I and a couple of friends play standard-jazz live weekly in a restaurant bar. The rig is BIAB on a laptop driving a small Mackie preamp and Mackie SRM350's. Sometimes I wonder if we've become too dependent on "following the bouncing ball" over the changes, but it sure is nice to be able to see where you are and where you're going in a tune. My guitar (classical with pickup) goes direct to the board. Stunningly beautiful and sweet sound from the guitar, great full rich and real sounds from the Real Tracks. One of the guys plays chromatic harmonica. Same excellent results.

I know it borders on herasy to speak negatively in the face of the highly successful Bose marketing machine, but hey folks, listen and compare before you go Bose. Getting that much sound out of the small BOSE drivers creates lots of THD (total harmonic distortion). Psyco-acoustically sounds nice and bright for a little while, but over time makes your ears very tired. If you happen to live near one get the people at Guitar Center (or whatever) to set a comparison before you buy.

By the way, one of the guys in my group has a Bose L1. We've tried substituting it for the Mackie system. Guys, IMHO, the Mackies are a far superior sound system.