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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 1026
Location: Back in the Valley of the Sun Mesa Az. | As I dabble deeper and deeper back into my retro years of smokey bar performing, I have begun looking for a good amp. for acoustical play. I wanted something that I could have two seperate lines for a mike, and a guitar, and of course when you sing like I do, reverb is a must!!!!! The "guitar man" at the local music store, suggested I check out a Keyboard amp. I can't recall the brand (I'm thinking it was a Peavy) but the model was a K60 (60 amp). It had great clean sound, lots of control for picking up low-mid-high tones, a high and low input on both channels, and of course good 'ol reverb. The unit sells for about $350.00.
Any thoughts on Keyboard amps? The only drawback I can see, is if I wanted to get a true electrical guitar sound, but I suppose I could plug in a box at that point (although, I probably would never have need for it).
Norse(getting wired)man1
p.s. The more I have used my Lawrence pick-up, the more I find myself prefering a unidirectional mic. I like the Lawrence as far as magnetic pick-ups go, but one definitely gets a truer acoustic sound from a mic (even a 19.99 cheapo!)IMHO. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Norsey;
I "semi" agree with you on the whole mic/pickup thing. I don't particularly care for the mag pickup sound on an acoustic either, but I wouldn't go too "cheap" on the mic if thats the avenue you want to pursue. When I use my SlotHead at gigs, I have no alternative but to mic it (it's strictly acoustic). I use a decent AudioTechnica mic (I don't recall the model # right now, but I paid about $100 each). A cheap mic in a live room with a an amp will give you headaches (not to mention the one's your audiences will have).
My bass player insists on singing (backup) with a cheeeepo he bought from Musician's Friend, and it's NOTHING but problems (although I really think it's all just a clever ruse on his part to get out of singing)!
If you're gonna use a mic "live", get a good one and experiment with it's placement for the best sound. Being that the SlotHead is so friggin' LOUD, I'm somewhat lucky that my mic doesn't need a lot of gain applied to it. What I usually do is just leave the mic "live" when I'm playing my CB and I can run effects through my pickup and straight acoustic sound w/the mic. You might wanna do that with the mag p/u and the mic (but you'll need to have the extra channel). |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 1026
Location: Back in the Valley of the Sun Mesa Az. | Good points Cliff. Actually the Mic a bought is an Audio Technica (Bought it at Best Buy), but obviously on the lower end of their production line! I would guess the unidirectional mic would pick up way too much in a live setting, and I hadn't thought of that (thanks for the heads up). At this point, I am just goofing around at home, trying to decide if I really want to get back into "performing". I'll be needing to upgrade a lot of things if I do, and with your advice, my instrumental mic will be on that list. What I like about playing it at home, is I can pretty much just crank up one unidirectional mic, sit back a little, and get both my guitar and vocals together! O.K. for goofin, nightmare for recording/performing I suspect!
Norse(I have to learn not to be so cheap!)man1 |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7247
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Get and use AUDIX mics for live work. They are now the benchmark for "level before feedback" standards. They are excellent sounding and not too expencive. They have ones for instruments and vocals. I have OM2's and OM5's which I believe are both for vocals, but they are fantastic.
For an amp... the Peavey's are actually pretty good for this sort of thing. They are rugged and fairly cheap. The important part is to get a "closed back" cabinet.
The next step up, would be to get a small PA system. I know when someone sais PA you start to get all sorts of pictures of huge gear, but there are actually some very small ones, that are designed for exactly what you want to do. There is one by Yamaha I believe that folds up into a single box, speakers and all. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Many keyboard amps will do a decent job for acoustic guitar but they tend to be lacking in EQ, particularly in the crucial midrange area between about 500Hz & 1.4KHz, plus their low frequency EQ tends to miss the usual acoustic guitar low feedback frequencies of 80-120hz. If you use a keyboard combo you may need to get an external graphic or parametric pedal such as the Baggs Para-acoustic DI, which will also address any input impedance miss-matches. If you intend to mike an acoustic for live work avoid dynamic microphones, they don't have the freqency response, sensitivity or output. There's plenty of budget condensers (AKG, Avlex, Superlux, Rode)
that will do a better job for the money, but you'll need to get into PA territory rather than acoustic/keyboard amps to get the benefit of a mike. As for directional characteristics, a hyper-cardioid is the best bet for live use.
Paul
[ June 26, 2002: Message edited by: Paul Templeman ] |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | a closed cab 15 with a jbl or ev bass amp would do the trick too. look for an old acoustic or peavey tnt or something like that cheap and lots of bang for the buck |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 1026
Location: Back in the Valley of the Sun Mesa Az. | As usual, a wealth of advice!
Thanks again,
Norse(things have changed since the 70's! A guy has to actually know what he's doing nowdays!)man1 |
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Keyboard Amps
