Favorite Setting on Fishman Loudbox Artist

[wguitar]

Hi,

Just got my Fishman Loudbox Artist and have been playing with EQ. Solo, small venues using this amp only (no PA). 1 guitar, 1 vocal. Simple setup. Martin 00-28 & Larrivee OM-40W (both with K&K Pure Mini)

Wondering what EQ setting folks have found to produce nice sound on the Artist?

Thanks!

[GuitarLuva]

Well you can expect a variety of answers for that question. A lot of variables to consider like type of guitar, pickup system, vocal style, type of venue, etc. I'll will certainly share my settings with you. I have a few different types of setups that I use depending on where I'm playing but generally speaking my main guitar right now is a Gibson Songwriter Deluxe Custom with a passive Schatten HFN pickup. I always have the EQ set flat on that channel and never had to deviate from that. That pickup into the amp with a flat EQ gives a very good representation of the guitar. My vocal channel I usually turn up the treble to about 75%, mid flat and bass 25%, though my vocal EQ settings may change depending on the type of venue. I also add some reverb as well and that amount varies also.

[BoneDigger]

Moved to acoustic amplification where this might get more attention.

[noledog]

Hi OP,

* I play for a living and the Loudbox Series have and continue to be my main amps for many years. I play solo with my vox in ch 1 (sennheiser e945), my guitar in 2 (Takamine P3NC), thats it!

** With great consideration to the variables of your; style/attack, guitar/pickup, and venue acoustics I can give you a good place to start and then tweak from there as follows in "o'clock" settings i.e. set dial around 5 o'clock.

CH 1 VOX:

Gain-12 Low-1 Mid-8 High-11 AF-4 Phase-check for best sound in room

CH 2 GTR:

Gain-11 Low-10 Mid-7 High-8 AF-4 Phase-adjust to sounds best tonally and/or feedback

*** I don't use reverb, however I do use the delay for both channels setting the time at about 1 and on the vox: I set Effects level A at 9 gtr: at about 10... set Master Volume to taste, I'm usually between 11 and 1 o'clock. I set tweeter dial at 9 and my channel pads are in up position/disengaged. My Taks have onboard preamp that I tweak the guitars eq with as I go but your guitar may differ... the AF control helps cut those woofy, feedbacky, mids along with dialing them back on the Mid eq dial.

Try these to start with and tweak from there. I've helped a lot of folks new to this amp and started many of them with similar settings with good success. Of course it's easier when I'm there dialing in their guitar and all.

Once you found a good sound common starting point, mark the settings with a pencil on the amp. Then when you go from venue to venue and find what sounds good most of the time you can re-mark with a sharpie. this way when you set up, just set the dials to the mark, then tweak to the room. You can see marks all over mine LOL, but it works!

Here's a pic of my Artist with a common setting I use... the Gains and Lows are set lower when using at home LOL!!

eric

[Gordon Currie]

I don't have that amp (prefer a PA) but I've had many K+K pickups and they all seem to sound FAR better with a little low midrange cut around 200-250 Hz.

[wguitar]

Great input so far! THANKS! While I understand that there are many variables you all have provided helpful information. Hope others will chime in as well.

Cheers

[fiveoneseven]

The only tweaks I made from Noledog's settings, is that I turn down (sometimes off) of the echo Effect A, and instead turn on Effect B (set to Chorus 1) for both the vocal and guitar....and the depth right at the 12 o'clock setting. For me, sometimes the echo of Effect A makes my 517 Taylor guitar sound a little muddy. If I do have Effect A (echo) on...it's set very low.

Also let me say that Noledog's advice absolutely got me in the right direction, and I truly appreciate his post. Ironically after scouring the internet of the world for advice...it looks like Noledog and I happen to live in the same town....what are the odds?!?

Thanks again.

[noledog]

Originally Posted by fiveoneseven

The only tweaks I made from Noledog's settings, is that I turn down (sometimes off) of the echo Effect A, and instead turn on Effect B (set to Chorus 1) for both the vocal and guitar....and the depth right at the 12 o'clock setting. For me, sometimes the echo of Effect A makes my 517 Taylor guitar sound a little muddy. If I do have Effect A (echo) on...it's set very low.

Also let me say that Noledog's advice absolutely got me in the right direction, and I truly appreciate his post. Ironically after scouring the internet of the world for advice...it looks like Noledog and I happen to live in the same town....what are the odds?!?

Thanks again.

Yo 5-1-7,

* Glad this helped buddy! I tend to use just a touch of delay on both vocals and guitar. I use light chorus on guitar only for songs like Sailing and Edmund Fitzgerald. I’m not much for reverb or other effects.

* So you live on the First Coast ya say? Well come on out to one of my shows and chat. I mainly use the Loudbox Performer, the Artist is a backup, recording or small cafe amp for me. It’s a bit warmer then the Performer, very nice amp!

* Just click on the Coastal Acoustic Music link in my Signature below and it has my schedule and find a place that is convenient for you and come out for some noledog tunes and your welcome to plug that 517!!

[Goat Mick]

Originally Posted by noledog

Hi OP,

* I play for a living and the Loudbox Series have and continue to be my main amps for many years. I play solo with my vox in ch 1 (sennheiser e945), my guitar in 2 (Takamine P3NC), thats it!

** With great consideration to the variables of your; style/attack, guitar/pickup, and venue acoustics I can give you a good place to start and then tweak from there as follows in "o'clock" settings i.e. set dial around 5 o'clock.

CH 1 VOX:

Gain-12 Low-1 Mid-8 High-11 AF-4 Phase-check for best sound in room

CH 2 GTR:

Gain-11 Low-10 Mid-7 High-8 AF-4 Phase-adjust to sounds best tonally and/or feedback

*** I don't use reverb, however I do use the delay for both channels setting the time at about 1 and on the vox: I set Effects level A at 9 gtr: at about 10... set Master Volume to taste, I'm usually between 11 and 1 o'clock. I set tweeter dial at 9 and my channel pads are in up position/disengaged. My Taks have onboard preamp that I tweak the guitars eq with as I go but your guitar may differ... the AF control helps cut those woofy, feedbacky, mids along with dialing them back on the Mid eq dial.

Try these to start with and tweak from there. I've helped a lot of folks new to this amp and started many of them with similar settings with good success. Of course it's easier when I'm there dialing in their guitar and all.

Once you found a good sound common starting point, mark the settings with a pencil on the amp. Then when you go from venue to venue and find what sounds good most of the time you can re-mark with a sharpie. this way when you set up, just set the dials to the mark, then tweak to the room. You can see marks all over mine LOL, but it works!

Here's a pic of my Artist with a common setting I use... the Gains and Lows are set lower when using at home LOL!!

eric

Interesting to see that you keep the mids on both channels pretty much off. I never thought of trying that but I’m going to now. I normally run the mids and trebles of both channels between 11 and 12 o’clock and tweak as my voice can get a little thin at times. The lows on my guitar are about 3:00 and the vocals about 4:00. Mainly just to accentuate the low notes while singing and I like to get the guitar rattling the floor on songs like Folsom and Turn The Page. I feel like it helps cover for not having a bass player. I tend to eq a bit more for effect than I do for natural guitar tone.

[noledog]

Originally Posted by Goat Mick

Interesting to see that you keep the mids on both channels pretty much off. I never thought of trying that but I’m going to now. I normally run the mids and trebles of both channels between 11 and 12 o’clock and tweak as my voice can get a little thin at times. The lows on my guitar are about 3:00 and the vocals about 4:00. Mainly just to accentuate the low notes while singing and I like to get the guitar rattling the floor on songs like Folsom and Turn The Page. I feel like it helps cover for not having a bass player. I tend to eq a bit more for effect than I do for natural guitar tone.

Yo Mick,

Those settings are a starting point to tweak from and the settings I use on my Performer are a bit different since it has more power and a crossover feeding an additional midrange speaker. I roll the mids down and attenuate them by both the AF control and the EQ on my Takamine since by nature the guitar itself is full of mids. Also the Tak preamp/EQ provides plenty of thunder in the low end so it really depends on the guitar and your pickup/signal.

Since my voice is also full in the midrange, I flatten the EQ in the mids to bring great clarity to my tenor voice. I don’t like that “O” sound, it gets woofy and muddy. The AF control and phase make a huge difference. I use a Sennheiser e945 and they require a bit different eq then say Shure 57 or 58.

I get my guitar rumbling too on Turn The Page for the same reason plus to bring a dramatic effect; great song my friend!

[Scott of the Sa]

I have the original Fishman Loudbox. It works great for guitars and superior for vocals. Years ago I installed a KK pure western on one of my guitars. I could not ever get a sound I liked out of it so I removed it (and put it in the magic twanger where it does not work either)
Sometimes you need to get a sound that sits in the mix and does not sound perfect by it's self.
This amp should get you everything you need.

[leew3]

noledog is the man on this topic. I'm with him in that especially on my Taylors with the ES1 pickup I have the mids all the way to the left on the guitar channel. Less so if I'm playing my CEO 7 with K & Ks, where I dial down the bass a bit. In short, like much of life, it depends on the guitar and room. It's a great amp that will serve you well.

[Don W]

I have a Larrivee L09 with K&K and a loudbox mini. I set it up so that it sounds exactly like the unamped guitar but louder. I add just a touch of reverb too.

[doodahdoug]

I picked up a Loudbox Artist last Friday. I found Noledog's recommended settings (listed above) very helpful.

I achieved a good clear pleasing sound when playing a Grand Auditorium style guitar equipped with a Full Baggs Anthem and the same with a Jumbo guitar equipped with an Anthem SL.

The following day I plugged in a high end Small Jumbo guitar that is equipped with a K&K pure mini. At first I plugged that guitar directly into the Artist and found the sound unsatisfying at those settings or when tweaking the amp settings. Next, I plugged the K&K equipped SJ into my Baggs Venue DI and tried tweaking the settings from there. I still wasn't happy with the sound I was getting from this guitar which sounds great unplugged.

I haven't used the Venue often or in quite a while so I admittedly am not well versed at using the sweepable high and low mids controls.

I would appreciate comments from those use a K&K equipped guitar with a Fishman Loudbox amp (especially with a Baggs DI) on how they achieve a pleasing amplified sound.

[noledog]

Originally Posted by leew3

noledog is the man on this topic. I'm with him in that especially on my Taylors with the ES1 pickup I have the mids all the way to the left on the guitar channel. Less so if I'm playing my CEO 7 with K & Ks, where I dial down the bass a bit. In short, like much of life, it depends on the guitar and room. It's a great amp that will serve you well.

Originally Posted by doodahdoug

I picked up a Loudbox Artist last Friday. I found Noledog's recommended settings (listed above) very helpful.

I achieved a good clear pleasing sound when playing a Grand Auditorium style guitar equipped with a Full Baggs Anthem and the same with a Jumbo guitar equipped with an Anthem SL.

The following day I plugged in a high end Small Jumbo guitar that is equipped with a K&K pure mini. At first I plugged that guitar directly into the Artist and found the sound unsatisfying at those settings or when tweaking the amp settings. Next, I plugged the K&K equipped SJ into my Baggs Venue DI and tried tweaking the settings from there. I still wasn't happy with the sound I was getting from this guitar which sounds great unplugged.

I haven't used the Venue often or in quite a while so I admittedly am not well versed at using the sweepable high and low mids controls.

I would appreciate comments from those use a K&K equipped guitar with a Fishman Loudbox amp (especially with a Baggs DI) on how they achieve a pleasing amplified sound.

* Thank you fellas for the kind words and glad they are helpful. Of course the settings are a starting point. I use, in addition to my Tak's system, a mag with my D18. The settings, however, are not that much different.

** I wish I could help ya on the K&K, but I don't have one, however I am very familiar with the Venue. I would try bypassing the Venue at first and try to dial the best sound you can get with just the amp even if it's not as satisfying as you like. Set the mid to 7 o'clock, the AF control completely off at 7 as well. Dial in the gain/volume you want to play at, then bring in the bass then treble. Hit the phase and see which of the two is less "O" or mid-sounding because generally one of the two settings creates a woofier sound then the other. Then very slowly dial in the AF control, (which is sweepable mid control) until the balance of the frequency flattens out; usually between 4 and 5 o'clock. Close your eyes when you roll the dial very slowly listening to the frequency as you strum slowly across the strings. You may find offending notes and tones till you get to a sweet spot. You want to make sure trebles sound round without the mids becoming too out front. Then if it's a bit thin, dial in the mids very slowly to just give it a little bit of thickness; kinda like making batter for a cake; not too thick yet not watery thin.

*** Next turn on the Venue and with unity gain all set, controls set flat, and the notch filter off; because unless you have another offending note, this can become overkill. When engaging the Venue listen to make sure your phase sound is the same as it was with just the Artist. Now close your eyes and listen to the high B and E and tweak them to pleasure with the hi-mid control. You may find that you like those mids without bringing the whole sound up with more mids. This is where the Venue helps in fine tuning. So now you can maybe roll off the low-mids, yet add more bass if needed. By doing this, you've eliminated woofiness, yet fattened up your trebles. Add more sparkle if needed with the presence control to help bring some definition to the low E and A strings without being too bright and by back off some treble if needed.
At this point you should be good, however, say you get on stage and had everything dialed in, then you find a frequency that starts rising to quick into feedback; first hit the phase on the Venue to see if that stops it without changing your eq too much. If further help is needed, then you can turn on the Venue notch and dial out the offending frequency. This is a slow, listening exercise that will become second nature once you learn where to control the tone to achieve your desired sound from venue to venue.