#1
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My guitar is to quiet...
Hello, I recently bought a small PA system from Thomann with a thomann mixer, which are together really loud when I speak through my Beyerdynamic MCE 530 or when connect my laptop to it, but when I put the mic in front of my acoustic guitars the signal is pretty weak, and I couldn't turn the gain level up on the mixer enough because feedback would appear. Could a preamp like ART Tube MP in the chain help me to solve my problem, or did I made a completely wrong investment?
Please help because I have a gig coming pretty soon with the whole system together and I'm pretty worried about the whole thing. Thanks in advance, Marko |
#2
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Marco "If want to be happy, be." (L.Tolstoj) |
#3
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Just know that using a mic for guitar will usually be more challenging than a UST/SBT/mag pickup. You'll be able to get a lot more gain/volume before feedback with these. Keep this in mind when gauging your sound level requirements for your gig. For example, I wouldn't recommend using a mic for your guitar in a loud, raucous pub.
You may want to look into the LR Baggs M80 or a Fishman magnetic pickup that goes in the sound hole for an easy solution that doesn't require you to drill a hole in your guitar.
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#4
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Mica can work in relatively quiet rooms that don't have a lot of hard surfaces for sound to bounce off of. Be prepared to know that your guitar isn't going to be loud. You might get it to work if the listeners are relatively quiet. Positioning your mic and speaker is key. Get your mic away from the speaker as best as possible. You might need to put one or both of your speakers in front of you. I do fine using a Shure Beta 87a mic with a Bose L1 tower 15-18 feet away for a quiet audience of 50 in a reflective room. The guitar volume is okay for that situation.
This problem is not unique to you. It is why we are always discussing guitar amplification and pickups. Good luck. You'll get good advice.
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Vancebo Husband of One, Father of Two Worship Leader, Music Teacher Oregon Duck Fan Guitars by: Collings, Bourgeois, Taylor Pickups by: Dazzo Preamps by: Sunnaudio Amps by: Bose (S1) Grateful |
#5
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Adding more gain by putting an additional gain staging preamp might make it louder, but will make your feedback problem worse. If you are going to use a mic and need more volume, you need a more directional instrument mic, and some careful EQ / feedback suppression. In acoustic amplification, you are usually trading fidelity with volume. High fidelity at low volume and low fidelity at high volume. There are some pickup systems that perform better and provide more mic fidelity, but they are also expensive.
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"Lift your head and smile at trouble. You'll find happiness someday." |
#6
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A mic is almost always going to be much quieter than a pickup.
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#7
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If you love your guitars natural sound and don't want to modify your guitar at all, pickups aren't an option. Mind you, even adding a mic changes your tone as all mics colour your tone. A K&K is one of the least invasive and most natural sounding pickups. Widely used by solo performing acoustic players. Some people are quite happy with the more pricey soundhole pickups as well.
If you want to stick with the mic, you need to add something like a 4 band eq with at least dual parametric mids. Or something that has multiple notch filters to get rid of the offending frequencies (automatic preferred). Then you can increase your gain before feedback. Still, mics live are always trouble. Even with the K&K, I used my Aura Spectrum pedal for it's notch filter abilities. K&K's have nice bass, but it can get out of control on stage. The automatic notch filters fixed it in less than 10 seconds. Speaker placement is a BIG factor as well. Many people put a monitor right in front of them. This throws frequencies right back at the mic AND your guitar top. Try the speaker beside you or behind you. It made a big difference for me, even with my K&K setup. |
#8
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#9
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Hi, Marko... I see you're getting lots of suggestions, but to really help you help yourself it would be best to have more specific information. Villamarzia makes a very good point about positioning and Vancebo reinforces that. Positioning of the mains speakers, monitor speaker and the microphone itself are all critical. But for more accurate help you need to tell more: 1. PA. Brand and model of the mixer, speakers and any processing included. 2. Playing style. Strum, pick, fingers or what? 3. Size and configuration of room and stage. Width of the room and ceiling height are inportant. 4. Where will you be able to position the speakers? Do you have speaker stands? 5. Brand and type of your microphones. Links to your equipment will save time in preparing the best advice for you. Looking forward to your response.
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Harmony Sovereign H-1203 "You're making the wrong mistakes." ...T. Monk Theory is the post mortem of Music. |
#10
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A $29.95 dbx goRack could possibly help with your issues. I liked mine so much I bought a second.
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#11
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feedback before gain
Try it in a different room to see if that is your problem. If you still have it , move the speakers further away and in front further. Be careful with or perhaps even eliminate monitors and see if that is better. Experiment with mic placement relative to the guitar. I generally like it close-ish and pointed toward the guitar body at the 12th fret.
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#12
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Ditto on this. I keep wondering "what's the catch?" because they're so inexpensive, but these little guys are really useful.
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