Suggestions for an acoustic amp for a twin output Anuenue Moonbird

hollisdwyer

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A friend asked me for a recommendation for an amp for her Anuenue Moonbird that has two phono jack outputs. One for the under saddle piezo and one for the internal mic.
I really don’t know what to suggest. Is a small mixer into a single channel amp the way to go or should she consider an amp that has two instrument inputs?
Does anyone have one of these Moonbird dual output Ukes being used with an amp? All advice is greatly appreciated.
 
If she wants to keep it simple, a dedicated acoustic instrument amp will sound best as they tend to have one channel optimized for piezo and the other for a mic. The mostly commonly available are the Roland Acoustic Chorus line and Fishman Loudbox. I'd go with one of the Roland Acoustic Chorus like the AC-60—I like the tone more than the Fishman. Having owned several dual piezo/mic pickups I can say the mic part always drove me nuts in live venues: took a lot of tweaking with EQ and notches to sound right and nix feedback. Now I just use the piezo as it's plug 'n play and reduces cussing in public places.
 
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If she wants to keep it simple, a dedicated acoustic instrument amp will sound best as they tend to have one channel optimized for piezo and the other for a mic. The mostly commonly available are the Roland Acoustic Chorus line and Fishman Loudbox. I'd go with one of the Roland Acoustic Chorus like the AC-60—I like the tone more than the Fishman. Having owned several dual piezo/mic pickups I can say the mic part always drove me nuts in live venues: took a lot of tweaking with EQ and notches to sound right and nix feedback. Now I just use the piezo as it's plug 'n play and reduces cussing in public places.

Thanks, that’s a very good approach. I was incorrectly thinking that she would need an amp that had two instrument inputs but any 2 channel amp (instrument and mic) will be fine. I have a Roland AC33 which I like ( I need the battery powered function but my friend doesn’t) and like that sound. I would also suggest she add the ZT Lunchbox Acoustic (200 Watts) to her shortlist which I just acquired and like very much.
 
I'm a little confused. I thought the ANueNue Air pickup blended the mic and the piezo internally per the way the player sets the two control 'wheels.' Then outputs a single unified signal using a normal 1/4" jack into the instrument input on the amp. Am I missing something?
 
I'm a little confused. I thought the ANueNue Air pickup blended the mic and the piezo internally per the way the player sets the two control 'wheels.' Then outputs a single unified signal using a normal 1/4" jack into the instrument input on the amp. Am I missing something?

Yes, I thought the same thing. I had an Anuenue Air pickup installed into my Hoffmann concert by HMS and that has only one 1/4 inch pickup jack. But my friends Moonbird was purchased in the UK and is the “Electro” model that has 2 x 1/4inch pickup jacks. One for the piezoelectric under saddle pickup and one for the mic. She tells me that a long double cable was supplied with the Uke. Hence my original enquiry re two channel amps.
 
What about the Fire Eye Red Eye Twin pre amp. It has 2 inputs with gain and treble for each. It has two outputs BUT it also has a balanced XLR out so you could have just that one cable going out of it and into the mic channel of an acoustic amp.
 
The first question you need to ask of your friend is, what do you need an amplifier for?

You don't really need amps for practice. If they are playing at open mics then they will use what's available.
Are they busking?
Playing paid gigs?

Dual outputs are for experienced players who already know exactly what they want them for and what they are going to do with them.
 
What about the Fire Eye Red Eye Twin pre amp. It has 2 inputs with gain and treble for each. It has two outputs BUT it also has a balanced XLR out so you could have just that one cable going out of it and into the mic channel of an acoustic amp.

Definitely a possible strategy and one that she suggested herself. I’ll let her know about that particular unit. Thanks Dave!
 
The first question you need to ask of your friend is, what do you need an amplifier for?

You don't really need amps for practice. If they are playing at open mics then they will use what's available.
Are they busking?
Playing paid gigs?

Dual outputs are for experienced players who already know exactly what they want them for and what they are going to do with them.

All good questions and points to consider. I didn’t mention that she is a full time music teacher in a High School and a long time player in the same weekly busking group that I am in and who plays at a local Farmers Market to collect funds for the local Children’s Hospital (I was just told that we collected over $5000 this past year).
Our group has 3-5 amplified players every week. She is certainly good enough to join this section of the group but I think that she has some other reasons in mind.
I’ll be continuing my discussion with her next weekend and will ask some relevant questions so any recommendations would be matched to her desired outcomes.
 
The first thing that comes to mind is that stereo outputs are on the instrument for stereo amplifiers. That's what they are intended for. If the intention was to use a single amplifier then they would have used a blend control and a single output. You could go into a single dual channel amplifier as well, yet I guess the point I'm getting at is that stereo/dual outputs were never employed with the intention of utilising a "cheap" amplifier solution. Its about "going big or going home".
 
The first thing that comes to mind is that stereo outputs are on the instrument for stereo amplifiers. That's what they are intended for. If the intention was to use a single amplifier then they would have used a blend control and a single output. You could go into a single dual channel amplifier as well, yet I guess the point I'm getting at is that stereo/dual outputs were never employed with the intention of utilising a "cheap" amplifier solution. Its about "going big or going home".

It’s interesting to note that in both versions of this pickup ( one with two separate output jacks and one with just a single (which is the one I had installed in my Hoffmann by HMS)), have two volume wheels mounted in the sound hole. One controls volume for the under saddle and one for the mic, so I don’t think it was ever designed as a stereo output.
If anyone knows why Anuenue would release two very different versions of a pickup design that do the same thing, I’d like to know. Or am I missing something here? What is the benefit of the dual outputs/dual cable configuration?
 
It’s interesting to note that in both versions of this pickup ( one with two separate output jacks and one with just a single (which is the one I had installed in my Hoffmann by HMS)), have two volume wheels mounted in the sound hole. One controls volume for the under saddle and one for the mic, so I don’t think it was ever designed as a stereo output.
If anyone knows why Anuenue would release two very different versions of a pickup design that do the same thing, I’d like to know. Or am I missing something here? What is the benefit of the dual outputs/dual cable configuration?

Its for running stereo amplifiers. Some people are into that and it was big in electric guitars in the 80's that I can remember.

Either for a stereo "soundscape" or for running different sound effects on different amps.
It's most definitely not the cheap way of doing things.
 
A mono mix with mostly piezo with a wee bit of internal mic blended is a lot more practical for live playing. My Prefix PRO Blend pickup system has a stereo jack and I use a Y-stereo cable with two mono jacks to split the pickup output. I've played a few wedding ceremonies with two Trace Acoustic Cubes and, while it was nicer than just using the piezo, the setup was a grand pain in the arse. Plus, you need two amps, two amp stands, special cables and at least 30 minutes for setup (move amps around for optimal position, EQ and notch the internal condenser so it doesn't feedback, etc).
 
In guitar circles anyway, there is a view that internal( EDIT (microphones)) sound much better except for the low frequencies that are very boomy with the internal mic and susceptible to feedback. The piezo element is still useful for the low end.

So you split the microphone from the pickup and send them to different channels in say a Fender Acoustic 100

fender-acoustic-100-2398585.jpg


what you can do is send the piezo signal to one channel and set it up so that its only amplifying the bass signals by cutting the mids and highs and then sending the internal mic to the other channel and cutting the lows out. Then blend to taste.

There are various things you can do yet the take home message is that dual/stereo outputs are for experts who know what and why they are using them. It was never meant to be the cost effective option.
 
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A mono mix with mostly piezo with a wee bit of internal mic blended is a lot more practical for live playing. My Prefix PRO Blend pickup system has a stereo jack and I use a Y-stereo cable with two mono jacks to split the pickup output. I've played a few wedding ceremonies with two Trace Acoustic Cubes and, while it was nicer than just using the piezo, the setup was a grand pain in the arse. Plus, you need two amps, two amp stands, special cables and at least 30 minutes for setup (move amps around for optimal position, EQ and notch the internal condenser so it doesn't feedback, etc).

A cost/benefit analysis makes that proposition very unattractive in my mind. I think that my friend will opt to just combine the separate signals as easily as possible.
 
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