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Rick6

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  1. Any advice would be much appreciated. My mostly instrumental jazz quartet got a restaurant gig. If our wives knew the money, they wouldn't let us demean ourselves like this. I decided, in an attempt to keep the audience more engaged, to sing a couple of tunes. I brought, don't laugh dangerously hard, a mic stand, a Sennheiser 609 and a plan to plug it into a Roland JC55 guitar amp. Nothing else through that amp. The restaurant is like a high ceiling 18x60 or so. We're wedged into the space that a table in the front window on one side of the door would take. If the bass player ate a cookie, we wouldn't have fit. I recall hearing two pros, guitar bass and each sang, going into a 4 channel mixer and then into a guitar amp and sounding great in a very small space. So, I was thinking that we wouldn't play very loud, I can't sing well anyway, and that Roland might be enough. I put my guitar through a DV Mark Little Jazz which was more than loud enough. But, I think the vocals and the announcements to the audience probably had that muffled quality you associate with being wakened in a bus station. I also have use of a Mackie 350 and I have a Yamaha MG10/2, an older one with no FX. I put a Korg PX5D set for reverb only in the FX loop and it seemed to work. But, this is a kluge, even for me. I could buy a small Mackie mixer for about $150, with more than enough channels and FX on board. Or, I could buy a used Yamaha StagePas 300. I just had a gig where the venue had one and even my guitar sounded great through it (line out from the Little Jazz). For talking to the audience, do I even want reverb? Or as much reverb as I want for singing? Is using the JC55 really that crazy? I know about buy once cry once and the risk of going cheap. If I buy the mixer and go into the Mackie 350, what else am I going to end up having to buy if anything? Thanks for reading this far and for any advice you might offer. And, btw, the kluge sound worked and we got a regular gig at that place. Rick
  2. Speaking solely from the experience of having stuffed one guitar, the amplified tone didn't noticeably change, even though the acoustic sound was muffled by the foam. This was a Godin nylon multiac with the hex RMC pickup (piezo, I guess, mounted in the bridge saddles). Apparently, the vibration of the top didn't matter that much to the pickups, at least not at feedback frequencies. Previously I'd attempted to manage the feedback with EQ, with an acoustic amp with an antifeedback circuit, with playing in stereo with the amps facing away, by keeping my body in between the guitar and the amp and by taping the soundholes. None of that worked. Using compression, though, makes it feedback even with the body stuffed. On the other hand, years ago a friend and I traded solos using a 175 and a Les Paul and neither of us could tell them apart by sound on a good quality field recording. Still, based on this very limited experience, I'd say that it may make sense to stuff the body rather than switch to a solid body, particularly if you like the feel and look of the guitar. I'd suggest soft upholstery foam cut into narrow strips, so that they can be removed without too much trouble, if necessary. Rick
  3. The only time I've had the problem, I stuffed a Godin multiac nylon with soft foam. I bought it at an upholstery shop. It stopped the feedback cold. The acoustic sound of the guitar clearly became muffled, but the electric tone wasn't audibly affected. I've heard that blowing up ballons inside the guitar can also work. Somebody on the web sells nice looking covers for f holes. I've heard they work, but I've never tried them. Taping the holes on the Godin did NOT work. One last point: I fully agree with the comment above about compression. It can definitely contribute to feedback. My Godin will still feedback if I use too much compression. Even with all that foam. Rick
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