Miking Guitars for live work.

[obe-wan]

Gday folks,

Any of the good people here use mics for live work (on your guitar)?Any info would be great, what type of mic, placement, feedback etc.

Cheers, Scott.

[ronmac]

Hi Scott,

Type of microphone and placement will depend on your playing situation (single/duo group? vocals? size of room and audience? other gear/amp/pa used?).

If you can describe I am sure you will get lots of suggestions.

[obe-wan]

Gday Ron. Im playing in a small pub to about 50-60 people. Solo, or sometimes with a guest harmonica player. Im currently playing my OM-03R with a Fishman Matrix through a Kustom Sienna acoustic amp miked into the house PA.
Id like to get a more natural acoustic tone, (Ive had about 4 different pickup systems in the guitar so far) and was thinking about miking (just like I do when Im recording).

Cheers, Scott.

[striper]

Hey Scott: Ive had to work thru this issue in the last few years since I came back to Gigging.  Small to medium sized bars, Holiday Inns and a lot of outdoor festivals in the summer (I love them the best) two different bands, one 6 one 5 piece electric...a big  varietyof music but a bunch of nice acoustic moments for me...L-05 and Martin DCXE  (if its real damp) both with K&K Mini,s ..Pluged strait into my on- me wireless transmitter thru my pedelboard thru either my 2 guitar amps together at relatively low volumes ( a MusicMan 2-12 HD 130 and a Roland JC-120)  and them miked with sure 58s thru a medium to large PA depending on the gig...The k&K is the secret weapon in all this..No preamp  needed, hence its passive and sounds VERY natural. Gives me a lot of options...Solo I just bring the Roland Amp and go thru it... Fred

[ronmac]

Gday Ron. Im playing in a small pub to about 50-60 people. Solo, or sometimes with a guest harmonica player. Im currently playing my OM-03R with a Fishman Matrix through a Kustom Sienna acoustic amp miked into the house PA.
Id like to get a more natural acoustic tone, (Ive had about 4 different pickup systems in the guitar so far) and was thinking about miking (just like I do when Im recording).

Cheers, Scott.

For that type of show I would use a mic and go straight to the PA. A lot of folks use a dynamic, such as the SM57 (although I prefer the BETA57A). They are very forgiving and offer good gain before feedback. If you have a decent room and a sound man that can help tame things, you may want to look at using a small diameter condenser microphone (the benefit being a wider frequency response).

[striper]

P.S.  I tried every conceivable Microphone ( Dynamic and Electret) and every placement i could dream up  and it NEVER works out good  playing somewhere..save the mike for recording ..nuttin better for that..