Help! Need to amplify but HATE the sound!

[phil_doleman]

I plugged in for ages because... well, it was just what you were supposed to do! I was never happy with the sound though. It was a trade off- volume for tone. I was fortunate enough to be playing at a festival with Del Rey, and listened to her play though a single large diaphragm condenser mic. In fact, she had guitarist Adam Franklin with her as well, so a uke, a guitar and two vocals, all picked up by the one mic. It changed my life, and I vowed never to plug in again. It sounded amazing- natural, dynamic, MUSICAL. On top of that, once that mic was set up (during the soundcheck), there was no messing around with cables and boxes when they came on stage- they just walked on and played.

Since then I have used this type of mic (current model I use is an Audio Technica AT2020), and yes you do come up against resistance from soundmen who have got used to people just plugging in, and yes you will have to deal with feedback, but it's an art, and you get better at making it work. I've used this setup on large festival stages, theatres, clubs and yes, even pubs. You have quite a lot of freedom of movement, as the mic picks up sounds at quite a distance.

I have also used a regular vocal mic (Shure SM58) for my voice and a pencil condenser (something like an SM81) for the uke successfully, though you do have to stand still a bit more.

[Hms]

Following on from Phil Doleman's post, Del has a page about her single microphone use here:
http://www.onemicstand.com/
Also, when Del and Adam performed around the single mic, I asked Del what the mic was as it sounded so great, it was an MCA SP1, a $45 mic!
h

[lehyslop]

Thanks for all that folks... will try again with the mic & see how it goes...

I couldn't put too many links in a single message, so here are the pics via URL:

Headway settings:
http://sederunt.com/transfer/songs/headway_settings.jpg

The cable is probably irrelevant but here it is:
http://sederunt.com/transfer/songs/custom_cable.jpg

Wish I could afford a different size uke but will need to wait some time before that happens... I do like the sweetness (esp as counterpoint to my deep-ish rasp) but really it is pretty quiet... just played a gig with all-uke group, the band leader used a type of plectrum so may give that a shot as well to get more sound out.

I think for the live performance uke went through some sort of DI box... what exactly does that do? It seemed to really improve the sound without any settings required.

Cheers,
Laura

[Hms]

This may help with the DI box query.
http://www.dawsons.co.uk/blog/why-use-a-di-box
h

[strumsilly]

No one has mentioned this, but the dryness of your fingers and the type of strings can greatly contribute to string noise, especially when fingerpicked.The more texture the strings have the more noise. I have 2 ukes with pickups. The LR baggs in my Koaloha seems to pick up more string noise and percussive body thump, but I usually play that with a group of mixed instruments and the other musicians like the percussive sound, My Loprinzi tenor has a MISI, and that is less noisy and has a more natural sound [to me anyway] I think both systems use th same undersaddle strip with different preamps. I could be wrong. Both are currently strung low G . If my fingers are dry I just rub them on my greasy nose, I know that sounds gross, but it seems to help. I saw Jake play, and he is plugged in and his Kamaka sounded like pure magic, but he is Jake. anyone know what pick up he has installed?

[pritch]

but one concept that hasn't been mentioned is the "feedback buster", basically a perforated disc that fits into the soundhole of an acoustic guitar and reduces the amount of sound that can actually feed back into an instrument.

The bass player in the group I play with forgot his disc last night and had a feed back problem when setting up. He had to adjust his settings down.

His feedback buster is a plastic lid off a jar that just happens to be a perfect fit in the sound hole of his u bass. (His particular u bass started life as a classical guitar.)

[macfish]

I've used this mic for my cajon, but not yet for a uke. (Not good enough to perform yet) Just curious if anyone has tried it for uke only, not combo with vocals.

[swinkie]

Hiya
I'm an advanced player, but not used to amping up.
I need help getting a Classical guitar sound from my Tenor Ukes.
I've got a Spruce/rosewood and a Koa, both with Five.0 pick ups installed.
I'm using good quality leads, strings, and a Roland ac60 acoustic amp.
I have a Venue Di, Hall of fame reverb, studio pre amp, Boss eq, Pog octaver, a good delay pedal , Nocturna shimmer pedal, multi effects pedal, boss looper and 2 Korg Pandoras plus 2 good condenser mics.
Any advice on settings, mic placement, do I need mics? Strings...anything please..I'm getting a quacky, thin sound at the moment...venue settings at 12 o'clock...��

[swinkie]

Hiya
I'm an advanced player, but not used to amping up.
I need help getting a Classical guitar sound from my Tenor Ukes.
I've got a Spruce/rosewood and a Koa, both with Five.0 pick ups installed.
I'm using good quality leads, strings, and a Roland ac60 acoustic amp.

I have a Venue Di, Hall of fame reverb, studio pre amp, Boss eq, Pog octaver, a good delay pedal , Nocturna shimmer pedal, multi effects pedal, boss looper and 2 Korg Pandoras plus 2 good condenser mics.

Any advice on settings, mic placement, do I need mics? Strings...anything please..I'm getting a quacky, thin sound at the moment...venue settings at 12 o'clock...😀

[Joe King]

...I need help getting a Classical guitar sound from my Tenor Ukes...

Kinda sounds like your intent here is to make an orange taste like a banana, which would likely require all kinds of confectionery magic techniques, be quite 'messy' yet still not meet the objective.

The laws of physics seem to be stacked against you, since the starting point of a classical guitar has vastly different acoustic resonance and tone when compared to the much smaller tenor uke, with almost 1/4 the sound box air volume and 1/4 the surface area of the sound board and further at best 1/3 the total string tension.

As my Old Uncle Olaf used to say: "You cannot get a silk purse from a sow's ear, no matter how much jelly and mustard you paint over it".

Good luck in your quest