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-   -   Distortion pedal for Acoustic guitar live?.. is it possible? (https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=199572)

GravityOrange 11-16-2010 05:02 PM

Distortion pedal for Acoustic guitar live?.. is it possible?
 
hey there guy/ gals. I'm looking to get an "distortion" pedal (if you wanna call it that) for performing live. Something to make the Acoustic sound semi electric. i'm a one man Acoustic act doing rock songs. first off, I am looking for advice from people that have used some kind of pedal live with an Acoustic at higher volumes (not in a bedroom setting).. and I know all about the feedback issues, but feel this can be minimized with a feedback buster.. and of course the right pedal.

would love to hear the thoughts/ suggestions from those who have tried this.. and use it in their act. And which songs in fact you use it on? Also, of course.. your pedal of choice?

Cheers:D

Rick Jones 11-16-2010 06:12 PM

I do it sometimes, and to avoid feedback I use the signal from my sunrise magnetic pickup, whilst still sending a clean signal from my other pickup to the PA.
Jeff Lang does it, John Butler does it,Monte Montgomery.....lot's of folks, Jeff Lang has a few vids on youtube where he uses it to a stunning effect.

Foss38 11-16-2010 06:31 PM

Kurt Cobain used a Boss DS-2.

Foss38 11-16-2010 06:34 PM

Kurt Cobain used a Boss DS-2.

BTW ~ Welome to AGF...happy surfing. :D

GravityOrange 11-16-2010 08:11 PM

thanks for the replies guys.. only i'm pretty sure most of what Cobain did was electric :hmm:

Rick, not sure how I am going to manage it since I only have the single 1/4 jack tho.. any ideas? And which pedals are you using for this? Cheers

aziltz 11-17-2010 10:37 AM

i'm eventually going to do this using my Taylors Mag Pickup, but I like the idea of a dual-source system where the mag drives an "electric" path and the other more acoustic or 'mic' signal stays 'acoustic'

I would suggest going with one of the Tech 21 Character Series Pedals. Personally I'm going to pickup either a Liverpool or a Blonde or Both. I want to add some gritty, chimey tones to the rig and not so much distortion crunch.


I would suggest having the ability to flip the phase of your signal over all as distortion will most definitely cause feedback after a certain level.

RockerDuck 11-17-2010 05:01 PM

[QUOTE=GravityOrange;2410443]thanks for the replies guys.. only i'm pretty sure most of what Cobain did was electric :hmm:

Psst. Cobain did an unplugged album. The ds2 was used on his acoustic, ya know, for the grunge acoustic effect.

GravityOrange 11-18-2010 04:41 PM

ah yes.. I forgot about the live acoustic album. haha Will have to go down to the local guitar store and try some out, and ask some of the guys there if they have any suggestions. Would I need to buy another pickup to get the dual signal thing to work?.. and run 2 lines? Cheers

GravityOrange 11-22-2010 08:34 PM

ok, went down to a few guitar shops.. they were pretty useless to tell you the truth. They had me plug into a couple pedals.. but I was listening through headphones, so it really gave me no indication on how it was gonna perform in a live situation... or feedback at all :confused: I did have some great ideas while I was there though.. see what you guys think.

The guy there told me to just run into the distortion pedal and use the feedback buster on my guitar. But I got to thinking about some of your guys's ideas on here. First off, I know NOTHING about additional pickups for Acoustic guitars.. and therefore no idea which ones are good or not (suggestions?) and also got to thinking about the 2 separate lines, 1 clean one from the guitar pickup.. and one distorted from the one in the sound hole (I liked the sound of the Boss blues driver BTW)

Would it be possible to run both of those lines from the guitar into my LS-2 Line Selector? While running only the portable pickup into a "distortion pedal" and then into the line selector?... This would allow me to have one output going to the board instead of 2? Not sure if the line selector will work like this or not, but if I does I can tweak it so that I can adjust the A and B knob (Clean signal and distorted signal) to get the desired sound.. and still have one line running to the board. Do any of you guys know if this will work?

aziltz 11-23-2010 09:47 AM

hey gravity!

I'm going to recommend a few things to try,

the first: Keep the Distortion signal separate from the Acoustic signal. Send them separately to the Board, this will help keep your levels even and give you more control over the blend of the 2 sounds. Look into an ABY box to split your signal before the distortion stage and use that to switch between or turn them both on.

the second: Try it with your existing pickup before investing in a different type. I am going to guess that using a magnetic sound hole pickup will work better with distortion, and also give you a usable acoustic sound (after all they are acoustic pickups!) So try out a sound hole mag for both sounds using an ABY to get your different signals. If that works for you, later down the line you can look at adding a different kind of pickup to enhance the acoustic sound.

3rd, I suggested a Tech 21 Sansamp Character Series Pedal. This is because they're designed for going direct as they emulate speakers on the output. This is what I'm planning to start with. They all do a range of sounds, so just pick one and see how it works for you.

4th, Don't bother with a feedback buster. It doesn't kill all feedback, because the guitar will always resonate. I don't think they really work well and you won't be able to use it with a sound hole magnetic pickup either (and I don't think you would need it).

5th, look into some kind of DI for the acoustic signal that has a Feedback Notch, EQ and Phase Control, this will help with the over all sound and feedback management. I have a BBE Acoustimax and have zero issues with feedback using my Taylor's Magnetic Pickup.

GravityOrange 11-23-2010 04:17 PM

Cool, thanks for the idea man. Just have a couple things to clarify. So for the ABY box.. (because i've never used one before) would than be running 2 lines into it and one line into the board? I would like to avoid running 2 lines into the board as it gives me less control "at my feet" if you will to adjust sounds. I was hoping to run into my LS-2 line selector, as it have knobs A + B which I thought I could maybe use to control the sound? At least this way I am not running to the board (which may be far away from where I am set up). Can you tell me if this would work? and exactly what an ABY box would do (would like to see it in a simple wiring diagram if possible)

also, I was confused about this the second: Try it with your existing pickup before investing in a different type. I am going to guess that using a magnetic sound hole pickup will work better with distortion

sounds like you are telling me to use the existing pickup in the guitar... but at the same time telling me that a sound hole pickup works better?:confused:

The DI idea, I completely agree with.. will have to look into that one. Do you use distortion with your electric? .. if so what does your setup look like?
Cheers:D

aziltz 11-23-2010 11:20 PM

I'm not sure how the LS-2 works, but I'm guessing you want the ability to toggle the electric sound on/off with your foot? My guess is the LS will let you mix the distortion in parallel with your original signal?

Personally, I prefer multiple lines to the board because it will allow you to apply any additional board EQ separately, as well as volume control or any other outboard effect you might add at the mixer. You will still have volume control from whatever distortion pedal you go for at your feet. These are my opinions, they may not work to your taste.

My other comments regarding pickups were just to try it with whatever you have now first. You might dig it, you might not, but there's no harm in trying it out.

My second comment should be interpreted as independent. If you deem your current pickup inadequate for distortion uses, my first guess for a different kind of pickup would be a Magnetic Pickup as it works kind of like an electric guitar pickups. These usually come as sound hole pickups, but my Taylor has a magnetic pickup hidden under the fretboard/top.

Try what you have first.

I'm currently not using distortion with my acoustic. My acoustic gigs are not the priority at the moment. Every other month or so. At the moment I'm looking for a good deal on a Tech 21 Liverpool or British to use with the Acoustic.

I would send my Taylor into a BBE Acoustimax DI/EQ Pedal, with the XLR running to the board. In the effects loop I have things like a compressor, analog delay, reverb and Loop Station.

I plan to take the 1/4th inch output from the BBE and run it to a Tech 21 Sansamp Pedal which will then run to the board through a passive DI box.

Anyway, I hope this all helps in some way!

GravityOrange 11-24-2010 05:29 PM

hey dude, yep.. that is exactly what I want to do (toggle the distortion on/off with my foot). The more I think about it, the more I think the 2 pickups is the way to go. this way I can keep the original Acoustic sound clean no matter what.. and then just add a crunch on top of it.

I purchased an BBE Acoustimax yesterday.. so looking forward to trying it out. Not sure exactly how it works (how many features it has) but will have to read the manual to check all the features. Soundclips sounded awesome though. I'm still wondering if I can just run one output line from the acoustimax, and somehow run the Line selector and distortion pedal in the FX loop, allowing me to toggle it on and off at will. Thoughts?

TerryAllanHall 11-25-2010 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GravityOrange (Post 2410244)
hey there guy/ gals. I'm looking to get an "distortion" pedal (if you wanna call it that) for performing live. Something to make the Acoustic sound semi electric. i'm a one man Acoustic act doing rock songs. first off, I am looking for advice from people that have used some kind of pedal live with an Acoustic at higher volumes (not in a bedroom setting).. and I know all about the feedback issues, but feel this can be minimized with a feedback buster.. and of course the right pedal.

would love to hear the thoughts/ suggestions from those who have tried this.. and use it in their act. And which songs in fact you use it on? Also, of course.. your pedal of choice?

Cheers:D

Find yourself a Boss HM-2 (Heavy Metal) pedal...it's a very musical and versatile device for turning an a/e into a screaming Les Paul.

GravityOrange 11-26-2010 06:41 AM

Ok guys.. So I picked up a Sunrise acoustic soundhole pickup.. and the BBE Acoustimax (which sounds awesome by the way) :D

I now just need to get an OD pedal that works well with acoustic guitar?.. suggestions? and a volume pedal to toggle it on and off/ and bring it in a swell if I choose.. again . Suggestions?

Getting closer to the final setup..:up:


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