Lowdown on electric ukes.

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Could I get a down and dirty lowdown on electric ukes, without having to search threads and trying to put it all together? Besides, when I search I get into responses that for me just seem to be so obsessed with the insignificant that I can not even wrap my brain around them, so I want to avoid that if at all possible. I have very simple questions. I'm trying to keep my interest to acoustic ukes only. Can you play an acoustic uke both with amplification and without amplifying it? I'm wondering about active vs passive. I've been told that I want active, but not why I want active. What does passive do for you? I'm wondering about amps? I've heard that there are acoustic amps and non-acoustic amps. Is there really specific acoustic and non acoustic amps, because when I bring this up, some people act like they have no idea what I'm talking about? What happens if I just buy an amp at the pawn shop? They seem to have a better selection than anyone in town and most of them look like they didn't get a lot of use from the previous owner.

I don't want to get fancy, I just want to make sure that I don't put together something that is totally incompatible. So any help would be appreciated. Pleas keep it simple, I'm not a deep thinker. Thanks.
 
Could I get a down and dirty lowdown on electric ukes, without having to search threads and trying to put it all together? Besides, when I search I get into responses that for me just seem to be so obsessed with the insignificant that I can not even wrap my brain around them, so I want to avoid that if at all possible. I have very simple questions. I'm trying to keep my interest to acoustic ukes only. Can you play an acoustic uke both with amplification and without amplifying it? I'm wondering about active vs passive. I've been told that I want active, but not why I want active. What does passive do for you? I'm wondering about amps? I've heard that there are acoustic amps and non-acoustic amps. Is there really specific acoustic and non acoustic amps, because when I bring this up, some people act like they have no idea what I'm talking about? What happens if I just buy an amp at the pawn shop? They seem to have a better selection than anyone in town and most of them look like they didn't get a lot of use from the previous owner.

I don't want to get fancy, I just want to make sure that I don't put together something that is totally incompatible. So any help would be appreciated. Pleas keep it simple, I'm not a deep thinker. Thanks.

i only play steel string solid body electrics but i have owned acoustic-electrics which is what you are looking for.
Acoustic-electrics use a piezo pick up under saddle which picks up the nylon strings its almost like having a mic
under the saddle and amplifies the acoustic sound. If that is what you are looking for there is a number of acoustic-electric
ukuleles out there from high to low end.

But when we refer to 'electric ukulele' it usually means a solid body
which is designed only for being plugged in and very quiet acoustically (which can be
great for late night practice). Some solid bodies still have nylon strings and a piezo
pick up and sound more like standard electric acoustics but will not feed back
when you add distortion or effects to them via amp. Steel string solid bodies also exist
RISA, Mann, Bluestar, and monkey wrench come to mind for solid body steel string ukes
which will give you the full on rock guitar sound (i prefer these and play a solid body steel
string baritone electric uke made by Blue star guitar company).


If you are playing an acoustic-electric an acoustic amp would be better in fact kala actually makes a specific amp for this, and i think a few others possibly. A good value acoustic-electric that comes to mind is the epiphone less paul concert,. Active pick up will have a sound board on the instrument controlled by a battery but will allow you to adjust the sound via the instrument (something i never really needed i always adjusted the tone of my amp and used pedals etc for that).
 
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I always post this link, get ready to be impressed. The good stuff is around 5:30 mins in. DROOL.

 
Can "get down" with nearly anything from "diddley bows" (one string) to ??????? When I first started getting serious about ukes, this video got my attention. It's Manitoba Hal's Sixteen Tons Bluezified for the Ukulele with an acoustic electric uke. He did his own backing tracks too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpG0pEagry8
 
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Yes, you can buy an amp at a pawn shop. There's supposed to be some difference between an "acoustic" and "electric" amp, but I don't find that, unless it has to do with effects that the amp does or doesn't have. Yes, you can have an acoustic uke with a preamp/pickup, it has no effect on playing without an amp (most every manufacturer offers them). I have electronics in all my acoustic ukes, they're all active with preamp/tuner. The one to which I had a passive pickup added, I didn't like at all because it had very limited volume, it needed an outboard preamp. I use a very small 5 watt amp and the passive had low volume, all my actives sound good on it. I also have a Crate Limo 50 watt battery amp that is great with all my ukes.
 
Specialist Acoustic amps are designed specifically to get the most accurate acoustic sound possible. Standard guitar amps are usually far more tolerant about inherent hiss or other noise than an acoustic amp, simply because most rock guitarists are going to introduce a level of dirt to the sound anyway.

I have tried a couple of acoustic amps and they did make a difference compared with plugging into my Dean Markley Guitar Amp. Acoustic amps usually come with a couple of effects designed to add a little something to an acoustic (as opposed to an electric) sound - Chorus and Reverb being the most popular.

I am saving my pennies to get a decent acoustic amp, but meanwhile Zoom's "Acoustic Pedal" works really well if patched directly into the PA. The link is to the new model, I have a previous model.
 
I am a fan of using a passive pickup and an outboard preamp, for the following reasons:

1. Onboard preamps usually require a hole in the side of your instrument
2. Many instruments use inexpensive onboard preamps that don't deliver the best sound
3. Using an outboard preamp usually gives you many more options to alter your sound
4. A single outboard preamp can be used with any number of different instruments
5. You can upgrade your outboard preamp at any time and suddenly all of your instruments are upgraded, too
 
Yes, you can buy an amp at a pawn shop. There's supposed to be some difference between an "acoustic" and "electric" amp, but I don't find that, unless it has to do with effects that the amp does or doesn't have. Yes, you can have an acoustic uke with a preamp/pickup, it has no effect on playing without an amp (most every manufacturer offers them). I have electronics in all my acoustic ukes, they're all active with preamp/tuner. The one to which I had a passive pickup added, I didn't like at all because it had very limited volume, it needed an outboard preamp. I use a very small 5 watt amp and the passive had low volume, all my actives sound good on it. I also have a Crate Limo 50 watt battery amp that is great with all my ukes.
Thanks, Pretty much to the point.
 
I am a fan of using a passive pickup and an outboard preamp, for the following reasons:

1. Onboard preamps usually require a hole in the side of your instrument
2. Many instruments use inexpensive onboard preamps that don't deliver the best sound
3. Using an outboard preamp usually gives you many more options to alter your sound
4. A single outboard preamp can be used with any number of different instruments
5. You can upgrade your outboard preamp at any time and suddenly all of your instruments are upgraded, too
Thanks, good information to know. I will keep those points in mind.
 
Specialist Acoustic amps are designed specifically to get the most accurate acoustic sound possible. Standard guitar amps are usually far more tolerant about inherent hiss or other noise than an acoustic amp, simply because most rock guitarists are going to introduce a level of dirt to the sound anyway.

I have tried a couple of acoustic amps and they did make a difference compared with plugging into my Dean Markley Guitar Amp. Acoustic amps usually come with a couple of effects designed to add a little something to an acoustic (as opposed to an electric) sound - Chorus and Reverb being the most popular.

I am saving my pennies to get a decent acoustic amp, but meanwhile Zoom's "Acoustic Pedal" works really well if patched directly into the PA. The link is to the new model, I have a previous model.
So are you saying that you have a Dean Markley amp and you are getting along fine with it? Because I've actually looked at one of those. I realize that you want something better, but I'm just asking.
 
There's quite a difference between an electric guitar amplifier and an acoustic guitar amplifier. An electric guitar amplifier has a single or multiple large speakers, usually 8" or larger. There is no tweeter for the high range. This is done for a pronounced midrange response.


Acoustic electric instruments sound more natural through an acoustic amplifier or a P.A. system, both of which typically have a woofer and a tweeter either separate or coaxial. Sometimes it will be a woofer with an attached whizzer cone. This is done to be more like your home hifi, wide range and flat response without sound coloration. There are good choices in the lower price range:

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?97960-Amp-PA-advice

If the 'ukulele you decide on does not have active electronics, an active D.I. box will match the high impedence of a passive piezoelectric pickup to the low impedence input of guitar amplifiers and acoustic guitar amplifiers along with P.A. systems. This prevents a midrange honk, squawk or park associated with passive piezoelectric pickups:

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?74603-Behringer-ADI21-active-DI-preamp
 
I am a fan of using a passive pickup and an outboard preamp, for the following reasons:

1. Onboard preamps usually require a hole in the side of your instrument
2. Many instruments use inexpensive onboard preamps that don't deliver the best sound
3. Using an outboard preamp usually gives you many more options to alter your sound
4. A single outboard preamp can be used with any number of different instruments
5. You can upgrade your outboard preamp at any time and suddenly all of your instruments are upgraded, too

I did a project last year with an electric dulcimer and ended up going for a passive pickup with a cheap Behringer preamp (this one: http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/ADI21.aspx ) which really replicated the acoustic sound well... I tried the active pickup and hated it! With that Behringer we used pretty much any amp we could lay our hands on (I think a borrowed Roland cube in the end)
 
Specialist Acoustic amps are designed specifically to get the most accurate acoustic sound possible. Standard guitar amps are usually far more tolerant about inherent hiss or other noise than an acoustic amp, simply because most rock guitarists are going to introduce a level of dirt to the sound anyway.

I have tried a couple of acoustic amps and they did make a difference compared with plugging into my Dean Markley Guitar Amp. Acoustic amps usually come with a couple of effects designed to add a little something to an acoustic (as opposed to an electric) sound - Chorus and Reverb being the most popular.

This pretty much captures it. The point is that guitar amps colour the sound and guitarists exploit this and add effects units to create the sound they want. An acoustic amp is designed to reproduce the sound accurately.

However the output of the amp is also affected by what you use to get the sound into the amp. If you want accurate reproduction of the sound of your uke, the best thing is to use a microphone. A half way decent mic will pretty accurately pickup the sound of your uke so the combination of reasonable quality mic plus acoustic amp will give at least a reasonably accurate reproduction of the sound of your instrument. In general the recommendation for acoustic instruments is a condenser mic as they have a better high frequency response so you capture the higher harmonics better.

An under saddle pickup while having practical advantages is not responding to the sound projected from your uke but directly to the vibration of the strings transmitted through the saddle to the pickup. So what you hear from the speaker is different from what you hear from the instrument. Add to that, a piezo pickup does not have an even response across the audio spectrum. That said they are convenient so are widely used.

My own preference is not to fit pickups to my acoustic ukes but I have two Risa solid electric ukes and use them to provide a variety of sounds using effects units. They both have passive pickups and I agree with RichM, I think passive pickups are the better option for the reasons he gives. The effects units I use them with also act as preamps.
 
I have an acoustic amp for my acoustic ukes. A Behringer 15 watt, that has a nice clean sound. I think acoustic amps are balanced for acoustic instrument sound and they are kind of like a keyboard amp in sound quality or something like that. I forgot all the details. I have a 8 dollar clip on pickup I got on Amazon that sounds amazingly good and then one of my ukes has a built in active pickup that I can just plug in. For me all this works great as I'm just playing for myself and friends. But this is all kid stuff for someone who's serious about playing live or recording. What I'm saying is you don't have to get real fancy to have fun but if you want more then you need to dig in and do your research. There's plenty here that could tell you way more than you want to know.lol
 
I have an acoustic amp for my acoustic ukes. A Behringer 15 watt, that has a nice clean sound. I think acoustic amps are balanced for acoustic instrument sound and they are kind of like a keyboard amp in sound quality or something like that. I forgot all the details. I have a 8 dollar clip on pickup I got on Amazon that sounds amazingly good and then one of my ukes has a built in active pickup that I can just plug in. For me all this works great as I'm just playing for myself and friends. But this is all kid stuff for someone who's serious about playing live or recording. What I'm saying is you don't have to get real fancy to have fun but if you want more then you need to dig in and do your research. There's plenty here that could tell you way more than you want to know.lol
Thank you. I will use this info. I'm really trying to keep it all simple, and all I want is something to mess around with. I'm not going out and performing, I'm just playing around.

One of the problems that I have with research, especially here in UU, is that some people are much more discerning in regards to sound than others. I was at a store the other day playing several different ukes, and the salesman there was commenting on how much better some sounded than others. I personally could not tell the difference. I'm guessing that amps are much the same. So I'm not looking for the perfect amp, I'm looking for an amp that doesn't cost a lot and is fun. On craigslist and in the pawn shops, there are a lot of used amps. They are selling for pennies on the dollar. I don't want to invest a lot of money into it, but I also don't want to throw my money away. So the whole reason for my post is to decide what I "need" to know before I grab one and haul it home. I appreciate all the reviews that people are sending me to, but when I decide to buy an amp, if that particular amp that was reviewed is not sitting on a shelf or listed in craigslist, or on clearance somewhere, it isn't going to be the amp I end up with.

Anyway, I'm getting some good info here in this thread that I can use. I think a few people can see where I'm coming from and are addressing my question. I'm getting some stuff that is going right over my head as well, but everyone is well meaning and I certainly appreciate it. So thanks all for the responses.
 
You can also install your own passive pickup on the cheap (I have a pictorial starting about half way down the page:

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?8560-Electrify-your-uke-for-under-10-bucks/page2

...and a really cheap amplifier:

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com...Cheap-6-buck-ukulele-amplifier&highlight=clip

...and do it all for under $20 bucks. This will amplify your 'ukulele, but will not have full fidelity. Ric
That is all very interesting. I run my entire sound system at home from an I pod, so maybe this would be a fun way to play with an electric uke. We will have to see.
 
I have had great success with the following Artec undersaddle ukulele pickup:
http://www.eyguitarmusic.com/Artec-Ukulele-Saddle-Piezo-Bridge-Pickup-PP-404U-NEW_p_181.html

I take it to my local luthier who installs it for me for a little fee.

I like it better than most factory-installed pickups.



Generally speaking, I think an instrument amplifier will always be a great investment.
Even a small 1W amp can be loads of fun in a room.



*In general*
Nylon-strung electric ukuleles sound best with an acoustic amp.
It brings out the clarity and balanced tone required for a piezo pickup.

Electric guitar amps are better reserved for a steel-string electric ukulele that has magnetic pickups.

Here's some of my gear.. although a lot of my stuff is packed away at the moment (moving house).




And I recently sold 2 of my Risa electric ukes... :(
 
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So just looking at an amp, how do you know if it is an acoustic amp or not? Does it state it somewhere on a placard, or do you have to go somewhere to find the specifications? Is there some feature that is common to acoustic amps that is obvious and would set them apart?
 
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It should be indicated somewhere on the amp that it is an acoustic amp.
Otherwise I suppose you can get the model no. of the amp and look for details of it online.

The manufacturers obviously want people to know what kind of amp it is.
At the very least, when you goto a music store, the amps will be clearly labelled.
 
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