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| Moderated by: Richard Hefner | Page:   1 2 3 4 5   |
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| Are you Electric?? - General Ukulele - Ukulele - ezFolk Forums | |||||||||||||||
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UkeForever Approved 
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My thought about under-the-saddle is that it is not going to sound much different in an acoustic uke than a solid. I believe my Lanikai comes in this config you describe--but the electronics are Shadow (German). I love it for playing with loud rock bands (yes, the uke does work in one), but it sounds kinda like a tenor guitar. (I have my tenor low-G-tuned.) If I put an electric config in a truly nice tenor (like Lyle Ritz has), I'd have to think about it seriously. Actually, I'd have to think seriously about a tenor at this point. My concert is beginning to seem big to me. Baritone seems downright unruly, size-wise. As for reso-ukes, I know there is something wrong with me, but I can barely bear the sound. I know this is a personal issue, and one that I will eventually get over...maybe. But I like hearing rich tones. I just don't hear that in these metal/plastic contraptions. I do like some of the new wood/metal reso guitars (the Regal) because there is some residual warmth from the wood. So maybe it's an acquired taste, like accordion. To me, the only thing one gains by going electric is volume. Tone subtleties are nearly lost. So it depends on what you're going for...
____________________ Don't let the door hit 'ya where the good Lord split 'ya. John Rockwell's Crazy Songs 
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Gerald Ross Approved 
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So, does Lyle Ritz play an electric tenor? If so, do you know what his pickup setup is? Thanks Last edited on Fri Feb 25th, 2005 02:54 am by Gerald Ross ____________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gerald Ross Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar, Hawaiian Steel Guitar and Ukulele Website CIO, CEO, CFO UkeTone Records http://www.geraldross.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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UkeForever Approved
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Yes, but I've never heard it plugged in--he always seems to play it acoustic. Even in concert situations, he seems to mic it. It is a Ko'olau uke, mahogany tenor acoustic/electric. I believe he has whatever setup they use. There is a pre-amp with a battery-on-board (you can see the battery in his uke on Jim Beloff's "The Joy of Uke 2". I'm guessing it's under-the-saddle. Ko'olau Ukulele Site   Regarding the bari post above, here's something funny. My loudest uke is not my solid bari, but the one pictured below, and it is loud enough to be heard over a party din. But an electric band, no.  Last edited on Fri Feb 25th, 2005 04:18 am by UkeForever ____________________ Don't let the door hit 'ya where the good Lord split 'ya. John Rockwell's Crazy Songs
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Will Approved 
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If you have more than uke that you want to amplify, you might consider using a disc-style transducer. I use a Dean Markley Artist, which costs about $35. http://www.elderly.com/new_instruments/items/DMAT.htm The advantage of this device is that you can experiment with mounting it on different parts of the instrument to get the tone that you want, and you don't need to spend a lot of money electrifying individual instruments. One caution about this transducer is that the cord can easily be pulled out, so you should make a safety grommet by putting a blob of contact cement where the cord enters the transducer disc.
____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ A Bunch Of Coconuts http://abunchofcoconuts.com |
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Gerald Ross Approved
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Will, I was at Elderly a few weeks ago and tried the Dean Markley pickup on a Kamaka soprano. You definitely need a pre-amp between the uke and the amplifier. The Dean Markley did not generate enough signal by itself. We had to turn the amplifier up to 10 (an Ultrasound acoustic guitar amp) and we still got a wimpy signal.
____________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gerald Ross Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar, Hawaiian Steel Guitar and Ukulele Website CIO, CEO, CFO UkeTone Records http://www.geraldross.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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Will Approved
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Gerald Ross wrote: Will, Hi, Gerald: I've never had to use a pre-amp with my Dean Markley Artist piezo pick-up. I don't even have an bonafide "acoustic" amp; it's a Rogue Roller PA. The instructions say to mount the pickup on the bridge, which would only work for guitars, because the bridge is much smaller on a uke. So, I experimented with different pickup placements on the soundboard, fairly close to the bridge. Also, the removeable putty adhesive that comes with needs to make good contact with the instrument; on a cold day, the adhesive doesn't stick well and has to be kneaded a little. I had the pleasure of visiting the Elderly Instruments showroom just once, in 1999, at the end of a business trip in Lansing.
____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ A Bunch Of Coconuts http://abunchofcoconuts.com |
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PhonoFred Approved 
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Yes, I am now electric. My Risa Stick arrived from Elderly yesterday. First let me compliment Elderly. Their service is excellent. This was my first order from them but I am sure it will not be my last. The Uke shipped the day after I ordered it, and they sent out a confirmation of shipment via email with a UPS tracking number. I played the living daylights out of the Risa last night, and I love it. It sounds great through my Roland Micro Cube. IMHO The best settings are Acoustic, JC Clean, and Black Panel. Add a little reverb and chorus to taste, and wow. There is a bit of finger noise as the strings are struck. This noise does get amplified with the sound of the Uke but for some reason it really doesn't bother me. It just becomes another component of the sound. This is difficult to describe but true. For travel practice I purchased a Fender Mini Tone Master. It is really fun. At first I had purchased the Danlectro mini amp that is often pictured with, and suggested for the Risa Stick. I did not like it at all. The little Fender seems to have better sound control and better sound. No matter how I set the Danlectro I could not seem to get a clean sounding tone out of it. With the Fender one can turn up the volume with just a tiny bit of gain and get a fairly clean sound from it. The Danlectro had a kind of a raspy sound regardless of how I set it. One more thing that should be emphasized is that by scale length, and comfort this uke is more like a concert than a soprano. The fret board is roomy, and the scale length is about 14.25". I have not experienced the problems holding onto the stick that I've seen described on forums. I played it standing, and sitting without the strap with no difficulty. Overall this is a really fun little electric with a lot of possibilities depending on what you play it through. For what it is worth PhonoFred recommends this uke as an inexpensive, fun, and great sounding way to go electric. Last edited on Fri Mar 4th, 2005 04:11 am by PhonoFred |
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Gerald Ross Approved
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I second the vote for the MicroCube. Only $125, battery powered, fits in your suitcase. BIG sound.
____________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gerald Ross Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar, Hawaiian Steel Guitar and Ukulele Website CIO, CEO, CFO UkeTone Records http://www.geraldross.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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bellamira Approved 
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Hi All, Wanted to add some experience with pickups and amps. I've bee doing a bunch of research on the various was to electrify the uke and also settled in on a soundboard pickup for the first effort. After speaking with a number of custom builders, as well as Fishman, LR Baggs, and K&K...I settled on a K&K "Big SHot". The trick for the best pick up is partially based on the pickup and greatly on location. the ideal location appears to be @ 1/2 1" in front of the strings on the soundboard. This location is under teh strings between the bridge and the traditional soundhole. This location also eliminates most of the pickups like th Dean Markley and others because they are too bulky.....which is just atributed to advertising, plug of wood that says "I'm Dean Markley!". The K&K Big Shot is 3/4" in diameter and 1/32" thick! The actual piezio tranducer crystal in all of the other is probably the same size. The K&K Big Shot is almost not there, which I like, but the sound replication is incredible. I am very impressed. Once plugged in to a 20 watt amp, I really had to crank on the gain to start getting a small amount of feed back, but that level of gain would also have the neighbors coming over for a visit. Oh the price.. $35.00 You can ask a local music store to order them, or you can order direct. http://www.kksound.com/bigshot.html I am now inthe process of making it internal instead of external on my Flukoa. By the way if you know up front you want internal instead of having a wire and a plug on the outside of your pretty uke, they offer and internal version. On to the amps. I have to agree with the positive coments about the Roland Micro Cube. It's a lot of fun. I initially was looking for an amp to replicate the true sound of my uke. Purist. In that vein you really need an acoustic amp, and not one designed for electric guitars. The Micro Cube is designed for electric guitars. A great little acoustic amp is the Ibanez TA-20. Sells for around $180. the cool thing about it is you get true sound, UNLESS you want to fool around with the onboard CHOUR and REVERB, then your rocking like Dick Dale on his surf guitar! Now I don't own the Ibanez yet, but my son recently got the MicroCube for his six string Tacoma. I wanted to try out the Big Shot and plugged her in. Wow! was that fun. It has 6 selctive switch posistions that "try" to replicate differeent types of amp sounds from acoustic , to jazz, to a british stack, too.... then there are a handfull of other knbs contrlling reverb, phaser, chorus, reverb, delay, tone, etc. Well in a few minutes I had it tuned and doinf Hotel California by the Eagles sosunding like a lead on stage with an electric guitar. My son had to fight me to get it back. I think it's all about fun. the experience, and options. The Microcube gives you that. The one thnig you might want to consider in an amp is having enough channels to handle a guitar and a microphone at the same time. teh Cube will do one or the other but not both. Spanker that uke! Mark in Portland
____________________ Mark in Portland "Spank that uke!" |
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1four5 Approved 
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Thanks for the information on the Roland micro cube! I have no desire to ever go electric with my uke playing...but I am developing a split musical personality...and I have a Telecaster in hibernation that is starting to stir.......
____________________ These are the good times! |
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gbu Approved 
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If you're looking for something a little bigger, and cheaper, I recommend the Behringer V-Tone GM108 amp. About $60 for a 15W amp with all the nice modeling functions y'all mentioned above for the Roland Microcube. I have to admit I haven't tried it with a ukulele, though, just an old Kay Thin Twin that was my grandfathers. One of these days I'd like to get one of those Risa ukesticks...
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davebough Approved 
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bellamira wrote:Hi All, |
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Tonya Approved 
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Well, after almost a couple of years in the "uke world," I entered the "electric" category a couple of weeks ago with a RISA electric soprano (the kidney bean-shaped one, not the "stick/solid" version). No, I know it's not a "traditional" ukulele sound since there's no acoustic sound whatsoever, but it's a heck of a lot of fun. And, for my first amp, my son chose a Fender G-DEC for me. It was just announced at this year's NAMM and it's a fun little practice amp. It has oodles (as in more than three dozen) of amp "sounds" as well as drum and bass loops. There are lots of preset combinations (different types of jazz, surf sounds, blues, etc.). You can change the key for the bass loops to match what you're playing, as well as the tempo, type of sound, etc. It has two inputs, so I can play with someone else as well as inputs for my MP3 player so I can play along with favorite songs easily. You can also vary the sounds to create your own "sets." Because I'm rhythmically challenged I love this amp to practice with, even with my non-electric ukulele. It gives me a forever-patient drum accompanist so I can really relax and get the feel of playing (kinda like a fun metronome). Check it out!
____________________ http://ukuleletonya.com |
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Pauline Leland Approved 
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What a great little amp with soooo many features. You must have a lot of fun with it. I just have volume, gain, treble, and bass controls on my amp. Course it's a lot older (and a lot cheaper, but...)
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shigthenewt Approved 
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I have a question... I've decided my next uke will be acoustic/electric. I'm curious whether or not anyone uses a soundhole cover on an acoustic/electric uke when plugging it in... or even if such a device is manufactured. Would I notice a big difference in sound quality or should I not even bother? Thanks guys! By the way, I got a Danelectro Honeytone mini amp in anticipation. I've tried it out with an electric guitar already and it does everything I want it to and for only 20 bucks from Guitar Center!
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Pauline Leland Approved
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Twenty bucks for the Honeytone??? Please tell me it was on sale. Try experimenting by taping a 3x5 card over your soundhole before you spend the money. Punch some holes in it if you're thinking of those lute hole fillers. Hah, if you like the sound of a cover and no one makes them uke size, I'll bet you could get clever with a yogurt cup lid.
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shigthenewt Approved
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The lady I dealt with at Guitar Center said they had lowered the price on the Honeytone, hopefully implying that it will always be $20! Interesting, I hadn't thought of using a yohgurt lid. How would you attach it? I'm sure I could find something around the house to use regardless. I suppose I'll just have to wait until it arrives and experiment with it a while. Thanks!
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davebough Approved
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I've had a Honeytone for 3 years. Sure is light & convenient but I didn't like the sound from the tiny speaker. I smashed the case apart and am putting it in a cigar box that matches the 3 string baritone mention above, with a bigger speaker that gives me a better sound. Before I decided to smash it, I had disconnected the speaker in the Honeytone and wired it to a 15" speaker from an old sterio. Great sound! dave. PS: here's a picture of my 3 string electric slide baritone uke Attachment: index_002.jpg (Downloaded 172 times)
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Pauline Leland Approved
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Shigthenewt - A yogurt lid is samll, circular, and plastic, but mainly I was inspired because I was eating a cup of yogurt at the time. Attaching? Well, that's part of the experiment. How about cutting fingers/tabs on the perimeter that can fit above and below the soundhole edge? Davebough - Brave man, playing slide on your cool fretless bari without even markers to tell you where the notes are. How long did the batteries last when you drove a 15" speaker with your Honeytone?  Pauline
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DrGalacticFloss Approved 
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I have obviously "plugged in" on many of my recordings but only when i want to add some sort of effect or color to the tone. if i want an acoustic sound i always mic the uke or guitar. I tried the pickup route for a few months and found it to be very dissapointing. Atfter talking to a few folks with more expereince on the subject than me they re-inforced my findings. Even the best undersaddle pickups don't give you that "unplugged" sound. A live situation may ask for it but for recording, a quiet place and a decent decent mic has always sounded best and lets the instrument / player shine. So to answer the original question i think there is a good demand for it.
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