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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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paul1 Approved
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I have a new ovation soprano with (standard) pick-up and a martin baritone without. They are both great instruments and so wonderfully different - for me its a great combination!
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davebough Approved 
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Pauline- I have little pencil marks on the neck to guide me. When I think they are right I will use ink. My latest fun crowd pleaser with it is to put it on my lap like a lap steel and use an empty beer bottle for a slide. I never used up a battery while I was using the 15" speaker...didn't use it a lot, but it didn't seem to eat batteries dave
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Will Approved 
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Oscar Schmidt has come out with an all-new hollow-body concert-sized electric uke, the OU-14, which is modeled after Washburn's "Idol" cutaway body guitar. It comes in a sunburst and a black finish. They're selling for $99 at Ukulele World, http://www.ukuleleworld.com/uw_oscarschmidt.html and at Elevation Music, http://drumandguitar.stores.yahoo.net/osscouideluk.html   http://www.oscarschmidt.com/product/ou14e.htm
Last edited on Wed Jul 19th, 2006 04:38 pm by Will ____________________ 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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Mike Bagneski Approved
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I've got an Applause Soprano with the stock passive pickup, and play through one of those Roland MicroCubes. The combination works great, the effects are useful, and there's plenty of volume for the coffehouse thing. Probably wouldn't cut it in a bar though. Mike
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honu Approved
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We have the following electrified ukes: Acoustic uke: G-String Tenor uke with a fishman matrix passive pickup. Electric uke: RISA Ellie. Both are great ukes. The RISA Ellie is great for rock-n-roll.
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robin a Approved
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I have a passive pick up on mine and plug it in to anyone's amp. I tend to practice at home acoustically.
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BennyUkeman Approved 
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I have an Applause/ Ovation Tenor active electrics and a passive undersaddle Pono Tenor. The Applause only sounds good plugged in and I really like its thick neck and rugged build. The Pono sounds good acoustically and amp'd...and the passive pickup works well. I will get an electric/acoustic 6 string soon. I play my acoustic Kamaka Tenor the most. I also have a RISA electric tenor double lipstick electric. Fantastic fun. First electric stringed instrument of any kind. Another tool in the kit...
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Mike Bagneski Approved
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Grizzly Industrial (grizzly.com) catalog lists the "Artec microphone with preamp." The mic is mounted to the endpin jack assembly, which also houses the preamp. Battery needs to be mounted elsewhere in the instrument interior, but evrything else hangs on the endpin assembly, and mounts as a unit to the enlarged endpin hole. Model no. H6058. I'm tempted to try this in my soprano. Mb
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John Kavanagh Approved 
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I finally put a pickup in my uke, after holding out for 26 years. I had a de Armond contact mike in the 70s, but it got lost somehow. This time I got an internal mike/under saddle combo with an L.R. Baggs Mixpro as a preamp, off the uke. I prefer to play unamplified, but unamplified means un-amplified to me. Using a good microphone thorough a clean PA is still the best amplified sound, but it's silly to pretend that that's not "electric". Anything that comes through a loudspeaker is "electric". Using a mike is sometimes impractical, if the stage volume is high or if I'm sitting in. I got the pickup for increased flexibility, and so I wouldn't be totally at the mercy of someone else's gear. I'm still experimenting with the saddle pickup - the one I have now has affected the acoustic volume, and I can't live with that - I do play some unamplified gigs ( I did a blues gig Saturday with amp, and a classical reception - uke and harpsichord! - on Sunday without). I need the big acoustic sound I used to have. It's doable - my luthier is patiently working with me to get the old sound back. The amped sound is great. Last edited on Mon Aug 21st, 2006 09:30 pm by John Kavanagh ____________________ ------------------------------ Have I plugged this CD enough? http://ezfolk.com/audio/John_Kavanagh |
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Mike Bagneski Approved
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Hi John, I'm curious about your loss of volume after a pickup installation. Was the installation passive (pickup only), or did it include preamp and battery? Do you know what brand the transducer was? What size uke was it? The reason I ask is that I've had good luck adding tranducers to several of my ukes. I didn't notice a loss in volume, but if this is an issue, I'd like to research it a bit. TIA, Mb
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John Kavanagh Approved
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Mike Bagneski wrote: Hi John, There's details about the uke on my website - it's a baritone in tenor tuning. Before the recent mods, I was never overpowered by any combination of guitars or mandolins. Tenor banjo, maybe. Now it's maybe 20% quieter, especially the top string. Still good , but I want it great again. It's a Fishman under-saddle peizo pickup, but I'll be replacing that with either a Baggs iBeam or something similar from Schatten, which is installed under the bridge plate. The problem is he also rerouted the bridge and made a larger saddle, so I don't know if the loss of volume is because the new saddle is more massive, or because the under-saddle pickup material is muting the contact between saddle and wood. The Fishman amplified tone is alright, but a bit quacky, doesn't add much I like to the sound of the internal mike (something by Panasonic), which is very good. The reason I went with a 2-source system is so that I could have some variety of sound for different venues and kinds of music. I'd expect in a high-volume situation to use mostly bridge pickup, in others to use mostly mike. I have a double system on my upright bass, peizo and magnetic, and I like that. The Baggs Mixpro is a beltclip 2-channel preamp/blender. I chose it over the Fishman ProBlend system (which is all inside the instrument) because I wanted as little hardware on the uke as possible. It has phantom power for the little mike, so no batteries in the uke, just a bean-sized mike on a stiff wire, the output jack, and the wire to the bridge pickup. There's a short stereo cord to the Mixpro on my uke strap, and the controls are near my right hand. Last edited on Tue Aug 22nd, 2006 10:23 pm by John Kavanagh ____________________ ------------------------------ Have I plugged this CD enough? http://ezfolk.com/audio/John_Kavanagh |
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Mike Bagneski Approved
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Hi John, Sounds to me like you're already committed to yanking the Fishman, but if not there's one thing you can try. Most under-saddle transducers have a mallable substance, like a hard clay, included as part of the pickup "sandwich". I think the idea here is that string pressure forces the pickup to shape itself to the bridge slot and saddle, thus improving balance and volume. I'm pretty sure that uke string tension is significantly lower than steel string guitar (which most transducers are design around). Perhaps your saddle never seated against the pickup completely. This could cause both balance problems and potentially a loss of acoustic volume. The fix would be for your luthier to use a couple of bridge clamps to exert added pressure on the saddle, in an attempt to seat the saddle more completely against the transducer. Again, it sounds like the Fishman is history, but I wanted to add this info to this thread. I should mention that I worked at a guitar shop of several years, and among my tasks was reconditioning of a couple of hundred factory second acoustic/electric imports. I got real good at tweaking A/E electronics.  Mike
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John Kavanagh Approved
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One more thing I'd like to add. I did my third gig with the new system last night, a bar gig where I played uke and gamba, and I got he best amped sound I think I've ever had. The secret, not a secret to most savvy "amped acoustic" pickers is preamps. I had the Baggs on the uke and a borrowed Fishman preamp (which I'm buying) on the gamba, and - no matter what the manufacturere or the guy selling it tells me - I am now totally sold on using a preamp with any peizo pickup. So many wasted years, so much crappy sound... Last edited on Sun Aug 27th, 2006 06:38 pm by John Kavanagh ____________________ ------------------------------ Have I plugged this CD enough? http://ezfolk.com/audio/John_Kavanagh |
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PhilUSAFRet Approved
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Last edited on Mon Sep 25th, 2006 09:16 pm by PhilUSAFRet |
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Mike Bagneski Approved
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In another thread over on the beginner forum, Ukeforever mentioned that refitting a uke with a lighter saddle seemed to improve the volume. This suggested to me that, at least with sopranos, adding weight to the bridge/saddle component might have a negative effect on tone. So I decided to try an experiment. I have a soprano that I added an under-saddle pickup to a while back, and I've never been totally satisfied with the sound, so I decided to remove the pickup, evaluating the acoustic sound before and after the pickup was removed. The result was a noticable increase in volume after the pickup was removed, and the saddle replaced with a thinner, lighter saddle. The uke sounds a whole lot louder without the pickup. The added weight is not significant on a heavier instrument, (like a guitar), but on something small and light like a soprano, it can make a difference. I learn somthing new every day. Mb
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damnitsham Approved
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I'm but a fledgling in the uke department (I've been bashing away at my $20 Mahalo for about 6 months now), however I took the plunge and decided to go electric. As I am hesitant to purchase online i decided to check the stores around Melbourne. What I've snapped up is $150 of Sanchez 20 fret electric. It's probably not the greatest sound in the world, but it will do until I can see myself investing a bit more. While I'm at it, I guess it's worth asking some more experienced players what the verdict is on Sanchez? I was limited to grabbing either that or a Mahalo 12 fret, and I really needed the extra range on the bridge. I guess it's also worth enquiring about anything else thats affordable and has the range I need? Cheers guys, Adam 
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jantheman49 Approved
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Mark, I would like your opinion about K&K pickups. I have an Oscar Schmidt OU-4 Tenor that I'd like to amplify. It's an inexpensive instrument, so I don't want to shell out major bucks for pickups. I already have a Kamaka Tenor that has a Fishman under saddle pickup and am looking for something a bit less pricey for my beach beater. Both ukes are/will be hooked up to a Carvin G-16 amp, or a Micro Cube when I play outdoors. I have been advised by several luthiers to install either a K&K Big Shot or K&K Mandolin Twin. Do you have any experience with the Mandolin Twin, and if so what is the best placement for the pickups? Also, I'm a bit confused about where you would suggest placing the Big Shot pickup - is your recommendation 1 1/2" above the bridge, toward the sound hole? It's not clear from your discussion. Mahalo Nui Loa
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Will Approved
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jantheman49 wrote: Mark, I would like your opinion about K&K pickups. I have an Oscar Schmidt OU-4 Tenor that I'd like to amplify. It's an inexpensive instrument, so I don't want to shell out major bucks for pickups. I already have a Kamaka Tenor that has a Fishman under saddle pickup and am looking for something a bit less pricey for my beach beater. Both ukes are/will be hooked up to a Carvin G-16 amp, or a Micro Cube when I play outdoors. I'm not "Mark," but I've used the K&K Big Shot (single transducer as opposed to double for the Mandolin Twin) on my autoharps, and the Big Shot should be sufficient for your uke amplication needs. The best placement (sweet spot) of the disc is usually dependent upon your individual instrument. Try using a thin layer of pre-kneaded poster putty to experiment with mounting the transducer until you find the sweet spot. Last edited on Sun Feb 25th, 2007 07:26 am by Will ____________________ 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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catty Approved
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I'm using this, a 5-string electric mandolin, tuned uke:
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2manyTaylors Approved
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I discovered the need for amplified uke when I went to Hawaii. Those playing in bands and in shows at luaus, etc. need to mic up to be heard. The best sounding solution would probabaly be a mic placed in front of an acoustic uke. Having said that, I purchased a Bugsgear Eleuke at the Aloha Stadium swapmeet. They had it plugged into a "mini" amp, a 9v job, for demo purposes, and it sounded AWFUL. I brought it home, and plugged it into my Ibanez electric amp, and it sounded a little better. But I think what it needs is an ACOUSTIC or KEYBOARD amp to sound like it should.
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| ezFolk Forums > Ukulele > General Ukulele > Are you Electric?? | |
