Electronic stuff for dummies? (pickups and more)

clear said:

The best is to go to a Guitar Center and try out the different amps.

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IA, but that's not going to happen until after the pandemic ends. We're in a semi-shutdown in my area, so I'm not even sure if they'd be open.

Fully 1/2 of the people who should have been at work today were in quarantine instead, so I'd rather err on the side of caution right now.

I realize that whatever I buy could be the wrong thing, but having worked extra hours, (filling in for people who are quarantined), I figure I can take a little risk, and it would at least get me started with figuring this out. With black Friday sales happening, I might be able to minimize the risk a bit, too, if I look around online for a good price.

If you're unable to try before you buy and unsure if you'll be able to nail this at your first try, consider buying used, name-brand gear - for the most part, used name-brand gear in good shape has a pretty consistent value. You can buy, try it out, and sell it if you don't like it - for little or no financial loss.

dwizum said:

What's your budget?

What sort of sound do you want - something that sounds like a normal acoustic uke, but louder? Or something that sounds more like an electric guitar?

What, if anything, do you own right now? In terms of both electronics, amps, and ukes or other instruments? Do any of your ukes have pickups already, or are you starting from scratch?

Barring all that, based on the fact that you're looking for "just some fun with looping and maybe other effects" I'd suggest getting a simple cheap multi-effects guitar pedal (like the Zoom G1 Four someone mentioned - less than a hundred bucks!) and whatever pickup-equipped uke you can afford and like the sound of - either a solid body electric with a mag pickup, or a typical acoustic uke with an undersaddle piezo.

Just a pickup-equipped uke and that pedal will be a good simple starting place. That will get you set up to play through headphones, with looping and more other effects than you'll know what to do with. Then if you want to play for others to hear, you can pick an amp and run the pedal through that.

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Looks like I should be able to get an amp for $150? Could go a little higher if need be.

I don't know what sound I want. I know that sounds stupid, but it's just something to play with and that could help me decide what I do want - or maybe this isn't for me at all. I'm sure a shutdown is coming, so it's in part just something new to entertain me during winter/shutdown.

I don't own anything along these lines right now. Just my uke. I know I'd have to do something about a pickup, too, but with my "dummies" question of would any amp work with any pickup, I'm leaving that option open right now, too. Or will pick up a cheapie electric uke if I want to go that route.

Zoom looks complicated to me. Maybe it's not? With no idea about any of this stuff, it's hard to tell.

There's no shame in admitting you don't know what you want. Generally, any pickup will work with any amp. You just might not like the sound you get out! For the most part, the "safest" approach in terms of making nice sounds is to stick with like things. If you get a solid body electric uke with a guitar-style magnetic pickup, pair it with an amp meant for electric guitars. If you get an acoustic uke with a piezo undersaddle pickup, pair it with an amp marketed for acoustic guitars. You CAN mix things up between the two categories but you might get "weird" rather than "good" tones.

The Zoom pedal is a little complicated but that's the tradeoff for the capability it has, and it's not really too bad (as an example, my 12 year old has that same pedal, and he was making all kinds of cool sounds with it about 20 minutes after opening the box, having never touched an effects pedal prior to that). If you want "simple" you may end up having to buy individual pedals versus one do-it-all. That's a fine approach too but can get expensive. Or just skip the looper/effects for now and get your hands on an amp and a uke with a pickup in it.

Do you plug directly into the Zoom? (Which means I would need to also get something or other to plug into it from whatever pickup I end up with? Remember, the "dummies" part is for real. I really know nothing!) The Zoom seems to have a speaker? (Some of the YouTubes I looked at were using complex setups with the Zoom, which I'm guessing isn't necessary.)

Joyful Uke said:

Do you plug directly into the Zoom? (Which means I would need to also get something or other to plug into it from whatever pickup I end up with? Remember, the "dummies" part is for real. I really know nothing!) The Zoom seems to have a speaker? (Some of the YouTubes I looked at were using complex setups with the Zoom, which I'm guessing isn't necessary.)

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Hi Joyful Uke - Having owned a Zoom G3n I can offer the following advice about the Zoom G1 Four because they are very similar.

1. You don’t actually need a pickup to use a looper, but for the sake of simplicity let’s assume you have an under-saddle pickup or stick-on passive pickup installed. You’ll plug a 1/4” cable into the uke and plug the other end into the input jack on the Zoom.

2. You can then either
(a) plug head phones in to the Zoom output jack - you may need a cheap cable adaptor to do this (1/4” to 3.5mm). With this option you won’t need to buy an amp
OR
(b) run a 1/4” cable to an an actual amp. Amps I have used are Roland Mobile-AC, Roland AC-33, and Bose S1. All three sound fantastic with a uke.

3. Choose the effect(s) you want - reverb, delay, graphic equaliser etc

4. Choose the Looper option, record a phrase, then play over the top of it, or dub further phrases on top (percussion beats, different effects etc).

The effects on the Zoom won’t disappoint, but the downside of the G1Four is that it only records for 30seconds, and you can’t save your loop (I currently use a Boss RC-30 looper btw).

Now here’s the thing - I use a looper to busk with, and yes, in Sydney we are currently able to do this again. But you can have as much fun at home just playing your acoustic uke into the inbuilt mic of an Apple iPad or iPhone, recording it in GarageBand, playing it back as a loop and playing back over the top, or even recording another track over the top. GarageBand comes free with current Apple devices.

Very helpful, thanks.
I'm jealous that you can busk in Sydney. We're racing the opposite direction here, sadly.

I think I'll spend a little more time looking into this, and then get something to get started. The Zoom might be a good choice, if it's not too hard to figure out. Youtubes I've looked at so far assume that I'm not quite as much at the "dummy" level as I am. LOL. But, it's good to learn new things.