Need some ideas with regards to live sound

**Ed Fowler** · Jul-22-2012, 4:59am

Hi,

I don't have an electric but an acoustic with an LR Baggs Radius. When I play live, I've noticed that the volume of the picked notes are not at the same level as the chords. I've been trying a compressor on my signal chain to balance out levels between chording and soloing. A sound-tech tells me I should forgo the comp and just use a boost pedal during solos.

I'm interested to hear other ideas.

Thanx

Ed

**Ben Milne** · Jul-22-2012, 5:09am

A comp would probably end up accentuating the bottom end thump and handling noise that seems inherent inthe radius even more, as well as potentially reduce your gain before feedback levels.
The LR Baggs Venue would probably be a good marriage to to the radius, featuring a pretty comprehensive EQ, muting tuner and a boost footswitch with a level that can be dialed in to the desired amount of boost.

**Soundfarmer Pete** · Jul-22-2012, 6:19am

The mandolin player in the band I play with uses the solo boost idea with a Boss graphic EQ pedal (Gibson A with Fishman piezo).....seems to work for him.

**Chief** · Jul-22-2012, 2:13pm

I'll second a vote for the Baggs Venue. I've had mine for a couple of years now, and can't imagine playing without it. Play fiddle, acoustic(with pickup) and electric mandolin through it, and it handles all of them flawlessly. Two nice features are the muting tuner- allowing a change of instruments noiselessly, and the variable boost pedal. They're not cheap, but well made and worth every penny in my opinion.

**Markus** · Jul-22-2012, 3:34pm

I have seen a MXR 10-band eq used as a boost by the guy from Head For The Hills. Clicked it on for solos, allowed for the boost to be eq-shaped ... like the Boss Eq mentioned above.
If you can use the features of the Venue, they seem well loved.

Don't forget volume pedals, which allow for the greatest amount of adjustability on the fly.

I've been in the market for a cheap solution for this, in a band context that boost is needed for lead lines to jump out - I don't need a volume pedal, am thinking an EQ will likely work well for my wants or at very least give more tone-shaping options.

**Ed Fowler** · Jul-22-2012, 4:40pm

Thanks for the re-affirmation. I do have an EQ on the board. I had been toying with that idea of using it as a boost for solo. Guess I should look further in to that.

**Mandobart** · Jul-31-2012, 11:29am

I use an Electro-harmonix LPB-1 boost pedal to switch between backup and lead. About $40, metal case, not plastic. The LPB-1 is a simple clean boost with adjustable pot. Uses 9 VDC battery or wall wart.

**mandroid** · Jul-31-2012, 4:07pm

I've noticed that the volume of the picked notes are not at the same level as the chords.

Well, there is the math of the 8 strings vibrating are greater than any one string.
so yea I'd say get a pedal .. Morley deluxe has adjustable zero stop, so low is not off, but lower.
controlled by where you set the low limit stop

**Charlieshafer** · Jul-31-2012, 4:17pm

Yup, the boost pedal is a good idea, but if there is a chance for feedback, the compressor will help with that, so I wouldn't lose it untill you've had a chance to experiment with it to make sure there's no issue. Some boost pedals can cause an instant feedback if there are monitors on tight stages.

**Tim2723** · Aug-05-2012, 6:49pm

I used a Morley pedal for a while. Excellent bit of kit, but in the long run I've found that the best result comes from a change in playing technique. I chord more softly and set my volume at lead level. That's not ideal for everyone all the time, but for myself I've discovered that technology can't totally compensate for technique. If you chop with the same vigor when unplugged, the problem still exists and the lead and chord volumes are just as much out of balance, we just don't notice as much.

**journeybear** · Aug-05-2012, 10:34pm

I have the same instrument and set-up as the guy in Soundfarmer Pete's band, except the EQ/gain is Arion, not Boss. For my main band, most of the time I leave it at one setting and vary the dynamics as needed with my pick attack. Since the acoustic is not used much as a rhythm instrument in this band (lots of riffs, cross-picking, and other melodic-oriented textures, predominantly), what you describe is not a big issue here. (For the electric, I have the volume knob.) For the seasonal cajun-country-bluegrass band, the place we play most of the time has a grounding problem with its electricity, which causes a noticeable hum on my rig, so I use the pedal as a volume cut-off between songs. Oh, and I never have liked what a compressor does to my signal. Always sounds cheesy or phony to me.

So why am I ringing in when I'm not using this the way that would be most helpful for you? Well, I did have some thoughts on the matter. One is, that if you use an EQ/gain pedal for a volume boost, you sill lose the EQ when you click it off. You will either have to decide whether you want the EQ'd signal for your solo or rhythm (remember, you can set the volume on the pedal to be lower when it's on). You may want to set the EQ on the pedal flat and adjust the EQ on the board, so the pedal adjusts only the volume.

The other is I completely agree with everything Tim said. At some point you have to rely on your playing rather than your gear. Technique trumps technology. For twenty years I used a multi-effects unit (Yamaha REX 50) at one setting most of the time - distortion + reverb - that was flexible enough that I could vary my sound just by how I played. Taking this approach a bit further, it's pretty amazing to think how much Hendrix got out of what was pretty rudimentary equipment by today's standards. Not that that's what you're going for, but it's food for thought.

**Tim2723** · Aug-10-2012, 3:08pm

Oh Ed, I forgot about your compressor issue. I agree with your sound guy. Leave it out. Like JB said, they can sound cheesy. I've never had great success applying electric guitar technology to the mandolin, even an electric mandolin.

**pglasse** · Aug-13-2012, 11:33am

In my opinion, for most situations with a transducer-equipped acoustic mando, one will get the best results by using some kind of volume altering device: volume pedal or switch-pedal. I use a Red-Eye preamp which takes care of both transducer impedance matching with the PA or amp and also gives me controllable volume switching.

When playing a regular acoustic mandolin into a mic we control our volume by changing our proximity to the mic. Once we use a transducer that option is gone. So, I think you need some gear to help you get the same effect. To me, it's just not the same to alter one's picking volume. There's a real difference in sound between the sounds of a chop chord played with moderate attack with volume pulled down, as opposed to the same chord played with very light attack and no pedal or switch volume reduction. Picking hard and picking lightly just sound different; they make the instrument respond differently. If we want those options available to us then a pedal of some sort can really help.

Another point: if you're using a preamp with your mando you'll want to add the volume switcher/pedal after the preamp before the PA (unless your preamp has an effects loop, as the Red-Eye does).

Your mileage may vary..... Good luck!