Small to medium speaker for acoustic playing
I have been booked to play at a small indoor private event in a few weeks. Due to the venue and atmosphere of the event I have decided to play acoustically opposed to my usual amped style. The place I am playing at has no sound system or equipment so I have to cover all this. I bought an SM58 microphone and stand to use for the show. I got it work OK through my Fender SuperChamp, but really have to dial up the volume and add a little delay or reverb. So it may OK for this show. However I have been researching just a straight small to medium size PA style speaker. I don't want to throw too much money into it. I thought I would solicit input on any speaker recommendations anybody might have.
Thanks
Brian
The 50W unit I bought worked great at the show today. I did not even have to crank it up to get enough volume for the small indoor venue. It's a KUSTOM 50W with two 4.5" speakers. It has three input channels which is great for plugging in an iPad, the SM58 vocal mic, and a line out on my tube amp. Recommend it for smaller gigs when no PA speaker system is available. Make sure to place it on a table, off floor level, or get a stand. BTW, the show today went over really well with the audience, they found it more professional sounding than they were expecting.
Brian
Hi Brian,
I was following your thread and it's very exciting that you pulled off this show. Were you alone, or accompanied by guitar perhaps ?
Sounds like you found a very good solution via experimenting and just going for it.
Excellent idea with options too !!!!!
Had to play this one solo with just a backing track coming from my iPad plugged into my PA speaker. Been having a hard time making contacts to regularly sit in with a band or form one of my own. My guitar guy that I had played with in the past and says his guitar is collecting dust. I have been encouraging him to get back into it.
For acoustic playing through the SM58 that PA worked great. Of course if I want to play amped I can do a line out or mic my amp to the speaker. All I had provided to me at the place to work with was an electrical outlet. So I had to set up my own sound system and wiring. Having all that gear was good and worked well.
One cool thing, after the show a guy stopped by and is interested in taking lessons from me. So we are working out the details.
BC
I hope you find some jams to go to then.
I know you play at an excellent level already and I'm sure others would love to hear what you can add to the music.
i have been playing at jams a lot over the last 6 month. Developing the friendships with other musicians has been so very very important to my development as a player And as a member of my local music scene. I would totally encourage you or anybody to really give it a 100per cent effort to play in jam settings. It is so very hard at first and also so very rewarding as time passes.
i have tried open mics, open blues jams ( the best), bluegrass jams (arrggghhh), and playing with guitar guys.
What I am finding is ....
1)Awesome people to make music with
2) All kinds of areas to apply David's lessons
3) generally a fabulously good time
4) every opportunity I learn something new ( even when that new thing is ...oops dont do that!!!
This is where the contacts and comradery opportunities happen and where bands are generated.
But ... Wow... I am impressed that you did it alone for a show.
I sincerly hope you can give lessons to another player it will really fine tune your playing.
My private guy just stopped doing lessons. Bummer.. But I was showing him things he felt was above him, so you will also have that to give others !!!!!
John:
Your last comment struck me as I have been having a similar issue. I had been considering some private one on one tutoring on harmonica to help support my learning. However I cannot find any harmonica teachers nearby except myself. On top of that finding one that can handle the advanced material really narrows it down. I only know of one guy that I have played with several times when he hosted jams out here. He teaches advanced students. He is quite an experienced player. Not quite as nearby as I'd like, but I did contact him about maybe getting some lessons in.
Brian
Hey Brian !!!!
im finding because we are so passionate about learning , playing, practicing that it really is difficult to find similar like minded musicians that can or are able to teach us. Only in the last year did I realize ...hey I AM A MUSICIAN !!!
Again though it is the jams that have taught me so very much. It is truly astounding the talent in my city and I can only presume in yours too. It is now playing with others where the lessons are learned and applied. My private teacher was Doug Varty whom is a life long Canadian musician, winner of many awards, and currently one of the best touring Rod Stewart Tribute Artists. Check him out on Google or YouTube. I say this because it was not necessarily harmonica I was taking lessons for. He taught me performance, rythym, feel and many other things in our conversations where I rarely played Harp. Sometimes I would show him my Bluesharmonica.com material for advice. (Always his observation was to point out how awesome this site is and to stay the course).
Hopefully there are pro jams or any kind of jams where the level of playing is high that you can attend. In the last few months another excellent Local Canadian harp player has started hosting a jam similar to your friend. Robbie Antone when hosting invites me and another harp player up at the same time. Emulating them on stage in the moment has been so very very rewarding. Here is a link to one of his performances where so many bluesharmonica lessons are presented in this one song in my opinion. All of these musicians I play and jam with regularly. So in our lessons playing It Takes Three is part of performance training. I suggested to the other two harp players that I would like to teach it to them. Fingers crossed that they will but that to me would be a great learning tool for me as well as them. Perhaps you can find others to do a similar thing with the harmonica?
Again the gear though!!!!
it is these settings that have shown me how so completely acceptable it is to play with a mic I bring directly into the PA. In my above story it was Robbie Antone whom showed me how to easily and quickly dial in on any PA system.
Here is a video of a performance showing all of the above playing with a Shure mic into the PA by Robbie Antone
Hope fully I am contributing to your original reason for posting this thread.
No problem, great discussion all around. Hopefully others can benefit as well.
BC
I ordered a 50W unit that has two 4 1/2" speakers and three channels. It should go well with the SM58 microphone. So see how it works out when it arrives.
Brian