Members JimH Posted July 13, 2011 Members Share Posted July 13, 2011 Hi fellas - recently got a piezo equiped mandolin, nothing fancy - my options are either have it through my guitar amp - not ideal. or get some sort of DI box and put it through the PA - this is for a few songs in a live band - not high end recording for an album. I want to spend minimum money at the moment - is there a cheap easy solution/suggestion for this? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t_e_l_e Posted July 13, 2011 Members Share Posted July 13, 2011 i use my piezo equipped acoustic together with a ehx lpb-1. its not a DI box, but you can boost the signal and if you keep it in the limits it works pretty clean. my piezo has no preamp and i was just giving a try if it works this way over the mixer and pa, and it did. musicians friend have them for 39$, its a workaround solution, but for this money you only get passiv DI's and if the signal is still weak it does not help you. if it doesn't work or you don't need it anymore at least you have a boost pedal left Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JimH Posted July 13, 2011 Author Members Share Posted July 13, 2011 Hi and thanks for that - so are you basically saying that getting the level up is the main thing? - as I've plenty of boosters that I can get to act in a more or less linear fashion with tweaking without buying another. Yes it's a work around - I'm just wondering if better or worse than through my guitar amp at the moment - everyone seems against passive DI? good reason. In my limited experience they seem better than nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kpd78 Posted July 13, 2011 Members Share Posted July 13, 2011 Keep an eye out for a used Award-Session AP10 (formerly known as GG10) - it's an acoustic instrument preamp/DI and would be perfect for you: http://www.award-session.com/ap10.html They also have some older DI boxes from their 'Matchbox' range - the MB11 was specifically for acoustic instruments and is the predecessor of their GG10/AP10, while the more commonly seen electric guitar version, the MB10 is just as useful (if you turn the speaker sim off).http://www.award-session.com/pdfs/Award-Session%20History0069.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JimH Posted July 13, 2011 Author Members Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thanks - not too common it seems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members goodhonk Posted July 13, 2011 Members Share Posted July 13, 2011 guitar center has a used one for $129; dont' know if they will ship it overseas. [video=youtube;FwcbOVnbS0M] it sounds better when bypassed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reauchambeau Posted July 13, 2011 Members Share Posted July 13, 2011 if you use a preamp for your piezo a passive Di will be fine, if not, get an active Di. there's good european stuff that should be cheap used over there, BSS (UK) , SCV (France) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted July 13, 2011 Members Share Posted July 13, 2011 Just use a Whirlwind IMPthey're cheap and reliable... best case scenario (and expensive) would be aFishman Aura Spectrum it's a DI that adds air and adds modeled-simulated microphones; takes the harshness out of the piezo, makes your mando, guitar, dobro sound like it was mic'ed.It also has a tuner, eq, compression, sidechain and saves space and power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t_e_l_e Posted July 13, 2011 Members Share Posted July 13, 2011 Hi and thanks for that - so are you basically saying that getting the level up is the main thing? - as I've plenty of boosters that I can get to act in a more or less linear fashion with tweaking without buying another. Yes it's a work around - I'm just wondering if better or worse than through my guitar amp at the moment - everyone seems against passive DI? good reason. In my limited experience they seem better than nothing. i'm not against passive DI, but without a preamp the piezo signal will be impedance matched, but still low in signal level sense, therefore you need to boost the gain in the input section of your mixer, which normally will add noise to it. with a booster you get a higher level signal, but still the impedance will not match, but with the higher signal level it does not matter that much anymore. still it might not be super hi-fi, and if you boost to much the input section of the mixer will not like it and distort, maybe it will also affect tone, were a DI might not. active DI's are 100$ and up and the number one i got recommended here when i asked was 200$+ the result i got with my lpb-1 was pretty ok (we use a behringer mixer in the rehearsal room), was not shiny shiny accoustic guitar perfect sound, but at least it sounded good enough and i could hear myself while playing with bass and drums together without to much noise. i plugged it also straight into the mixer, without DI or lpb-1, i needed to max the input gain of the mixer, had bad noise on the signal, the fader all way up and all i heard was noise and the guitar sounded terrible... i play mostly electric and only occasionally acoustic at rehearsal but never gigged with it so far. so for my purpose currently its a good cheap working solution NOTE: i got the lpb-1 for my electric efx board to boost the amp and not for the acoustic in the first place try some boosters you've got and see what results you get, keep the signal clean, and while pluggin in turn the boost down, and increase it slowly to the stage where the volume should be without distorting, play with the mixer fader and input gain until you are satisfied with the result, if no good result achievable try next booster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JimH Posted July 19, 2011 Author Members Share Posted July 19, 2011 Thanks for all the info guys - would a BOSS Acoustic Simulator be any use? - I'd really like to get a boss sized pedal if at all possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members caeman Posted July 19, 2011 Members Share Posted July 19, 2011 Maybe one of these? It is a DI and EQ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reauchambeau Posted July 19, 2011 Members Share Posted July 19, 2011 Thanks for all the info guys - would a BOSS Acoustic Simulator be any use? - I'd really like to get a boss sized pedal if at all possible. not really, that pedal is for making a non-acoustic instrument sound like an acoustic instrument, you don't need that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JimH Posted July 20, 2011 Author Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 Thansk fellas - guess I'm clutching at straws a bit with a knotty problem. - What I really want is to run my mandolin through my TU-2 then into some sort of box, that will ideally be BOSS sized and fit on my minimalist pedal board - it will go to the mixer and my guitar still go to my amp. I think this is doable. ....Could just use a podXT with 3/4" XLR conversion cable. I'm pretty sure this will be OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoboPimp Posted July 20, 2011 Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 Maybe one of these? It is a DI and EQ. this looks perfect IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members melx Posted July 20, 2011 Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 Cheap, basic, small. http://www.soundslive.co.uk/product~name~Behringer-DI400P-Ultra-DI~ID~4951.asp plug the mando in with a guitar lead, xlr balanced out to PA, job done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members caeman Posted July 20, 2011 Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 Cheap, basic, small.http://www.soundslive.co.uk/product~name~Behringer-DI400P-Ultra-DI~ID~4951.aspplug the mando in with a guitar lead, xlr balanced out to PA, job done. I own one of those. It works great, but his the OP's mando has a passive piezo. If he plugs straight into that DI, he will lose a lot of signal. He needs some sort of basic preamp to boost the signal, like an EQ pedal or an EHX LPB-1. Something small and inexpensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members caeman Posted July 20, 2011 Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 this looks perfect IMO I have been tempted to get one to use with my bass as a one-stop gig shop solution for when I am using my bass without effects into an PA. Bass -> Tuner -> Mon Buffalo -> PA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JimH Posted July 20, 2011 Author Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 I see there's a basic Behringer pedal for about twice the price of the DI box that fulfills this function. ADI21 - with preamp. any thoughts? mixed reviews - unsurprisingly at this price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoboPimp Posted July 20, 2011 Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 I've had bad luck with behringer DI boxes personally... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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