DunedinDragon Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 Normally I play only electric through my Helix rig. But this weekend we're doing a more limited "unplugged" type of show with just acoustic guitar, bass, and singers. I wasn't sure how to approach this but I reasoned it should be pretty darn simple since a lot of acoustic players simply go direct into the PA, and I'm using a Yamaha DXR12 as my stage FRFR (also a line going to the FOH). I figured I would approach it the same way I would if I were trying to record a decent direct acoustic guitar track in the studio. And it is OUTSTANDING!! No amp, no cab, just pure signal from the Takamine P1NC guitar going through a signal chain consisting of a just a volume pedal, 10 band Graphic EQ, LA Compressor, and switchable reverb and delay. Absolutely pure, clean, articulate and gorgeous acoustic sound with some very MINOR tweaks on the 10 band EQ. The EQ on the guitar is pretty much flat with just a minor bump on the low end, and a slight minor bump when I change to finger picking on the highs. I think I may decide to do pull in some more acoustic work in our regular lineup of songs!!! After all the whining on this board, I just thought it would be nice to share a real success story. Good job L6!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricksteruk Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 Nice! Great to hear some more good news. I've not yet taken out my Helix with my folk band where I play double bass, mandolin and a bit of guitar - but I think I should judging by your result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanecgriffo Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 try it into an aux input also , it was mentioned on here and i've tried it also, the sound is a bit more natural.. just place an aux return block at the start of your chain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musiclover7 Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 For what it is worth, I have had a much better experience plugging acoustic instruments into effect returns. There are some decent posts on the subject here in these boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HonestOpinion Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 try it into an aux input also , it was mentioned on here and i've tried it also, the sound is a bit more natural.. just place an aux return block at the start of your chain. I use the Aux input for acoustic guitar as well since according to the L6 spec it has the proper impedance value for piezo pickups. As always though, use whatever sounds best. For my output I select one of my unused sends (e.g. Send 1/2) on the Output block and connect from that to the PA. That way I have a separate output for acoustic guitar that goes to its own mixer channel. The advantage of not setting the output to "Multi" is that when I switch to an acoustic preset (I create separate presets for acoustic guitar) and pick up my acoustic guitar, I don't have to worry about my electric feeding back and vice versa when I switch back to electric guitar and an electric preset (set to "Multi"). Each guitar (acoustic/electric) goes to its own inputs on the mixer so they can be EQ'd differently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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