Finally took my Gypsy guitar to the gig!

bigeric

Finally took my Gypsy guitar to the gig! I have been doing a jazz brunch gig here in Vegas and today was the day. Its a guitar and upright bass duo. I have been reluctant as I am not crazy about the bigtone sound thru my guitar amps. Today i put my briefcase in front of the amp. It acted as an additional eq device. It worked our pretty good. We played Swing 42, Confession, Lulu Swing, It had to you, I'll see you in my dreams, All of me, After you've gone etc.....

I was really happy to play the guitar on the gig, I will now finally put her in rotation. Any body else not crazy about the bigtone pickup? Any help using a bigtone with a tube amp? I am thinking of using a microphone in front of the guitar. Preamp advice?
thanks

Big Eric

Jack

I used mine (crapped out and replaced with another transducer) with an LR Baggs preamp...it was pretty unusable without it, but now people are constantly coming up to ask about my setup. (This is with a David amp.)

best,
Jack

MichaelHorowitz

Eric...keep in mind that all bigtones are not created equal. Everyone makes their own and they use different bridges, transducers, etc. The Dell Artes ones tend to be harsher than most which is probably what you have. The Dupont ones sound a lot better....you might try swapping it out at some point.

bigeric

I did not know that there are different bigtone pickups.

I have run mine thru a mackie 1202 into my amp. That lasted about 10 minutes. I tried using a compressor as well. No help. The mids seemed boosted on my guitar. Hence the impromptu mbaffle on the front end of my amp. Chordal playing seems to be the biggest challenge. If I can get a decent sound I will use the guitar much more. The gigs I am doing are all low volume which is very cool.
I am used to playing archtop guitars. With a volume control of course. I think I would prefer a pickup. My ears are used to that sound I guess.
On the other hand the bass player was digging the Dell Arte tone today. He told me I should play this axe all the time.
Maybe my ears need to get used to the tone. When I bought the guitar the bigtone was not installed the sound was to me very very good. After the pickup and new bridge was installed I noticed a tremendous difference in volume and tone. I am tempted to remove this thing and start over.
Who makes a good D hole pickup?
thanks
Big Eric

BluesBop Harry

I get a much better tone using a Boss EQ pedal. Mostly to remove mids and treble, seems to compress a bit too.