In Praise of the DV-52

[HoboKen]

I've been playin' acoustic neigh -on 46 years now. But, it took my middle son going off to college to get his four-year degree in vidio and audio communications, to get me to really understand mics and live sound and studio sound production. He's taught me! (got something back for my investment!)

He's worked his way up to being a class "A" Engineer now. He's engineered sound for the likes of Judy Collins, The Smothers Brothers, B.B. King, Art Garfunkle, James Brown, the Pittsburgh and Trenton Orchestras,......you name the group and more than likely he's engineered sound for'em at one time or another. (I don't "sound" too much like a proud papa now do I?) Anyway, he agrees that for acoustic guitars, there is no on-board system that really does a quality guitar and player justice in the studio or on a live stage. He 's found the phantom powered Shure 81s work great for live sound. Judy, I guess uses 'em all the time now.

When Martin made a signature Series guitar for her, complete with anvil travel case in addition to the hardshell guitar case, my son was at the presentation of model #"1" to her and borught home her old anvil case that I now put my Westerly Guild JF-55-12 & hardshell case in for really hard traveling.

I played a local folk society Coffee House in Dec. and had my son as my sound engineer that night. (He made me sound better than I am!) He set me up with the same stage set-up they do for Judy and I have to tell you the Shure 81s are really something! I bought two of 'em!

I have been nuts-ing around in the studio with a Roland 2480 DVD recorder w/a Roland SI-24 additional interface board to make some CDs.
Between the phantom powered Shure 81s and the AKG C-3000Bs, I'm well pleased with the results for both vocal and guitar work.

Oh yes, as I've said elsewhere......."My Westerly Guild JF-55-12 is the best guitar I've ever owned or played!"

HoboKen

 

[HoboKen]

I almost forget, about the equalizers, etc. I believe a Crest Board with Protea EQs are A-OK!

 

[HoboKen]

I almost forget, about the equalizers, etc. I believe a Crest Board with Protea EQs are A-OK!

 

[Mr. P ~]

Hoboken....Your son is sure spoiling you with all that Hi dollar equipment.

I mean, a CREST board is ok??? I guess so!!

I really miss my involvement with Pro Audio, and by working for Klipsch and Associates years ago spoiled me pretty badly too!! :wink:

 

[Mr. P ~]

Hoboken....Your son is sure spoiling you with all that Hi dollar equipment.

I mean, a CREST board is ok??? I guess so!!

I really miss my involvement with Pro Audio, and by working for Klipsch and Associates years ago spoiled me pretty badly too!! :wink:

 

[West R Lee]

P,

Yes, Ken is a pretty sharp old bird. That's some pretty heavy hitters he's been associated with...super collection of Guilds too! Speaking of heavy hitters....Klipsch ha? What did you do for them?

Ken, I think that's the only reason I enjoy my acoustic amp....with the effects, I can make myself sound better than I am.

West

 

[West R Lee]

P,

Yes, Ken is a pretty sharp old bird. That's some pretty heavy hitters he's been associated with...super collection of Guilds too! Speaking of heavy hitters....Klipsch ha? What did you do for them?

Ken, I think that's the only reason I enjoy my acoustic amp....with the effects, I can make myself sound better than I am.

West

 

[Mr. P ~]

West,
My first job out of college was as an Engineer at Klipsch. There were 4 engineers there including Paul. It was a Gas!! Lots of great stories!!

 

[Mr. P ~]

West,
My first job out of college was as an Engineer at Klipsch. There were 4 engineers there including Paul. It was a Gas!! Lots of great stories!!

 

[West R Lee]

P,

I can remember so vividly, while putting togther my dream stereo, Klipsch were the one. My gosh they sounded good, but a little out of my range financially. I settled for a crummy 8) set of Infinity towers to compliment my discrete Yamaha receiver. Still sounds pretty good, but in the back of my mind, I wonder what the Klipsch would have sounded like.

West

 

[West R Lee]

P,

I can remember so vividly, while putting togther my dream stereo, Klipsch were the one. My gosh they sounded good, but a little out of my range financially. I settled for a crummy 8) set of Infinity towers to compliment my discrete Yamaha receiver. Still sounds pretty good, but in the back of my mind, I wonder what the Klipsch would have sounded like.

West

 

[HoboKen]

I started out with "All I want is a simple sound system.....like a Fender Pasport 250." My son says no Dad, you'll out-grow it quickly. Yeah, but it only cost $350 used. I bought it.

Then.....after 10 years of evolving back into the performing scene and now playing with a folk trio and a bluegrass gospel group, I find that he was right. It cost more to up-grade that's for sure!.....or should I say that's for 20 Shures! We use six XLR inputs for the folk trio and 18 XLR inputs for the Bluegrass group. My son uses a Crest 52 XLR input board on the pro gigs. I've got the X-20 rack board for my gigs. Been thinking about getting a Heath and Allen 3800 -42 board for "Front of House" and keeping the X-20 for "Side of House-Monitor World." I use Mackie 450s on top of 1521s for both short and long throw projection on Front of House coupled with QSC 1600 watt amps pushing JBL big tripple 15s a side. The floor monitors are the best Yamahas 15s I could find.
I hear the new 450 Mackies are not as good with componant changes, But, I do love my older 450s for small coffee house situations though. And I do really like the X-20 board combined with the Protea Eqalizers and an M-1 processor w/ gates and compressors. I've also come to think that Whirlwind snakes and cables are the only way to go, because any sound system is only as good as its weakest link.

ALL THAT JUST TO MAKE A PAIR OF GUILD GUITARS SOUND AS GOOD AS THEY ARE AND ME BETTER THAN I AM!

If you do buy sound system equipment, buy the best you can almost afford. It beats taking a loss trading up to it (and you will!) later. (There's a money saving logic in there somewhere!......IF BUYING SOUND SYSTEM EQUIPMENT HAS ANY LOGIC!)


P.S.: If I could afford it, I'd look into a Midas board w/all gold contacts. They don't call it Midas for nothing!......When I win the lottery!....maybe!

 

[HoboKen]

I started out with "All I want is a simple sound system.....like a Fender Pasport 250." My son says no Dad, you'll out-grow it quickly. Yeah, but it only cost $350 used. I bought it.

Then.....after 10 years of evolving back into the performing scene and now playing with a folk trio and a bluegrass gospel group, I find that he was right. It cost more to up-grade that's for sure!.....or should I say that's for 20 Shures! We use six XLR inputs for the folk trio and 18 XLR inputs for the Bluegrass group. My son uses a Crest 52 XLR input board on the pro gigs. I've got the X-20 rack board for my gigs. Been thinking about getting a Heath and Allen 3800 -42 board for "Front of House" and keeping the X-20 for "Side of House-Monitor World." I use Mackie 450s on top of 1521s for both short and long throw projection on Front of House coupled with QSC 1600 watt amps pushing JBL big tripple 15s a side. The floor monitors are the best Yamahas 15s I could find.
I hear the new 450 Mackies are not as good with componant changes, But, I do love my older 450s for small coffee house situations though. And I do really like the X-20 board combined with the Protea Eqalizers and an M-1 processor w/ gates and compressors. I've also come to think that Whirlwind snakes and cables are the only way to go, because any sound system is only as good as its weakest link.

ALL THAT JUST TO MAKE A PAIR OF GUILD GUITARS SOUND AS GOOD AS THEY ARE AND ME BETTER THAN I AM!

If you do buy sound system equipment, buy the best you can almost afford. It beats taking a loss trading up to it (and you will!) later. (There's a money saving logic in there somewhere!......IF BUYING SOUND SYSTEM EQUIPMENT HAS ANY LOGIC!)


P.S.: If I could afford it, I'd look into a Midas board w/all gold contacts. They don't call it Midas for nothing!......When I win the lottery!....maybe!

 

[Mr. P ~]

P.S.: If I could afford it, I'd look into a Midas board w/all gold contacts. They don't call it Midas for nothing!......When I win the lottery!....maybe!

Sure are a lot of us waiting for that Lottery!!!

It's obvious you have close connections with a Professional Audio Engineer!

Do you ever sit back and think, "All this technical stuff seems wrong....I am supposed to be playing!!

The life of a performing musician! :wink:

 

[Mr. P ~]

P.S.: If I could afford it, I'd look into a Midas board w/all gold contacts. They don't call it Midas for nothing!......When I win the lottery!....maybe!

Sure are a lot of us waiting for that Lottery!!!

It's obvious you have close connections with a Professional Audio Engineer!

Do you ever sit back and think, "All this technical stuff seems wrong....I am supposed to be playing!!

The life of a performing musician! :wink:

 

[Mr. P ~]

P,

I can remember so vividly, while putting togther my dream stereo, Klipsch were the one. My gosh they sounded good, but a little out of my range financially. I settled for a crummy 8) set of Infinity towers to compliment my discrete Yamaha receiver. Still sounds pretty good, but in the back of my mind, I wonder what the Klipsch would have sounded like.

West

You may have noticed that Klipsch has a totally different range of speakers now, and the Heritage models are still built in Hope, AR (the other models are all built in Indianapolis, Indiana). The originals get a little harsh in small rooms, hence all the new models.

They would have sounded great......still would.

My apologies again for hijacking this thread!! I just keep doing that!! :roll:

 

[Mr. P ~]

P,

I can remember so vividly, while putting togther my dream stereo, Klipsch were the one. My gosh they sounded good, but a little out of my range financially. I settled for a crummy 8) set of Infinity towers to compliment my discrete Yamaha receiver. Still sounds pretty good, but in the back of my mind, I wonder what the Klipsch would have sounded like.

West

You may have noticed that Klipsch has a totally different range of speakers now, and the Heritage models are still built in Hope, AR (the other models are all built in Indianapolis, Indiana). The originals get a little harsh in small rooms, hence all the new models.

They would have sounded great......still would.

My apologies again for hijacking this thread!! I just keep doing that!! :roll:

 

[SmithfieldFair]

Wait before you go-go

P, West -- Wait - before you relinquish this 'hijack'...Hi, Jack! My acoustic quartet Smithfield Fair played on the "roots" stage at a Bluegrass festival this weekend. Rhonda Vincent was the headliner on the main stage, but our stage was full of 'loosely associated' styles. Since we also play Scottish traditional music, we were there to represent the 'before Bluegrass' time.

Here's why I'm telling you this....as most of you that have or do play bluegrass (I did 30 years ago for a short time.), you know that most bluegrass bands play around central standing mics. For our stage, there were two big condenser mics. (AKGs) for the vocals and two smaller instrument mics. Bands like the McCrories and Union Station are phenomenal at circling around ONE MIC. and getting a great balance, wonderful blend, and amazing dynamics for vocals and instruments.

We had the luxury - partially because we are so well known in the region and were doing this as a benefit for cancer research - of additional ines and ran a mic. cord each for the bodhran (drum), B50 (bass), and my small jumbo guitar (GF25) - all with Shure SM11s internally mounted. My wife's accordion and M20 guitar, as well as my mandolin were all plyed intot he central 2 condensers. It was a lovely sound and we are a true acoustic band in that we stand close and listen to each other. So this system - while not the optimum - worked well for us.

However, the band on after us was more a country/folk quartet with bass, guitar, fiddle and banjo/mandolin. I've got to tell you - they came on - pulled all the mics. ran the upright bass into a small amp and then to the board, and put up ONE mic. - an Audio-Technica 4033 condenser mic. WOW! I asked the guy running sound if the guitar was miked. He said, 'no, just being picked up by that big mic.' You could hear every nuance and the dynamics were terrific. They leaned in, backed off, danced, parried and thrust, and got a full range of sound with that one mic. It was terrific.

The board was an 8-channel Peavey (I think) with only the small EQ onboard and the speakers were two mid-lines on poles and two bass response on the ground. Nothing big or fancy, just VERY serviceable. It was almost like sitting in someone's living room instead of in a field with hot air balloons inflating behind where the audience in lawnchairs sat. Wow! That one mic. was incredible and the representation was accurate and effective. Cheers, all! dbs

Dudley-Brian Smith
Smithfield Fair

 

[SmithfieldFair]

Wait before you go-go

P, West -- Wait - before you relinquish this 'hijack'...Hi, Jack! My acoustic quartet Smithfield Fair played on the "roots" stage at a Bluegrass festival this weekend. Rhonda Vincent was the headliner on the main stage, but our stage was full of 'loosely associated' styles. Since we also play Scottish traditional music, we were there to represent the 'before Bluegrass' time.

Here's why I'm telling you this....as most of you that have or do play bluegrass (I did 30 years ago for a short time.), you know that most bluegrass bands play around central standing mics. For our stage, there were two big condenser mics. (AKGs) for the vocals and two smaller instrument mics. Bands like the McCrories and Union Station are phenomenal at circling around ONE MIC. and getting a great balance, wonderful blend, and amazing dynamics for vocals and instruments.

We had the luxury - partially because we are so well known in the region and were doing this as a benefit for cancer research - of additional ines and ran a mic. cord each for the bodhran (drum), B50 (bass), and my small jumbo guitar (GF25) - all with Shure SM11s internally mounted. My wife's accordion and M20 guitar, as well as my mandolin were all plyed intot he central 2 condensers. It was a lovely sound and we are a true acoustic band in that we stand close and listen to each other. So this system - while not the optimum - worked well for us.

However, the band on after us was more a country/folk quartet with bass, guitar, fiddle and banjo/mandolin. I've got to tell you - they came on - pulled all the mics. ran the upright bass into a small amp and then to the board, and put up ONE mic. - an Audio-Technica 4033 condenser mic. WOW! I asked the guy running sound if the guitar was miked. He said, 'no, just being picked up by that big mic.' You could hear every nuance and the dynamics were terrific. They leaned in, backed off, danced, parried and thrust, and got a full range of sound with that one mic. It was terrific.

The board was an 8-channel Peavey (I think) with only the small EQ onboard and the speakers were two mid-lines on poles and two bass response on the ground. Nothing big or fancy, just VERY serviceable. It was almost like sitting in someone's living room instead of in a field with hot air balloons inflating behind where the audience in lawnchairs sat. Wow! That one mic. was incredible and the representation was accurate and effective. Cheers, all! dbs

Dudley-Brian Smith
Smithfield Fair

 

[Mr. P ~]

Great story DB.

Life can be great for a sound man that works a band where all the members know how to work with a microphones polar paterns and frequency response paterns.

Most engineers want the musician to be rock solid and never move so he/she (the engineer) has full control. However, personally I love working with a band that understands acoustics and microphone characteristics!!

Glad you had an enjoyable show!! 8)