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Fishman Aura 16 Review

November 25, 2010 in John's Equipment and Gear Reviews with 0 Comments

I just realized that musicians here in Canada are the last to hear about the advances in acoustic guitar technology.

As you may or may not know, I’ve been spending the last few days with flamenco / metal guitarist Benjamin Woods. Like myself, Ben is a nylon string guitar player performing with a group consisting of electric bass and drums.

Up until now the only way our guitars could be heard was to amplify them with an under saddle pick up, microphone or both. The problem we all face is that the mic, as great as it sounds, will feed back at louder volumes and also picks up the sound of the the bass and drums. And the problem with the under saddle pick up is that every single manufacture’s pick up I’ve ever tried does not sound like a nylon string guitar! Until now…

Thank You Fishman and thank you Benjamin Woods!!! You guys have forever changed my guitar pick’n life!

During live performances Ben currently uses Godin and Line 6 nylon string guitars. Each of these guitars uses nylon string guitar modelling.

Now why I’ve never seen or heard of these guitars is beyond me. There amazing and to date I’ve never seen one in any of our local Canadian music stores. I’m sure that will change very soon.

So what is guitar modeling. We currently have had this for years with Line 6 giving us electric guitar player any amp we could ever dream of owning in a little unit called a pod. Well now they have finally done it for us acoustic players.

Godin, Line 6 and Fishman have created nylon string guitars and pedals to emulate what ever mic’d guitar sound we can dream up.

So this leads me to my new Fishman Aura 16 pedal…

This little device is amazing. I’m now plugging my nylon string flamenco guitar straight into the Fishman Aura and out to the PA. And my guitar sounds great! Just like the mic’d sound without any feedback and lot’s of headroom (volume)

I first used the Fishman Aura for my recent studio session with Gypsalero and when I went into the control room to listen to my guitar we listened to both the mic’d sound and the fishman and I couldn’t tell which was the real mic!

So the Fishman Aura scores massive points from me in the studio and live at home. Next  is to try it out live at my gig this evening. I’ll plug straight into it and will not use a mic as I’ve done in the past.

Ok, so once again the Fishman Aura was awesome however I did find most of the nylon sounds to be to distant in a live situation. So with a little compression added to my guitar it now sounds close and punchy.

As a soloist it’s fine without compression however when performing with bass and drums the compression was necessary.

M-Audio Fast Track II with Pro Tools – Review

July 14, 2010 in John's Equipment and Gear Reviews with 4 Comments

M-Audio Fast Track II with Pro Tools – Review by Alaa Marzouk

Well, I got the M-Audio Fast Track II with Pro Tools, and honestly, I did not like it.  Why?  Well, that’s a good question.  The product comes with M-Audio Fast Track unit with installation CD, Pro-Tools Essential Installation CD, and a USB cable to connect the M-Audio unit to a PC or laptop. The unit has 2 input/2 output audio interfaces, a 1/4 inch input for guitar, headphones output, microphone input with 48V phantom power, & RCA speaker outputs. First thing, let me tell you the pros of this product. It’s easy to install, but you have to go to the M-Audio website to download the latest driver for your operating system to prevent software crashes. The unit itself is somewhat solid & doesn’t look light or cheap. Along with the pros, here come the cons. I really don’t know where to start. Okay, the software is TERRIBLE and has a sad interface. It’s so complicated! It has VERY, VERY limited features, and the worst thing is that if you want just “okay results” you STILL have to pay A LOT!  You cannot record a track as an Mp3 unless you pay an additional fee.  Just to record a track you need to follow two or three steps.  You cannot just click record because simply it won’t work!  The sound quality is average.  Honestly, all you have to do is get a 1/4” to 1/8” converter jack from Radio Shack for $6.99, record with Audacity (free recording software), and you’ll have the same results. If you’re using Mac, it’s easier to record with Garage band. It pissed me off that even a simple guitar effect cannot be done without paying to buy a plug-in or so!  I feel bad because I had such high hopes for this product. *Sigh* I’m just a simple 26 year old man who wanted to record music for his wife.  I guess I’ll have to keep on searching for the right software to record and edit guitar music, but this time, I’ll stay far away from M-Audio and Avid.

LR Baggs Element Pickup system for Classical Guitar

June 22, 2010 in John's Equipment and Gear Reviews with 2 Comments

After my performances in San Francisco this past weekend I have to announce how wonderful it was to plug in my flamenco guitar with the LR Baggs “Element” pickup.

As you may have read in my previous posts regarding all the different guitar and pickup system nightmares I experienced in my San Francisco performances or If not here’s a brief summery…

I had 3 good flamenco guitars to choose from, all of which would have been great if we were using microphones to amplify the guitars. However, due to playing with bass and drums at a very loud stage volume I had to use the guitar’s under saddle pickup systems. My first guitar had a Fishman system and the treble strings were all evenly balanced however the bass strings were all about 6db quieter. Then there was the guitar with the RMC pickup system… The balance was better however the trebles sounded very thin against the bass and drums. Also, for some bizarre reason the bass strings had no definition and vanished against the sound of the bass and drums. The 3rd guitar was a Yamaha with a B-band system right of the store rack and again the string balance was uneven.

I use B-band systems in all my previous guitars and with a lot of patience and perseverance you can get the strings to balance well.

So what’s the point to all this?

I recently installed an LR Baggs Element pick up in my new flamenco guitar at home and what a treat it was to pick it up and plug it in. “Perfect string balance and a nice round warm tone”

Ok, so it still sounds like a clacky under saddle pickup however, Hats off to, and a big thank you to LR Baggs for creating a classical guitar pickup you can easily balance!

Now just for those comparing b-band to lr baggs. B-band does sound great, string balance can be achieved by a tech that really knows them. However the output on a b-band is really weak and that is something I would like them to improve on.

Now as for the lr baggs element… It’s a good sounding classical guitar pickup and I love the nice output level and most importantly, it’s very easy to balance. What’s important with both pickup is to be sure that the underside of the bridge saddle is perfectly flat!

I can’t hear my guitar!

May 28, 2010 in John's Equipment and Gear Reviews with 4 Comments 

hello john,

came across your fine website in my quest for
trying to get a decent and good live amplified
classical guitar sound. im from Dublin Ireland
and im doing a similar type of gig that your doing
small clubs laid back venues wine bar etc but am
havin real trouble in hearing myself when people
start yapping! some gigs worse than others. i see
you have an excellent set up gear wise and was
wondering hows it workin for you. 

i use two aer classic pro amps with a takamine tc132sc classical
using a digital delay over the two amps also two aer as 281 pa
speakers as an add on from the amps. yes really good gear but
cant hear myself! everything is fine except when people start
talking the sound is completely sucked up.when i turn my guitar
up the response and sound of the guitar is awful, like a electric
guitar with rubber bands as strings all the acoustic subtlety gone.
would a compressor help do you think or in your search for your
live sound have u encountered my problems. 

over here in Ireland none of the music shops understand
where im commin from and think im nutts but its a real problem as
id like to pursue this type of work more as i enjoy live playing
but cant play with the sound i have.im on you tube under pat
coldrick if you want to hear me play just so that you can see that
im real and not wastin your time!id apreciate any help john as your
the first person ive come across who seems to have a handle on the
whole issue of live amplified Spanish guitar sound. 

your website is excellent well done
and look forward to your reply.

p.s.ive noticed you say you use in ear
monitors im just wondrin would this solve my problem in
hearing myself? how do you find the sound of your guitar
through them? many thanks john and continued success with
your music.

regards pat coldrick

http://www.mesentertainments.com/PatColdrick.html



Hi Pat

Yes, I think I can most definitely help. 

A lot of my performing is corporate, just me,
my guitar, and 100 to 600 very valuable CEO’s
all networking in the same tiny room.

The answer to your question and sanity when
playing these events (and really any gig) is
most definitely “good professional” in ear
monitors!

I almost always perform with one in my ear and one out to hear
the ambient room. Unless the room is so loud that you can’t
speak to the person next to you. Then I put both monitors in.
(It’s hard to believe but I have performed in rooms so loud
that I’ve left the room with my ears ringing just from the
volume of everyone networking around me.

It takes a while to get them as you will need to visit an
ear specialist to take impressions of your ear. Then send them
in to have your in ear monitors created. I use monitors called
Livewires. They are located in San Francisco. 

I bought theirs because they are extremely reasonable,
the quality is very good and I was extremely impressed
with their customer service. They were also highly
recommended by a few industry friends of mine.

I currently use their duel driver monitors. They sound great.
You can also save a lot by not going wireless. The good wireless
systems can be around $1000 and is not necessary for what we’re
doing.

All the best, John G.
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