|
Post by John on Aug 16, 2021 7:57:11 GMT -7
Below is my acoustic solo pedalboard. It's really oversized for what it does. On the left, is a TC Electronics vocal harmonizer. Upper right is a Fishman Aura acoustic imaging pedal. (think of it as a 'modeler' for acoustics) Square black thing below that is a (passive) percussion foot stomp pedal...which runs through the aqua eq to the right. The eq knocks out all the mids and highs and leaves me with a bass thump. It may not be full-on kick pedal, but it's low enough to get somewhere in between floor tom and kick. Then above everything is the power strip because I need three wall warts to run everything. The wood at the bottom center lifts my heel off the ground so I can tap the percussion square. Otherwise your foot will hit the edge of the block and not the center where the sound is best.
I've decided to get rid of the percussion wood bock. It's always been a bit noisy. It's temperamental to work with. The percussive block itself is cheap quality, and prone to malfunction. (I actually had to shove aluminum foil in the jack to get it to stop ground-loop buzzing. Don't laugh, it hasn't had that problem since.) So off comes the percussion block, the eq, and the wall wart for the eq.
Then I started messing around with running my guitar(s) direct and not using the Fishman Aura. If you have terrible acoustic pickups, the Aura is amazing. Especially if you have the 'quack' of piezo undersaddle pickups....something that I can't stand!! But I only have one guitar....my 12 string...that uses only an undersaddle. And the 'quack' is minimal. Otherwise, my main gigging acoustic has a Fishman Anthem. (expensive, but sounds great) Another has the Anthem Jr. And a third has a passive K&K. So if I don't need to deal with the 'quack', then the Aura can go. It does have a compressor, but I've now been playing without it (the compressor) and I don't think I need it. It does allow for a bit more dynamics in my playing. So off comes the Aura and the power supply.
That leaves the TC Electronics harmonizer. Which is a fantastic piece of equipment....absolutely essential. Two or three part harmonies. (I rarely use three) effects (large or small room reverb, slapback) 'doubling' effect. Everything's programmable. Guitar tuner. Gentle pitch correction for those nights when I'm not at my best. The harmonies queue off of the guitar chords you play.
So now my pedalboard is this:
So I've gotten rid of the 'pedalboard' completely. One less thing to carry. The TC can fit in the gig bag.
|
|
|
Post by zpilot on Aug 17, 2021 13:59:17 GMT -7
The singer in the band I will soon be working with uses one of these. It really does work quite well. Not as good as having real backup vocals but it adds a fullness to the vocal that is a big help if you are the only singer. The band currently is a 4-piece and no one else sings. The singer also does solo acoustic gigs using this so he has it dialed in pretty well. When I start playing with them I will be doing harmony (and some lead) vocals but this harmonizer will still get some use.
When I played for an oldies show a few years ago I used a TC Helican offshoot of this that only did doubling. It worked VERY well for reproducing that effect which was used on a lot of vocal tracks in the '60s.
|
|
|
Post by John on Aug 17, 2021 16:14:13 GMT -7
It does a great job...but it does take some adaptation. Example: You can't sing and expect it to know where you're going. What I mean is if you're in the key of G..and the next chord is an Em....you must PLAY the Em, only then will it change the harmony. Some songs have the vocal come in just ahead of a new chord. That won't work with the harmonizer. So sometimes you need to change cadence, downbeats and accents a little to make sure the thing works the way you want. Once you adapt and understand all that, it's fantastic.
I wish I could find out the vocal doubler Ian Anderson used live with Jethro Tull. I've seen some videos from the 70's where he turns it on and off with his foot.
|
|
|
Post by GuitarZ on Aug 17, 2021 18:41:30 GMT -7
Wow! That is slimming down. You would think getting a great acoustic sound would have been neatly solved by now. I was tempted by the Aura, but I have a Dimarzio sound hole pickup which apparently was not a good match for the Aura. And, it hurt my head that once I got my Martin, I'd be using a model for sound instead of it. LR Baggs has a new box out that's intriguing. It takes a voice print of your guitar's natural acoustic sound and then uses that to model the amplified sound. www.lrbaggs.com/voiceprint-di-acoustic-guitar-impulse-response-pedalI really try to make my soundhole pu work. I see so many pros use them that I figure it should work for me. Of course, they have sound people that are pros too. On a related note, I was messing with some setups for doing acoustic videos. I pulled out my DPA 4099 mic. I've been thinking of selling it since I don't use it that much. A quick google search shocked me what I saw that I must have paid $500+ for it. Ouch! It sounds great, but you need to know what you're doing live to avoid feedback and/or mix it with another pu.
|
|
|
Post by John on Aug 17, 2021 19:41:04 GMT -7
I just read about the LR Baggs 'voiceprint'. (sucks that it's iphone only) Sounds similar to the aura, but the Aura has many pre existing tones...and the voiceprint seems to be a snapshot of your own guitar. (looks like it has other pre existing patches too)
But that got me wondering: Could you take a voiceprint of a really good guitar. (Example: something expensive that you don't want to take out to a gig) Then trigger/control that voiceprint with a crappy guitar?
Further, could you take a voiceprint of several different guitars (dreadnaught, a parlor, a jumbo, Martin, Taylor...etc) Then use only one guitar to play the gig..and switch between the different voiceprints?
|
|
|
Post by Rhino on Aug 18, 2021 7:01:55 GMT -7
Feels good doesn't it?
I'm also considering a downsize to my acoustic board. For years I used an old LR Baggs Para Acoustic Guitar DI. I got the bright idea I "needed" a dedicated tuner, EP Boost, reverb, compressor, etc. I put it all together and while it's nice...it's overkill so I'm headed back to a headstock tuner and the Baggs...stay tuned for the FS posts! :-P
|
|
|
Post by GuitarZ on Aug 18, 2021 7:13:06 GMT -7
Further, could you take a voiceprint of several different guitars (dreadnaught, a parlor, a jumbo, Martin, Taylor...etc) Then use only one guitar to play the gig..and switch between the different voiceprints? I never actually plugged into one (famous starting words), but did a fair amount of research. I also hate piezo 'quack'. One key takeaway was that instructional videos and manuals typically talked about blending the sound with the acoustic pickup. I think the pedals/boxes add 'real acoustic character' to the sound, but aren't at the point where the all-in signal works on its own. Also, they always seemed to suggest to match the digital print with the guitar model. They didn't advertise, if I remember correctly, that you could just completely change the guitar although they did say 'experiment'. Some Martins have a mini Aura built in, and it's interesting in that you only get that model's print although with different mic positions. I'd argue it's like the Fishman Anthem or other quality pickup system. The Anthem has a real mic, but it's inside the guitar and is adding 'character' versus being able to sound like a studio mic'd guitar.
|
|
|
Post by John on Aug 18, 2021 8:13:44 GMT -7
The Anthem is a two pickup system. 1) the mic that's inside the body of the guitar. 2) The under saddle pickup.
There is a blend switch that allows you to mix the two and find the sweet spot. I have set it and forgot it. The LR Baggs people say it's best to start 100% under saddle (complete with quack) then start blending in the mic until the quack goes away. After experimenting around, I found such advice was best.
|
|