Interesting observations. There must have been something else wrong with the setup you mentioned in the beginning though, where you got no sound out of your passive pickup. Obviously there are instruments with passive pickups built in, and there are aftermarket devices such as those made by KNA that are designed to go direct to amp. As long as it's an amp geared for acoustic instruments, perhaps, due to impedance matching issues, it should work. There is much to be said for sticking to the shortest logical path between the strings and the listener's ears, and there are also fewer opportunities for failure, with fewer devices. Add to that the fact that it's just pretty darned unattractive to have a couple of plastic gizmos cut into the sides of the ukulele, one for the controller and one for the jack (and maybe another for the battery), that's not at all the path that I would want to go. I think that with proper amplification, a purpose-built acoustic instrument amplifier, and a good passive pickup, most people should be able to accomplish their objective.
Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts! I definitely agree about keeping the set up as simple as possible and that onboard electronics are unattractive! A good acoustic amp is the way to go, but most of the time when I perform I plug into the venue’s PA system and the simplest way to get that working for me is with a preamp boost. When I plug direct in at recording studios I also use my preamp because I get the same issue.
If you're plugging directly into an audio desk with a passive pickup(or even an active), I would have to question "What type of outlet are you plugging into and why?" Cranking up the gain and getting anywhere from 40-60+db of gain, if he was getting NOTHING, there was something else going on. It could have been an assignment or routing issue as well. You shouldn't go direct to the desk, you should to a DI and then into the desk. I've handled plenty of ukuleles going through my desk, most being passive pick-ups and the typical signal chain is ukulele -> cable -> Active direct box -> XLR to desk. Yes, they will need more gain than an active, but I don't carry acoustic instrument pre-amps, so thank you for showing a pre-amp example. My opinion is that must acoustic musician with electronics should have some sort of pre-amp that they carry. I do agree than a 9V is too big to use with a ukulele as it's too bulky and heavy when compared to the same type of thing used in an acoustic guitar. What I often run into is guitar and bass with active pick-ups and dying/dead batteries. The take-away is that "if you go active, always carry FRESH spare batteries for just in case".
Thanks for watching! The pre-amp sure works great, I’ve tried plugging into DI boxes without it and still had issues. It works well for me too because I perform with a pedal board so using the preamp in the beginning of the chain gives the pedals enough juice to work their magic.
Very clear walkthrough - thank you very much indeed!
Thanks so much! Glad you think so, hope it helps!
@@CTrietschUkuleles Certainly does!
Great! 😁
Interesting observations. There must have been something else wrong with the setup you mentioned in the beginning though, where you got no sound out of your passive pickup. Obviously there are instruments with passive pickups built in, and there are aftermarket devices such as those made by KNA that are designed to go direct to amp. As long as it's an amp geared for acoustic instruments, perhaps, due to impedance matching issues, it should work.
There is much to be said for sticking to the shortest logical path between the strings and the listener's ears, and there are also fewer opportunities for failure, with fewer devices. Add to that the fact that it's just pretty darned unattractive to have a couple of plastic gizmos cut into the sides of the ukulele, one for the controller and one for the jack (and maybe another for the battery), that's not at all the path that I would want to go.
I think that with proper amplification, a purpose-built acoustic instrument amplifier, and a good passive pickup, most people should be able to accomplish their objective.
Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts! I definitely agree about keeping the set up as simple as possible and that onboard electronics are unattractive! A good acoustic amp is the way to go, but most of the time when I perform I plug into the venue’s PA system and the simplest way to get that working for me is with a preamp boost. When I plug direct in at recording studios I also use my preamp because I get the same issue.
@@CTrietschUkuleles I do understand what you're saying, though, and it makes sense. There's no one size fits all.
@@keithgardner5818 absolutely!
If you're plugging directly into an audio desk with a passive pickup(or even an active), I would have to question "What type of outlet are you plugging into and why?" Cranking up the gain and getting anywhere from 40-60+db of gain, if he was getting NOTHING, there was something else going on. It could have been an assignment or routing issue as well. You shouldn't go direct to the desk, you should to a DI and then into the desk. I've handled plenty of ukuleles going through my desk, most being passive pick-ups and the typical signal chain is ukulele -> cable -> Active direct box -> XLR to desk. Yes, they will need more gain than an active, but I don't carry acoustic instrument pre-amps, so thank you for showing a pre-amp example. My opinion is that must acoustic musician with electronics should have some sort of pre-amp that they carry. I do agree than a 9V is too big to use with a ukulele as it's too bulky and heavy when compared to the same type of thing used in an acoustic guitar.
What I often run into is guitar and bass with active pick-ups and dying/dead batteries. The take-away is that "if you go active, always carry FRESH spare batteries for just in case".
Thanks for watching! The pre-amp sure works great, I’ve tried plugging into DI boxes without it and still had issues. It works well for me too because I perform with a pedal board so using the preamp in the beginning of the chain gives the pedals enough juice to work their magic.