Playing ukulele in a band. What setup to use???

bigploch

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Hey all! I've recently started playing ukulele in a band with a band with a bass, electric guitar, and a full drum kit. I'm currently playing my Gretsch A/E through a Zoom A2 acoustic multi effects pedal and then splitting through a direct box into the PA and also my practice amp.

I'm trying to decide what route to take to keep up with the volume of the band and maintain the leads I'm playing on the ukulele.

I have a diago pedal case but I'm not sure what if anything to put in there togowith what I have. Do I abandon the PA and go for a bigger amp? Any pedals you recommend? Anyone else in a similar situation and have some ideas????

Any feedback is appreciated
 
The best answer is have everyone going into a mixer before the PA. it's how we do it and mix guitar, bass and ukes no problem. It's the only sensible way to get levels right for a full band.
 
If you have good monitors, I'd just skip the amp and run it straight from your Zoom (or whatever you end up using) into the mixing board via a DI.
 
First, are you trying to figure out a system for practicing or for performing? Questions if you are performing: 1) are the drums mic'ed? 2) are you guys in charge of your own sound?

My two cents as it applies to practicing without knowing your whole story:

Mixing down is almost always better than mixing up. In your case, the only loud instrument that can't turn down is the drum kit. IMO, there is no reason (other than to ruin your ears) for anybody in the band to practice any louder than the drum kit unless you guys are doing a full-on rehearsal where the kit is mic'ed and everybody is at stage volume. If the drummer is having to play louder to keep up with guitar, bass, and 'ukulele then it is time to do some soul searching, approach the guys, and get the volume back down to level with the drums. Not saying that you guys are like this, but it's something to be aware of. That said, pretty much every PA I've ever played through has enough balls to keep up with a drum kit if you kind of know what you are doing. Unless yours is a piece, you probably just need to get the band mixed better to let the 'ukulele stand out.

EQ: Each instrument has its place in the frequency spectrum. Each needs a certain amount of sonic real estate to get its signature sound. Bass is on the low end, 'ukulele will be on the high end, electric guitar will be somewhere in the middle, and drums pretty much fill the whole range, but have such a focused sound that it's less of a problem. If each guy (drums exempt) is EQing his instrument to sound great as it would by itself (fat, powerful, big, etc...), it is probably using the whole frequency range and the big picture band sound is probably going to be muddy. As an 'ukulele player your main competition for sonic space is the guitar - especially electrics which have such a powerful sound it can really drown you (or anybody else) out. But if you can get each guy to EQ a bit more selectively, it will most likely make for a cleaner sound and let each instrument stand out easier. I made a little illustration of this idea. It's very exaggerated and the frequencies probably aren't in the right spot so don't use it as an exact reference, but it should give you a visual of the "real estate" concept. Remember, mix down. It goes for EQ as well most of the time (notice where "0db" is on my example).

EQbassguitaruke.jpg

If you try tweaking things and none of it works, your best bet might be a push in the high-mids at around 800hz-1.6khz. I would think you could do that with your Zoom. It will make the 'ukulele pop out more without raising the entire volume.

Take this all with a grain of salt since it's a very broad, blatant overview and this stuff takes time to learn. But if you didn't know some of this before, now you do.

Bring tha jams!
 
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