Name this pickup...

klaatu

These mikes have an XLR (three-pin) connector, so you need an XLR input. You can go direct into a PA (if close enough), into a DI, or into the XLR input that most acoustic amps provide.

A preamp may or may not be necessary. The preamp could be helpful if you are playing into a PA system that is not your own, with a soundman, such as at a festival. It would allow you some direct control over your EQ, and the preamp works as a DI. It also gives you some more power on the input signal, if needed.

I saw a flamenco guitarist at a jazz festival last year using one of these with the soundhole clip. He plugged the mike into an XLR-1/4" impedance matching cable, which went into a Baggs Para DI, and the soundman ran his cable into that. Sounded great.

As to power, most of these mikes run off either battery or phantom power (often both). The majority of PAs and acoustic amps will provide some level of phantom, and these small condensors will generally operate with as low as 10V. You need to check the specs on the mike. The AT831b has a premanently installed power pack, but if you take the battery out it will run on straight phantom.

Craig Bumgarner

All I know about is the one I have, a Audio Technica AT183B. It comes with a little "power module" that has to be used. It uses one AA battery and in spite of having used at least once a week for a year and a half and having occasionally left the switch on accidentally for a week at a time, I'm still on the original battery. The specs say it can alternatively use phantom power, but I've never tested it. The battery lasts so long, I just care a spare and don't worry about it.

The output of the power module is XLR. I've come out of the power module direct in to PAs or a variety acoustic amps (Unico, Acoustic Image, Fishman). Results all seem reasonably good and consistent. I have not used a separate pre-amp and can't say whether that would be an improvement or not, but I haven't felt the need for it yet. Most amps and PAs seem to have plenty of EQ built in. Most of the time I just set everything flat and seldom have to do more than a little tweek one way or the other.

I gather a preamp might help with feedback by notching out offending frequencies, but amp placement and keeping the EQ flat seem to be sufficient measures. Once I figured that out, I really have not had much in the way of a feedback problem. Last night I used an amp head that is separate from the speaker cabinet, Just sat the cabinet in front of me facing away and turned the amp head around to face me and voila, no feedback, convenient amp control, plus a nice little coffee table option.

FWIIW, I have yet to hear anyone say anything bad about the Audio Technica Pro-70 mic which is very similar, less expensive and arguably slightly more suited for acoustic guitar amplification.

Craig

klaatu

Craig Bumgarner wrote:

The specs say it can alternatively use phantom power, but I've never tested it.

Craig,

Just FYI, it definitely does work with phantom and no battery.

CalebFSU

Thanks guys that is exactly the information I was looking for!

gitpicker

Wow I really like that homemade rig for placing the mic behind the bridge! I'll have to try that. I don't mind clipping it off the sound-hole but on some guitars (like on my AJL), the mic seems to be a bit bass heavy so maybe behind the bridge is better on some guitars. I love Jorgenson's method of sticking it strait into a cube of foam attached to the treble side lower bout on the top except then you've always got this foam cube attached there. For pure sound it works great though.

Craig Bumgarner

gitpicker wrote:

.... I love Jorgenson's method of sticking it strait into a cube of foam attached to the treble side lower bout on the top except then you've always got this foam cube attached there. For pure sound it works great though.

Well, the cube could probably be attached with the same putty that is used for external piezos. That way it could be removed. The mic could be oriented facing down to the top (see below) and the whole thing moved around to find the best spot.

I've been thinking the alignment of the mic parallel to the top is probably not the best orientation. So I folded the support strip in the picture above in half and slide it sideways under the strings with the mic close to straight down. The mic face was about 1-2mm from the top. Marked improvement. More clarity, more punch, less boomy, less echo, higher volume to feedback ratio. The strip is jammed in between the strings and top which is arguably dampening the top, but I can't hear it if it is. The mic cord sticks up in the air which seems less than desirable, but I didn't notice any real problem while playing it that way for about an hour. I moved the alignment back and forth between parallel and 90 deg 3-4 times and the difference is quite noticeable. I'll be working on mount that is less of a lashup, but for now, it is good enough to gig with.

Craig