Tips On Getting Acoustic Sounds

[cruisinon2 2,152]

I play through the house PA at church, direct, no amps. Unfortunately I donated my good "cans" to the sound team. At home I generally use an Alto powered speaker TS112. Even "mp3 player" style ear buds sound better -- not sure if that's stereo or just isolation from bedroom acoustics.

If $hitty $6 ear buds sounds better than the Alto, there's something wrong with it.

[Indianrock2020 32]

_{Probably just not turning the alto up enough.  Kind of large for bedroom practice.  With the effects I use I'm not sure whether the earphones are producing stereo.}

[HonestOpinion 736]

Yeah, my wife and I have an "acoustic" duo that is all variax. It is really hard to beat...I go direct to a behringer XR16 with a little compression and eq...sounds decent.

 

Here are some demo tracks...all played and recorded live...(variax / looper and harmonizer). The tracks are raw off my board recorded to usb. Percussion is using a beat buddy pedal.

 

https://soundcloud.com/littleblackdressband/sets/little-black-dress-demo

Not only are you getting fantastic acoustic sounds on the Variax but your wife has an unbelievable voice. A truly accomplished duo, great stuff!

 

I have a Behringer XR18, just curious what settings you are using as far as effects and EQ on your vocals and acoustic(Variax) guitar? If you can upload a Behringer scene save from your board I would love to check it out.

[Indianrock2020 32]

Yeah, my wife and I have an "acoustic" duo that is all variax. It is really hard to beat...I go direct to a behringer XR16 with a little compression and eq...sounds decent.

 

Here are some demo tracks...all played and recorded live...(variax / looper and harmonizer). The tracks are raw off my board recorded to usb. Percussion is using a beat buddy pedal.

 

https://soundcloud.com/littleblackdressband/sets/little-black-dress-demo

Awesome tracks guy !!  You've got to tell me how you're getting those acoustic tones, please.  So you're not going through a POD?  Are you doing anything with the acoustic model in workbench?   JTV59? or ? 

[PRSGuy 34]

@HonestOpinion Thanks! I have no problem uploading the XR16 channel(s)...give me a couple days. The only caveat is my wife uses a TC Helicon Harmony Singer for live harmonies. On that pedal there is some compression and reverb I use. The delay etc is from the Behringer XR16 mixer. BTW the TC Helicon pedal is pretty cool in that you send your guitar through it and it "listens" to your chords (minor / major 3rd) for the appropriate vocal harmony. You set where you want the harmonies ( 3rd, 5th above / below etc). It isn't perfect (as the tracks reveal) but it works well for us. Oh and it doesn't like jazz chords too much :)

 

@Indianrock2020 Thanks! I use a JTV-69 direct to my Behringer XR16 mixer. All stock models. I didn't tweak anything with workbench. EQ and reverb and delay are from the mixer.

 

As a general commentary on the Variax...IMHO the softer the touch the better it comes across including strumming tunes. The sound is decent. I actually go from the XR-16 to a Bose L1 PA and it translates quite well.

 

Thanks again for the kind words... :)

[Indianrock2020 32]

Thanks. Well I'm definitely running my JTV59 through my POD 500x but on acoustic guitar models using just compressor, some Hall reverb and optionally a parametric EQ, no amp or cabinet models.   Still doesn't sound as good as yours -- of course I'm comparing what I hear either from my powered speaker at home or in-ear monitors at church ( which is sort of direct ) .     Oh and I recently bought the TC electronics VoiceTone Harmony GXT and liking it very much.

 

The only thing is now that I have a JTV and use only the VDI cable, one I bought separately, to use the voice pedal I have to put an effects loop effect in the POD patch so I can have the 1/4 inch cables running to and from the voice pedal.

 

We had a band rehearsal last night at church and with five footswitch presses I went from Rickenbacker 12 string through amp models on the first song, to stratocaster model through amps, to acoustic six string, back to the rick, and finally to a Tele neck pickup model.  As we ended, I just had to kick on a ZZ top patch which uses the JTV Lester 2 ( les paul ) model through the POD "Purge" amp from the metal pack.    Pretty darned impressive technology.

[cruisinon2 2,152]

Oh and it doesn't like jazz chords too much :)

 

Who does? They smell funny...;)

[Indianrock2020 32]

Who does? They smell funny... ;)

Yeah jazz is like a sniper who intentionally misses the target ( melody and beat ).  But then I think  jazz players are really aliens anyway.  :rolleyes:

[klangmaler 148]

[Indianrock2020 32]

That's the jazz guys !!   In reality I have a lot of respect for them, and any musician less lazy than me.  :-)

[HonestOpinion 736]

@HonestOpinion Thanks! I have no problem uploading the XR16 channel(s)...give me a couple days. The only caveat is my wife uses a TC Helicon Harmony Singer for live harmonies. On that pedal there is some compression and reverb I use. The delay etc is from the Behringer XR16 mixer. BTW the TC Helicon pedal is pretty cool in that you send your guitar through it and it "listens" to your chords (minor / major 3rd) for the appropriate vocal harmony. You set where you want the harmonies ( 3rd, 5th above / below etc). It isn't perfect (as the tracks reveal) but it works well for us. Oh and it doesn't like jazz chords too much :)

 

@Indianrock2020 Thanks! I use a JTV-69 direct to my Behringer XR16 mixer. All stock models. I didn't tweak anything with workbench. EQ and reverb and delay are from the mixer.

 

As a general commentary on the Variax...IMHO the softer the touch the better it comes across including strumming tunes. The sound is decent. I actually go from the XR-16 to a Bose L1 PA and it translates quite well.

 

Thanks again for the kind words... :)

 

Thanks, looking forward to taking a look at your scene.  I could hear the harmonizer kicking in (nice subtle usage) and was wondering whether it was something like the TC or the harmonizer on the XR16.

 

Btw, you may want to try using either Chrome or Firefox with the Line6 forum if you are having trouble using the "Quote" or "MultiQuote" functions for posting. Internet Explorer does not always play well with the forum.

[Indianrock2020 32]

Another example of great acoustic tones ( link below ).   In my case something is happening between headphones and either powered speaker at home or direct to mixer/PA.   Headphones out of the POD may be getting stereo, which of course will add a lot to the "richness."    And in a bedroom one tends to not turn a powered speaker up very high -- mine is an Alto TS112A and if it's like guitar amps, you don't get the intended sound at very low volumes since the speaker was designed for more.   I should probably be using the "contour" switch to add some low end from that speaker at lower volumes.

Dominik Hardy

[snhirsch 89]

I should probably be using the "contour" switch to add some low end from that speaker at lower volumes.

 

You are on the right track: Hit Wikipedia for a discussion of "Fletcher-Munson Curves".

[tmidge 0]

Has line6 made any comments anywhere regarding acousic levels on the jtv... my 700 (electric)"acoustic sounds seem much cleaner compared to my jTV 59.