Woodbury, N.Y. — Professional and consumer loudspeaker manufacturer JBL has signed on as the official sponsor for blues/rock guitar legend Eric Clapton’s summer tour of North America.
JBL is supporting the tour with a major sponsorship program, maintaining a highly visible presence at all of the tour’s stops. To coincide with the tour, the company is launching its “Eric Clapton Chooses JBL” sweepstakes, featuring a grand prize of two tickets to the tour’s final concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on August 2.
To qualify for the prize drawing, consumers are required to audition JBL Northridge E Series loudspeakers at a participating retailer and fill out an online entry form. In addition to the grand prize, a number of additional prizes will be awarded. Details are available on the JBL Web site, www.jbl.com.
JBL’s VerTec (Vertical Technology) line-array professional audio loudspeakers were chosen for exclusive use in the tour sound system. Because of their advanced-technology drivers, compact size, modular installation flexibility and high sound quality, JBL VerTec loudspeakers have become an industry standard for professional concert sound reinforcement, according to the company.
Sound services for the tour will be provided by Sound Image of Escondido, Calif., a supplier of concert sound system services worldwide. The systems, which can deliver more than 350,000 watts of amplifier power, are configured to optimize sound quality and coverage in the 15,000-seat to 20,000-seat arenas that will host the tour.
The touring system includes a total of 48 JBL VerTec VT4889 loudspeakers, arranged as line arrays in a typical configuration of two main forward arrays of 14 units each, and two side arrays of 10 units each. The main loudspeakers are augmented by 16 VT4880 arrayable dual 18-inch subwoofers, and onstage monitors.
Clapton has remained one of the world’s foremost blues/rock guitar players and vocalists for over 30 years. Throughout his career he has played in some of the biggest groups of their day, starting with the Yardbirds and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, and advancing on to power groups Cream, Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominos.
As a solo artist, he has won multiple Grammy awards and will tour this year to support his newest album, Me and Mr. Johnson — a tribute to one Clapton’s earliest influences, blues-pioneer Robert Johnson.
The North American arena tour now underway is scheduled to conclude with the August 2 Hollywood Bowl concert.
Paul Bente, JBL Consumer Products president said, “Eric Clapton and JBL loudspeakers have both had a major impact in defining the sound of rock and roll — Clapton as a ‘guitarist’s guitarist’ and consummate musician, and JBL as the foremost supplier of high-quality loudspeakers for concert halls, recording studios and home listening.”
