Current set ups?

thejumpingflea

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Well I finally have been having success with my amplification set up and so I thought it may be fun to find out what other people use. If you are off to a gig, what do you use? What Uke, Pickup, Cables, Preamp, Microphone etc?


Right now I use my Moore Bettah, "Not So Basic" Tenor with a MiSi Acoustic Trio pickup. I currently have it strung with Hannabach "Flamenco" series High Tension Classical guitar strings. I also use a L.R. Baggs Para Acoustic DI Box with my Fender Acoustic Gold Cable.

I think having people post their set ups could really be a great resource to other players!
 
I use my Moore Bettah "The Palms" tenor with a MiSi Acoustic Trio pickup. I use Worth clear strings. I use the Fishman Spectrum Acoustic Aura DI Box with a Gold Monster Acoustic Cable. I also sometimes use my Ko'Olau CE-1 run through the same system.
 
I use 2 set ups, depending on the room:
Kamaka HF-3 SAV, Fishman Matrix Infinity w volume control, Analysis Gold cable, LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI:

Small room
Trace Elliott TA-50 with 1 JBL EON 10 speaker

Large room
Alesis 8 channel mixer with 2 JBL EON 10's and a Mackie SRM 150 monitor.

The Baggs DI is important. My guitar doesn't need it (Hirade TH5C), but the uke needs special tweaking.
 
Setup1 - Mahogany fluke tenor, shure microphone, into the PA system

Setup2 - Cordoba Koa Concert, custom undersaddle pickup, behringer 200watt acoustic amp
 
The only thing special I use these days is this fella:

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LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI. Even my ukes and pick-up are interchangeable, but I have no idea how I played without that DI. I flatten it out, let the sound guy screw up my sound anyway they want, and then fix it at my feet. It makes up for crappy pick-ups, and crappy sound guys in one little box.

Generally through my Mi-Si pick-up and it takes the "quack" out.
 
Setups as they go out - Tenors, Savarez Alliance(usually 540J, but sometimes 540R) or D'Addarion ProArte (usually high tension T2 Trebles and J4804 bass, sometimes J50 or J46), LRBaggs Element Active (Nylon - special order `ukulele spec) - used to be Fishman Matrix, but I found them to be too quacky (similar to MiSi)compared to the Baggs (but, the Fishman has really nice sensitivity). For my friends and my boys (when they perform or when I run sound)- Custom Canare GS-6 cables with G&H copper core connectors (used to be George L's, but they've been kinked too many times), no preamp. I just use the board to set the mix, which usually notches the bass, slightly notches the midrange, and maybe slightly boost the treble, depending on the equipment and the venue (and the instrument, of course). If I were performing with a lot of different sound guys, I'd probably pick up a Para Acoustic DI and tell the sound guy to flat everything.

-Aaron
 
I only really bring my Flea to open mics, because it's the only uke I have with a pickup at the moment. Sounds really harsh directly through the PA, so I run it through a Boss EQ pedal to cut down on the abrasiveness. At home I plug it into a 1966 Ampeg Gemini I. It rocks.

If I feel like plugging in another uke, I use a Dean Markley stick-on soundboard transducer and a little tape. It's a feedback machine but otherwise it sounds pretty good!

Someone gave me a whole bunch of Planet Waves cables a few years ago, so I use those for most purposes. The sound is good enough, they're durable, and it's not a tragic loss if I lose one or break one.

Experimenting with an M-Audio FastTrack interface and a Shure SM-58 for videos, because the built-in mic on my computer has issues and makes my playing sound even worse than it is. :B
 
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I'm not going to argue with someone who's having success with a cable that starts at $50.00 for a 12' length. . .

. . . but for that price you'd better never even think of stepping on one and there it is. . . who HASN'T stepped on instrument cables, run 'em over with racks on casters, gotten em' tangled in legs, instrument stands, hell, who hasn't pulled the head off a piggy back or done some other such mayhem. . . which is why I've always used the Whrilwind cables, reasonably priced and durable. If someone can actually hear a difference then I defer to your auditory macho, me, I can't hear any differences between a whirlwind cable and a premium cable. . . and I have it on pretty good authority that most people can't.
 
I don't often change my set ups but when I do, it's a noticeable difference.
Nowadays I use:

Custom Tenor Kanile'a
Active Fishman matrix
Analysis plus pro oval cable
Analysis plus yellow oval patch cables
JDI passive DI box
Boss RV-5 reverb pedal

So far, I love the sound coming out of this set up. The soundman doesn't have to touch anything. Keep it flat and it sounds super clean.
 
I've got the killer rig, now. I own a lot of pro gear, mostly for guitar. Here's my sick setup:

Ovation Applause UAE20 acoustic/electric with the factory installed passive piezo pickup

Aquila NylGut Concert strings

Live Wire cables - Lifetime warranty. Break them and take them back to Guitar Center and
they swap them for a new one free of charge.

LR Baggs Paracoustic DI. it takes the harshness and bark out of the pickup for a more
natural sound. I owe the use of theis to many recommendations by the late great
John Kavanagh of Canada.

Roland AC-33 Acoustic Chorus acoustical instrument amp. It has built in footswitchable
effects, along with 40 seconds of looping. It's 30 of the cleanest, loudest watts I've
heard (2 X 15 watts) and can run on 8 AA Alkaline or NiiMH batteries, in addition to
able to plug into A/C. I also plug my vocal microphone into the XLR vocal channel. The
sound engineer only needs one channel using the line out of the AC-33, or can mic it.
Since it has a switchable anti feedback circuit, I place it behind me as a monitor. It has
a kickstand to aim the sound up, too. Placing it on a chair raises it up enough to play
for an audience size of 50+.

Sennheizer Evolution E-838 cardioid microphone. This mic has a loose cardioid pattern
that allows me the ability to move a little left, right, up and down of the mic and still
maintain sound quality and off axis pickup. Ric
 
Kamaka tenor
K&K Big Spot pickup
Quantum Audio Designs 10' straight-angled
Fishman Pro-EQ Platinum
No-name 6" jumper cable
Boss ME-50
Fender Koil Cable or Soundflex 15'
Into my stereo system

Still looking for a good amp, but I don't really have a need for it right now.
 
I'm not going to argue with someone who's having success with a cable that starts at $50.00 for a 12' length. . .
. . . but for that price you'd better never even think of stepping on one and there it is. . . who HASN'T stepped on instrument cables, run 'em over with racks on casters, gotten em' tangled in legs, instrument stands, hell, who hasn't pulled the head off a piggy back or done some other such mayhem. . . which is why I've always used the Whrilwind cables, reasonably priced and durable. If someone can actually hear a difference then I defer to your auditory macho, me, I can't hear any differences between a whirlwind cable and a premium cable. . . and I have it on pretty good authority that most people can't.

I was of this mind as well until Aldrine gave me a cable demo last summer before a show. Not only could I tell the difference, but that difference was astonishing. It was like listening to a mix with and without EQ. Clarity, tone, volume, all substantially affected by the cable. I'm no longer a sceptic about quality cables. They can in fact make a huge difference. Seriously, they work (you'll have to ask him about brand - I forget what he uses)

That said, I still buy cheap cables for two reasons.
1) All the stuff you mention above about abuse. Life is to short for me to sweat my cable's well being along with everything else that goes on while playing out
2) The rest of the cables (stage snake, PA rig, etc...) I have no control over. There is a LOT of attenuation and resistance down the line, and my 12' will make little difference over the whole venue's system

So if I control the whole output to my own amp/PA then nice cables are very important... but for most gigs, not really worth the extra worry.
 
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