A little advise please-Quack from Pick up

[rmsstrider]

Originally Posted by Ghostpicker

Your #2 is a good option in terms of simple and inexpensive but just to muddy the water, how about a #4? Get the Play Acoustic and sell the Harmony Singer. The Play Acoustic does so much more than the Harmony Singer and you can really tweak the Bodyrez effects to get the sound you want for your guitar. I have the Play Acoustic and I think the body res makes my cheap Takamine sound awesome.

Seriously giving that choice consideration as well. Seems like there are multiple ways to go, all of which should help.

The Tonedexter sounds like an Aura pedal only instead of pre installed images, you make an image of your own guitar. The Aura uses Mics that are far superior to what I have to create the image. But I am told the Tondexter can give the same results with mics that are not that expensive. Gotta go noodle on my guitar for a while and make a choice.

[James May]

Originally Posted by rmsstrider

Thank you for chiming in. Very much appreciated. My current mics are Shure Beta 57A and Sennheiser E835, both pretty good mics , but not studio quality. Would either of these work?

Since they are both vocal mics, both those models are a bit peaky in the high end, and a bit weak in the bass. They may give usable results, but won't be optimal.

[Carbonius]

Originally Posted by James May

I'll chime in and address this. In theory the result is only as good as the mic used during training, that's true. But in practice it turns out that very modest mics (say $150) will yield results every bit as good as much more expensive mics. The criterion that makes a mic good for training is flat, even frequency response without peaks. Polar response doesn't matter, nor does self noise, as that washes right out of the training process. We can even train up perfectly on the NAMM show floor! That looks like magic, but the math supports it and it indeed works.

You could rent a mic that meets this criteria for a week rather than buying one (assuming a store around you rents). The purpose of this it to NOT need a mic, so no use owning something you won't want soon. I recall using a Shure condenser mic for a piano about 10 years ago that worked very well. They aren't too expensive to buy or rent. Something like this http://www.shure.com/americas/produc...ent-microphone

[rmsstrider]

Originally Posted by Carbonius

You could rent a mic that meets this criteria for a week rather than buying one (assuming a store around you rents). The purpose of this it to NOT need a mic, so no use owning something you won't want soon. I recall using a Shure condenser mic for a piano about 10 years ago that worked very well. They aren't too expensive to buy or rent. Something like this http://www.shure.com/americas/produc...ent-microphone

Good friends with local Music Shop Owners . Both Performers as well with excellent equipment and home recording studio. I am sure they would lend me a mic for training. What should i ask for? Probably they would know if I told them the application.?

[James May]

Originally Posted by rmsstrider

Good friends with local Music Shop Owners . Both Performers as well with excellent equipment and home recording studio. I am sure they would lend me a mic for training. What should i ask for? Probably they would know if I told them the application.?

That SM137 you cited will work okay. Better still would be a Shure SM-81. Some other good choices are:
Line Audio CM3
Neumann KM84 (if you are lucky enough to find one)

We've had good results with $50 measurement mics such as the Dayton Audio EMM-6. I would expect these to work too:
Nady CM 100
Audix TR40

We're working on putting together a more exhaustive list.

[Racerbob]

I have a McPherson Sable CF with the inbuilt pickup UST. It has the worst Quack I have experienced. One quick training session with the ToneDexter solved the problem totally. It has worked great with all of the guitars I have tried to date.

Compared to the Aura it is more flexible. It works with my guitar, not one that is "close to or like" my guitar. I have two different setups for the Sable, each done using a different mic location. And don't forget you can use the EQ knobs on the TonDexter to "tweak" the mic sample.

[Bruce Sexauer]

Yesterday (literally) I had what I think is a very interesting experience with my ToneDexter. I have a Flamenco guitar with a very creative pick up system made from a Schertler Stat-B string bass PU. Sounds terrible to me straight into the amp through a L R Baggs Gig-Pro (supplies phantom power) pre-amp. So I made a series of maps on the ToneDexter that gave me less than stellar results and finally found a map that was getting a great sound. Then I noticed that I had failed to save the map and was actually playing through an empty channel, using the ToneDexter as a pre-amp only. It seems the the device is able to attenuate the pick up to the amplifier (Unico) with very nice results all on its own.

I notice that the mic I am using is not on the approved list mentioned earlier in the thread. Hmmm. The map I made for the archtop seems great with all tone controls, TD and amp, absolutely flat, but with "character" in mode 2. Mode 1 is a bit dry to my ear. Really interesting tool.

[James May]

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

...

I notice that the mic I am using is not on the approved list mentioned earlier in the thread. Hmmm. The map I made for the archtop seems great with all tone controls, TD and amp, absolutely flat, but with "character" in mode 2. Mode 1 is a bit dry to my ear. Really interesting tool.

The mics I mentioned earlier in this thread are by no means a complete list. That's one of the reasons we've hesitated to name particular mics in the past.

We encourage everyone to experiment with whatever mic(s) they have. Just because small diaphragm mics with the flattest response are in general the best choice doesn't mean that your particular mic won't be outstanding on your particular instrument. Sometimes they just compliment each other by chance.

And I've said it before but I'll say it again, you can get really usable results with just a lowly 57 or 58. It's all relative, but that usually compares very favorably to most pickups that sound pretty one dimensional just by themselves.

[rmsstrider]

Well, I I may have found a temporary? Solution while I decide on a pedal. I forgot that I had a K&K Meridian clip on condenser mic in my bag. I pulled it out, put in a fresh battery, clip on, plugged in and lo and behold, the natural sound of my guitar.! Next I will try combining with the on board pickup and see if I can blend the 2.
Any thoughts?

[Carbonius]

Originally Posted by rmsstrider

Good friends with local Music Shop Owners . Both Performers as well with excellent equipment and home recording studio. I am sure they would lend me a mic for training. What should i ask for? Probably they would know if I told them the application.?

Go with James May reply about which mic above. I would consider him an expert on what works best with the Tone Dexter. I was just throwing out an idea with a general example.

[rmsstrider]

Originally Posted by James May

The mics I mentioned earlier in this thread are by no means a complete list. That's one of the reasons we've hesitated to name particular mics in the past.

We encourage everyone to experiment with whatever mic(s) they have. Just because small diaphragm mics with the flattest response are in general the best choice doesn't mean that your particular mic won't be outstanding on your particular instrument. Sometimes they just compliment each other by chance.

And I've said it before but I'll say it again, you can get really usable results with just a lowly 57 or 58. It's all relative, but that usually compares very favorably to most pickups that sound pretty one dimensional just by themselves.

So, can I use my K&K Meridian clip on Condenser Mic.?

[fotofantom]

Originally Posted by rmsstrider

I am not plugging in directly to the Bose. I am going from the guitar to an RFC Lpad6 Mixer then to the guitar input with the input selected for the guitar and mic via one cable from the mixer.

Since your guitar has built-in preamp, and, further, you are going through a mixer, you are not presenting a high impedance signal to your LC-1. Try switching the instrument input on your LC-1 OFF the guitar position.