#1
|
|||
|
|||
Tonedexter question
I've been following the Tonedexter discussions and want the opinion/insight of users. It would seem that in both the training and live play, the instrument's pickup largely acts as a trigger, so the quality of the pickup is (within reason) irrelevant. In other words a $50 STB without preamp will work as well as a more refined unit with carefully eq'ed preamp. Is this correct or are there other considerations?
|
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
What I'm noticing as I hear more and more recorded examples is that the quick attack of an undersaddle pickup "may" have an ever so slight advantage in a very strictly accurate (or mic'd) sound sense. But that should not be taken as a real advantage and it's just my opinion any way. Right now, for $450 (Tonedexter plus a JJB pickup) you can have a system that sounds astounding.
__________________
Website: http://www.buzzardwhiskey.com |
#3
|
||||
|
||||
I wouldn't say the pickup is irrelevant, but clearly ToneDexter can close the gap between the pickup's tone and a mic. So the differences between different pickups may be minimized.
But from your question, I get the idea that you are thinking of TD as some sort of synthesized sound module that gets triggered by the pickup. That's not how it works. The sound *is* your pickup, just processed. You could think of TD as a very sophisticated EQ (tho that's not doing it full justice). So far as I know, it can't produce any sound that isn't there in your pickup. For example, if you use a magnetic pickup and try to do body percussion, that isn't going to work. The pickup doesn't pick up that sound, so there's no signal there for TD to process. I suspect there are many more subtle ways that the pickup's inherent characteristics can't be completely eliminated, but it probably gets into splitting hairs. My vote would be to start with as good a sound as you can give to Tone Dexter, both from the pickup and the mic. It may not matter as much, since TD can try to make up differences, but I think you'd find some difference. Then again "better" is all subjective, you never know what will produce a sound you like. And I wouldn't go out and buy a better pickup just to use with TD - just let it do it's thing and improve the sound you have.
__________________
Music: Spotify, Bandcamp Videos: You Tube Channel Books: Hymns for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), A DADGAD Christmas, Alternate Tunings book Online Course: Alternate Tunings for Fingerstyle Guitar |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
|
#5
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
__________________
Music: Spotify, Bandcamp Videos: You Tube Channel Books: Hymns for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), A DADGAD Christmas, Alternate Tunings book Online Course: Alternate Tunings for Fingerstyle Guitar |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
I find the recorded sound I get with just the AP5pro is quite good when you get the mix of mic and pickup right. It's definitely a lot better than just the piezo and gets rid of a lot of quack. Exciting to see how much further the TD takes it. |
#7
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
__________________
Music: Spotify, Bandcamp Videos: You Tube Channel Books: Hymns for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), A DADGAD Christmas, Alternate Tunings book Online Course: Alternate Tunings for Fingerstyle Guitar |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
|
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
I'm curious, have you had any success with blending the Soloist and Pure Mini signals? I'm thinking that might be difficult because the Soloist is wired so that adjacent crystals are out of phase with each other. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Pickups with ToneDexter
Quote:
A distorted pickup produces overtones not present in the microphone signal (assuming the microphone is low distortion) and this tends to inhibit higher frequency accuracy in the resulting wavemap. Having said that, there is a diminishing returns effect in pickup choices - if a pickup is low distortion and has good balance, but is weak on high frequency content, TD will fix it. But if there are elements of the sound that are altogether missing from the pickup signal, TD has nothing to work with. I personally use multi-element K&K's on all my guitars as my preferred choice, but I have a couple that also have cheap USTs, and sound almost as good. |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
My guitar is fitted with a K&K pure mini and a Baggs Element (active) UST. Could you please comment as to which of these options would be a preferable feed to the ToneDexter? From your comment above, I am assuming it would be the K&K? I have a decent Audio Technica small diaphragm condenser mic arriving tomorrow, so I'm really excited about recording some wave maps and getting to grips with this new technology! |
#12
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
__________________
James May Audio Sprockets maker of ToneDexter James May Engineering maker of the Ultra Tonic Pickup |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
|
#14
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
Like everyone else on this forum, I'm always looking for ways to improve my live sound ... and often frustrated. On the other hand, it's a fun hobby. However, I often come back to this: what works well in my music room at home is not necessarily what works well on stage. In other words, "my guitar but louder" seems like a great idea, but in real life gig situations ... that may be a different thing altogether. BTW, Gary, the closest to the ideal that I have heard is the YouTube video with Cormac McCarthy (songwriter, not author) using a custom Aura image with the original AST AUra Blender. All that to say, I'd love to hear from those who are using the TD in real world gig situations. How's it working on the job, folks? Last edited by rb1591; 06-18-2017 at 07:41 AM. |
#15
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
|