Mackie SRM150

[pogo97]

I've had trouble micing/pickuping my dobro for forty years -- especially with bands. Just can't get a sound I like and trying to get there through a sound guy who isn't hearing what I'm hearing and gives me pure tinny is getting old. A friend has recommended I get a Mackie SRM150 as a personal mixer and stage monitor. Any thoughts?

[kbeaumont]

Good little monitor, I had a trombone player who used one. The PA in the band I was playing in only had 2 monitor channels and 'NOBODY' wanted trombone in their monitor mix! I bet the dobro will sound fine through one.

[skmarshall]

I have one, and it works well, loud and clean. Like all "Hot Spot" type monitors there's a sweet spot right in front of it and it gets lost if you move around, though. Great for a seated keyboard player (or Dobro player), not so good for guitarist/vocalist running about the stage.

 

That said, how is your dobro getting to the PA? is it mic'ed up or does it have a pickup?

[pogo97]

The dobro, which is round-neck and played like a guitar, has a peizo pickup. I have a nice fishman DI with an equalizer. Last Saturday, I was playing a benefit with trio. Plugged in through my fishman DI. Sound guy couldn't get sound. Tried another channel, nothing. Tried two of his DIs and the second worked after some fiddling at the board but no EQ and hence tinny tinny sound, at least through the monitors (I'm told FOH was okay). After the gig, I immediately went home and tested my setup and everything worked perfectly. Stuff like this drives me crazy. At least with an srm150 I'd have known the problem was downstream of my equipment and I'd have had some control over what I was hearing.

 

I've thought about micing it and tried it a couple of times a few years ago but I *do* move a bit and sound guys seem not to have the patience to get good miced sound anymore.

[kbeaumont]

I think the SRM150 will work fine for you. But another thought is an acoustic guitar amp like a fishman loudbox. They have a built in DI out and can get really loud if needed and turned down when not. And from experience a dobro sounds pretty good through one. I have a square neck.

[pogo97]

Hmmmmmmmm. I don't have an acoustic amp but I have a bandmate who has several. We were going that way … . I also have a Deluxe Reverb which is a bit large and heavy, but …

[Shaster]

Well I guess I'm a lot pickier than most. I've tried the Mackie SRM150 a couple orf times. The first one had pronounced hiss. The second also had some issues. They are loud enough, cheap enough, and almost sound okay but quality control is an issue. In fact the store I deal with won't rent them because they die so quickly as rental stock.

 

I have tried a few of the small personal monitors and was even going to try the Mackie Freeplay but my rental guy wouldn't even let me try it!

 

so... I wen for the Bose S1Pro. I'm not a big Bose fan (although I also own and like the L1 Compact) baaut the Bose S1Pro is a pretty good speaker. Sure it's easily twice the price of a Mackie SRM150 but it's three or four times the speaker. It's still light enough to lift over my head with one hand - try using that criteria at a music store! Anyway, I've used it for tracks, PA and as a jazz guitar amp (works great for that).

 

Maybe try doing an A/B test between the two and see if it's worth the extra money, for the sound and build quality.

 

 

[ptkbass]

I used to have the SRM150 and liked it but didn't love it, so I sold it. I then got a TC Helicon FX150 kind of by accident. I like it better because the "Vocal Tone" button is wonderful and it has on-board reverb. The unit sounds more Hi-Fi. I used to use it a lot, but I found I didn't need it if I set my speakers up a little differently. Downside of this unit is if you send a really hot peak into it,it will make a real loud noise and then engage a circuit breaker. You then have to re-power the unit to re-set the breaker to resume your set. ANother downside of the FX150 is that it uses an external power supply that is a pain in the ass to keep track of, and it doesn't match any other power supply you have. I'm thinking you'll like the Bose unit better.

[Hoppy Shimko]

Yamaha msr100 might work for you, or something in that vein.

[daddymack]

I suggest you invest in a good quality acoustic guitar amplifier with a minimum of 60 watts and an 8" [20.5cm] speaker. I spent a lot of time trying acoustic guitar amps, and virtually every one of the ones I tested that were under 60 watts, or used a 6.5" [16.5cm] speaker failed two or more criteria [tone, efx, clean volume, clarity, projection, sound density...there is a lot of junque at the low end of the spectrum]. I kissed a lot of frogs from Acoustic, Marshall, Ibanez, Fender, Trace Elliot, Behringer [only because it was there at GC], Crate, Roland, Epiphone...

 

Ultimately I personally 'doubled down' on the Fishman SA220 [aka 'the Fishstick'] because it did everything right, no compromises [except the price ] and, for just guitar and voice, it is the unit I would go with again [although now they added more wattage for the SA330]. I see the Fishstick selling used for under $600 [uSD, which is like a thousand Cdn ] which is not an unreasonable price.

 

Just to pump a dobro I would lean toward the Fishman Loudbox [not the 60w Mini, but the 120w Artist] or the Fender Acoustasonic 90. Anything less, IMHO, won't do your instrument [or voice] justice, nor will they project enough for a coffee house gig.

[pogo97]

Thank you to everyone with suggestions. I've followed this thread and learned something from everybody.

 

The friend who suggested the SRM150 in the first place came by with his SRM150. We tried it, but by itself we couldn't get a sound I like. [any solution that doesn't give a sound I like is *not* a solution}. Mainly, it couldn't get rid of the piezo quack, which I'm learning to hate.

 

I have toyed with getting a Myers pickup, which is a condenser mic. But meanwhile…

 

Working on the principle of "the best place to start is with what you already have" we decided to run it through an old Fishman pro-eq platinum DI I have. It has four-band eq with an adjustable-frequency midrange and a "smooth" knob thats basically compression. Very good quack suppression. I know I can use that directly into my EV ZLX-12p (great sound, 1000 watts). I just needed to rig up a way to mount the Fishman on my mic stand so I'm not crawling around on the floor while messing with the eq.

 

Here's the Fishman mounted on a mic stand (I'll likely tie the in and out cables to the stand for security). I used a little mic clamp I haven't used in decades and a 5-CD POP stand I had left from a CD project.

 

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So, guitar to Fishman, Fishman to powered speaker as monitor, powered speaker to FOH. No reverb or effects or phantom power, but a good price and only a little different from my piano setup. It may be awhile before I'm playing the dobro in public but I'll give a report when there's something to report.

 

Thanks All