Your first order of business is to be sure your guitar is in good working order. Is the action adjusted so you feel you can play your best? For the kind of gigs I do—solo fingerstyle instrumentals—the action can make or break a gig. Are the strings new or should they have been buried last week because they are D-E-A-D, dead? Whenever possible, I like to change strings before soundcheck because I want to give the soundman an accurate representation of what the audience will hear during the gig.
Think about it: If you do your soundcheck with dead strings, the soundman may feel a need to bump up the high-end frequencies to compensate for your deep, thuddy tone. Is your guitar strap okay or is it going to break or pop off in mid-song and launch your guitar into the third row? Believe me, it can happen. Do yourself a favor and check your strap from time to time.
Pay close attention to the slits that encircle the strap buttons. Eventually they stretch out and lose their grip. If you have onboard electronics, periodically install a fresh battery. Nothing is worse than the crackly sound that occurs right before your pickup dies. And if it can die during your favorite piece, it will. It has happened to me and it is not fun. My personal favorite is the AER Compact In fact it works so well for me that I bought a second one to have as a backup.
That was around , and so far the only thing that has ever gone wrong was when I played on a military base running on a questionable power source and the amp kept blowing fuses.
If you elect to take the acoustic amp route, remember to pack spare fuses in your emergency kit. Occasionally a venue will have stage monitors that are just bad—no life in them, too thin sounding. In those instances, I ask the soundman to turn off the stage monitors entirely and I just use my AER. The DI is usually located onstage and placed directly in front of you, your chair, or your mic stand. As with amps, there are lots of makes and models of DI boxes. Many are battery operated, but some can run on phantom power from the console.
A Countryman DI is great. It has 5-band EQ and that can be a big plus for shaping your tone and also notching out feedback. It has an onboard 3-band EQ, a simple one-knob compressor, a chromatic tuner, and a footswitchable anti-feedback circuit. Using a blend knob, you mix in the replicated sound of a miked guitar with your live signal to create an amalgam of the two.
Before you purchase a DI box, try out as many as you can. Photo by Andy Ellis. Here, as with all of my gear, I like to keep it simple. I go out of my guitar into my DI first. The DI feeds the house mixer, but I also take a second line out from the DI and go into my acoustic amp.
This is different from most guitarists, who will typically go into their amp first, then from their amp into the DI, and then to the mixing console after that. I choose my approach because I want the DI to color the sound before it hits my amp.
I want to hear what the soundman—and ultimately, the audience—is hearing. Last week I did a gig in Nashville, where I live. It was at the convention center and it was for 1, people who were all seated at dinner tables.
I was to give a talk and then play one tune. To turn on a system, you want to turn on the mixing desk first, then the speakers. This alleviates any pops or unwanted sound escaping through the speakers that could potentially harm them. To pack back down you want to do this in reverse order, so turn the speakers off THEN the mixing desk off, this is once again to protect your speakers!
Moving on though! For this system we will be using a very similar setup as the active system: note — the items in this list are also links to categories on our main website so you can browse at your leisure! The power amplifier is there to power the speakers, and the new leads are for connecting the mixer to the power amplifier, and the output of the power amplifier to the inputs of the speakers. For a passive system you want to turn on the mixer first, then the power amp — to pack down it is reversed, so turn the power amp off, then the mixer.
This is to prevent any damage to the amp and speakers, the same way it is with an active system. With either system turned on and ready to go, you have to decide what you want your sound source to be — in this example we have both a microphone and an RCA lead for music.
Grab your microphone, your XLR lead and plug the bottom of the microphone into any channel in the mixing desk the lead will only go one way — female into the microphone, male into the desk. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
Thread starter Bob Diesel Start date Jan 27, Bob Diesel Member. Messages 1. Hey guys, brand new to the forum so forgive me if I'm in the wrong spot. I'm looking to buy a PA setup for some acoustic gigs soon. After days of research I still can't pin down what I want or need, as I don't have much experience with gear. I have been eyeing the JBL Eon One linear array because of its portability, but I'm seeing mixed reviews on sound quality and low end.
Does anyone have any experience with either one? Probably playing smaller venues like breweries and wineries, so nothing too crazy. Thanks for the help! Chip Dixon Member. Messages You should really play through those speakers and see what you think about them before buying them. A lot of people who buy plastic speakers..
Features don't really matter any more at that point. They may sound great for your application. Take them out for a jam and have some friends there to help give you an honest opinion too.
Numbers on paper and feature lists aren't what anyone is listening to at your show. So don't focus on those as much as what sounds best to you. I am always willing to put up with the weight difference to have the sound of solid wood cabinets personally. John H Gold Supporting Member. Messages 4, Lots of discussion on this, over there. Messages 1, Total Power:. Frequency Response:.
Control App:. This unit delivers excellent flexibility, convenience, portability, and outstanding performance. The product is excellent, the reviews are fantastic, and the price is just right. You should give it a try. For a full, detailed review of the Bose L1 Pro8, click here. The SAx is a rugged, lightweight, good-looking, and easy to set up PA system perfectly tuned for vocals and acoustic instruments, appropriate for all your acoustic amplification needs.
Designed by Fishman, this system is built around a uniquely configured 2-way line array speaker system that delivers crystal clear sound performance aimed for live performance of vocals and acoustic instruments. It is the perfect solution for amazing sound in small and medium-sized venues, corporate displays, clubs, or similar sized venues with excellent sound quality.
The SAx can be used alone for a solo gig, or it can be expanded as a part of a bigger sound reinforcement system. It provides the flexibility of linking two or more SAx together and adding the Fishman W SA Subwoofer specially designed for the SAx PA system to accentuate the lower frequencies and provide a fuller sound. The SAx features a uniquely configured 2-way speaker system that delivers all the sweetness and definition of a great studio monitor, but in a live stage.
Fishman designed the speakers and tweeter to have a wide dynamic range and reproduce the full range of frequencies of acoustic instruments and vocals. This system can deliver detailed sound at impressive volume levels while providing balanced audio throughout small to medium-sized venues for audiences between 80 and people.
This PA system can also be used outdoors, delivering detailed crystal-clear sound to your audience. However, even though the overall volume decreases, this system can still deliver good volume for venues between 80 to people in outdoor events such as weddings, gatherings, etc. Fishman designed the SAx using modern industrial techniques. The enclosure is made of extruded aluminum, making it very strong and lightweight. The speakers and tweeters use powerful neodymium magnets instead of regular ferrite magnets, making the system lightweight when compared to traditional systems that use ferrite magnets.
These magnets are smaller and lighter than ferrite magnets but have stronger magnetic fields, making each speaker smaller, lighter but delivering a lot of sound power.
It boasts a wealth of features, which are suitable for a variety of different purposes. If you are a singer-songwriter performing indoors or outdoors, then this is easily one of the best PA systems for guitar and vocals.
This system is perfect for those that need something compact but still packs a punch with a healthy dose of sound. The Bluetooth functionality allows you to hook up your mobile devices to blast music through the speakers. One of the reasons why this JBL is one the best affordable PA system for acoustic guitar and vocals is due to the massive number of features that have been packed into such a small bit of kit. These features are more than enough to whet the appetite of both casual and professional users alike.
0コメント