ukulele amps ?

iamesperambient

iamesperambient

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has anyone tried any of the specially made for electric uke amps such as the suit case one by Luna ?
 
I have one, works great, Amazon , got it shipped for $92. I also have a Roland Micro Cube that is great also. Use both. Both, AC & DC
 
perep said:
I have one, works great, Amazon , got it shipped for $92. I also have a Roland Micro Cube that is great also. Use both. Both, AC & DC
Click to expand...

nice. i saw some cheaper ones on amazon too which i may consider being on a tight budget.
I actually sold my electric guitar to get more ukes hahaha. so i will be getting one of those
epiphone les paul bundle packs that comes with a little amp too which i'm sure will work
fine with the electric uke until i get a proper 'uke amp'. I do like putting some distortion
on my electric uke and effects its loads of fun!
 
Check out Peavey E208. Two inputs, 2 8" speaker acoustic amp for $189. Lots of favorites here for 2 to 3 times the price. If you don't need battery power, beat this one for the price.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTVkpdD1kEA
 
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Why is it that these small amps don't have an XLR socket for microphone? All at least half way decent mics and even many cheap ones are fitted with an XLR plug, so are clearly meant to be used with a balanced connection.

It puts me off considering them, even those that come highly recommended.
 
Tootler said:
Why is it that these small amps don't have an XLR socket for microphone? All at least half way decent mics and even many cheap ones are fitted with an XLR plug, so are clearly meant to be used with a balanced connection.

It puts me off considering them, even those that come highly recommended.
Click to expand...

Hi Geoff -

Faced with a similar problem recently, I picked up an XLR-1/4 converter that also change the impedance from low to high. Seemed to do the trick, and less than $15.
 
greenie44 said:
Hi Geoff -

Faced with a similar problem recently, I picked up an XLR-1/4 converter that also change the impedance from low to high. Seemed to do the trick, and less than $15.
Click to expand...

I have one somewhere, though I'm not sure if it also changes the impedance. But surely a socket marked "Mic" should be low impedance?

However, I really don't understand it. If the include a socket marked "Mic" it should be of an impedance suitable for a microphone and also have an XLR socket either as well as the 6mm one or as an XLR/6mm Jack combi socket. Surely the cost of including this can only be pence.
 
1/4" microphone inputs are high impedance and unbalanced. XLR micropphone inputs are low impedance and balanced. When using my Vox Mini3 which has both a 1/4" instrument input and a 1/4" microphone input, I either use a high impedance headset microphone with an attached cable and a 1/4" plug:

http://www.frys.com/product/6460952?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

or an impedance matching adaptor and one of my XLR microphones:

http://m.guitarcenter.com/Whirlwind-Little-IMP-Lo-to-Hi-Impedance-Matcher-107225823-i1134878.gc

I also have some Karaoke microphones from a home system that are high impedance and have cables that are terminated with 1/4" plugs. Ric
 
I have the cute, little Kala uke amp (even got it in pink), and it's nice. At that price point, it's nothing special.

There are a couple of good amps in the lower price range that work well (and I've heard good things about the Rocktron Bass amps being used for uke with great success) that aren't marketed specifically toward ukes. It comes down to frequency range, and finding an amp that can replicate that well, no matter what the marketing says.
 
PhilUSAFRet said:
That's a neat little sucker, even if you already have another acoustic amp. Wonder what kind of harp amp it would make. Here's a demo that I like better than the factory one. Wasn't familiar with this, thanks for sharing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XW3SmbyuP0
Click to expand...

I think the link from Phil is for the Mobile Cube, not the Mobile Cube AC - "AC" for "Acoustic [Chorus]." I tried each one, and thought that my uke sounded better through the AC (so I assume the other one is more for solid-body electrics).
 
ricdoug said:
In the $100 buck price range I have not found a better choice than the:

http://m.guitarcenter.com/Item/Default.aspx?itemno=1934071&urx=1

2 1/4" and 2 XLR inputs that can all be used at the same time

1 1/8" input for MP3 players and other sources

50 watts output power

2 woofers and 1 tweeter

Stand mountable
Click to expand...

Certainly caught my interest since I'm considering a Roland AC-33 right now. Sounds almost too good to be true. Huge difference in price.

If anyone is interested in the Roland Micro Cube, There are many on ebay. I already have one, but looks like you can pick up one in good shape for $50.
 
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Aloha e Shastastan. I own a lot of sound equipment. I'm a live sound engineer, as well as a performing musician. While I can supply stadiums with all the amplification, channels and speakers they need, I also own 8 of these Kustom PA50's. I leave two set's of two of them at two clubs I perform at frequently. One is currently loaned out to a friend and I have three available for other uses. Two are in the car and one is in the house. The Powerlink feature allows you to connect as many together as you desire. Using the Powerlink:

2 PA50's = 4 channels and 100 watts

3 PA50's = 6 channels and 150 watts

4 PA50's = 8 channels and 200 watts

5 PA50's = 10 channels and 250 watts

6 PA50's = 12 channels and 300 watts

7 PA50's = 14 channels and 350 watts

8 PA50's = 16 channels and 400 watts...

Shastastan, buy a Kustom PA50 now. Buy a Roland AC-33 later. The Kustom PA-50 will meet all your current plug in needs now, while the Roland AC-33 will meet all your unplugged needs later. Ric
 
ricdoug said:
In the $100 buck price range I have not found a better choice than the:

http://m.guitarcenter.com/Item/Default.aspx?itemno=1934071&urx=1

2 1/4" and 2 XLR inputs that can all be used at the same time

1 1/8" input for MP3 players and other sources

50 watts output power

2 woofers and 1 tweeter

Stand mountable
Click to expand...

The main differences between the Kustom Personal PA and a full-featured acoustic amp such as the AC-33 or AC-60 are that the Kustom does not have any effects (unless a room is really "live", I like a little reverb on my vocals) and does not have any anti-feedback capabilities (which sometimes come in handy). That makes the PA-50 a less-than-all-in-one solution. Otherwise, I like the concept of daisy-chaining them together as needed.

- FiL
 
@FIL

My needs are small. We play in churches and retirement homes' dining rooms. Actually, the roland micro cube works okay for all except churches. We use our Roland CM-30 for that. We only need 2 inputs, 1 for a mic and one for an mp3 player (Tascam DR-05 or ASUS Eee netbook). It might be nice to have another mic input if we are using one for my wife's flute, but we've managed without it so far.

Here's why I keep thinking about the AC-33:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq30Y1VgD4c
 
FiL said:
The main differences between the Kustom Personal PA and a full-featured acoustic amp such as the AC-33 or AC-60 are that the Kustom does not have any effects (unless a room is really "live", I like a little reverb on my vocals) and does not have any anti-feedback capabilities (which sometimes come in handy). That makes the PA-50 a less-than-all-in-one solution. Otherwise, I like the concept of daisy-chaining them together as needed.

- FiL
Click to expand...

Very true, FiL. Another feature the PA50 has is phantom power on channel's 1 and two for condenser microphones. The PA50's are very suited for me, as I prefer to run my vocals dry. Most rooms I perform in have plenty of natural reverb and adding any effects to the vocals muddies up the sound. The PA50 is the only PA system you can buy for under $100 bucks that I consider professional quality. The tiny profile of the PA50's lets you set them up in places where other PA systems simply would not fit.

The AC-33, while considerably more in price, adds versatility and features that justify stepping up in price. I've used mine in some pretty large venues with crowds around 50 people.

For larger venues on battery power I own two Roland BA-330's and a Carvin S400D with the 2 batteries and a Carvin 810 extension speaker. Like you stated, FiL, there is no one trick pony in audio sound equipment.

For more information on battery powered amplification:

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?5333-Battery-powered-ukulele-amplification
 
Stan, you might want to consider a Roland BA-330 with two microphone and two stereo instrument inputs. Two of these can be connected together to give you 4 microphone and 4 instrument inputs all with their own controls. Here's some photos of mine:

This one I brought into a club when their PA was acting up. Bill plays beautiful slack key guitar, by the way:

kaisens4.JPG


Two of mine were used for vocals while three ukuleles were plugged into three Roland Microcube Street's, Ibanez AEB10E Acoustic-Electric Bass Guitar plugged in to a Roland Microcube Bass RX and a Roland AC-33 for a friend's Taylor acoustic-electric guitar and 4 Sennheizer e838 microphones

JonathanTarr201201.jpg


JonathanTarr201202.jpg


JonathanTarr201203.jpg
 
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