Help amplifying a banjo
fingerpickin'good
I was told to come here to find answers to my questions. Anyways what
I would like to do is amplify my banjo and not have to rely on the
house for pa etc.. the bars I plan to play are generally smaller. I
suggested I just buy a transducer and plug right into the board but
was told by a bandmate the pa sucks and can't handle a banjo. Then
again he is a lead guitarists and does not have any experience with a
banjo so he could be wrong. I want to play bluegrass, rockabilly, and
Jazz. So not only do I want my tone to be as natural as possible I
would also like to be able to play with the sound somewhat, effects
and the like. I was hoping I could get a rig for 600$ mabye 700$. What
I was thinking, keep in mind I know nothing of amplification-- I could
get an acoustic amp with a mic channel and instrument input such as
california blonde but something less expensive like a carvin AG100D
and combine micing and a transducer, but there is all this fuss about
a preamp though, what exactly is it? how does it work? My reasoning
behind the mic/transducer combo was for natural sound but I am
starting to get the impression a preamp can give me that natural sound
without the mic, and generally when amplifying a banjo a mic should be
avoided. Well I gave some background info on my personal situation now
I guess my main question.. Can any reccomend a complete set-up for
under 700$? and if I am aiming to low its cool remember I am a newbie,
I know this stuff is expensive. I was hoping I could find the best
route to go then get the better part set-up and go try out amps. I
would greatly appreciate specific makes and models. As far as
transducers go that seems like an easy pick either Jones or Mcintyre
seem to be proved product, but picking a preamp seems quite a bit
harder seeing as how I know next to nothing about them so I guess this
is my main problem area.. once I get these two things rigged up I can
start testing out amps but it would help to know where to start. I am
starting to lean more towards this set-up as opposed to my previous
suggestion, but I am open to any suggestions and reccomendations.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post, and thanks again if you
decide to reply.
Gavin Ramsay
<how do I amplify my darn banjo?>
Hi there,
A lot depends on how you perform - your needs may be different if you're
a solo act or part of a group. Do you play a lot of different venues?
Using random (sometimes crappy) house gear? What sort of crowds do you
play to? Noisy? Attentive? Sitting or standing? How much setup time are
you prepared to do each gig?
In some ways a solution like a great accoustic amp would work -
especially if it has a post-preamp DI so you can plug this into good PAs
if you ever see one! It'd be easy to cart around and not take ages to
set up. BUT if you want to sound "natural" it might not be enough for a
busy standing drinking audience - you'd probly need some speakers on
stands for that monster.
Oh, and you'll need to get some paragraphs too.
:-)
Good luck,
Gavin
--
Gavin Ramsay
Herringbone Productions
Scotland
BillHart,KarenPierce
fingerpickin'good wrote:
>amplify my banjo
One set of gear selected from what folks around me are using would be
the McIntyre pickup, a Baggs Paracoustic preamp/DI, and some model in
the Fender Acoustasonic amplifier line.
This would be a fairly flexible setup and could be had with some ebay
shopping for your price range.
The Acoustasonic is pretty good on various instruments, and as the name
suggests is not made to give an electric guitar tone. It has a mic
input that you could use for vocal or for your banjo if the pickup
didn't work out. There are probably lots of other brands/models that
will work, but 2 of my friends use these so I'm more familiar with
them. Read about them and compare to any other candidates.
Most piezo pickups are, well, picky about what they are connected to.
When connected to the average guitar amp input, or the average DI box,
it just can't push the bass and low midrange enough to keep up with the
treble. So you need a high impedance preamp. My brother has a
Fishman on his banjo and it really needs a super high impedance to have
good tone. We are pretty happy with the McIntyre on my wife's hammered
dulcimer, and may be a touch less fussy but there isn't a whole lot of
bass to be picked up on the dulcimer to begin with.
You could buy just a preamp, but the Paracoustic will serve as a very
high impedance preamp, give you several tone controls to play with, and
can supply either 1/4" line or XLR output to a house sound system, or
else drive your guitar amp from it. We use it with the McIntyre on the
dulcimer if it is going into a portable amplifier so as to have the tone
controls.
BH
George Gleason
I can not remember ever working with a Banjo that used anything except a mic
in front of it
a SWR california Blonde amp would be a good choice for acoustic back line
try over at rec.music.nakers.guitar.acoustic for your backline question
this groups main thrust is PA work
George
Charlie Escher
> I can not remember ever working with a Banjo that used anything except a mic
> in front of it
Tony Furtado stands out for the other approach. He's used the Rane AP13
acoustic processor rack unit at all the shows I've mixed for him:
http://www.rane.com/ap13.html . That fed an old Fender tube amp with a
15 inch speaker,plus a Polytone solid state amp, IIRC. The AP13 has a
built in DI, and inputs for two different pickups, or a pickup plus a
mike. I think he used a Fishman pickup, but he may be using something
else now. Sometimes I've miked him separately in addition. A rig like
this will cost a lot more than $700 though.
You could try emailing Tony directly for more current info, as I haven't
dome any of his shows for a year and a half: TFhe...@aol.com
luck,
Charlie Escher
Scott
"fingerpickin'good" <cosmic_c...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ec5e6a08.03072...@posting.google.com...
> Hello everyone,
> I was told to come here to find answers to my questions. Anyways what
> I would like to do is amplify my banjo and not have to rely on the
> house for pa etc..
news:vi1fl0o...@corp.supernews.com...
> George Gleason wrote:
> > I can not remember ever working with a Banjo that used anything except a
mic
> > in front of it
>
> Tony Furtado stands out for the other approach.
Bela Fleck's setup can be found on his site. Of course, this is like a
cost-no-object setup, but maybe it will add perspective to the search for
the system that will work for you.
Béla's main instrument is his pre-war Gibson Banjo. It has the original
metal ring and wood back. The neck is a custom arched neck made by John
Monteleone. The banjo is amplified with a combination of a Jones Pick-up and
a Shure SM-98 microphone. He uses a custom internal pre-amp to boost the low
level from the Jones pick-up. This takes place before connecting with the
SM-98, cutting down on the crosstalk created by combining the mic and
pick-up in the same cable.
His acoustic setup is a Chard Stuff AcH-104. This pre-amp is designed by
house engineer Richard Battaglia. Also included in the acoustic rack is a
KlarkTeknik DN 410 parametric equalizer in line with the pick-up. The G
Force made by t c electronics is also in line to provide reverb and other
effects with the pick-up.
The pick-up and mic are combined in the house mix to get the acoustic sound.
Béla's electric banjo is a Deering Crossfire. He has modified it by changing
to EMG pick-ups and pre-amp. It is currently outfitted with a Yamaha midi
pick-up. This pick-up is connected to a Roland VG-8 and a Roland GI-10 midi
interface.
Béla uses a variety of units for the electric sounds. One unit is the
Digitech GSP 2101. He sometimes uses a Roland JV-2080. Recently, he's been
experimenting with two new stompboxes called moogerfooger
AnalogEffectsModules by Bob Moog.
The electric banjo is connected to the Digitech / Roland through a Samson
UR-5D wireless.
Both the acoustic and electric banjos are monitored on stage with a Trace
Elliot TA 2000S amplifier. Synths and guitar are only heard through his 'In
the Ear' monitors.
Scott
"fingerpickin'good" <cosmic_c...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ec5e6a08.03072...@posting.google.com...
> I was told to come here to find answers to my questions. Anyways what
> I would like to do is amplify my banjo and not have to rely on the
> house for pa etc..
"Charlie Escher" <charl...@gorge.net> wrote in message
Gavin Ramsay
> You could buy just a preamp, but the Paracoustic will serve as a very
> high impedance preamp, give you several tone controls to play with, and
> can supply either 1/4" line or XLR output to a house sound system, or
> else drive your guitar amp from it.
The Baggs preamp is a great lifesaver - my wife's has somehow made it's
way into my DI kit :-) and does good things to some thin sounding piezo
pickups on banjos, guitars, fiddles, mandolins...you get the picture!
Gav