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Posted by fiddlepogo on Thursday, May 27, 2010
For a long time at gigs I've been using my Fender Pro Junior guitar amp.
For what it is, maybe because of the good sound from the Heil mics, it's worked pretty well. But I want to play bigger facilities, and I've just wanted something that looks a bit more professional and less cobbled together!!!
After much research, I pretty much decided that a JBL EON was going to be it. I missed out on a closeout on the old model (G2), but snagged a used EON 510 for only a little more.
Today I could really hear the difference- the singing sounds a lot smoother. Afterwards I went and bought a pole mount for it.
I haven't quite settled on what to use for a preamp or mixers. The EON 510 has only one mic input. So I have to use various kludges for the second mic until I get a mixer.
I think one of the reasons the guitar amp worked as well as it did was that many of the rooms I play have hard floors with some natural reverb... that may have covered up some of the flaws in the sound.
I'm pretty satisfied now that (with some work on the mixing aspect) I now have a sound setup (it's so simple that I hesitate to call it a system!) that is very versatile and will allow me to play in a variety of venues at different sound levels and still be confident of the sound quality.
The Tweak for Booker:
http://www.dalemfg.com/acousticaladjustment_005.htm
Somewhere on the fiddle hangout they were talking about bridge tweaks a couple of days ago.
Someone gave another page on that site listing tweaks, and the tailpiece gut tweak seemed like something I could do. The idea is that when the tailpiece gut is the right length, the harmonic of the A string and the afterlength of the D string work together to enhance the sound. So I checked Booker the Bucharest, and it sounded like it needed it.
So I did it, and it definitely was an improvement. Except it increased the volume of the G, D, and A strings so now the E string seems too soft!!! I tweaked the bridge somewhat and that helped a little.
I really liked the sound of the fiddle today at the gig!!!
I tried it on "Stinky" too... but when the string pressure was off of the top, the sound post fell over!!! Oh well!!! I've been wanting to get a new soundpost made for Stinky, and maybe this will motivate me.
4 comments on “New sound setup- and a new tweak for Booker... that puts Stinky in a coma!!!”
mudbug Says:
Friday, May 28, 2010 @5:03:27 AM
Glad to hear that you're pleased with your new sound system. It's so much nicer when the "sound" is sounding good.
fiddlepogo Says:
Friday, May 28, 2010 @9:30:49 PM
Yeah, it sure is!
Today after the gig, one of the activities aides commented on how much better the new setup with the JBL EON 510 sounded!!! And one of the ladies said the guitar sounded really good!!
(She is blind, born that way I think, so she tends to be perceptive to sounds.)
Humbled by this instrument Says:
Monday, May 31, 2010 @12:29:59 PM
Hmmmmpf, I think if you used the JBL EON 511's with the twisted tweeters and the weighted-down woofers, the Expo 432 super-charged ones, then you'd have even better sound, assuming you outfitted all with the Galooga randomized voltage inhalers.
fiddlepogo Says:
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 @12:41:05 PM
With the weighted down woofers, it would probably be too heavy-
I'll stick with the JBL EON 510!!! ;^D
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