So I was delighted to be asked to support Jah Wobble last night. Did the usual pre-gig battery checks, all cables good, etc.
Get to our soundcheck and all I get is a farty whimper through the PA.
After the usual panicked cable swapping we decide the guitar pre-amp is not OK. Fortunately when this happened before I bought a Seymour Duncan soundhole pickup, so I fitted it with a bit of discreet tape to stop it moving. Gig saved and it sounds pretty decent!
Last time it was the RCA jack connecting the pickup to the preamp that died. Beginning to think I need to buy MIL-spec tested guitars that can withstand machine gun vibration or Ariane 5 rocket launch conditions.
Always have a backup!!!
I'm just a Maserati in a world of Kias.
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congrats on a cool supporting gig. Gonna did out my Jah Wobble vinyl....
Tonight I'll be using my Larrivee. They took one of them to the International Space Station so they must be robust, riiiiiight?
Beautiful guitars!
Ah so it was more to do with no movement lol...
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(ignore the MTB shoes spoiling the scene)
It sounds MAGNIFICENT. Definitely my go-to recording guitar, when we use a ribbon mic and I do keep still!
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If you use an electro-acoustic live and depend on it, *always* carry some sort of backup like this. The fact that it happened to a Takamine - which are among the most reliable electros in my experience - proves it can happen to anything, and unless you have some means of completely bypassing the electrics in the guitar you're stuffed.
Good solution and the tape looked fine . Gaffer-taping an SM57 flat to the front of the guitar with enough tape to stop it moving also works… although it sounds 'interesting' .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I don't think there's much chance of my K&K dying... passive is the way to go!
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The older Taylor Expression system was the opposite of this, it has multiple sensors which are connected in series, so if one dies (not that uncommon) the whole thing stops working. Very poor design.
I entirely agree that passive is the way to go - with an external preamp if you need it - mainly because it keeps the number of failure points that you can't easily bypass to the minimum. But I know I'm paranoid .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I've only got an Orchid DI to go into a PA. There's no mute button on phase button on it....
I wonder if I should get another DI box with more on it.
Also, I'm not sure if I should rely on PA or get an acoustic amp. A bit too much of a luxury?
By the way, Stoked Jones have one of those PA speakers that is like a big cylinder standing up straight (@Vaiai - what is it?) - sounded great and very compact!!
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