Please stop to help a poor, needy techno-blind player :-) (updated BBE info in #19 )

Penrith Pete · #1 10-01-2018, 07:51 AM

oh, you did stop to help, thanks very much!!! :-)

I just need a few suggestions.

I play a mixture of folk, Americana and singer-songwriter stuff. I use two guitars as follows:

Dread with Shadow SH145 soundhole pickup with no EQ
000 with simple UST and 3 band EQ

They are both preamped.

When I play open mics I just take what comes my way when I stick the jack plug in - some places my guitars sound great, others pretty rough - usually through a simple house DI into the desk. For 10 minutes' set I am happy to gamble.

But when I get booked to play with my little folk group or solo, I don't want to gamble so much! I know my guitars are capable of sounding very respectable with no more than a touch of EQ-ing and either a touch of delay or reverb....just a touch - but sometimes they sound great, others rather bad through house PAs - always via a DI.

I would love to have one simple unit I could take with me that would probably come before the DI but could be instead of it, that would give me those things - both for the mag pickup and the UST. Something where I could be a bit more in control of my tone.

I really, really don't want to get into using multiple pieces of kit. Also, I don't need my plugged in sound to be really natural. I just need a nice, pleasant, listenable, even tone...predictably!

I am not looking to spend a fortune here either - perhaps around £200 or so.

Anyway, if you can think of a really good, versatile bit of kit that would help me to do this I would be most grateful.

I have spent a great deal of time reading threads on here but have ended up more confused than when I started so please forgive this new thread!

Thanks in advance!

JonnyBGood · #2 10-01-2018, 08:00 AM

Boss AD 10 will give you DI, delay, reverb, twin channels with EQ plus 'acoustic resonance' effect to help out that UST (plus things you didn't ask for like chorus and a looper :-)

250 new, under 200 second hand.

Penrith Pete · #3 10-02-2018, 03:03 AM

Thanks JBG

I appreciate the suggestion. They appear to rather more expensive than this in UK but I may have a scour round for a used on (although cheapest I have seen so far is nearer £400.)

However, I have seen a used AD5 for about £120 which seems to have pretty much what I need in terms of features.

Thanks again

Pete

JayBee1404 · #4 10-02-2018, 04:13 AM

I use a Source Audio Programmable EQ. It has four channels, each with seven-band EQ and Gain, which can be programmed separately and stored. There's an on/off button, which doubles as a scroll button to scroll through the channels.

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-an...D_BwE#full-des

Here it is on my pedal-board...2nd from the right:-

1DC417DD-F66A-4E45-B31F-D64204BEFFC4.jpg

JonnyBGood · #5 10-02-2018, 05:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Penrith Pete

Thanks JBG
I appreciate the suggestion. They appear to rather more expensive than this in UK

Pete I *am* in the UK, I bought one earlier this year.

£400? Where on earth are you looking?

https://www.andertons.co.uk/acoustic...itar-processer

https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/boss-ad-...ects-processor

https://www.thomann.de/gb/boss_ad_10..._preamp_fx.htm

Penrith Pete · #6 10-02-2018, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayBee1404

I use a Source Audio Programmable EQ. It has four channels, each with seven-band EQ and Gain, which can be programmed separately and stored. There's an on/off button, which doubles as a scroll button to scroll through the channels.

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-an...D_BwE#full-des

Here it is on my pedal-board...2nd from the right:-

Attachment 13465

Interesting! Thanks Jaybee!

Penrith Pete · #7 10-02-2018, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

Pete I *am* in the UK, I bought one earlier this year.

£400? Where on earth are you looking?

https://www.andertons.co.uk/acoustic...itar-processer

https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/boss-ad-...ects-processor

https://www.thomann.de/gb/boss_ad_10..._preamp_fx.htm

haha, thanks JBG, sorry about that. Yes, you are quite right of course. However, the first 2 that I found on ebay were freakishly priced, one new and one used. They were clearly not representative of course! Thanks again for this suggestion!

JayBee1404 · #8 10-02-2018, 01:17 PM

I should say that, with the Source Audio, you'd still need your DI, whereas the Boss would operate as a DI.

takatsukimike · #9 10-02-2018, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Penrith Pete

I play a mixture of folk, Americana and singer-songwriter stuff. I use two guitars as follows:

Dread with Shadow SH145 soundhole pickup with no EQ
000 with simple UST and 3 band EQ

They are both preamped.

But when I get booked to play with my little folk group or solo, I don't want to gamble so much! I know my guitars are capable of sounding very respectable with no more than a touch of EQ-ing and either a touch of delay or reverb....just a touch - but sometimes they sound great, others rather bad through house PAs - always via a DI.

I would love to have one simple unit I could take with me that would probably come before the DI but could be instead of it, that would give me those things - both for the mag pickup and the UST. Something where I could be a bit more in control of my tone.

The programmable EQ pedal is probably the way to go. My TC Helicon Play Acoustic gives different guitar EQ, Compression, bodyrez settings per patch, or if you want something more "hands on" you could always get a small mixer and have one channel for each guitar. Allen & Heath and Yamaha are reasonable value.

Personally I would bite the bullet and get 2 x LR Baggs para DIs, one for each guitar

Penrith Pete · #10 10-03-2018, 03:04 AM

Thanks for your help, everyone. Much appreciated.

varmonter · #11 10-03-2018, 05:56 AM

the baggs para di might be a good choice.

JonnyBGood · #12 10-03-2018, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by varmonter

the baggs para di might be a good choice.

Nice EQ but doesn't have delay or reverb which the OP said he wanted.

varmonter · #13 10-03-2018, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

Nice EQ but doesn't have delay or reverb which the OP said he wanted.

true but keeping it under 200 is a challenge.
Definitely going to have to do used if you
want any quality at all. the op could add effects pedals
later. Personally i would get a grace felix
two ch preamp and add pedals. but that's over
budget. the boss ve8 is a nice unit and would
take care of vocals as well but again over budget.
and one channel.
It would be nice to have two channels so you could
just switch from one guitar to the next and
not have to fiddle with tweaking knobs.

JayBee1404 · #14 10-03-2018, 11:43 AM

The OP said his budget is <£200. The Grace Felix, in the UK, costs €1,199, that's £1,068. A tad over-budget methinks!

Penrith Pete · #15 10-04-2018, 02:21 AM

haha, yes, Jaybee - a touch on the rich side for me! But thanks for the thoughts everyone.

I think maybe the reverb / delay is not essential but I have noticed that when I go straight into a desk in a 'bouncy' room, I have a much better chance of a nice sound than in a dead room so I would like to be able to dial a bit of bounce back in when in deader settings.

Thanks again, everyone

PS - is there any mileage at all in something like the Zoom AC2 or does it all start to sound a bit too processed?