Current state of acoustic-style amplification

lukehill

Hi all,

For years I've been playing using a stimer and an old epiphone field coil amp. It's a great electric Django sound and I love it, but I'm wondering about achieving a more acoustic sound.

In the past I've played using an AT clip on mic and I've also tried using the Schertler with the AER amp. The clip on mic sounded great, but it wasn't a practical option for touring - about half the time the sound guy/system couldn't make it work w/out feedback issues.

I know a lot of guys use the big tones/schertlers/etc with the AER or similar amps, but personally, I don't care for the tone.

I'm considering giving an 'acoustic style' setup another try and I'm wondering if there's anything new on the scene people are using - I love the sound of my guitar acoustically, and would be thrilled if I could come up with something that would closely mirror that (without the feedback issues of using an actual clip-on mic) or perhaps some sort of mic system that took the sound control out of the sound guy's hands, for consistency.

Of course, the more affordable the better. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Luke

MichaelHorowitz

Hi Luke, have you checked out the Ischell contact mics? http://www.djangobooks.com/Item/ischell-inside-box-cpj

they have become one of the most popular pickup solutions over the last few years. A number of top pros are using it including Romane and Stephane Wrembel. It provides the natural sound of a mic with the feedback resistance of a pickup. Might be just what you're looking for.

kevingcox

The Ischell system is decent and very feedback resistant in my experience. You don't necessarily get the same resonance that you would acoustically and placement is of the utmost importance. All 3 guitarists in my group have used it with varying levels of success... one it works great for, another had even better sound but couldn't seem to get enough volume for some reason, and I could never seem to find the right spot to place it.

I personally use the http://leri-amplification.com/ butterfly mic system right now and like it a lot, but do still get minor feedback issues from time to time that get quickly sorted out in soundcheck by even moderately competent sound engineers (meaning I probably couldn't fix them myself, but maybe you could).

lukehill

Thanks guys - I appreciate the feedback.

The issue with anything that requires a 'moderately competent' sound engineer, is that, unfortunately, I sometimes find myself playing venues that quite frankly don't have competent sound engineers, and I've got to make sure that I have a way to make things work, even if the sound guy can't do his job as well as he should.

For both of the aforementioned systems (Ischell and Leri), are they typically used with amps or intended to go direct into a PA?

Thanks again,
Luke

kevingcox

We all still use DI boxes. The Ischell has a battery pack that must be used and has a 1/4 out built in. The Leri system has it's own DI box with both 1/4 and xlr out... I still tend to chain it with my Baggs DI box though because sound engineers recognize that and can work with it.

The Ischell system is very good and simple once you find the sweet spot on your guitar.

MichaelHorowitz

@lukehill the ischell works well through both a PA and an acoustic amp.

Bones

Michael,

I have the Schertler Dyn-G and a David. Do you know if it is possible to run it thru a 21 band equalizer (Boss GE-21) to be able to notch out the feedback band for use at higher amplification? I guess I would run the Dyn-G into the GE then out of the GE and back into the Dyn input on the amp but I'm not sure if that would work or if it would screw up the amp...

Thanks

klaatu

I've had very good results with the Ischell, but as Kevin says, you definitely have to work to find the sweet spot on your guitar, which may not be the one shown in the instructions that come with it. I changed guitars recently, and the placement changed.

Kevin's Leri system delivers the most natural acoustic sound that I have heard yet. The occasional feedback issue he mentions seem to be caused by some unnatural interaction between the mikes in his guitar, the vocal mike that our singer uses, and either stage monitors or the less than ideal placement of installed speakers in one venue. The vocal mike would of course not be an issue with most GJ bands.

The Leri system actually incorporates three mikes, one of which is supposed to suppress feedback, and it probably succeeds quite well in most situations one would encounter.

I'm going to stick with the Ischell, though. I've been satisfied with it, it's better sounding than any other system I've tried or heard except for the Leri, pretty feedback resistant, and unfortunately the Leri would probably not fit well on my D hole, which is now my main guitar. The web site shows a D hole attachment method using the fingerboard extension, but mine is quite a bit shorter than the one in the illustration.

Has anyone tried the Myers GJ pickup? http://www.myerspickups.com/gypsyjazzguitars.html

Jazzaferri

A good quality notch filter can often eliminate feedback issues without too much loss of info.

Buco

@klaatu here's a discussion about the Myershttp:
//www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/12854/myers-pickups/p1

lukehill

The Meyers sounds intriguing... apparently it's a 'feedback resistant' condenser mic. I'm sure it sound pretty decent, but wondering if the feedback profile would truly be much different from using something like a clip-on audio-technica.