. Not their fault, everyone is busy. But still nice.
Then there is the sound quality itself. I’ve never owned a nicer sounding PA. I’ve tried them all and there are of course some really nice ones out there. To me, this blows everything out of the water. It sounds amazing equally at both loud and soft volumes, depending on the need of the room. You will find an incredible mix for every situation. The sound quality is super close between the 30M and 50M. I don’t think one is really louder than the other. But I’ll tell you this. I like the 50M better. Why? I have no clue. I just do. Cool, so now that we’ve become super technical, I can tell you this. There is a part in one of my original songs where I tap on my guitar for a little percussive effect. I’ve never been able to hear it clearly through any other sound system until I started using the Evolve. Both of them. That’s how clear it is. It’s well balanced, warm and you can even add delay right from the app. Which, by the way, you do not need the app, you can still mix directly from the built in mixer itself. If you like to go old school sometimes, like me.
I’m not great with technology. So there was a small learning curve but that’s mostly because I was scared of it when I got it. Which was totally unnecessary. I only had one issue which happened with the 30M at my very first gig and I still have no clue why. I went to turn it on and nada. So I basically turned it off and on again and it was fine. This still baffles me but hasn’t happened since. Sound Gremlins be gone!
I mentioned earlier that this system has improved my show and also got me more gigs. You’re probably wondering, how can a sound system do that? Remember when you were first learning guitar, piano, violin, etc? You probably played some beat up to just an okay instrument. Then you got your first GREAT instrument and you instantly got better. Because you could hear everything better, play easier, etc. Well this is the same. Your show improves when you get better of course but comes with upgrading your instruments. Your sound system should be treated the same.
I can’t count how many times I heard “I can’t hear this, you’re too soft, too loud, feedback, too bassey, too shrieky, or that time my old PA literally started screaming at the audience. I don’t mean feedback. I mean literally…screaming. I definitely didn’t get invited back to that place. I’ve never had any of these issues with Evolve. Every venue is really complementary on how clear, warm and even everything is, as well as how it looks. So yah! This gets me gigs! I even put it in my e-mail pitch. “I play through a beautiful brand new Electro-Voice Evolve 50M that is great for any stage.” Nobody wants to hire someone that uses a screaming system.
I would like to touch briefly on microphones. This is about Evolve but EV also sent me two beautiful microphones. I won’t lie, at first, I didn’t love them so much. I felt like some of my other mics were louder and picked up more but actually, I really just didn’t have them EQ’d well. Now that I am dialed in, I recommend anything in their ND series. They’re not too expensive and produce a well balanced and warm sound, just like the speakers. I was also gifted the RE-20 Black for my podcast, Crimes Against Folk. I use this to record everything! Including guitars, vocals, piano and more. It’s incredible.
To wrap things up, I 100% recommend the Electro-Voice Evolve 50M, as well as the 30M. Depending on your needs, both are fantastic and will not only improve your sound but also save you time, stands (ew), and just make your life easier overall. Thank you, Electro-Voice!
