Help on sound system configuration

[beanpole]

Greetings,
I have a basic knowledge in the electronic department and am trying to upgrade my system in my music room. Presently my setup is my vocal mic into a Fishman Loudbox Mini. Also my acoustic guitar with a Schatten HFN passive pickup into a Behringer ADI21( I feel it sounds better through this rather than direct) on into the instrument channel of the Loudbox. Then XLR out to a mic channel on my Soundcraft Notepad 8FX. Then out to 2 powered speakers(Behringer B210D). I have a Boss RC-30 looper I use on more basic setups but am unsure on how to incorporate it into this setup without messing something up. I only use minimal effects like some reverb and such and would like them in the looper. Any and all suggestions would be most welcome. The Loudbox is probably redundant and really not necessary as I set one speaker high on a pole behind me which acts as a monitor. I'm trying to set this up for future private functions with some friends. Thanks

[Chipotle]

What are you trying to accomplish that isn't covered by your current setup? How large will the performance space(s) be? Do you need to incorporate other instruments, vocals, or other musicians?

If it's just you playing guitar, it sounds to me like you have everything you need. Yes, the Loudbox may be redundant in many situations, but the setup you describe might come in handy if you need more volume for a bigger/noisier space. Put the speakers out in front of you and use the Loudbox to monitor. If you don't need that, just go from the DI/pedals right into the mixer, and have a speaker "high and behind" to monitor.

As for the Looper, I don't use one but the looper and any effects pedals would come between the preamp and the amp or mixer. Usually the other fx ahead of the looper, assuming you want the looped sound to have the fx on it:

DI > fx like reverb > Looper > amp/mixer.

[beanpole]

Thanks Chipotle, I think I created some confusion because I combined two different issues. You are right about different ways of setting up and using the Loudbox as a monitor or speakers behind. I'll have to play with it and see what works best. I guess it will all depend whether it's solo or with others, etc. As far as the looper goes I really just use that for practicing at home and thought it would be fun with the bigger sound. My issue is that I don't have a reverb pedal and can only get any effects through either the Loudbox or the mixer. I'm not sure how to configure it so the looper will play back with the effects so I can play along with it. Thanks

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by beanpole

As far as the looper goes I really just use that for practicing at home and thought it would be fun with the bigger sound. My issue is that I don't have a reverb pedal and can only get any effects through either the Loudbox or the mixer. I'm not sure how to configure it so the looper will play back with the effects so I can play along with it. Thanks

Yeah, looper pedals aren't really designed to go *after* the amplifier or mixer. But the RC-30 has a mic-level XLR input. You could go into the Loudbox, use the Loudbox effects, run the Loudbox DI output (which is mic level) into the RC-30 mic input, and then to the RC-30 into a couple mixer channels, and on to the speakers. That means you'd have to use all the gear to play with the looper at home, but it seems like it would be possible.

Edit: If you just run in mono, you could take the mono (L) output of the RC-30 right into one of the Behringer speakers and skip the mixer, to simplify things a bit.

[beanpole]

Thanks for the ideas. I really think my main problem is I don't have a firm grasp on the differences between mic level, line level and instrument level. Hence I'm always concerned I will fry something. I guess I just need to buckle down and work on understanding all that better. Thanks