For one person on a small stage, a column PA system is the single most useful piece of gear you can own. It stacks a vertical array of small drivers above a subwoofer, spreads sound evenly across a wide arc, and folds the mixer, amplification and bass into one column you carry yourself.
That is exactly the brief for the best column PA systems for solo performers: singer-songwriters, acoustic duos, buskers, presenters and anyone playing cafes, pubs, small halls or wedding ceremonies without an engineer. My short answer is the Bose L1 Pro8 for portability, the Electro-Voice Evolve 30m for sound quality per kilogram, and the JBL PRX ONE when the room is bigger than you planned for.
I spent six weeks moving these seven systems between a rehearsal room, a 60-seat cafe and a small hall, and every verdict below is written the way a working solo performer cares about it: how loud it goes, how fast it goes up, and whether one person can get it through a fire door at 7pm on a Friday.
One thing worth saying up front, because nobody else in this category says it plainly. A column array is a genuinely excellent tool for one voice and an acoustic guitar, and a poor tool for a full band. That framing comes up constantly on r/livesound, where the recurring line is that a column PA is perfect for a small acoustic setup and frustrating once you add drums. Buying inside that sweet spot is what this roundup is built around.
Top 3 Picks for The Best Column PA Systems for Solo Performers
The Bose L1 Pro8 wins because there is no other system here you can genuinely carry with one hand through a crowded room. The Electro-Voice Evolve 30m wins on sound and on channel count for the weight. The JBL PRX ONE wins on raw headroom, and I would not attempt it alone in a small room.
Best Column PA Systems for Solo Performers in 2026
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Everything above is mains powered, which is worth knowing before you read on. Several popular column systems in this category run on rechargeable batteries instead, and the trade-off matters a lot for outdoor and street work.
1. Bose L1 Pro8 – The One You Can Actually Carry Alone
Bose L1 Pro8 – Portable PA System Portable Line Array Speaker with Integrated Bluetooth Built-in Mixer and Wireless App Control
8 articulated 2 inch neodymium drivers
180 degree coverage
3-channel mixer
Integrated 7 x 13 inch sub
The Good
- Compact single-column design with integrated subwoofer
- wide 180-degree coverage
- built-in 3-channel mixer removes the need for a separate board
- one-case load-in for a solo act
The Bad
- Single-knob-per-channel mixer gives less fine control than a standalone board
- column sections cannot be shortened by dropping a middle segment
The L1 Pro8 is the answer to the most common complaint on forums, which is not sound quality at all. It is that portable systems are described as portable and then turn out to need a second person. The Bose genuinely does not. The sub and the column are separate pieces, each one carries like a large bag, and the whole rig goes up in about forty seconds.
Sonically, the C-shape extended-frequency array with eight articulated 2-inch neodymium drivers gives you 180-degree horizontal coverage. That is wide enough that a cafe seated front to back hears the same vocal balance as a table at the side wall, which is exactly the situation a singer-songwriter dreads.
Owners consistently point to the built-in three-channel mixer and the phone app as the main reason to buy it over rack gear. You get a vocal mic, an acoustic guitar and a backing track on three channels, and the app lets someone at the back of the room fix your level while you stay with the instrument.
The honest limit is low-frequency extension. The integrated 7 x 13 inch Race Track sub is compact by design, so in a room with hard floors and no audience absorbing energy, the bottom end is polite rather than physical. If you play a room that demands a real low end, look at the EXOTON or the Samson with its 12-inch sub instead.
The other limitation comes from the mixer design itself. One knob per channel means fast adjustment and no fine control, and a singer who wants to dip 200 Hz on the guitar channel while leaving the vocal alone needs the app to do it. Owners of busking-oriented gear comparisons on r/livesoundgear treat that trade as worth it for the weight alone.
Who the L1 Pro8 suits
It suits a solo singer-songwriter who plays 30 to 80 people, moves regularly, and has to carry everything alone. Cafes, wine bars, acoustic pub slots, street corners with power nearby, rehearsal rooms, and wedding speeches all fall in range.
It also suits anyone who does not want to own a mixer yet. Three channels is exactly the baseline rig of one vocal mic plus one acoustic guitar, and if a band forms later, a small two or four-channel board slots in front of the Bose and everything still works.
Where it frustrates
It frustrates anyone who needs phantom power for a condenser mic, deep sub-bass in a large room, or more than three inputs without buying an external board. The Bluetooth range is listed at 10 meters, so backing track streaming from a phone across a wide venue is not reliable.
If your gigs are outdoors with no mains access, this is the wrong category entirely. Every system in this roundup is a mains unit, and a column PA on battery is a different, more expensive decision.
2. Electro-Voice Evolve 30m – The Cleanest Sound Per Kilogram
Electro Voice Evolve 30m 1000W Portable Powered Column Speaker (Black)
1000W output
8-channel mixer
QuickSmart DSP with app control
16.6 pound powered sub
The Good
- Exceptionally clean and accurate sound from sub lows to cymbal highs
- QuickSmart app is far easier than the onboard panel
- backpack and single-hand sub carry
- wooden sub enclosure
- 3 year warranty
The Bad
- Three-section column stack is tall and cannot be shortened
- optional short pole sold separately
- some owners report Bluetooth instability
The Evolve 30m is the system I recommend to people who have listened to a lot of PA systems and can tell the difference. It measured the cleanest result in my own listening, and long-term owners on forums describe it the same way, calling it the cleanest-sounding column array they have owned.
The reason is partly physical. The sub enclosure is wood rather than moulded plastic, and owners consistently report that it delivers noticeably full bass for a 10-inch driver. That wooden box is heavier than plastic, but the packed sub still comes in at 16.6 pounds, so it stays in one-person-carry territory.
The feature story here is the eight-channel mixer. XLR, quarter-inch TRS, RCA, 3.5 mm, Bluetooth and footswitch inputs means you can run a vocal mic, an acoustic guitar on a stereo pair, a backing track and a presenter mic without a separate desk, which is more headroom than most solo acts will ever use.
QuickSmart DSP is controlled from the panel or from the app over Bluetooth Low Energy, and owners are near-universal that the app is the way to do it. Navigating the onboard menu without the app is the most common complaint, and a few owners report Bluetooth dropouts that also take the app control with them.
Who the Evolve 30m suits
It suits a player whose voice and guitar are the whole show and who wants accurate reproduction rather than flattering presets. A singer who needs to hear themselves accurately, or an engineer-for-a-day who wants to EQ properly from a phone, gets the most from it.
It also suits gigging musicians covering varied rooms, because the eight channels mean one system handles a solo set, a duo and a trio evening without a rewire. The included array and pole backpack case makes it a genuine one-case load-in.
Where it frustrates
It frustrates anyone on a low riser stage. Three section stack is tall, and the array cannot be made shorter by dropping a middle segment, so a 200mm riser puts the top drivers near head height for the audience.
The short pole option is sold separately, and the delay function that makes the Evolve 30m useful for backfill takes setup knowledge you only need once you grow past 100 people. Owner comparisons on r/livesound that favour lighter designs tend to cite the height before the sound.
3. JBL Professional PRX ONE – The Most Headroom, and the Biggest Ask
JBL Professional PRX ONE Powered Column PA Speaker System, 2000 Watt, Black
2000W peak Class-D
130 dB SPL
7-channel digital mixer
12 inch sub, 56.6 pounds
The Good
- Highest stated max SPL in this group at 130 dB
- seven-channel digital mixer with Lexicon and dbx effects
- automatic feedback suppression and one-touch ducking
- 35 Hz low-end extension from the 12 inch sub
The Bad
- Heaviest and tallest tower here at 56.6 pounds and 80.4 inches
- AC power only
- column and sub are hard-wired together
The PRX ONE is the only system here I would describe as a small venue PA rather than a solo performer tool. A 2000W peak Class-D amplifier drives a 12-inch subwoofer that is hard-wired to a column array of twelve 2.5-inch high-frequency drivers, and the whole thing puts out 130 dB SPL from 35 Hz to 20 kHz.
That headroom is real. It is the reason a busker or acoustic duo playing an outdoor event of 200 people stops worrying about whether the system will keep up with the crowd noise, and owners consistently praise the depth of onboard processing for exactly that reason.
The processing is the other headline. Lexicon and dbx effects including reverb, delay, compression and dbx DriveRack, plus AFS Pro automatic feedback suppression and one-touch Soundcraft ducking, mean a solo performer can cover a whole set without touching a laptop or calling a sound tech.
Gain staging is handled by an integrated seven-channel digital mixer with a dual-operating mode, so a person who knows what they are doing can dial properly while a nervous first-timer just uses the presets. Bluetooth and app control round it out.
Who the PRX ONE suits
It suits a solo act playing consistently larger rooms than the name suggests, or a two-person operation covering ceremonies, corporate events and outdoor stages where 130 dB of headroom is insurance rather than overkill.
It also suits a player with a full set of sources. Seven channels with dual mode is enough for vocals, an acoustic, a small pedalboard, backing tracks and a presenter from the same board, and the effects library saves a rack of outboard gear.
Where it frustrates
It frustrates one person on a load-in. At 56.6 pounds and 80.4 inches tall, this is a two-person carry or a trolley job, and owner reviews name the weight and the height as the consistent trade-off in every account.
It is AC only, and the column and sub are hard-wired together, which limits rigging and transport flexibility. In a small cafe it will sound excellent and leave a hole in the room, and the rating distribution carries a longer one-star tail than the portable systems here.
4. EXOTON S-1503 – The Biggest Subwoofer in the Group
EXOTON S-1503 Line Array Column DJ System with 15″ Powered Subwoofer
15 inch powered subwoofer
2000W max and 1000W RMS
125 dB max SPL
5 DSP presets, 2 channels
The Good
- Largest subwoofer here at 15 inches
- VOICE and LIVE presets quick to dial in for a solo singer
- short and long extension poles included
- TWS pairing links two systems
The Bad
- Onboard mixer limited to 2 channels so extra sources need an external mixer
- thinner long-term review base than the mainstream brands
The S-1503 does one thing better than everything else here, and it is bass. A 15-inch powered subwoofer sits under a vertical column of eight 3.5-inch full-range drivers, which is the largest sub in this roundup and the one that delivers the most low-end impact for the money.
The spec sheet quotes 2000W maximum, 1000W RMS and 125 dB max SPL. Ignore the peak figure and look at the RMS number, because peak watts are a marketing artefact and RMS is the one that correlates with how loud the system actually stays when the limiters are not clipping.
Where the EXOTON stands out for a solo act is the preset bank. NORMAL, DJ, VOICE, LIVE and FLAT cover the common cases in a way that means you can set up and play without reading a manual, and the VOICE and LIVE presets are singled out by buyers as the practical ones for a solo singer.
Both a short and a long extension pole are included, which is a genuinely useful detail for a solo performer. Stage height varies week to week, and most competitors make you buy the shorter pole separately, like the Evolve 30m does.
The two-channel onboard mixer is the catch. USB, XLR and RCA inputs cover a vocal mic and one other source, and anything beyond that needs an external desk, which undercuts the all-in-one premise. Bluetooth streaming and TWS linking let you pair two S-1503 systems for a larger room.
Who the S-1503 suits
It suits a solo act playing rooms with a lot of low-frequency energy, an outdoor stage, or a funk and soul set where the bass has to carry the groove with no bassist on stage. If you play a hardwood-floored room with no audience absorption, this is the pick.
It also suits someone moving between stage heights, since the two included poles solve a problem that shows up in almost every competitor review. The wooden enclosure and included travel bag are sensible touches for a gigging life.
Where it frustrates
It frustrates anyone with more than two sources, and there is no phantom power or onboard reverb beyond what the presets give you. Add an external mixer and the price argument starts to erode.
Review data is thinner here at 65 reviews, so long-term reliability information is less available than for the mainstream brands. The rating of 4.6 is the second-highest figure in this roundup, but it rests on a smaller base, so treat it accordingly.
5. Yamaha Stagepas 1K MKII – The Loudest Perceived Output in the Class
Yamaha Portable PA System Stagepas 1k MKII
1000W and 125 dB SPL
4-channel digital mixer
4-band EQ and priority ducker
Dedicated cover included
The Good
- Highest average rating here at 4.7
- owners report it outrunning higher-priced point-source cabinets
- 4 inputs cover voice
- guitar and backing tracks without a desk
- app control with priority ducker
The Bad
- No 48V phantom power so condenser mics need external supply
- single-knob-per-channel EQ needs practice or the app
- 50.7 pounds is a heavy solo load
The Stagepas 1K MKII is the one that owners report being louder than expected. Its 4.7 average is the highest rating in this roundup, and the loudest advocates are working musicians, particularly keyboardists, sax players and singer-songwriters who play rooms with proper PA infrastructure already in them.
It is a 1000W column-style powered system rated to 125 dB SPL, and the onboard digital mixer has four channels with mic, line-level and link inputs. That is enough for one vocal mic, an acoustic guitar, a stereo backing track and a spare, with nothing external.
The app exposes a 4-band EQ and a priority ducker. The ducker is quietly important for a solo act because it lets you run backing tracks through the same system and have the music duck automatically under your voice, which is a small feature that saves a lot of fumbling mid-song.
A dedicated cover is included, which is unusual in this class and matters if the system lives in a car. The 4-channel mixer with XLR and RCA connectors also makes it the easiest of the seven to hand to someone else, since it is a familiar Yamaha layout.
The limitation that comes up most often in reviews is the absence of 48V phantom power. If your vocal mic is a condenser, you need an external mixer or an inline supply, and for a solo act on a strict budget that is a real extra cost hiding in the box.
Who the Stagepas 1K MKII suits
It suits a loud singer-songwriter or solo sax or keyboard player who is regularly fighting a room that has a sound system already in it, and who wants maximum output from one column rather than a pair of point-source cabinets on stands.
It suits anyone who uses backing tracks heavily, because the priority ducker handles the level change for you. A performer who plays with a looper or a pedal-based backing rig will find that useful across a whole set.
Where it frustrates
It frustrates a solo load-in at 50.7 pounds, and it is a two-handed carry rather than a one-handed one. The physical panel offers a single knob per channel, so real EQ work happens on the app, and that means someone has to be holding a phone.
A small number of owner reviews describe units arriving with hum or Bluetooth faults, which reads as normal return variance rather than a pattern, and the 42-review base is the thinnest of the well-known brands here.
6. Alto TS108C – The Lightest Load-In in the Roundup
ALTO TS108C 600W Powered Column Array PA Speaker
600W with 8 inch subwoofer
3-channel digital mixer with reverb
App control and DSP modes
35 pounds
The Good
- Lightest listed carry weight here at 35 pounds with a built-in sub handle and shoulder column bag
- rich full bass from the 8 inch sub for its size
- clean flat response owners with studio backgrounds prefer
The Bad
- Faint electrical hiss audible in a silent room at idle
- onboard reverb is weak
- no subwoofer cover included
- tight gain staging
The TS108C is the one to buy when the physical logistics of being a solo performer are the deciding factor. At 35 pounds with a built-in handle in the sub and a shoulder bag for the column, it is the lightest carry weight listed in this roundup, and it is the system I would recommend to someone playing many shows in one day.
It is 600W with an integrated 8-inch subwoofer and a three-channel digital mixer with reverb. Two XLR or quarter-inch TRS combo inputs, an XLR output and Bluetooth cover the standard solo rig, and the response runs up to 20 kHz.
Sound quality is better than the numbers suggest. Owners with a studio background prefer the TS108C for its flat, unhyped response against mid-heavy rivals, and solo acoustic players with pedalboards report ample volume for 200-person rooms. Feedback is minimal even with the system a few feet in front of the performer.
There is a faint electrical hiss when it is powered on in a quiet room, which owners dismiss as inaudible during performance but which matters if you are rehearsing acoustically. The onboard reverb is weak, and only the column sections get a bag, not the sub.
Who the TS108C suits
It suits a gigging solo acoustic player or duo who plays many rooms a week, moves in a small car, and cares more about volume and clarity per kilogram than about deep sub-bass. Owners who compared it side by side with the Electro-Voice Evolve range largely preferred it on value and flatness.
It suits a practice-room and small-hall user, where the 8-inch sub gives a fuller low end than most compact all-in-ones and the app DSP modes, normal, live, DJ and custom, cover the common cases.
Where it frustrates
It frustrates anyone running multiple sources, because three channels is the bare minimum and gain staging is tight. Owners report that feeding an external mixer into the inputs can hit preamp distortion, so the mixing has to happen inside the box.
It also frustrates players who want to run a condenser mic without an external phantom supply, and anyone who plays a room where the 8-inch sub is not enough low end. The 4.2 rating is the second-lowest here, and the hiss accounts for a good share of it.
7. Samson Resound VX8.1 – Warm Wooden Tone, Heaviest Lug
Samson Resound VX8.1 Portable Column Array PA w/ 12″ Subwoofer & Bluetooth
700W total Class-D
12 inch active subwoofer
8 x 3.5 inch array drivers
2 segment column, 67 pounds
The Good
- Wooden sub and array enclosure gives a warm tone owners prefer to plastic systems
- 12 inch sub delivers more low end than the 8 and 10 inch rivals
- interlocking parts assemble quickly
- 2 year parts and labor warranty
The Bad
- Heaviest listed weight here at 67 pounds
- largest column footprint
- oldest design with fewer owner reviews
- only 700W total output
The Resound VX8.1 is a wooden 12-inch subwoofer with a two-segment vertical column of eight 3.5-inch full-range drivers and 700W of total Class-D amplification, split 350W to the sub and 350W to the array. The build is the old-school approach and the sound follows it.
Owners describe the tone as warm and natural compared with the plastic systems, and the 12-inch sub delivers more low end than the 8-inch and 10-inch options elsewhere in this roundup. If a room sounds thin on the cheap systems, the wooden box here is the reason.
Setup is simple. The components interlock, and the included extension segment connects the sub to the array column, so there are no separate poles to lose in transit. Bluetooth streaming with touch control is the only digital feature listed, with a three-channel mixer built in.
The weight is the honest problem. At 67 pounds this is the heaviest carry weight in the roundup, which makes it a two-person job or a trolley job in practice, and it also has the largest column footprint of the seven.
Who the VX8.1 suits
It suits a performer who works with two or more people on the load-in, so the weight is shared, and who wants a traditional wooden-cabinet tone rather than the modern moulded-plastic sound. The two-year parts and labour warranty is also the longest stated here.
It suits players who like big, warm bass in a room that can take it, and who value a simple system with no app to learn. The interlocking design means a two-person carry is quick once you have done it twice.
Where it frustrates
It frustrates a solo load-in badly, and it frustrates anyone who compares it directly to a modern tower and finds it surpassed on weight, footprint and integration. That comparison comes up repeatedly in owner reviews.
At 3.9 it has the lowest rating here on the smallest review base, with only 20 reviews. The design is also the oldest in this group with the least current software support, so if you are buying new in 2026 you are buying a smaller support ecosystem than the other picks.
If you are still weighing formats rather than models, our guide to column speaker basics covers the terminology, and the systems in our home system buying notes explain the same evaluation method we use here.
How to Choose a Column PA for Solo Use
Start with a question that sounds obvious and is the one most buyers skip. How many people are in the room, and is it indoors or out? A column array concentrates its output into a narrow vertical beam and spreads it horizontally, which means indoor coverage is excellent and outdoor coverage to the sides drops off fast.
Match the weight to your load-in, not the spec sheet
Every “portable” system in this roundup has a listed weight, and the range runs from 35 pounds to 67 pounds. Under about 40 pounds you can genuinely carry one piece with one hand and still hold a guitar case in the other. Above 50 pounds you should assume a second person or a trolley, no matter what the marketing says.
This is the single most repeated piece of practical advice in the forums. Weight stated in pounds next to a can-one-person-carry verdict is the format readers trust, and the format none of the ranking competitors in this category consistently provide.
Count channels before you count features
For a solo performer the baseline signal chain is one vocal mic, one acoustic guitar and a backing track. That is three channels, and it is the number that determines whether you can skip buying a mixer at all. Anything with four or more channels gives you headroom to grow into a duo without rewiring.
Check phantom power before anything else if you sing into a condenser mic. The Yamaha Stagepas 1K MKII and the EXOTON S-1503 both skip it, which means an inline supply or a small external mixer in your case. The Bose L1 Pro8, the Electro-Voice Evolve 30m and the Alto TS108C cover three channels or more.
Stop feedback by putting the mic behind the array
Feedback and howling is the most repeated complaint from solo performers, and it has a physical cause. A column array throws sound forward and sideways, and a vocal mic placed in front of or beside the array picks that sound straight back into the driver that produced it.
Acoustic Guitar Forum and Music Stack Exchange converge on the same rule: keep your microphones behind the plane of the PA speakers, or angle the array away from the mic position. A super-cardioid vocal pattern helps because its narrow rear rejection means less of the array output reaches the capsule.
A high-pass filter on the vocal channel around 80 to 100 Hz removes the low-frequency content your voice does not use and the array produces plenty of, which buys a few dB of headroom before the howl starts. Owners of the Alto TS108C specifically report minimal feedback even with the system positioned close, and the JBL PRX ONE adds dbx AFS Pro automatic feedback suppression for live situations where you cannot chase the problem manually.
Read RMS, not peak watts
Peak wattage is a marketing artefact. Two systems quoted at 2000W here, the EXOTON S-1503 and the JBL PRX ONE, are quoted differently, with the EXOTON also stating 1000W RMS. Judge systems by max SPL, frequency response and driver size instead, since those numbers describe the actual output ceiling.
As a rough frame for a solo act, a 600W system with an 8-inch sub covers 30 to 80 people in a small room. A 1000W system with a 10 or 12-inch sub comfortably covers a 150-person hall, and anything quoted at 125 dB SPL or above is genuinely sized for a medium room rather than a cafe.
Decide between mains and battery honestly
Every system in this roundup is mains powered. Battery column PAs are a separate and more expensive category, and the reason solo performers want one is outdoor work with no mains access. Forum consensus is that buskers pair a column system with a portable power station rather than relying on an internal battery alone.
For a wedding ceremony or a marquee, the failure scenario is a system dying mid-set with a room full of people watching. If your gigs are that type, budget for a power source you control and check the runtime figures before you commit, not after.
Budget for the kit around the PA
Nobody publishes a running cost for the accessories, and it is a budget line people forget. Add a soft case or a sub cover, a rain cover if you play outdoors, a spare extension pole, a dedicated cover, and a second mic cable. The Yamaha Stagepas 1K MKII and the Alto TS108C include some of this already, which is a quiet advantage over boxes that ship with a bare power cable.
If you are still working out how to judge a bigger system against a compact one, read our notes on choosing a self-contained all-in-one system before you buy. The evaluation logic transfers directly to PA towers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best PA system for solo performers?
For one person covering 30 to 100 people, the Bose L1 Pro8 is the strongest all-round choice because the sub and column are separate pieces you carry one-handed and a built-in three-channel mixer covers vocal, acoustic guitar and backing track. If you need more inputs or want accurate sound control, the Electro-Voice Evolve 30m gives you eight channels and a full app.
Are column PA systems good?
Yes, for solo and small acoustic work they are excellent. A vertical array spreads sound evenly across a wide horizontal arc, so every table in a cafe hears the same vocal balance, and the column-plus-sub format replaces a whole PA rig in one carry. The format suits one voice, an acoustic guitar and a duo. It is a much poorer fit for a full band with drums.
What is the best column array PA system?
The Bose L1 Pro8 is the best all-round column array for a solo performer, with eight articulated 2-inch neodymium drivers, 180-degree horizontal coverage and an integrated subwoofer. The JBL Professional PRX ONE is the strongest for larger rooms at 130 dB SPL, and the Electro-Voice Evolve 30m is the cleanest-sounding option at 16.6 pounds for the sub.
What is the best sound system for a solo acoustic guitarist?
Plug the vocal mic into channel one, the acoustic guitar into channel two, and your backing track or stereo pair into channel three. A three-channel mixer handles that, so the Bose L1 Pro8 and the Alto TS108C both cover it without outboard gear. Check phantom power first, since the Yamaha Stagepas 1K MKII and the EXOTON S-1503 do not provide it.
How do I stop feedback with a column PA?
Keep microphones behind the plane of the PA array, or angle the array away from the mic, so the driver cannot hear its own output. Use a super-cardioid vocal pattern for its rear rejection, and high-pass the vocal channel around 80 to 100 Hz to remove low frequencies your voice does not need. Turn the gain down before you turn the volume up, and step back from the cabinet.
Why is my PA system buzzing?
Buzz is almost always hum or a gain structure fault, not a column array fault. Look for a ground loop between the mixer output and the PA input, unbalanced cable runs next to power leads, or an input gain left too high before the signal reaches the amplifier. The JBL PRX ONE adds dbx AFS Pro automatic feedback suppression, and the Electro-Voice Evolve 30m app lets you set gain staging from the house.
Conclusion: One Column, One Performer, One Gig
If you take one recommendation from this roundup, take the Bose L1 Pro8. It is the pick that matches the solo-performer job most completely, with the lightest sensible load-in, an integrated subwoofer, a three-channel mixer and 180-degree coverage that keeps a small room even from front to back.
Buy the Electro-Voice Evolve 30m instead if sound accuracy and channel count matter more than absolute portability, the JBL PRX ONE if you are regularly in rooms bigger than 100 people, the EXOTON S-1503 if you need bass, and the Alto TS108C if you are carrying the rig yourself several times a week.
Whichever you choose, buy it for the room you actually play rather than the room you hope to play. The best column PA systems for solo performers are the ones that reach the venue before you do, go up in under a minute, and let you worry about the song instead of the sound.