Amping up a Ukuele

Rocker

My wife's niece plays Ukuele, an unamplified instrument.  I have a small SS guitar amp and am wondering what is needed to amp up the Uke.  Would a 'stick on' transducer/microphone give enough output for a guitar amp?  All input welcome, thanks.

ICBM

Rocker said:

My wife's niece plays Ukuele, an unamplified instrument.  I have a small SS guitar amp and am wondering what is needed to amp up the Uke.  Would a 'stick on' transducer/microphone give enough output for a guitar amp?  All input welcome, thanks.

Yes. They don't sound great, but they give plenty of signal.

Mounting a pickup inside can be tricky simply because the soundhole is so small. I have to confess to once employing child labour to fit one, when my kids were young .

Jimbro66

The best way to improve the sound of a uke is to fill it with old socks

Roland

In the past I’ve amplified a cheap nylon string guitar with a stick-on and strap button jack socket. The sound had a piezo quack, but it worked. I imagine that a ukuele, (assuming this is what you mean) with its metal resonator, would be less bothered by that.

Jimbro66 said:

The best way to improve the sound of a uke is to fill it with old socks

Not as stupid as it sounds. Ukueles and ukuleles are less likely to feedback than a more resonant instrument like a guitar. If it does then socks or old sweaters can robe used to reduce resonance.

Stratavarious

You can get Uke / Mandolin sized under saddle piezos for a few £ on Amazon.  Some have a jack socket to attach to the body.

i added one to a Mandolin recently and was blown away by the quality. I DI to desk on Hi-Z input or via DI box usually.   It reproduces so well it is hard to hear the acoustic vs amplified/monitor tone difference at all.  Very very impressed. 

It does generate enough signal to drive my guitar amp straight in and amplify that way too.

i had to drill a small hole (invisible under the saddle) to take a small connector to the jack which i mounted on the side.  Involved only the most basic drilling and about 20mins.  All very discreet. 

You may need a child’s hand to help fish cable through but i made a hook from coat hanger wire

https://www.amazon.co.uk/UKULELE-UNDERSADDLE-PIEZO-TRANSDUCER-PICKUP/dp/B00A3BP7TK

Stick / clip on on transducers / clips are another option. 

entee

I play baritone ukulele, and put a 'stick on' inside the sound-hole.  It's ok tbh but if you need anything than just play at home, I would advise on the piezo type, as you do get a lot of microphonics

Rocker

The amp is now in the hands of my wife's niece and she is going to get a stick on microphone/pickup and we will see what it sounds like.  These family music sessions are a lot of fun so an amplified Uke is another sound to add to the other sounds.........

sev112

I use the IK IRig Acoustic clip on mic and pre amp, bought it for an acoustic guitar but used it more for the uke 

Mattharrier

I have a cheap soprano with a stick on mic type pickup. It works, sort of, but there is a definite lower threshold so gentle strumming and delicate finger picking are not an option, and there is also an upper threshold after which it just sounds horrible. It was only cheap, but I would definitely not recommend them - there are more expensive versions which may well sound better. It's also properly stuck on there, I can't even lever it off with a screw driver so I absolutely wouldn't recommend one for a decent instrument (I stuck mine on the inside of the top, so I can at least cut the cable off but I shudder to think what it would do to the topside of an expensive uke).

I also have a solid body with a piezo pickup - this is much better, but I can't really get it to sound great through either my solid state or valve amp. I've yet to try it on an acoustic amp, which may work better.

I get better results micing the acoustic ukes directly, although this doesn't allow for using any effects etc of course.