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Talk 1
 Recently,
the acoustic guitar has gone through a number of modifications in
design and materials, but none more so than in the amplification
department. Not too long ago the acoustic was treated like the electric
guitar's younger sibling when it came to gear. As acoustic players
we were always forced to wear the technological hand me downs of
the electric players, the amps, effects, mics. and assorted gear
that was designed for solid body instruments, keyboards and PA.s,
but rarely anything designed specifically for the big resonating
box that is the acoustic guitar. Nowadays, things are very different
as changing
trends continue to keep the acoustic guitar in the spotlight, and
the folks who design and produce black boxes are forever coming
up with yet another gizmo to fill the demand for all things unplugged.
However I still vividly recall early visits to my local music shop
where I would pull a guitar off the rack and trudge across the shop
floor to the amp department. Plugging an Ovation into a large Marshall
head always seemed like anarchy and usually resulted in ugly blasts
of feedback and threatening glares from the owners.
My main guitar is a Manzer
"Cowpoke", built by Toronto Luthier Linda Manzer (thank
you Linda!). ). This guitar is a fairly large, deep bodied 6 string
with a gentle cutaway and a German spruce top inlaid with abalone
and boxwood at the sound hole. I love this guitar, it has a huge
dynamic range, tone and character to spare, and is supremely road
worthy. I have tried many different brands of strings and finally
settled on John Pearse Phosphor Bronze medium gauge strings. I like
the colour that they add to the Manzers's sound and find that they
are generally hardy and durable. The pickup system in the Cowpoke
is a strange hodgepodge of over the counter and customised electronics
which is ever changing as boredom or new products dictate.
Over the last few years, I've worked with my buddy John Sharples
(a.k.a. "The Guitar Doc") on a system that would give
me a lot of gain before feedback and somehow capture or recreate
an acceptable approximation of the huge warmth and vigor of my Manzer.
Many's the long night we've spent installing different pickups,
trying out pre-amps and hunting down ground hums in search of the
elusive tone. It's a very frustrating endeavor as you probably already
know, made even more impossible by the plain fact that what sounds
good in somebody else's guitar might sound like shit in yours. Bearing
this in mind and for what it's worth I've included my stage setup
here for those who are true "tech-nerds" like myself.
Be warned this is extremely boring stuff unless you are the sort
of person who enjoys reading gear advertisements and making up your
own cables. Do not drive or operate heavy machinery immediately
after reading this.
stage
equipment
My
current amplification rig is a dual pickup/internal microphone setup.
The pickup is a Takamine piezo bridge pickup (individual piezo crystals
set in ceramic) which is still one of the best pickups out there
if you can find one that's not attached to a Tak. guitar. The microphone
is an Audio Technica ATM35 , which is internally mounted against
the back of the guitar under and facing away from the sound hole.
In the past I've used a simple RadioShack "tie clip" mic
and also a Countryman Isomax Omnidirectional, they've all worked
well more or less, but the Audio Technica seems to have more gain
before feedback (this is crucial for those who refuse to stuff their
guitar with foam) and can handle the sound pressure levels inside
an acoustic guitar with more grace than either of the other two.
The pickup is pre-amped through a customised Countryman type 85
direct box module (which is basically the guts of a Countryman D.I.
mounted with Velcro to the neck block of the guitar). Both the D.I.
(pre-amp) and the mic. take phantom power (no 9-volt batteries to
deal with!) which is fed to each individual unit via two 3-pin XLR
cables (common mic. cables). The XLR cables work well in that each
signal is individually shielded and balanced. Also, mic. cables
"lock" and will not pull out of your guitar if stepped
on (unlike standard quarter inch guitar cables), plus they are usually
easier to find at a gig if you leave yours at home.
The Mic./Pickup signals are then fed into input strips 1 and 2 of
a Mackie Microseries 1202 mixer (the first four input strips of
a Mackie 1202 have excellent mic. pre-amps, balanced inputs and
can supply phantom power). At this point the two signals are run
through one side each of a Rane ME15 (dual fifteen band equalizer)
and then through a Beringer Feedback Destroyer (dual 12 band parametric
eq/anti feedback filters) via the Mackie's insert points. Unfortunately
the Mackie's on board eq'ing is very limited (bass and treble only)
so this means that an external eq. is essential, especially for
the internal mic. which is prone to feedback and requires a fair
bit of shaping at the best of times. The Beringer was added to the
chain fairly recently, to deal with the problem frequencies that
are not covered by the graphic eq.
The Takamine pickup signal is then sent via the Mackie's aux. 1sent
to an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal (on the floor beside my vocal mic.
stand) then back to an Alesis Quadraverb (four separate effects
in one rack mount unit), where the signal has chorus, reverb, delay
etc.. added in greater or lesser amounts. The signal leaves the
Quadraverb in stereo and comes back into the Mackie board via two
different input strips. By bringing the processed pickup signal
back to the Mackie through new input strips rather than through
aux. 1 return, I can further shape the signal by eq'ing the effects.
I can also take advantage of the Quadraverb's stereo effects through
the Mackie's pan controls. At this point the two unprocessed signals
(internal mic. and pickup) and the two processed signals (stereo
outs from the Quadraverb) are mixed down to stereo left and right
and sent via the patch bay atthe back of my rack to the front of
house soundboard (the patch bay has ground lift switches which can
save the day in ancient halls with old wiring and a cranky sound
tech). Many years ago I realised that a monitor which is eq'd for
the human voice does not necessarily make sonic sense for an acousitc
guitar (if the voice sounds bright and present, the guitar sounds
thin - if the guitar sounds full and deep, the voice sounds muddy)
so it never really made sense to have my guitar and voice coming
back at me through the same set of monitor wedges. Since many folk
clubs will laugh out loud at you if you request two monitor mixes
and four monitors for one performer, I decided to take matters into
my own hands and travel with my own power amp (a Carver PT1250 which
is a good amp backed up by excellent customer service and speedy
repair shop work when necessary) and monitors (2 x 12 inch coaxial
Radians which I've had for 8 trouble-free years) dedicated to the
guitar only, the club provides the vocal monitors. This method works
out really well, with the only drawback being the inevitable "I
thought we'd hired an acoustic performer not Eddie Van Halen hahahah
ha" (they usually stop snickering when you plug all the shit
in and deliver a huge warm acoustic sound - provided all the gear
works of course! ahem) At this point I have done all I can, and
my precious guitar signal is out of my hands as far as the audience
is concerned. OK so this is quite excessive, we'd all agree on that,
however I justify it with the following philosophy - Tone is the
king and if your guitar sound sucks then you will probably play
accordingly... nothing bums me out more than a lousy guitar sound,
it's as bad as losing your voice... electric guitarists have known
this for years, but for some reason many acoustic players seem content
with thin, reedy, piezo pickup-and-a-DI-box sound. As a solo-singer/songwriter,
you've only got a few tools to work with, might as well make them
all as good as possible no?
The only other pieces of gear I currently use on stage for my acoustic
guitar, are a Boss Midi Pedal, a Boss TU12 tuner and a boss Tremolo/Pan
PN2 pedal. The midi pedal is connected to the Quadraverb and is
for shifting between effect presets on the fly. The tuner is connected
to an extra output jack I had wired into my volume pedal. The tremolo
is one of those "use sparingly to great effect" pedals.
I try not to use batteries for any of my gear as they have a habit
of draining during a show, I also try to keep everything as compact
as possible. Right now all my gear fits into a few modest aluminum
road cases which are just under the wire for airline weight restrictions
(I'm happy to pay excess baggage, but overweight is a killer on
the wallet). My guitars travel in their Calton Cases as built by
Al Williams and his crew in Calgary, Alberta. These cases are tough
and quite light due to the fiberglass exterior shell. The insides
are made with crushed velvet and high density foam rubber which
is contoured to the exact shape of your guitar providing excellent
support and cushioning.
OK,
so there you have it. There are so many other ways to achieve "a
sound" with more, less, or different gear, but so far this
is what works for me. Are you asleep yet? No? Read on!
Check out 'All Things Guitar Database' for more info.
odds
& sods
I've
managed to figure a way to make my electric guitars sound decent
coming through my acoustic rig, (which is basically just a glorified
small PA system) by running them through a Hughes & Kettner
"Tubeman" one of many tube pre-amps on the market for
just such a purpose. Being in Blackie and The Rodeo Kings means
playing onstage with one of the finest electric guitarists in the
kingdom - Mr. Colin Linden. Colin has a truly superb grasp of tone
and the kind of soul one can coax out of vintage electric gear...
my job is to come up with a sound that will complement without having
to carry two separate rigs for my acoustic and electric playing
(even I have my gear limits), The Tubeman is a good compromise for
a real amp. andif I run my electrics through an old MXR Dynacomp
(compression pedal) it works even better. Other things to consider
include an E-Bow and a willingness to experiment with the Quadraverb...
(When in doubt, play a dark chord and wiggle the neck).
When
I snap my fingers, you will awaken... you will go directly to your
basement and dig out that old Echoplex you've been hanging onto...
you will offer to sell me the Echoplex for $100 and a rare hard
to find copy of The Yellow Tape...
*SNAP* |
