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Old 02-17-2017, 02:42 PM
ericmeyer4 ericmeyer4 is offline
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Default Accoustic Through Effects Pedals?

I have the notion to run my acoustic through a few effects pedals. None of my acoustics have pickups. However, I do have an Audio Technica at pro 70 lav mic on the way.

What is the simplest way to do this? Using my existing gear I could go Mic > XLR to 1/4" ts cable > Pedals > HI-Z input on my preamp. The more I read up on this, I think I may need to get a low-z to high-z converter to fix the impedance signal coming from the mic.

Anyone try something like this? What were your results.

The other option is to install a pickup in my guitar, but I do not want to do that at the moment.

EDIT: I tested it and it worked okay, however I am not going to pursue it further. Additional comments below.

Last edited by ericmeyer4; 02-23-2017 at 10:05 AM.
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Old 02-17-2017, 03:25 PM
Irish Pennant Irish Pennant is offline
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Zoom A3 has an XLR input for a mic. The pedal has effects.
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Old 02-17-2017, 03:28 PM
ericmeyer4 ericmeyer4 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Irish Pennant View Post
Zoom A3 has an XLR input for a mic. The pedal has effects.
I already have the pedals.
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Old 02-17-2017, 04:40 PM
jstegeman jstegeman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ericmeyer4 View Post
I have the notion to run my acoustic through a few effects pedals. None of my acoustics have pickups. However, I do have an Audio Technica at pro 70 lav mic on the way.

What is the simplest way to do this? Using my existing gear I could go Mic > XLR to 1/4" ts cable > Pedals > HI-Z input on my preamp. The more I read up on this, I think I may need to get a low-z to high-z converter to fix the impedance signal coming from the mic.

Anyone try something like this? What were your results.

The other option is to install a pickup in my guitar, but I do not want to do that at the moment.
I, well my pastor, tried running the output from a condenser mic with external phantom power into a Play Acoustic box (effects pedal). It didn't work well.
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Old 02-17-2017, 04:47 PM
Silly Moustache Silly Moustache is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ericmeyer4 View Post
I have the notion to run my acoustic through a few effects pedals. None of my acoustics have pickups. However, I do have an Audio Technica at pro 70 lav mic on the way.

What is the simplest way to do this? Using my existing gear I could go Mic > XLR to 1/4" ts cable > Pedals > HI-Z input on my preamp. The more I read up on this, I think I may need to get a low-z to high-z converter to fix the impedance signal coming from the mic.

Anyone try something like this? What were your results.

The other option is to install a pickup in my guitar, but I do not want to do that at the moment.

.......... or you could buy a solid electric.
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Old 02-17-2017, 04:52 PM
lschwart lschwart is offline
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If you're going to run a lot of effects pedals, I'd suggest a pickup, perhaps a magnetic one. But if you're going to run a mic signal through pedals, then consider one of these:

https://www.eventideaudio.com/produc...oop/mixinglink

Or one of these:

http://www.radialeng.com/vocoloco.php

Louis
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Old 02-23-2017, 01:17 AM
M Hayden M Hayden is offline
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Another vote for a pickup.

I run a passive SBT to a high-quality preamp input (high impedance, to match the SBT) and then use the preamp's effects loop for pedals.

This improves the sound quality a great deal bc the pickup impedance is well-matched by the pickup input and the FX loop is designed to drive the pedal chain's generally lower impedance.
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Old 02-23-2017, 08:02 AM
MikeBmusic MikeBmusic is offline
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The mic needs a preamp to boost its signal up to a decent level prior to the pedals. Otherwise, if you get anything, its going to be a low level noisy sound. And a lavalier mic is not going to pick up an acoustic guitar's sound well to start with.
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Old 02-23-2017, 08:11 AM
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What Mike said above, guitar effects pedals are made to run on "instrument output signal levels", not mic signal levels.
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Old 02-23-2017, 09:12 AM
ericmeyer4 ericmeyer4 is offline
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I did some experimenting and the results were okay. Very prone to feedback. It was fun working on it, but it was not worth perusing.

I will say that At pro 70 lav mic did a great job of amplifying the guitar. The special guitar clip was easy to position. Putting it on the treble side of the body helped and using the built in filter helped control the boom.
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Old 02-23-2017, 09:29 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ericmeyer4 View Post
I did some experimenting and the results were okay. Very prone to feedback. It was fun working on it, but it was not worth perusing.

I will say that At pro 70 lav mic did a great job of amplifying the guitar. The special guitar clip was easy to position. Putting it on the treble side of the body helped and using the built in filter helped control the boom.
Oh running a mic into an instrument input will work, it is simply a signal mismatch and gain stage problem and just as you discovered the signal is so low that when you try to boost you get problems of either distortion or feedback As per Mikes post a preamp between the mic and pedals will almost assuredly make it work much better
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Old 02-23-2017, 09:38 AM
6L6 6L6 is offline
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Do yourself a favor and put a K&K Pure Mini pickup in your acoustic. I one in all of my acoustics and really like 'em.

My pedal setup for acoustic:

BOSS GE-7 EQ
BOSS RV-3 Digital Reverb/Delay
BOSS CH-1 Super Chorus
BOSS DM-2 Analog Delay (very important to place this pedal in FRONT of the CH-1)
BOSS TR-2 Tremolo
BOSS TU-3 Tuner



My most-used pedals are having the Analog Delay and Super Chorus on. Incredible sound!

Vintage DM-2 Analog Delays like mine are very expensive now. One reason is that they are also the choice of many harp players.

However, the new BOSS DM-2W Waza pedal is almost identical and would work very well too.
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  #13  
Old 02-23-2017, 09:49 AM
ericmeyer4 ericmeyer4 is offline
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I tried it a few different ways.

Mic (with built in power) > impedance transformer > pedals > DAW.

Mic (powered by phantom) > preamp > pedals > DAW

Mic (phantom) > preamp > pedals through the insert and back to the preamp > DAW

Mic (phantom) > amp > pedals in amps loop > DAW

1. worked okay. 2. was to much power. 3 and 4 were the best. However, I found for as often as I'm going to use effects it would be easier to add them in post if I ever decided I wanted them. It is not worth the effort to install a pickup or buy more gear.
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