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Guitar to PA Questions


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What's the best way (or is there a "best" way) to get your guitar sound to a PA with zero stage volume? I play in church, and we use in-ear monitors, so everyone is going into the PA. My current set-up is a Boss Katana 50, sending the signal from the headphone jack to a DI box, and then into the PA board. Using the headphone jack cuts the speaker and allows me to shape my tone, so all the sound guys have to worry about is the mix. This is working pretty well. I'm looking for a more portable option so when I travel to my home town I can play there, without having to take the amp. I'm considering a Katana Mini and connecting the same way I do here. The Mini is only seven watts, so I'm wondering if it will send a strong enough signal to the DI. If so, great. That's a pretty inexpensive solution that will still allow some tone shaping. Aside from that, what other options are there? Would a Line 6 Pod or stomp box or something similar do the trick? Or pedals and a preamp maybe? I know just enough about sound systems to be dangerous, so any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

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@Mike Hoodenpyle Mike; @Eracer_Team-DougH is the perfect guy to ask this question... you could send him a PM. Neil

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@Mike Hoodenpyle @NeilES335

sorry this might be a long post.

I'll start with an easy answer first.. a Headphone jack only puts out a few milliwatts of power regardless of the power of the amp.

that's why a set of headphones works in a cell phone the same way a mp3 player to your Boss Katana.. it's not quite a 'line-level' out but it suffices to the headphones and a board.

so you could have a 1,000 w amp or a 1w amp.. headphone out is regulated to keep people from going fully deaf an run around 10 to 20 mw average.

next.. wow.. I'm jealous .. 

we have no in the ear monitors (although pointless for someone with hearing aids), no sound guy.. I'm in a Roman Catholic Church which is a lot different setting than the "USA's" Christian churches with 'praise bands', only full bands I've seen up here are usually in a Baptist church .

depending on the priest that's in my church we're pretty 'locked down' as to what we can do. we do have some 'freedom' but a full praise rock band wouldn't be tolerated by the congregation let lone the priest . 

each of our 'choirs' run themselves, I was a 'dedicated' sound guy for the choir I'm in plus kid wrangler, now I'm still the sound guy.. but I'm mixing while I'm playing and yes .. still kid wrangler.. talk about multi-tasking

I play 98% acoustic patched straight into the board,, with one exception 

I use a Fishman Platinum EQ.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PlatinumPro--fishman-platinum-pro-eq-di-analog-preamp-pedal

I wanted a Fishman Aura Spectrum DI.. Like the Krenz run's but I was bidding on a pedal I thought was the Aura.. but wasn't only the Pro EQ.. which turns out doesn't do to bad as a DI out and EQ (with built in compressor)

so I plug into the EQ, and the EQ DI out goes to the board. no wah, no distortion, no chorus effects. me; my hands before God and something like 300~1200 people. (when church is back in session.)

back to you.

you don't state whether you're on acoustic or electric or the need to ever need to be heard via a speaker or the need for effects like Wah, Chorus , delay, distortion , etc , esp in your travels.

so would a Katana mini be right for your.. possibly; since it would give you a speaker when needed

but if it was me and I know that I wasn't going to need a speaker. then you have some choices.

Pod.. yes a Pod will act as a DI.. it has a ton of amp models, effects, etc..

 https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PocketPOD--line-6-pocket-pod-guitar-amp-emulator

I'm not a big fan of the sound of amp modeling in these little pocket rig's.. many are. and there are some there on this forum that are.. 

if it was me.. and doing my pocket pedal over.. I would pick up what Steve Krenz has used Fishman Aura Spectrum DI

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AuraSpectDI--fishman-aura-spectrum-di-imaging-pedal-with-di

these are great for acoustic guitars (besides the EQ box like I run listed above) and have effects to taylor the type of guitar in mind. 

you can even run out of either Fishman listed or the POD.. into a portable PA speaker or a busker amp if needed a speaker as well don't need a big PA patch board.

if using an electric.. you'll probably be looking more towards a POD as they are geared towards Electric players that want all sorts of Amp's , speaker cab's, effects and is EQ'd more towards a Electric Guitar than an acoustic.

 

 

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@Eracer_Team-DougH

Thanks very much, all good info. With the band, I play electric the vast majority of the time. I used to play acoustic through a Fishman Loudbox Artist, but we've gotten two additional acoustic guitarists since then, so I'm strictly electric now unless they're both out and we need an acoustic. I haven't played acoustic since we went to the in-ears almost a year ago. I've got a Fishman Platinum Pro as well, so I can use that if I need to play acoustic again.

As far as needing a speaker, I don't, other than to work on my settings before I plug in to the house. I suppose I could do that with headphones if I used a Pod or similar device. Either way, I need to tweak once I'm going thru the PA. 

I play mostly clean, so no need for a lot of effects. A little crunch occasionally, and I can get that with a Blues Driver pedal. Also some reverb. I don't need much other than that, but you never know, I may want to add some different effects later. I'm thinking the Katana Mini at $100 may be the way to go. Although it doesn't have reverb, it does have delay, so I could probably get by fine with that. I'm sure there are options similar to a Pod, I'm just not familiar with them.Lots to think about and research.

Thanks again,

Mike

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I'm glad you kept this in the forum rather than going the pm route.  Thanks for info guys.  good information, Doug.

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@Mike Hoodenpyle all the stuff I read about on DI boxes (besides Radial J48 being pretty much the best) is everyone writes "acoustic guitar"

Even though my search says "for electric "

Since you have the Fishman Platinum Pro EQ, (it's a very well made unit), I think if I was you, I'd throw on my blues driver pedal and my reverb pedal in a very small pedal board bag and give it a try.

Think you might be surprised it sounds good 

Edited by Eracer_Team-DougH
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I think @Eracer_Team-DougH answer is spot on.

For acoustic your best bet is guitar to DI to PA. DI changes guitar line level to microphone level. You can do long noise free cable runs with DI. Headphone jack is not the answer. 

The other option is one of the Fishman Loudbox amps which have DI output.

You might want to check out the BOSS GT-1 which could go to a PA. There are a lot of multi-effects pedals that might work for you. 

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