Why do you play with a pickup?

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Joyful Uke

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I've only played ukuleles without a pickup. I've noticed that some people seem to only play at home, (my situation, too), but do use a pickup.
What benefit does that give you?

I get that when people play out somewhere, (should that ever be possible again), the amplification could be needed.

But, for at-home playing, is the reason to be able to use effects? If so, which ones do you use?

I assume, (but don't know a thing about it), that to do something like looping, you'd need a pickup with effects, and that's something that I'm thinking could be fun to play with.

I'd be interested in any thoughts, random or otherwise, that anyone has on it.
 
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I come from the guitar world and, while acoustic ukulele is great, I really enjoy the versatility of electric recording. Having a pickup opens me up to using whatever effects I want to use, sure, but it also helps isolate the signal when I’m recording in less than ideal situations. It’s a lot of fun to experiment with.
 
I also don't understand amplifying a clean signal. If I plug in, it is with fuzz pedal and overdrive. I recently bought a Dunlop Crybaby, but I haven't told my wife about it and I'm trying to figure out how to include it in the mix without getting into trouble.
 
I record direct into my computer, so having a pickup/preamp in the uke is very handy. Some people prefer a mic to amplify their ukes saying it sounds more natural than a pickup.

This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly Grove near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 4 acoustic bass ukes, 12 solid body bass ukes, 14 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 39)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers
 
Well, I do play out and about. While I would prefer to play with two mics that isn't always the option, so I don't want to limit myself. Secondly, I have a pile of pedals that I've accumulated and I like to play around with them.

To me though, amplifying is not as much about volume, as it is about balance. If I'm plugged in I can modulate both the uke and my voice so that I can play in a relaxed fashion and one doesn't overpower the other. I like to practice that way so that I'm comfortable and familiar with my gear. Then when I am out and about I'm not messing around trying to figure it all out out. I am self conscious enough without standing in front of everyone dicking around with my gear like I've never played in front of anyone before. So the more I practice with it at home with it the more confident I feel.
 
We perform amped up, because we need to control volume. We can balance our voices, ukes, bass, and any percussion things, so that we don't play over our voices. And believe it or not, in places where the audience doesn't like it loud (ex: dementia units), we can soften things down from acoustic only playing.
We prefer not to play acoustically, in public. We're not loud singers, or ukers.
 
I had pickups installed when I bought some ukes and they were already in some used ukes I bought. I got them because my uke club has a PA system we setup for open mike nights. I've also played a few gigs with friends.

I've just started to try recording on my computer with a mic and hopefully my pickups. Like Rlink I think it'll be easier to get a balance between vocals and playing with a minimum of background noise.
 
So it sounds like mainly for recording or performing?
 
You mentioned looping, and that’s the primary reason other than recording that I plug in an acoustic instrument. This doesn’t require other effects - just a looper pedal and amp. You don’t need an on-board pickup for this - I use an iRig
acoustic stage clip-on pickup and a ditto looper. I think the iRig has an onboard audio interface and can plug into my phone for effects, looping, recording, etc. without a separate box.

The solid-body electric almost always plugs in, and it gets all of the fun effects.

If you want to experiment, using your phone / computer or an inexpensive multi-effects pedal is a good way to find what sorts of things you like without buying a lot of special purpose equipment.
 
Arcy said:
You mentioned looping, and that’s the primary reason other than recording that I plug in an acoustic instrument. This doesn’t require other effects - just a looper pedal and amp. You don’t need an on-board pickup for this - I use an iRig
acoustic stage clip-on pickup and a ditto looper. I think the iRig has an onboard audio interface and can plug into my phone for effects, looping, recording, etc. without a separate box.

The solid-body electric almost always plugs in, and it gets all of the fun effects.

If you want to experiment, using your phone / computer or an inexpensive multi-effects pedal is a good way to find what sorts of things you like without buying a lot of special purpose equipment.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. Any suggestions on where to learn about this? I know nothing about it.
 
When the beehive is restless around me and i want to concentrate i use a zoom a1 with closed headphones with my anuenue uc200e and ut200e... I can then concentrate very well...

another side-effect (!) is that i hear all imperfections very well... I also hear them when i (often) play acoustically... but it is an extra dimension

so i use it for practise in "special" circumstances as well...
 
blueingreen said:
When the beehive is restless around me and i want to concentrate i use a zoom a1 with closed headphones with my anuenue uc200e and ut200e... I can then concentrate very well...

another side-effect (!) is that i hear all imperfections very well... I also hear them when i (often) play acoustically... but it is an extra dimension

so i use it for practise in "special" circumstances as well...
Click to expand...

Same here, using zoom a1 with headphones to play with the looper and different effects on my acoustic instruments.
 
I installed pickups on both my 8 and 6 string tenors. Both concert ukes and the Duke banjo-uke had factory-installed pickups. While I don't use the pickups often, I do find they can be fun on some songs. I play a lot of R&R and country-rock, so flatpicking is the norm for me. That helps when amping up.
 
You don’t need a pickup to use a looper.

A suitable dynamic or condenser mic (XLR) can be used, which avoids having to fit a pickup, and retains the clean uke sound. And if you use say, a Boss RC30, you can record and store up to 99 clean backing tracks/phrases to play along to.
 
Joyful Uke said:
So it sounds like mainly for recording or performing?
Click to expand...

Occasionally, I do plug in just for fun. My amp has a short looping capability.

But yeah, it's mostly for performing or recording. I use my Zoom for just quickly recording my playing so I can better identify my flubs.

I suppose I could add to annoy the neighbors, but they don't live close enough.
 
I chuckle a little when I read about not disturbing the nrighbors. My next door neighbor is a younger guy and we have been good friends for a long time. I've been known to go out on the patio, turn my amp toward his back yard and let it rip. Just to let him know I'm alive and well. It usually results in a visit and a beer to persuade me to shut it down.
 
coolforcats99 said:
You don’t need a pickup to use a looper.

A suitable dynamic or condenser mic (XLR) can be used, which avoids having to fit a pickup, and retains the clean uke sound. And if you use say, a Boss RC30, you can record and store up to 99 clean backing tracks/phrases to play along to.
Click to expand...

Any recommended ways to learn how to choose and use devices like this?
 
Smooth looping is something that only comes with lots of practice, and not much else, but I have learnt that:

1. Two stomp switches for Play/Dub and Stop is a much easier option than double tapping to stop (if you’re using a one stomp switch unit)
2. Saving phrases or entire songs as WAV files instead laying them down every time is very, very useful
3. Playing into a mic instead of using a pickup is also very useful - because the true acoustic sound is retained

So, I have recently purchased a used Boss RC-30. Not cheap, but easy to use and in fact, there is very little alternative if you wish to store or download WAV files. The RC-30 also has both instrument and mic inputs. And it allows you to change the stomp sequence between Rec>Dub>Play and Rec>Play>Dub.

Where to learn more? Where do you start??!! Many top uke players are now looping - for instance Jack and the Vox used it often during their recent 100 day ‘Best Medicine’ series, and I’m sure others on this forum will have suggestions.

As an example of myself looping a uke, the following clip was recorded on a borrowed Zoom prior to my purchase of the Boss RC-30: https://youtu.be/123n0AgZudE
 
It adds another dimension to play with your ukulele.

Generally speaking, on an acoustic uke, I play it acoustic the majority of the time.
But sometimes its fun to plug it in for the different kind of sounds, effects and dynamics.

Even when amplified clean, the uke behaves like a different instrument to when unplugged.
You can also fidget with the EQ settings for a different timbre/feel.
 
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