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#46
11-12-2020, 05:01 PM
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I am sure some of you are getting tired of hearing me gush about my new Dazzo/Tonedriver/Tonedexter setup, but I feel that a little more information is in order. What I have experienced is that this guitar now sounds very good with the Dazzo/Tonedriver pre-amp into a powered speaker or p.a. It sounds night and day different than the K&K that I replaced. No low midrange mud to dial out. There is a lot of detail and clarity of sound. Not much EQ needed. However, I do prefer much more playing this through the Tonedexter. For myself I find that the Tonedexter makes it sound like playing through a microphone. Doug said in an earlier thread that using the Tonedexter with a Dazzo equipped guitar, the amplified guitar tone did not seem to benefit much with the Tonedexter. I have not found this to be my case. As good as the Dazzo pickup is, I hear a definite benefit from using it through my Tonedexter. The Dazzo is very good without the Tonedexter, but with the Tonedexter, it is icing on the cake. This combination without a doubt is much better than the K&K through the Tonedexter. Also, the Tonedexter might be making up for a less than ideal install job when I installed the Dazzos. I did not try moving the Dazzos around to find a sweet spot. I put the little triangular transducers where they looked right to me, but perhaps Teddy Randazzo would have installed them a little different. I am so pleased with my amplified sound now that I don't think it matters. I have to believe that using the Tonedexter, it is possible that it can make up for the deficiency of a less than perfect pickup install job. One other thing to note. Because the Dazzo pickup came pre-wired to the Sunnaudio Tonedriver pre-amp, I don't know how the Dazzos sound without the Tonedriver. Does the Dazzo equipped guitar sound good through the Tonedexter without the Tonedriver pre-amp? I'm sure it would, but I can plug this guitar straight into a p.a. without the Tonedexter and still get a great sound. I believe this is the ultimate setup for me. Single-source and simple. I do plan on eventually putting this same setup in a couple other of my guitar. Sell your Tonedexter? Sacrilege! Just kidding. But mine isn't going anywhere.
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#47
11-13-2020, 11:03 AM
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I have used the Tonedexter and the Sunnaudio preamps. Both real good, but not the same. You call a TD an improvement, I call it different versions of real good. No reason somebody wouldn't be happier with either. The best benefit for the TD user is when the pickup stinks. The TD does an amazing amount of correction in one magic trick. I just feel the Dazzo doesn't need what the TD delivers. The magic of the MS-2 is it's capabilities that the TD doesn't have.
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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 
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#48
11-13-2020, 12:47 PM
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I use the Dazzo pickup in 4 guitars, UltraTonic pickup in one guitar and Schatten pickup in 2 guitars. I used K&K exclusively for almost ten years and "upgraded" to Dazzo, UltraTonic, Schatten. Still have K&Ks in my 12-string, classical guitar, bouzouki, Weissenborn, mandolin. On these K6K installed instruments the TD does wonders, especially in the super boomy K&Kish sounding classical.
This summer I had a CD release open air gig playing several (seven) instruments using the TD exclusively. I bypassed the TD when playing steel string guitar (Dazzo) and used the TD wave maps when playing mandolin, classical, bouzouki, weissenborn, dobro, banjo. The tech was very sensitive to true acoustic sound. He smiled during sound check and commented: "No matter which instrument you play, they all sound great with EQ flat ! Never had that before." Same experience as Doug Young: No improvement with the Dazzo/TD, but significant with K&K/TD.
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Blazer & Henkes, vintage Martins & Gibsons, Altman, Martin 00016 Streetmaster mandolin family, Weissenborn, dobro, lap steel, pedal steel, 5-string banjo live gear: Dazzo, Schatten, K&K, Mimesis Kudos, Schoeps CMC6MK4, DPA4061, Neumann KM85, Grace Felix 2, SunnAudio, ToneDexter, RedEye https://www.youtube.com/@roberthasleder1526
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#49
11-13-2020, 12:57 PM
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#50
11-14-2020, 04:56 AM
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UltraTonic is a great sounding pickup and such a clever design. Has all the pros of the K&K without the cons. I like it a lot with just a little EQ (bring down the upper mids a bit) when not using the TD.
But with the TD wavemap dialed in it's perfect. Audible improvment.
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Blazer & Henkes, vintage Martins & Gibsons, Altman, Martin 00016 Streetmaster mandolin family, Weissenborn, dobro, lap steel, pedal steel, 5-string banjo live gear: Dazzo, Schatten, K&K, Mimesis Kudos, Schoeps CMC6MK4, DPA4061, Neumann KM85, Grace Felix 2, SunnAudio, ToneDexter, RedEye https://www.youtube.com/@roberthasleder1526 Last edited by guitarman68; 11-14-2020 at 03:30 PM.
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#51
11-14-2020, 10:09 AM
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#52
11-14-2020, 10:56 AM
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So I just want to put in a simple man’s impression of the Tonedexter. I know some find it wanting, but I also know there are some people for whom the pursuit of the perfect sound is an endless Ahab-like search for the white whale. I think these people are perpetually dissatisfied, but God bless them anyway…
For me, the difference between my Martin OM and K&K’s without the Tonedexter and with the Tonedexter is so dramatic that it is hard to overstate. But I am not an endless tweaker, I like a tool that just works and delivers the goods and I am grateful for that. I have playing through the Tonedexter now for a couple of years, and I never get over it. So I agree with the “dead cold hands” comment. While I respect anybody who is deeply committed to the restless searching for perfection in all things, I would just like to take a moment to wash James May’s feet with my grateful tears for inventing this little guy…
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2003 Martin OM-42, K&K's 1932 National Style O, K&K's 1930 National Style 1 tricone Square-neck 1951 Rickenbacker Panda lap steel 2014 Gibson Roy Smeck Stage Deluxe Ltd, Custom Shop, K&K's 1957 Kay K-27 X-braced jumbo, K&K's 1967 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Nashville 2014 Gold Tone WL-250, Whyte Lade banjo 2024 Mahogany Weissenborn, Jack Stepick Ear Trumpet Labs Edwina Tonedexter
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#53
11-14-2020, 03:14 PM
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As one big Dazzo/SunnAudio fanboy, I will tell you this, If I had six guitars with various pickups in them, pure economic considerations would lead me to give the Tonedexter a try. I think I had Dazzos in at least three guitars before Tonedexters arrived on the scene. Perhaps If I had to go buy a good mic, it would change the economics, but I think my modest mics would do the job.
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2007 Martin D 35 Custom 1970 Guild D 35 1965 Epiphone Texan 2011 Santa Cruz D P/W Pono OP 30 D parlor Pono OP12-30 Pono MT uke Goldtone Paul Beard squareneck resophonic Fluke tenor ukulele Boatload of home rolled telecasters "Shut up and play ur guitar" Frank Zappa
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#54
11-14-2020, 10:11 PM
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Angie
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#55
11-16-2020, 12:14 AM
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Yeah ... I agree with the OP, I love my TD for recording and studio but playing a few gigs this year reinforced for me that my TD just doesn’t cut it when I have to raise the volume. In the right circumstances, I would heartily recommend a TD, as others have already noted, for me it is time to move it along.
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Custom Breedlove 12 string guitar Breedlove Deschutes 6 string guitar Deering 12 string banjo Custom Emerald X20-12 guitar
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#56
11-20-2020, 01:40 PM
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I also sold mine. I couldn’t get a sound I liked. At the time, I was using the Schatten HFN, which to my ears accentuates the high frequency. For some reason, the WaveMaps I was able to create further accentuated the high frequency and became ice-picks in my ears that I just could not EQ out. (I seem to recall another AGF’er who had this same issue with Tonedexter and the HFN, but can’t remember who. Note that James May says others have had success with the HFN, so YMMV.) In addition to this, there was always something slightly distant and hollow about any WaveMap I created. It was a sound that I noted not just in mine, but in samples from others, including James May’s. Different mics and different mic-placements all exhibited this issue. Dialling in more direct signal with the Character knob made the high frequency issue worse. Admittedly, this was early on in my acoustic amplification journey, so I may not have been doing it “right,” but I just couldn’t get it to work, and therefore it wasn’t the product for me. I actually have a Voiceprint DI on order and am hopeful it can contribute to my ongoing amplification journey. We'll see...
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#57
11-20-2020, 02:11 PM
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From my perspective (FOH mixer, mainly) I'd love to be able to spend some time with one "in situ," with a stage and a PA and (ideally) a band, to really sort the thing out. I suspect that it'd be like getting a prescription for eyeglasses (A or B? Now, B or C?). I also suspect that what sounds good over a club PA might not be what sounds good to the artist at home. Because that doesn't seem to be reliably working in reverse.
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#58
11-20-2020, 02:21 PM
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#59
11-20-2020, 02:32 PM
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Funny, I actually preferred the Tone Dexter at loud volume! I guess there are other factors as well.
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#60
11-20-2020, 03:50 PM
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 James May could possibly have brought out a Tonedexter Light in a mini box, one sound no adjustments! This is it, all you get! BluesKing777. Last edited by BluesKing777; 11-20-2020 at 05:39 PM.
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