Miami, FL, Jun 7, 2017 — Joe Snow has been an innovator in the food truck business for a long while. “I started in the high-end dessert truck world, and when I did my first ice cream truck I added all kinds of innovations that addressed what I saw as the limitations of a lot of the other trucks out there,” Snow explains. These included displaying his menu on an LCD monitor to help people make purchasing decisions more quickly, and modifying the trucks to have their service windows closer to the ground level making the exchange of food and money easier, while providing a glimpse for customers to see behind the scenes work going into his products.
After installing a 3000-watt sound system on one of his ice cream trucks, Snow attracted the attention of event organizers for his ability to DJ and provide food service at their events. But with his ice cream truck loudspeakers at full blast, potential customers began to be deterred by the volume. That inspired Snow to come up with his latest innovation: a standalone DJ truck. Turning to a powerful BASSBOSS subwoofer, The DJ Truck is now pumping out impressive SPL at food festivals and other events and blowing traditional DJ setups out of the water, all at a safe distance from anyone looking to score a two-scoop cone.
A Variation on a Theme
As with his ice cream trucks, Snow thought hard about how The DJ Truck could address the shortcomings of traditional DJ setups. “This is South Florida, so the weather can change at any minute,” he explains. “It rains almost every day in the summer for a half hour or so, and you’d see the DJs scrambling to pack up their stuff. With the truck, all of my wiring is protected from the elements.” All Snow has to do to set up is place the tops on pedestals outside the back of the truck, whose customized back door doubles as a lift-up awning to block any rain. “My setup time was less than five minutes.” But there was one problem: Snow, a long-time audiophile, wasn’t happy with the low-end capabilities of the subwoofer he had. “I brought the truck out for some early testing and people loved the concept, but I knew right away that my sub just didn’t have the punch and volume I needed. That’s when I started doing some research and stumbled upon BASSBOSS."
Attention-grabbing sound
After watching a video from the 2016 DJ Expo in Atlantic City, Snow was astounded at how BASSBOSS subwoofers were taking down lighting fixtures with their powerful low end during a demonstration. “I could tell by the genuine amazement of people in the audience that this was for real,” he says. “I went to their website to learn more, read some reviews and I was sold.”
He then reached out to BASSBOSS staff to explain his concept and solicit the Company's recommendations on which subwoofer to use for the DJ Truck based on his application. “They were extremely helpful and we decided that the VS21 ‘Rum Punch’ would give me the most sound for the amount of space I had in the truck,” he says.
After the VS21 arrived and Snow unboxed it, he knew he was dealing with another level of loudspeaker. “When I unpacked it I could tell the build was incredibly solid,” he says. He set it up right away and put on some music. Snow, who as an entrepreneur is careful about his investments, said his expectations were exceeded: “I knew it was going to be good, but it was so much better than anything else that size that I’d ever heard before.”
The difference owes to the unique design of the VS21 ‘Rum Punch,’ which features a massive displacement, long excursion 21" woofer rear-loaded into a large acoustical volume that is tuned to a low frequency, and front-loaded onto a short horn. The VS21 also features a powerful 2400W RMS Class D Powersoft amplifier, built-in for optimal performance. “It was like going from laptop speakers to a real speaker. There was an enormous difference in both power and sound quality.”
Built to Battle
Snow got to test drive the newly BASSBOSS-equipped DJ Truck at an outdoor DJ battle, where many DJs had the opportunity to go head to head to show off their selections and sound systems. Snow had reached out to BASSBOSS ahead of time to consult on the best settings for the event and their recommendation for where to set the output level surprised him: all the way up. “They told to max the volume and I was like, ‘What’?” he says. “I’m usually so careful with my speakers, but they said it could handle it.”
Each DJ selected a genre out of a hat at random, and Snow ended up pulling Dancehall. “I was happy because I knew that was a great genre to show off the VS21,” he recalls. He pulled up some selections on his iPad and began to play, and as he brought the system’s volume up the crowd went wild. “We had a huge group of people congregating by our setup, it was like an outdoor nightclub,” he says. It was such a smash that The DJ Truck was the only sound purveyor chosen to play a second set later of the day. “People were blown away by both the sound of the BASSBOSS sub and the whole concept of the truck.”
Spreading the Good Word
Since The DJ Truck’s battle victory, requests have been pouring in for more event appearances.“People love the fact that the truck is completely self-contained and sounds awesome,” he says. Many organizations have booked the truck for multiple events out of the gate. “Broward County wants to use The DJ Truck for every event they’re doing in one their parks this year,” he notes.
As for Snow, he has his sites set on one thing: upgrading to BASSBOSS tops as soon as possible. “Now that I’ve seen what the BASSBOSS sub can do to improve my sound, there’s absolutely no question that I want to switch to an all BASSBOSS system,” he says. “I see myself as a proud owner of BASSBOSS speakers for a long time to come.”
