Les Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 We need to use a banjo on one song. The guitarist has one and can make a reasonable enough fist of what we need him to play. I foolishly thought just dropping his vocal mic down to the banjo would do the job but I was wronger than a wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anyone got any recommendations for a reasonable banjo pickup that won't break the bank ? He has a Tanglewood banjo with a solid back. Much obliged Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftybassman392 Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Without wishing to seem nosey, what went wrong with the mic? I ask because I've seen live gigs where the banjo player does exactly that and it sounds fine. Any half decent condenser should do I would have thought - not forgetting to position it so as to avoid unwanted effects of various kinds. (Perhaps not an SM58 though...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 NEVER, EVER PICKUP A BANJO! That is all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 We've never had much joy with microphones. They're OK for an acoustic band but if you're trying to amplify something against a drummer and backline they're not much use. I've got a Shadow bridge pickup on my tenor which is OK but requires a preamp. I've also got a Tesla which needs to be set right against the skin of the banjo (which makes it sound a bit dull acoustically) and it also requires a preamp - I use a Behringer AD121 for both these. The other catch with the Tesla is that it needs to clamp to the rods inside the banjo - I ended up modifying the bracket to fit my Tanglewood 5-string. Better than either of these solutions is what our 5-string player uses, which is a Schatten . But it 's £100 - depends what you call reasonable I guess. I've also experimented with a chopped-up PZM but that wasn't much cop either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 http://www.highlystrung.co.uk/acatalog/Piezo_Pickups.html Not tried one, but looks alright, and it's only 20 Notes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted November 28, 2013 Author Share Posted November 28, 2013 [quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1385642770' post='2290553'] Without wishing to seem nosey, what went wrong with the mic? I ask because I've seen live gigs where the banjo player does exactly that and it sounds fine. Any half decent condenser should do I would have thought - not forgetting to position it so as to avoid unwanted effects of various kinds. (Perhaps not an SM58 though...) [/quote] I've seen banjo's mic'ed like this too, but I think the mic has been set up for the banjo as opposed to being someone's vocal mic moved into position. The problem was volume, it wasn't loud enough, the mic is set for vocals and vocals are quite a loud input, certainly louder than the banjo. I also do the sound and to be honest I don't want to be messing with the gain on the mic and I also don't have time cos' I'm switching from bass guitar to electric upright and harmonica so I have enough on my plate. [quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1385644532' post='2290591'] NEVER, EVER PICKUP A BANJO! That is all. [/quote] Take your point Paul, I'm sure there's as much joy to be had micing an acoustic instrument well as there is to had micing drums (I could spend hours on the kick drum and not get bored) but I'm looking for a working pub bands solution to this not the one I would chose were I in a stadium band. Thanks for the other reply's guy's. I can see they come in all prices, 100 quid would unfortunately break the bank so I'm really looking to see if anyone's used any of the cheaper solutions with reasonable results. Les Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Having played around the Americana circuit for 10yrs I can assure you the banjo is the one instrument that is least likely to get lost in the mix. Dropping a mic down nearer the instrument will most likely suffice and mean the player can hear it in the monitors. We found banjo pickups to be almost universally fraught with disaster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 [quote name='Les' timestamp='1385638502' post='2290465']I foolishly thought just dropping his vocal mic down to the banjo would do the job but I was wronger than a wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time. [/quote] Just seen this bit - guess that blows my theory out the water... but it has worked for us in many bands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted November 28, 2013 Author Share Posted November 28, 2013 [quote name='BurritoBass' timestamp='1385653302' post='2290731'] Just seen this bit - guess that blows my theory out the water... but it has worked for us in many bands. [/quote] I'm absolutely sure this can be done well with a mic just as you say but not one that's set for vocals. I suppose we could just use another mic as whatever way we go it's going to need it's own channel if we're not using his vocal mic. Like I say, just looking for the quickest, cheapest, easiest solution. Thanks for your input. Les Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigman Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 [quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1385644545' post='2290592'] We've never had much joy with microphones. They're OK for an acoustic band but if you're trying to amplify something against a drummer and backline they're not much use. [/quote]# Really? We mic a sax all the time and it works just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 [quote name='Les' timestamp='1385653951' post='2290736']I'm absolutely sure this can be done well with a mic just as you say but not one that's set for vocals. I suppose we could just use another mic as whatever way we go it's going to need it's own channel if we're not using his vocal mic.[/quote] A condenser mic would do the trick. The banjo being closed back limits a few options as a lot of banjo pickups are easier to install for open back banjo. We lost our banjo / mandolin player last year and the general view of the band is that we don't miss the banjo. It really was a constant source of headache. The pickup phase our guy went through was a horrific mess of gaffa tape and wires, with feedback being a constant problem. I suppose it also depends on if you an acoustic act or a rock band. We're a quiet band but do have an electric guitar and a drummer so tended to fair much better in stripped back settings. I also played banjo myself in previous bands and it was like playing russian roulette with soundmen! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PTB Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Have a look at Elderly.com. They stock pick-ups for all sorts of acoustic instruments and are good to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted November 28, 2013 Author Share Posted November 28, 2013 [quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1385644545' post='2290592'] We've never had much joy with microphones. They're OK for an acoustic band but if you're trying to amplify something against a drummer and backline they're not much use. [quote name='BurritoBass' timestamp='1385653217' post='2290730'] . We found banjo pickups to be almost universally fraught with disaster. [/quote][/quote] [quote name='BurritoBass' timestamp='1385654848' post='2290754'] The pickup phase our guy went through was a horrific mess of gaffa tape and wires, with feedback being a constant problem. I suppose it also depends on if you an acoustic act or a rock band. [/quote] This is starting to look like the whole thing is going to be too much hassle Thank you all anyway for your wisdom Les Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 [quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1385654076' post='2290739'] # Really? We mic a sax all the time and it works just fine. [/quote] I'm sure it does. This thread is about banjos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 There's one other option. Ditch the banjo and persuade the guitarist that what he really needs is a Line 6 Variax, the 300 or Acoustic 700 models will do. They both have a brilliant sample of a Gibson Mastertone banjo and there are no problems with achieving significant volume. You can even put it into banjo tuning with the Workbench software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted November 29, 2013 Author Share Posted November 29, 2013 Cheers Pete, but that's too extreme an option, plus we'd have to prise our lads strat out of his cold, dead fingers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRev Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 What about one of these? [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/shadow_shb1.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/shadow_shb1.htm[/url] About as cheap as it gets. Our banjist uses a Kavanjo pickup ([url="http://www.kavanjo.com/"]http://www.kavanjo.com/[/url]) which is great, but probably way more than you want to spend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigman Posted December 2, 2013 Share Posted December 2, 2013 [quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1385717749' post='2291386'] I'm sure it does. This thread is about banjos. [/quote] You said amplify [i]something....[/i] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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