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EliasMooseblaster

Acoustic Preamps/DIs

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Posted

I realise a lot of modern acoustic guitars have preamps built in; unfortunately mine don't. Mine have passive pickups, which I use for live performance. Whilst the sound is perfectly serviceable for plugging into a PA system, I wonder if an outboard preamp might improve things.

The (possible) need has become a bit more pronounced as I've been live streaming over the last few weeks, where I've been plugging the guitars straight into a little Behringer mixer with very limited EQ and no effects. The tone isn't bad, but I wonder whether a preamp/DI might "bring it to life" a little more.

I see that companies like Behringer and Hotone make inexpensive preamp+DI boxes...anyone know whether they're worth a punt?

Posted
  On 06/05/2020 at 14:45, EliasMooseblaster said:

... Mine have passive pickups...

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Do you know (and can you tell us...) what kind of pick-ups these are..? Basically, there are piezo pick-ups, magnetic pick-ups and 'microphone' pick-ups. These will all require different treatment, so any worthwhile reply would need to know. A photo might help. Any joy..? B|

Posted
  On 06/05/2020 at 16:44, Dad3353 said:

Do you know (and can you tell us...) what kind of pick-ups these are..? Basically, there are piezo pick-ups, magnetic pick-ups and 'microphone' pick-ups. These will all require different treatment, so any worthwhile reply would need to know. A photo might help. Any joy..? B|

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A very good point - I looked at some demos after posting the above, and was struck by how many people were using guitars with piezo bridge pickups!

Mine both have magnetics: one has a magnetic pickup of unknown provenance in a "lipstick" style housing, built into the body; the other has a Fishman Neo-D which I pop into the soundhole when I need to amplify it.

Posted
  On 07/05/2020 at 13:14, EliasMooseblaster said:

...Mine both have magnetics...

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Neither of these pick-ups need specific pre-amps to work well. How to 'liven up' the recorded sound..? Depending on the 'quality' of your acoustic sound, the recording room, and your budget, a decent large-diaphragm condenser mic, placed a foot or so away from the guitar, might be an option, if your mixer can supply phantom power. Superlux E205 (£33...)..? AKG P120 (£73...)..? Rode NT1-A (£153...)..? Just a few from an enormously wide selection available. I can't think, off-hand, of a pre-amp or such for magnetic pick-ups  that 'warms' the sound up, but others may have suggestions.
Hope this helps. B|

Posted
  On 07/05/2020 at 13:31, Dad3353 said:

Hope this helps. B|

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Indeed, that helps enormously - you may have just saved me a lot of money!

Fortunately I have a large diaphragm condenser, with appropriate outboard phantom power, which I'd actually been thinking about connecting before, to add a bit of "ambience" to the sound. I might give that a try on tomorrow evening's live stream.

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