live set up advice

[bobblehat]

Hi ,

I'm planning on getting some solo acoustic gigs in the few months and was after some basic advice on gear set up etc..

I have : Decent sounding Peavey Pa powered mixer,speakers mics etc and guitars obviously.

When I play with my band I usually just plug my acoustic direct into the Pa.Sounds ok but could probably sound better and may not be so great on its own.

Any advice much appreciated.

Bob

[ICBM]

What acoustic is it? What type of pickup and preamp (if any) onboard?

You should be able to get a decent sound straight through the PA, although it depends a lot on the guitar preamp. If the guitar preamp isn't great (and particularly if there's none at all, since an acoustic pickup will not directly drive a PA amp input well usually), you should probably be thinking about a preamp, either belt-pack or pedal type.

[evilmags]

Again, what type of pickup is it? How loud will you be playing.

If volume is not to high then a microphone is always going to outperform a pickup. But you need to learn how to use an EQ to remove feedback spots.

Otherwise a decent DI box/preamp is a good investnment. Fishman Auras are widely used by pros to get a more accoustic sound.

[bobblehat]

my main guitar is an Ibanez AEL40SRLV

Not sure on the pick up/pre amp specs.

Have heard recommendations for DI boxes loads of times but what does it do exactly?

[thebeagle]

my main guitar is an Ibanez AEL40SRLV

Not sure on the pick up/pre amp specs.

Have heard recommendations for DI boxes loads of times but what does it do exactly?

Okay, from a quick Google the guitar has a basic bass/mid/treble/shape slider section, master volume, phase switch and possibly a built-in tuner depending on the model.

That will be a lot better than just plugging the output of a pickup straight into the desk (partly because it'll have a lot more output, partly for impedance issues, partly for the flexibility of having an EQ and more importantly volume control at your fingertips) but I'd still be tempted to sink twenty or thirty quid into a decent secondhand DI box - what this will essentially do is match the impedance 'seen' at the output of your guitar (probably on the high side i.e. into thousands of ohms, even given the active preamp) to what the mixer preamp expects to 'see' (going in through a microphone channel, something around the hundreds of ohms).

What this actually means is that the signal transfer will be smoother across the frequency spectrum and you should have more usable gain range at the mixer. Think of impedance matching as if you're blowing air out of your lungs - with a good impedance match (i.e. blowing out of your mouth) it's easy, and you can totally control it; with a poor impedance match (e.g. through a straw, or a trumpet) you have to work a lot harder to push the same amount of air and don't have as much control. A poor analogy, I know, and possibly not all that useful, but think of a DI box as better matching your guitar's output to the mixing desk's input to make it 'easier' for the guitar to get its signal in.

[bobblehat]

Thank You,

Good explanation.
DI box sounds like just what I need.

The Fishman sounds nice but not to too many beans in the kitty ,spending a few quid on recording gear to get a half decent demo recorded at the mo.

Cheers

[Big Paulie]

Thank You,

Good explanation.
DI box sounds like just what I need.

The Fishman sounds nice but not to too many beans in the kitty ,spending a few quid on recording gear to get a half decent demo recorded at the mo.

Cheers

I've heard lots of good things about the Behringer ADI21

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/ADI21.aspx

Might be worth a punt. They go on eBay for less than £20 used