In Ears and the ups and downs thereof

[azlan]

for the feedback issue, would an Fx pedal like http://www.premiergu...back_Pedal.aspx do the job?

[BigYinUK]

@azlan

 

I hadn't seen that pedal. I'll have to go see if I can find one at a music store to try. Having said that, I am NOT a great fan of effects. I stick to a good quality reverb and very occasionally some delay for a couple of solos. I do use a T.Rex Moller distortion pedal and I have a volume/expression pedal but that's it.

 

For the Blues/Rock stuff I do I just use the 2 channel amp with its built in reverb which is very good and the T.Rex Moller for a bit more overdrive.

 

A few years back my local music store sold pickups that generated their own feedback effect when you flicked a switch on the guitar. I can't for the life of me remember what they were called but they were very popular for a while with the shredders.

 

EDIT: Found it, it was called the sustainer pickup http://www.fernandesguitars.com/sustainer/sustainer.html

[MarkPAman]

A few years back my local music store sold pickups that generated their own feedback effect when you flicked a switch on the guitar. I can't for the life of me remember what they were called but they were very popular for a while with the shredders.

 

Sustainiac?

[dbuckley]

Hundreds of years ago Roland produced the GR-500 guitar synthesizer, and one of its many neat features was that the guitar had infinite sustain. The wikipedia page describes how it worked.

 

That sustainiac thing looks quite cool...

[S&L]

Is it worth thinking laterally? it's always more difficult to engineer the right sound at the right volume than to creat the right sound and volume in the first place.

I dep engineer for a genesis tribute band in 200 - 400 seater venues. the band are almost all on 'in ears'. the band feel they have to get all the sounds people expect to hear absolutely perfect. recently the guitarist wasn't happy with the sound he was getting for the sustained subtle feedback at the start of 'in the air tonight'. apparently he tried the sustainiac and wasn't happy with it. he eventually settled for the buying a fernandez sustainer guitar

http://www.fernandesguitars.com/sustainer/sustainer.html

now to some musicians, paying a thousand pounds on a guitar you only use once a show, may seem a bit excessive - but for him it created the perfect tone - no difference in gain level at the desk from his clean or other effects patches - i.e. no volume lift on stage - perfect tone when coupled with his reverb.

obviously the solution you employ depends on the specific sound you are creating but it has to be worth exploring an 'on stage' solution at a reasonable volume.

[BigYinUK]

I think I'd have trouble justifying spending £1k on a guitar right at the moment tbh but I can see the logic :)

 

My biggest "problem" is one of the songs has my showpiece solo as the bands guitarist and as a big part of that I try to keep it loosely structured but improvised and fresh, if that makes sense. I'm a "feel player" not a technician or a shredder and if solos get too note for note the feel does go even though the notes might be right. The amp-guitar feedback in this solo is a particularly important part of it, as it drives the excitement of the guitar solo, all 5 minutes of it :) All non-guitarists groan at this point ** laughs out loud **

 

Once we get the in-ears up and running, I'll experiment with some of the ideas that have come out of this discussion.

 

Lots of good and interesting comments - Thanks everyone.

[Wilflet]

All non-guitarists groan at this point ** laughs out loud **

 

 

my inner bass player went beyond groaning all the way to turning the kettle on.

[paulears]

I'm doing something wrong, and I'm not sure what it is. Today, I left my monitor in the van and used the in-ears (Sennheiser G2, these ones). No problem with the usual things - mix, level etc. However, there's a sort of rough fizzy background sound every time I speak, or play the guitar. It's not loud, but annoying - with each sound peak, it just seems to have this background fizz. I tried two different receivers, but so far only one transmitter. I'd don't want to swap the transmitter if I can avoid it because it's all racked up. If somebody says it's a TX issue, then Ill swap it out as I have quite a few, and could have just selected a dodgy one. A quick 1, 2 check seems ok, but trying to perform with this background noise meant I popped one out and used one IEM and one open ear, which wasn't idea.

 

So - what am I doing wrong? I've tried the limiter, and the top end setting on the receiver, with no luck. The noise is slightly like co-channel interference, but subtly different.

P

[paulears]

Tried a first series 300 IEM transmitter and the noise went away, so more investigation required. An odd setting maybe, or a real fault? Time will tell.

 

 

QUESTION

 

I'm trying to source some genuine Shure 215 headphones. A trawl of the net reveals that they're one of the hot counterfeit products, and Shure's dealer list comes up with only a couple of proper listed dealers who have them in stock, but 25 quid too expensive. Amazon have them, but the dealer seems to be an importer, and NOT on Shure's list, are none of the other amazon suppliers, suggesting they're all hooky ones. Ebay of course has tons of ones from Hong Kong.

 

Googling brings back lots of no stock/not a stock item official dealers, and lots of importers who I don't know and trust.

 

Any suggestion from anyone who has bought them - genuine ones!

[BigYinUK]

Our friends at Thomann have them of course. I presume they will be real and not counterfeit from there?

[DJ bradderz]

I bought my SE215's from Digital Village, I believe they were roughly same price as Thomann, but with a 4 year warranty.

 

E2A: however a quick search shows they don't sell them anymore!

[paulears]

Rather annoyingly I'd just ordered from Thomann, so nothing else to buy and the handling charge makes them a bit more expensive, but perhaps a good move. I saw the Digital Village mention - but I remember them going bust in May, and the new venture seems to be run from Germany, as a phoenix company has replaced it in the UK - based, I think in Romford, but net sales do the out of UK thing.

 

Cheers, though for the idea!

P

[paulears]

I've sorted myself out with some Shures and am pretty impressed, but I have drawn a blank with the transmitters. I have 6 G2 transmitters in the rack. Two are noise free and sound virtually as a hardwired connection does, but four have an identical, low level fuzz. With a 57 connected to the mixer, and all the IEM transmitters connected, just tapping the mic produces the fuzz, superimposed onto the audio 'tap' sound. Operating frequency and settings have no impact on the noise - and even with no input, the troublesome 4 have a higher noise level in the headphones. I have 4 G1 originals and none of them exhibit this noise problem. I've no ideas at all - but it does seem odd that 4 units all do the same thing.

[Shaggy]

I've had a white noise problem with a Roland desk, and found the below image somewhere on the internet:

http://i53.tinypic.com/28b5elc.jpg

 

Additionally I have found the 300 IEM G2s very prone to interference compared to the psm900.

[paulears]

Ah - this could be something similar - I'm using an X32, so maybe this is the same issue. I shall investigate - thanks for this! P

 

A couple of capacitors seems a simple cure, if it works.