Thanks for the link. Looks like the Risa could be serious loud fun.....playing with amps and peddles one could get just about any effect within range that one wanted. How do you think a Risa would sound with nylon strings?
I watched your reveiw of the Godin Multiuke some time ago and I ended up buying one at the beginning of the year. Played around with a couple of my son's electric guitar amps but decided to get a acoustic oriented amp in a Fishman Loudbox mini.
Kinda of an apples and oranges comparison but do you thing a Risa with Nylon strings and a Godin would sound more similar, amps and the like worked out to make things a bit equal? Are the two pick up systems so different that this would be a major factor? I would think again with amps and effects one bring them closer together in performance if one wanted to.
Just thinking out loud. The Risa is really nice just the way it is
As it happens I played the Risa ST version on Saturday and was well impressed by both the build quality and the range of sounds available, the ST is a fair bit cheaper.
These are excellent instruments. I owned one for a couple of years but really wasn't into the steel string sound enough back then to keep it. I sold to a guitarist who actually owns the Les Paul six string version as he is seriuosly impressed with it and still plays it and loves it.
You couldn't unless you fitted a piezo pickup. This is a steel string with magnetic pickups - they only work on metal strings. Nylon strings wouldn't make any sound at all.
So I'm aware that the piezo and magnetic pickups both work in different ways to turn a string vibration into an electric analog signal.
My question is does that analog signal, regardless of the string material and associated pickup type used, sound the same post effects? Can a nylon string output be put through the same effects to obtain the same sounds as a steel string instrument?
My initial response would be no, but I'm not that experienced... yet.
I started thinking about this when I read about Brian May's home-built electric guitar Red Special and the latter reproductions. I was wondering if the use of modern effects and processors can duplicate the vintage tones that were created with physical and electrical manipulations of the electric signal.
Bazmaz thanks for the reply. Learn something new everyday. Have some knowledge of magnetic pick ups and the light bulb went off, oh yea--nylon--no metal ha....I'm new to all this plug in stuff and the exact details, but learning...still not sure how a piezio works....I'll have to google that....ha...
jimrex62 with my experimentation with my nylon stringed Godin and Voxmini5 and Fender Mustang amplifiers there are quite the range of manipulations of the signal....with time, experience, equipment set up, I'm sure you can dial in the sound you want.
Just watching some of the video's on the net you'll see how people change the sound with various pedals, amp settings, and what not.....
String material (nylon, nickel, titanium, steel, monel, etc, etc) is a major part of the overall tone. Also, the way the string material interacts with the pickup windings is critical as well. Magnetic pickups cannot detect nylon, but even if it could, nylon would transfer a different fundamental than steel. Brian May sounds the way he does because he plucks thin metal strings with coins before that tone is amplified via a fairly high output magnetic pickup that is then given more gain by a treble booster before being finally amplified by a hard-driven Vox AC30. You will never get that type of tone from nylon, because the magnetic pickups are probably the most crucial component of his overall sound - outside of fingers and technique, of course.
jimrex62 with my experimentation with my nylon stringed Godin and Voxmini5 and Fender Mustang amplifiers there are quite the range of manipulations of the signal....with time, experience, equipment set up, I'm sure you can dial in the sound you want.
Just watching some of the video's on the net you'll see how people change the sound with various pedals, amp settings, and what not.....
So I'm aware that the piezo and magnetic pickups both work in different ways to turn a string vibration into an electric analog signal.
My question is does that analog signal, regardless of the string material and associated pickup type used, sound the same post effects? Can a nylon string output be put through the same effects to obtain the same sounds as a steel string instrument?
My initial response would be no, but I'm not that experienced... yet.
I started thinking about this when I read about Brian May's home-built electric guitar Red Special and the latter reproductions. I was wondering if the use of modern effects and processors can duplicate the vintage tones that were created with physical and electrical manipulations of the electric signal.
They work differently and sound very different. The main difference is that a mag coil pickup and steel strings will sustain MUCH longer than a piezo ever can - think of those long sustain guitar solos from rock guitarists.
Both will take effects, but some effects kind of run out of steam on piezo pickups (things like compressor sustainers work badly for example), because a lot of effects rely on long sustain. With a coil pickup you can through pretty much anything at them. Saying that - with the right pedals you can get great results out of a piezo too.
Processors and amp models is a different thing altogether - that can be applied to both. But in short it's hard to create realistic sustain from an instrument that isn't sustaining. Sounds weird.
These are beautiful stunning works of art. Thanks for kicking up my UAS!
I actually don't know if I could justify the cost as I don't think I'd play it that often.
Yeah - it's a horses for courses ukulele I guess. Would I buy one for noodling around with at home? Probably not. Would I buy one if I was in a band and wanted a broad range of tones, played rock stuff and wanted to use effects? Yes I would! Would work like a dream!
