Firehouse Deploys Crown I-Tech HD Amplifiers and JBL VerTec® Line Arrays For Legendary Performance at Historic 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Concert

In a historic two day concert event featuring some of the biggest names in the history of rock and roll, Red Hook, New York-based Fire House Productions provided a JBL VERTEC® line array system with Crown I-Tech HD power amplification for live sound reinforcement at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concerts on Thursday, October 29th and Friday, October 30th.

The event took place at New York City’s Madison Square Garden with proceeds from the show going to benefit the Rock and Roll Foundation.  Over the course of the two nights performers included Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Stevie Wonder, Simon & Garfunkel, Paul Simon, U2, Aretha Franklin, Jeff Beck, and Metallica.  

For the two concerts, Firehouse deployed a PA system that consisted of 18 VERTEC VT4889 large-format line array elements and 12 VT4880A ultra long excursion arrayable subwoofers per side. An additional 14 VT4889’s per side and 14 VT4887’s for front fills rounded out the system, which was powered by 96 Crown I-Tech 12000HD amplifiers.

Firehouse Productions system engineer Mark Dittmar explained that VERTEC was the perfect solution for an event of this magnitude.  “With VERTEC you get a light weight system that sounds excellent and it can be aimed at angles that other PAs wouldn’t be able to achieve” he noted. “Additionally, since this concert was being recorded for TV we needed the system to cover the entire arena, yet not be visible in the camera shots. With VERTEC we can easily achieve that goal.”

Firehouse, one of the earliest users of the Crown I-Tech HD amplifiers, has continued using them consistently for large-scale events. “With Crown I-Tech HD you get more power and clarity than any other amplifier,” stated Dittmar.  “Also, the limiters on the I-Tech HD amps are extremely efficient.  We have also been using JBL’s V4 DSP presets for the I-Tech HD amplifiers, and in terms of sonic accuracy and the increased power we’ve gained with the system, that has been extremely useful.”

I-Tech HD features a new user-inspired DSP engine co-developed with BSS called OmniDriveHD. The new processing engine features Linear Phase FIR filters that offer unrivaled crossover performance for sonically pure tunings. The OMNIDRIVEHD processing engine also features an innovative new suite of limiters (Peak, Thermal and RMS), called LevelMAX™. As a remote control and monitoring application, Harman HiQnet System Architect™ software mirrors the typical browser navigation interface to provide tour sound and contracting professionals with a familiar interface to access a host of power configuration and control functions.

For more information on Firehouse Productions, please visit www.firehouseproductions.com or call 845-758-9898.