Jands at Blacktown Workers

The Blacktown Workers Club’ Diamond Auditorium is one of the largest capacity venues of its kind in Sydney. It regularly hosts touring acts direct from Las Vegas, as well as conferences, cabaret, rock bands, and industry award nights. Its existing PA system had been in service for 29 years and was in need of an upgrade. “We needed a new system, and I wanted our acts and the audience to have the best,” said Blacktown’s Entertainment Manager, Elizabeth Star. “I wanted to have the best in the industry, and make our auditorium like a mini Allphones Arena. I visited the ENTECH Roadshow in Melbourne to evaluate products and suppliers, and I was impressed with Jands and the quality of their products.”

Blacktown’s house sound engineer, Danny Zamour, worked with potential suppliers in evaluating the best solution for the auditorium. “We concentrated on three major systems, including one from Jands and two from their major competitors,” explained Danny. “Jands brought us a complete system to audition. They were hands-on, informative, and on-the-ball. We evaluated a full JBL VTX Series concert line array system. Not only was the pricing favourable to comparable product, but I preferred the tonality, intelligibility, and fidelity of JBL. We’re absolutely stoked with it, and I recommend JBL to other clubs.”

“The installation of our new system means visiting acts no longer have to bring their own equipment and go through the difficulty of working around our infrastructure,” continued Elizabeth Star. “Both our patrons and visiting artists are very pleased with the quality of the new system; we no longer have problems with volume levels varying around the auditorium, which is great for both audience and entertainers. With our new lighting system and LED screen, the overall refurbishment has been nominated for an Australian Entertainment Club Award.”

In addition to a new FOH PA system, Blacktown also purchased four new JBL M20 wedges for on-stage monitoring, two JBL AM Series loudspeakers to cover the extreme sides of the auditorium, six channels of Shure ULX-D radio microphones, and a BSS Blu-100 DSP processor that allows the sound system to be used for simple speech and playback tasks by any member of the club at the touch of a button.

“The staff from Jands are very professional and accommodating,” complemented Elizabeth. “We’ve been very impressed with the quality of their after-sales service and care. We’re continuing to buy equipment from Jands; we’ve just had our curtains and lighting bars replaced through them.”

As the working sound engineer six nights a week, Danny Zamour is happy for both his visiting and local crew. “The first show we used the JBL VTX system on was an African circus with live African music,” he recalled. “The director said he was hearing things he hadn’t heard before. Both our punters and club members are saying that the sound’s great.”

Installed:

10x JBL VTX V20 Three-Way High Directivity Line Array Elements
2x JBL VTX S25 Suspendable, Cardioid-Arrayable, Dual 15″ Subwoofers
2x JBL VTX G28 Dual 18″ Subwoofers
4x JBL VTX M20 Dual 10″ Professional Stage Monitors
Crown I-Tech 4x3500HD Four-channel, 4000W @ 4? Power Amplifier
Crown ITech 12000HD Two-channel, 4500W @ 4? Power Amplifier
BSS Blu-100 DSP Processor
Jands PDS6RII Power Distribution
3x Shure ULXD4D dual-channel radio microphone receivers
6x Shure ULXD2Beta radio microphone transmitters

Jands