Philsweep - Posted - 02/09/2009:  20:06:16

Hi,
I have played banjo with my band for many years and am now playing Dobro and 'banjo. I'm trying to get the best sound out of the dobro on the PA system and haven't been totally happy. I have a gibson hound dog with a fishman pickup. I usually just plug into the Pa system but we played at a venue with a sound system where I needed a pre amp to be heard. I used a zoom pso2 for my preamp since that is all I had the banjo worked fine but the dobro was tinny and thin. It could have been the effect I was using but I have had problems before sounding too tinny and thin with the pickup over the PA system. Any idea's would be great.
Thanks Phil

Mbradford6288 - Posted - 02/09/2009:  20:33:56

Need a secondary source. That pickup is going to be way to microphonic with any sort of body to the tone to not feed back. I would recommend a lace magnetic humbucker.

lacemusic.com/acoustic_pickups...specs.php

That's what I use, seems to work pretty well.

YMMV
Matt

Stringnut - Posted - 02/10/2009:  03:34:57

Phil - Look into the Aura pedal that Jerry Douglas uses. It's made to work best with the Fishman pickup and can mimmick many different mic set ups without feedback. You can Google "Aura Jerry Douglas" for multiple sources. I've included one source below.

elderly.com/new_instruments/items/FAP7.htm

Dan

Things are more like today than they''ve ever been before. --Spiro T. Agnew

Philsweep - Posted - 02/10/2009:  21:09:23

The Aura pedal is impressive and I have seen the you tube with Mike Auldridge but 250 is a lot of money to put into that. I think if I bring my amp and fishman i can get what I want.
Phil

Beard Guitars - Posted - 02/11/2009:  06:56:05

The Aura pedal is designed to be used with the new "Nashville" (Jerry Douglas) pickup, not the older "Classic" (do-nut) pickup.

We've tried the pedal with the older pickup and the differences between old/new are non-trivial. The new pickup is much more resistant to feedback. Use of the original pickup is much more likely to require additional eq/feedback elimination. Depends on the rest of your stage rig and the intended use of the guitar.

YMMV


Howard Parker
Beard Guitars, LLC
howard@beardguitars.com
301-733-8271

Edited by - Beard Guitars on 02/11/2009 07:00:03

DougB - Posted - 02/11/2009:  07:06:42

Hey Phil, I use a Sure SM57 and 58 to mike my guitar and reso its cheap and the standard of a lot of muscians. No feed back straight through the PA. A hundred bucks will take you all the way. The only small drawback is that you need to stand still while playing so your positioned at the right spot for the mike but practice will cure that. Should clarify that one mike is for vocal and the other for instruments. Dont remember which number is which but the SURE website can help with that. Anyway that mike cured a lot of problems, feedback ect and they are easily adjustable. There are some very good quality mikes that other folks around here use which are also fine but most any sound man you run into can adjust these with no problem. I can even adjust em, nuff said for now. Good luck, Pickngrin D.

Beard Guitars - Posted - 02/11/2009:  07:19:23

Mic's are typically MORE susceptible to feedback at high sound pressure levels, hence the need for a pickup.

That's why it's useful to understand what the entire stage rig/requirements are. Some players have to compete with keyboards, drums kits and a variety of plugged in instruments. Mic's are usually not the solution in those cases.....

Sure...we'd much rather play through classic mic's. It is not always practical.

ymmv

Howard Parker
Beard Guitars, LLC
howard@beardguitars.com
301-733-8271

Stringnut - Posted - 02/11/2009:  18:40:14

Howard - Thanks for making that distinction between the old and new Fishman pickups. I was not aware there was a difference but that's good information to know. I forget how technology marches forward and we are always improving things over time.
Phil - Sorry to hear it is out of your price range but don't feel too bad. I'm still playing an acoustic with a raised nut. But that will hopefully change soon. I've had pretty good luck running the pickup through the PA system with a little EQ and also running a mic at a lower volume to keep it from feeding back. The combination helps keep more of that acoustic sound rather than just running the pickup alone.

Dan

Things are more like today than they''ve ever been before. --Spiro T. Agnew

Philsweep - Posted - 02/11/2009:  18:55:37

Thanks for all the input. I will keep plugging away and someday maybe get the pickup and the aura pedal to go with it. I guess thats the ultimate solution.
Phil