fretmeister Posted February 6, 2015 Posted February 6, 2015 [color=#000000][font=Arial, Verdana][size=3]Any ideas?[/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Arial, Verdana][size=3] The daughter of a friend has just got an electric violin and needs an amplifier.[/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Arial, Verdana][size=3] My first thought was a keyboard or bass amp - but what say you fine people?[/size][/font][/color] Quote
BigRedX Posted February 6, 2015 Posted February 6, 2015 Depends on what sort of sound and music she plays. Most electric violin players I know go straight into the PA at rehearsals and gigs. I she definitely needs an amp then something full-range like a keyboard one should do the trick. On the other hand I know of people who use guitar amps simply because they like a little bit of dirt in their sound. Quote
EssentialTension Posted February 6, 2015 Posted February 6, 2015 My son's band has a viola player who puts piezo pickup straight into the PA and has a monitor. If I was going to buy an amp especially for viola I'd be tempted by an amp for acoustic instruments. Quote
waynepunkdude Posted February 6, 2015 Posted February 6, 2015 [quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1423221798' post='2682325'] [color=#000000][font=Arial, Verdana][size=3]Any ideas?[/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Arial, Verdana][size=3]The daughter of a friend has just got an electric violin and needs an amplifier.[/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Arial, Verdana][size=3]My first thought was a keyboard or bass amp - but what say you fine people?[/size][/font][/color] [/quote] You should be careful, she could be on the fiddle. Quote
fretmeister Posted February 6, 2015 Author Posted February 6, 2015 Been looking at the Roland Mobile Cube. Has a few minor FX, but seems to be for keys and acoustic guitar, and has a bit of reverb. Might be just the thing. She hasn't got a PA (She's 10 years old). It's 99% classical stuff. She plays in a local music trust orchestra that I also play in. Quote
wateroftyne Posted February 6, 2015 Posted February 6, 2015 Is it just for playing around the house? if so, the Roland looks fine for starters. Anything gig-wise, I wouldn't bother. Mrs. WoT always DI's via an LR Baggs stage pre. Quote
pete.young Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 I have a Roland AC60 acoustic combo which works brilliantly but wasnt cheap. I DI'd that into the PA and put it on a speaker pole as a monitor. If you have a pickup with a built in preamp it will be fine going into the desk. A piezo pickup without one will need a high impedance preamp. I bought a used Carlo Giordano electric fiddle off the bay for 40 quid which worked out to be the cheapest solution. Quote
Bilbo Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Hi, Pete. AER, Acoustic Image, anything clean. It all depends on the budget, I guess. A guitar amp would probably do it so, if you want to keep costs down, I would go for the Cube (I have one here if you want to try it) Quote
wateroftyne Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Just noticed she's playing in an orchestra. Any reason why an acoustic wouldn't make more sense? Quote
zero9 Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Roland CM-30. Can be used for anyhting (except stadium gigs perhaps). Quote
PTB Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Mrs PTB also uses LR Baggs pick-up and pre-amp and DI's straight from the pre-amp to the PA. However, it's usually important that everyone else can hear her too & monitor engineers often treat fiddle as a background instrument so she uses an AER Alpha acoustic amp. It's small, loud and sounds great so worth every penny. Quote
oggiesnr Posted February 8, 2015 Posted February 8, 2015 I'm not sure how welcome an electric violin is going to be in an orchestra! Other than that any small guitar amp, so Peavey, Marshall etc, whatever isn't going to break the bank. I'm assuming here that it's solid body so piezos etc don't come into play. Steve Quote
Dan Dare Posted March 17, 2015 Posted March 17, 2015 AER the obvious choice, but expensive. I play fiddle, amplified and unamplified and I'd strongly advise that a decent pre-amp is the most important thing. It will load piezo and similar acoustic instrument pu's correctly. Any reasonable small keyboard combo will suffice with a properly pre-amped signal and it will sound much better through a PA, too. Guitar amps are not ideal - they have built in mid-boost, which makes a fiddle sound very harsh. I use a Fishman pu and a preamp made by the firm that makes the Sessionette amps. Works very well. There is a German-made fiddle pickup that is mounted in the sound post, which is fabulous - can't remember the name offhand, but it's not cheap. Quote
wateroftyne Posted March 17, 2015 Posted March 17, 2015 [quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1426602083' post='2719727'] There is a German-made fiddle pickup that is mounted in the sound post, which is fabulous - can't remember the name offhand, but it's not cheap. [/quote] Possibly Schertler? Quote
Owen Posted March 17, 2015 Posted March 17, 2015 Lots of amps will do it. The HUGELY important bit is that her pickup is correctly buffered. Even if the instrument has a vol control that does not necessarily mean that it has a proper buffering pre-amp. It will sound like drek without one. It is all in the pre-amp. Quote
iiipopes Posted March 20, 2015 Posted March 20, 2015 Any good little clean amp will do. I'm not saying this is the one, but something like an Ashdown 15-watt, 8-inch speaker amp, or a similar small acoustic guitar amp, or a small keyboard amp will be great. Quote
fretmeister Posted March 20, 2015 Author Posted March 20, 2015 She got a Roland and is very happy with it. As I mentioned above - 10 year olds and AER are not a mix that dad would approve of! Quote
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