In praise of the iRig Acoustic Stage

RalphH · #1 12-31-2019, 03:58 AM

I've been looking for a way to amplify and record my hummingbird which came without any electronics. I don't want to drill holes in it which limits my options, but I've tried a lot of options at one time or another on different guitars and know the relative strengths and weaknesses of piezo, K&K pure mini, mag pickups, and micing a guitar.

Enter the iRig Acoustic Stage, something that requires no guitar mods at all as it's a small mic that clips on the side of the soundhole.

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/product...acousticstage/

First I tried recording it straight into my Focrusrite audio interface to get a true sense of how it sounds though studio headphones and omg, it's better than my fairly decent dynamic mic! It really is extremely pleasingly natural.

Live, i've only tried it at jam type volumes, not at pub gig volumes, but I've nad no problems with feedback at all and haven't even needed the auto anti-feedback button. And it only cost me £70 on amazon!!

Great sound - check!
No guitar mods - check!
Installs in about 5 seconds - check!
No feedback issues (at jam volumes)- check!

I can't think of any downsides at the moment. It seems like it's better sounding than most, and more convenient than most. The only thing that would sound better imo is a good quality condenser mic, but that's not always a lot of fun to use live...

..and yet I've not seen these discussed much in the guitar community. Perhaps they've been written off as a toy given the price point? It even has an 1/4 input so you can plug your existing guitar piezo in and then blend it with the mic(!). AND it has a USB out so you can use it as a digital interface for recoding to a computer DAW. It even has a phase switch. Seems like it does just about everything you could think of in terms of amping or recording an acoustic guitar.

The volume knob even pop in and out like a ball-point pen so you can set it and pop it in so it doesn't get bumped. They really have thought this out.

It fits most guitars. The clip is actually not deep enough to fit my hummingbird properly due to the thick pickguard, but a little blob of poster putty (blu-tak) or double-sided tape keeps it in place nicely!

shufflebeat · #2 12-31-2019, 05:31 AM

Little bit of background:

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews...-irig-acoustic

I've been thinking of getting one of these for odd sound-tech gigs but haven't actually reached into the pocket yet. Cheers for the reminder.

guitaniac · #3 12-31-2019, 05:37 AM

I've tried using one at "pub gig" volumes. Its too feedback prone by itself, and when you use the little preamp blender to add a second pickup you end up needing a mess of wires and cables which easily get tangled up.

I've also noticed, from viewing recorded waveforms, that the signal gets severely compressed when you put the volume knob on full. I prefer to set the volume knob on halfway and get any additionally needed gain from elsewhere in the signal chain.

I recall seeing/hearing one iRig mic user have problems at an open mic because the host's PA system was set up for the stronger signal levels of more typical active systems with 9v power supplies (as opposed to the iRig mic's 3v supply). The hostess could have boosted the powered mixer's master level, but she was reluctant to do that because she would then have to lower the levels on all the mic channels which were already set up. (I should add that I helped out on this occasion by volunteering my outboard preamp to boost the signal to a compatible level.)

On the other hand, I totally agree that its a good little unit for recording or for low volume amplification. The automatic feedback zapper can help raise the amplification level a bit, but not enough (without royally compromising your tone) for a noisy bar gig.

Monsum · #4 12-31-2019, 07:17 AM

It can certainly sound natural although I couldn't get it sound as good as on the IK Multimedia videos.
Two problems I had with it were the flimsy cable which didn't seem to withstand the stage requirements and the second was uncontrolled feedback.
The feedback was worse than any pickup I've ever had including a K&K pure mini and a LR Baggs Lyric.
But I think for a quick recording at home it's a good and relatively cheap solution.

RalphH · #5 12-31-2019, 08:51 AM

From what I'm reading in the replies, it's probably perfect for my intended uses - home recording jamming, but not really for actually being 'on stage' which is a shame because they put 'stage' in the name!! Perhaps if they'd have called it the "iRig Acoustic Round The House" it'd be more kindly judged, though that doesn't sound nearly as cool

DownUpDave · #6 12-31-2019, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monsum

It can certainly sound natural although I couldn't get it sound as good as on the IK Multimedia videos.
Two problems I had with it were the flimsy cable which didn't seem to withstand the stage requirements and the second was uncontrolled feedback.
The feedback was worse than any pickup I've ever had including a K&K pure mini and a LR Baggs Lyric.
But I think for a quick recording at home it's a good and relatively cheap solution.

I have had this unit for a couple of years now and agree Monsum and guitaniac about it being extremely feedback prone at pub volume. Basically unusable, even with the feedback button engaged. I also plugged in the pick up so I was dual sourcing and it really dropped the volume level.

But RalphH I agree it has a very nice natural sound and works well in a normal environment. I have never recorded direct from it so I am glad to hear it has worked well for you in that application.

KevinH · #7 01-29-2020, 10:14 AM

I bought one of these about a year ago - just for use at home. My intention was to plug the iRig directly into my iMac or iPhone/iPad to record little snippets because I would forget them the next day.

I never got it to work correctly. I could get a signal into GarageBand, but it was always really weak, no matter how hard I strummed/picked the guitar. Tried both the iRig mic and the internal guitar pickups, calibrating the unit, and all that.

It sounds like those of you that have tried it have plugged it into some sort of amplifier. Got any low-cost recommendations?

FrankHudson · #8 01-29-2020, 10:55 AM

I've had good luck with mine, though I've never tested it on a noisy stage. It is a mic, not even an internal mic, not even a carotid mic, so I'd expect what others have said about it on a noisy stage. There's another factor I've noticed, it seem to pickup more picking noise for me (I flat pick, usually over the soundhole). True flesh fingerpickers might even like the increased attack.

But because it's a mic it sounds like a mic, while being more compact that any mic stand and external microphone could be, and of course it doesn't require the player to be consistent with position regarding an external mic.

I use it to add acoustic guitar parts in my cramped "studio B" (my small home office). There's no room to easily setup another mic stand or position the mic correctly, nor room treatment to make that sound as good as that could if I tried to use an external mic anyway. The iRig tracks sound pretty good to me (other than the issue with my pick noise, which I try to mitigate).

The other thing it's great for is that it so simple to move from guitar to guitar. I've even managed to use it on other non-guitar acoustic instruments.

I too worried about the thin cable between the "belt pack" and the mic, but so far I've had no issues with mine and I've had it since shortly after they came out.

nickv6 · #9 01-29-2020, 11:01 AM

I have one. I really liked he sound for recording. But the mic failed after just a couple of hours, so it got put in the drawer and never used again.
Nick