acoustic/electric guitar - do i need a DI?

G

guttadaj

New member
Howdy, folks.

I have an acoustic/electric guitar (an Ibanez AE series) with a built-in preamp (Fishman electronics). I figured that I should be able to take it straight through to my mixer, but the signal is pretty weak, flat, and hissy no matter what I try. (OK, you can argue that my mixer is the B-word :rolleyes:, but I'm comparing the sound to other sounds I get through the same mixer - mainly mic'ed stuff. Is this where a DI would help? I'm not too educated on how preamps and DI's work, so if anyone could explain those or what I could do to improve the sound, I would really appreciate it!

Thanks, :)
-Jeff
 
sounds like your pre-amp is messing up. Plug your guitar into an amp and see how it sounds. if it sounds good, then mic the amp and record it like that. Alot of people like to mic the amp for a more "3-d and real sound", but sometimes the'll use a DI, but i mostly use DIs on bass.
 
Hey Jeff,

Does your guitar have the EQ SS Fishman Sonicore pickup in it?
If so, can you please tell me the "Controls" it has as I'm interested in a guitar with that setup, but have yet to check one out.

ALSO

(I don't know how the heck to post a link BUT,) Over in the Newbie area I started a thread titled "Direct Box's" and I believe it was Jake that was kind enough to provide some links to great articles on the subject if you're interested.

:)
 
Thanks, guys, for the responses! :)

I figured I could always go the mic'ed amp route, but I wanted to see what the sound was like coming straight in from the guitar. Plus, I'm doing a lot of my recording at night when my kids are usually sleeping, so I figured if I could get a decent sound without amping, it would be best.

I'm checking out those nice DI links and will probably start looking into getting a DI/amp-modeler. And, Billy, I'm don't have my guitar with me here right now, but I will check on the controls and post back. I'm not sure if it's an EQ SS Fishman Sonicore pickup, but I'll check the info I got with it to see. It's got a place to put a 9V battery, and then it has EQ controls, a level control, and a phase button if I'm remembering everything. I'll double-check though.

Thanks again! :D
-Jeff
 
Try, try, try! I have ran direct and miced the amp, or.. direct and mic the guitar itself! Or.. direct to the amp, mic the amp and the guitar (seperate rooms, or maybe the same room to get more ambient sound). It's all about experimenting to get the sound you are shooting for. Acoustics can be a pain some times. I got the sound I wanted from my acoustic/electric by using 2 mics on the guitar itself, one up close to get the string noise, one from about 2' out. I ran these to two seperate channels, and EQed them differently giving more low end on the distance mic. I also ran another track direct to get more presence. I might suggest, if possible, to do 2 takes as well, and pan one hard left and one hard right. As long as the two are a little different you might end up with a very nice acoustic sound! I did!
 
BillyFurnett said:
Does your guitar have the EQ SS Fishman Sonicore pickup in it?
If so, can you please tell me the "Controls" it has as I'm interested in a guitar with that setup, but have yet to check one out.
Click to expand...
Hey, Billy. Yeah, the Fishman Control panel on my guitar says "AEQ SS", so I'm not sure if it's the one you're talking about. But, the controls on it are: Bass, Middle, Treble (Boost - Cut) controls, a Shape (Max - Flat) control, a Volume knob, a Phase button, and a low battery LED.

HTH and thanks again for your help! :)
-Jeff
 
You need a direct box. Your guitar is putting out a guitar level signal, which has higher impedance than your mixer. You need something to match the impedance, which is what a direct box is for.


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M.K. Gandhi
 
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