Acoustic goons: amp, D.I., pedal? What is the best solution for gigs?

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romanianreaper

romanianreaper

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My band is this king about going acoustic for some shows at places where our loud music is a bit too much.

We are a three piece and im the guitarist and vocalist. My bass player does some backi g vocals as well. I wanted to get two amps with a guitar and mic input each and call it a day but he doesnt think they would be loud enough or would suck. He thinks we should just take our portable P.A. and go into pedals. What do you guys recommend?
 
Most acoustic amps are underpowered IME. My wife has the Marshall AS50. I found it pretty mediocre. The Fender accoustasonics were straight junk. I'd stick to using PA gear. Get a decent pickup for your acoustic and work from there.
 
Fishman Loudbox is really good. I would still use a pa of some sort. The new “stick” pa’s are great for this.
 
I use a Mesa Rosette pre amp > powered Yamaha DBR12 speaker. Its a killer rig, plenty loud enough to play with drums and bass (I'm 40+ gigs deep into it...). Both the pre and the speaker have DI outs or pass through that you can go direct to a full PA if needed.

This LR Baggs pre is fantastic too, I may end up going this route at some point. Full EQ,, DI outs and built in tuner. So direct out to the PA or to a powered speaker like I use above, sounds killer

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...a1ussGTcymITf-7Z4fBoCl_sQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
* velcro-fly * said:
I use a Mesa Rosette pre amp > powered Yamaha DBR12 speaker. Its a killer rig, plenty loud enough to play with drums and bass (I'm 40+ gigs deep into it...). Both the pre and the speaker have DI outs or pass through that you can go direct to a full PA if needed.

This LR Baggs pre is fantastic too, I may end up going this route at some point. Full EQ,, DI outs and built in tuner. So direct out to the PA or to a powered speaker like I use above, sounds killer

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...a1ussGTcymITf-7Z4fBoCl_sQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
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Thanks everyone for the info!

Yeah man, funny I have been looking at the LR Baggs Venue actually. Folks seem to really dig it but not as big of fans of the tuner for some reason.
 
VonBonfire said:
Most acoustic amps are underpowered IME. My wife has the Marshall AS50. I found it pretty mediocre. The Fender accoustasonics were straight junk. I'd stick to using PA gear. Get a decent pickup for your acoustic and work from there.
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Off topic, but what P.A. are you using? It is very high quality and clear as a bell. I hear a lot of boxy PAs at shows and it really bothers me
 
Smash said:
Off topic, but what P.A. are you using? It is very high quality and clear as a bell. I hear a lot of boxy PAs at shows and it really bothers me
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The mains we got are the older version Yamaha DXR10's. Not cheap stuff, but not QSC either. I have used a lot of QSC systems gigging in this area and I'd rate the Yamaha stuff at about 97 percent of similar QSC stuff. If we are corksniffing they are a touch less clear than the similar QSC units but they are still really good for hundreds less. They've been reliable so far, many hundreds of gigs and rehearsals later. We've had those since 2018...
 
romanianreaper said:
Thanks everyone for the info!

Yeah man, funny I have been looking at the LR Baggs Venue actually. Folks seem to really dig it but not as big of fans of the tuner for some reason.
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Our other guitar player has the LR Baggs Venue and it sounds killer. He also uses an outboard tuner, not a big deal. My Rosette is really nice too but a quite a bit more to wrap your head around as its a parametric type EQ setup. Took me some time to find the right settings but its pretty kick ass. The Venue is far more quick lug and play. We both use Keely compressors up front too, makes a big difference with these acoustic rigs.

I messed around wit this unit too and got good results....it was a loaner and I found the deal on the MESA so I went for that, but you cant go wrong with these Fly Rigs, pretty much everything you need right there and all the connectivity:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...fXtttLZTjk1RJHOJaFRoCbkcQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
VonBonfire said:
The mains we got are the older version Yamaha DXR10's. Not cheap stuff, but not QSC either. I have used a lot of QSC systems gigging in this area and I'd rate the Yamaha stuff at about 97 percent of similar QSC stuff. If we are corksniffing they are a touch less clear than the similar QSC units but they are still really good for hundreds less. They've been reliable so far, many hundreds of gigs and rehearsals later. We've had those since 2018...
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My Yamaha DBR kicks ass for using it as an acoustic rig (its the powered version of yours....) I also have a pair of the DXR10's and a small powered Yamaha board we use occasionally, they make top notch stuff
 
* velcro-fly * said:
My Yamaha DBR kicks ass for using it as an acoustic rig (its the powered version of yours....) I also have a pair of the DXR10's and a small powered Yamaha board we use occasionally, they make top notch stuff
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The DXR MkII's look pretty killer. We'll see how long our old school DXR's last.

So you're just using the Rosette preamp into powered speakers? A bit complex to setup and dial in or not too bad? I mentioned the Mesa Rosette amp to my wife. She said "it's expensive" but she is gigging enough to warrant something with more power (and probably reliability) than her little 50 watt Marshall. She has the Fishman Platinum, and has used it when house sound was provided but recently I couldn't make it work into one of those Bose towers. I'd like to see her have all her bases covered without needing any house gear cause for acoustic shows that can mean a lot of junky shit. Just looking for any recommendations and insights you might have. She is definitely geared towards simplistic rigs, this much I know. An actual amp might make things easier. Thanks velcro.
 
VonBonfire said:
The mains we got are the older version Yamaha DXR10's. Not cheap stuff, but not QSC either. I have used a lot of QSC systems gigging in this area and I'd rate the Yamaha stuff at about 97 percent of similar QSC stuff. If we are corksniffing they are a touch less clear than the similar QSC units but they are still really good for hundreds less. They've been reliable so far, many hundreds of gigs and rehearsals later. We've had those since 2018...
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Well. My voice isnt as good as yours, so i dont need anything any clearer than yours. Yours sounds perfect. I am thinking of picking up a PA. I am unofficially coming up with a setlist for solo acoustic shit and have a death metal setlist coming together also for a full band
 
Smash said:
Well. My voice isnt as good as yours, so i dont need anything any clearer than yours. Yours sounds perfect. I am thinking of picking up a PA. I am unofficially coming up with a setlist for solo acoustic shit and have a death metal setlist coming together also for a full band
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Nice! I would def recommend the Yamaha stuff. The new DXR10's are about 760 each right now and the 12's are 895. If I was putting together a serious metal band I'd probably opt for the 12's if you can swing that kinda money. It'll give you that extra volume you'll probably need on occasion. I always wanted a sub to go along with our setup but I generally even run sans monitor because that's all we can fit in the bluesmobile. With a Yamaha 8 channel board you can get a couple vocal mics plus mic the kick and snare which def helps drums compete with loud combos or half stacks.
 
I hate messing with acoustic amps and never like how they sound. I go direct. Sometimes straight into the PA with my LR Baggs Para di, sometimes I use my Kemper to load an acoustic IR and add a few effects.
 
For you guys that have mentioned the LR Baggs stuff, if i plugged one of those into the effects return of my Orange and just using the power, is that doable? Just wondering for playing at home.
 
I've done countless acoustic shows both with my full band and as part of a duet where I play and sing and I've used the fender tonemaster pro (was my favorite all in one unit) into my 1st gen ZLX FRFR, I've used the 2nd gen ZLX FRFR, the big fishman loudbox, I've used the Fractal FM3 and AxeFX III and most recently, my quad cortex.

They all get the job done but I think that the tonemaster pro was the best in terms of just doing everything effortlessly and being the best stage device to work with. Although it has a built in acoustisonic amp model, I still ended up preferring the tube preamp model with a couple of acoustic IR's from worship tutorials. Vocal processing on it was great.

The FM3 couldn't really do both vocal processing and guitar so I used a TC Helicon mic mechanic for my vocals when using the FM3 but in terms of guitar processing, IR block, etc, it worked well.

The quad cortex has also been great and about on par for acoustic stuff as the AxeFX III where I can run a signal path for my guitar, my vocal mic and if I'm using one of those acoustic electric guitars like the PRS Piezo or something like that with dual outputs, I can run both instrument cables into the QC or AxeFX III and setup channel switching to jump from acoustic to electric pickups and flip over to an amp model for high gain lead stuff.

Think "An evening with Petrucci and Rudess" type switching.

The nice thing about the AxeFX III was that when I was doing duet work, the singer would also run his vocal mic into the unit to get all the vocal stuff and have his own dedicated voice track.

As for amplification, I really liked the 2nd Gen ZLX. It has a bluetooth companion app that works really well and lets you add effects to the 2 channels independently so if you just want to plug a guitar and mic into the ZLX, you can setup compression, EQ and reverb on each channel.

The loudbox was pretty good and, like the name implies, very loud. I was bummed that you couldn't footswitch control effect 2. Also, it's kinda expensive for what it is but it's smaller and lighter than the FRFR's though not quite as loud.
 
VonBonfire said:
The DXR MkII's look pretty killer. We'll see how long our old school DXR's last.

So you're just using the Rosette preamp into powered speakers? A bit complex to setup and dial in or not too bad? I mentioned the Mesa Rosette amp to my wife. She said "it's expensive" but she is gigging enough to warrant something with more power (and probably reliability) than her little 50 watt Marshall. She has the Fishman Platinum, and has used it when house sound was provided but recently I couldn't make it work into one of those Bose towers. I'd like to see her have all her bases covered without needing any house gear cause for acoustic shows that can mean a lot of junky shit. Just looking for any recommendations and insights you might have. She is definitely geared towards simplistic rigs, this much I know. An actual amp might make things easier. Thanks velcro.
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Yep....Keeley Compressor > Mesa Rosette > Keeley Cavers (delay / verb > direct into Yamaha powered speaker. Done. I can also run a DI out from the Mesa or the pass through on the speaker to a full PA if needed.

This is another killer unit that won't break the bank, easy to use, relatively simple setup:

https://gracedesign.com/products/instrument-preamplifiers/bix

If I revamp anything I would get teh Grace Alix, but right now my acoustic gigs have tapered off and the Mesa covers all the bases and then some. I alos only paid $200 shipped for mine so it was a score.
 
* velcro-fly * said:
Yep....Keeley Compressor > Mesa Rosette > Keeley Cavers (delay / verb > direct into Yamaha powered speaker. Done. I can also run a DI out from the Mesa or the pass through on the speaker to a full PA if needed.

This is another killer unit that won't break the bank, easy to use, relatively simple setup:

https://gracedesign.com/products/instrument-preamplifiers/bix

If I revamp anything I would get teh Grace Alix, but right now my acoustic gigs have tapered off and the Mesa covers all the bases and then some. I alos only paid $200 shipped for mine so it was a score.
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Beautiful man, many thanks for the info, I think this is probably the way to go for her, with a small but powerful PA speaker and a very simple pedal board that works. She has a small yamaha mixer she can run the guitar and vocals into. Training her to set stuff up is.....not easy. She has a Fishman Platinum already which I think covers comp, I think the delay is a real good idea. I just need to find her a small, powerful, light speaker and teach her to set everything up. I need to put the vocals through it also she has a small yamaha board, she's just gotta learn to hook it all up and she is not gear savvy, being acoustic oriented.
 
VonBonfire said:
Beautiful man, many thanks for the info, I think this is probably the way to go for her, with a small but powerful PA speaker and a very simple pedal board that works. She has a small yamaha mixer she can run the guitar and vocals into. Training her to set stuff up is.....not easy. She has a Fishman Platinum already which I think covers comp, I think the delay is a real good idea. I just need to find her a small, powerful, light speaker and teach her to set everything up. I need to put the vocals through it also she has a small yamaha board, she's just gotta learn to hook it all up and she is not gear savvy, being acoustic oriented.
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The Keeley Caverns is a pretty epic pedal for acoustic, delay & reverb in one. The reverb side has a 'shimmer' setting that's nuts with acoustics.

But yeah, get better to high end preamp pedal > tuner > verb / delay into a powered speaker... its as easy as it gets and sounds phenom.

I've got one of these too that I use for small rooms and its ultra portable, loud AF if needed:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...DXbGrzxB-G6fb5E_oBkaAnu9EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
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