Microphone vs. pickup for fiddle

I talk to a lot of fiddlers who wants advice on their stage amplification gear.

Questions about what microphone or pickup to use and with what amplifier or PA.

These questions have so many variables that they are hard to answer.

I have myself done much experimenting and found many good systems.

Volta acoustic-electric violin

I just found this video review of a new acoustic-electric violin called the Volta.

The system is made with a specially chosen violin by the Long Island Violin Shop and paired with the Stringamp transducer system.

There are three quality grades of violins to choose from and they come in both 4 and 5 string versions.

Headway adds new preamps to their lineup

Headway has recently added two new preamps to the product lineup.

The EDM-1 is a very compact 1 channel preamp suitable for both pickups and mics.

The EDB-2 will replace the well reviewed EDB-1. A 2 channel preamp with assignable EQ to either channel or both.

The EDB-1 is now discontinued but I have just bought one and will test it as soon as it gets here.

Wittner Isny shulder rest

I have seen this concept before, but Wittner is taking it a step further and combining a shoulder rest and a chin rest.

The idea is of course to minimize contact to the vibrating body of the instrument.

I will have to test it in order to find out how comfortable is really is

Headway vl3 and EDB-1 preamp

Here is a video of the Headway vl-3 pickup. An in-bridge pickup with 2 piezo elements.



This test is made a follows:

"The VL3 Bridge Pickup on Chinese made Violin was recorded onto Hard Disc, via Headway EDB-1 DI Box, recorded with flat EQ. This was played back via EDB-1 DI Box into Headway Shire King 120 Acoustic Amp, which was Mic'd up using AKG C414 Condenser Mic., to achieve a recording of live type sound, using all Headway gear entirely from pickup No microphones were used while recording fiddle.

Amp controls were set with flat EQ, tiny amounts of EQ cuts were applied from EDB-1 on 5 band EQ controls ( 0-3 dB) to balance room, Instrument and speaker cabinet sounds etc. A small amount of reverb was the only outboard treatment used."

I would of course like to test this one as well. This test is good, but Headway is clearly is making this sound as good as possible (why should they not?), I would like to hear a sound sample before eq and reverb was added.

Dazzolin violin PU

I found this video of the Dazzolin pickup. It is a comparison to the L R Baggs in bridge pickup.

I am not sure if both pickups are used with the same preamp, and I do not know which preamp is used.
Also I do not know if it is the same violin used - It looks like two different fiddles? In my opinion both pickups should have been mounted on the same violin and the comparison made in one go for the best evaluation.

I would of course like to test this pickup myself. This would make it is easier to compare with the others tested here on my blog.

Pedal chain - which goes where?

I have often wondered about this myself.

- Where do I put my octaver in relations to my delay?

I have found a lot of good sounds by dialing in good tones in every pedal and connecting them in different order.

- What is the "right" way to chain your effects?

Well I guess there is no "right" way. But perhaps the are more sensible logical ways.

I have found great basic help here at the Boss site:

PART I

PART II