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Joined:
August 2009
Posts: 381
Location: Miami | From a separate thread:
Funny thing about it is . . . other than warm-up and noodling, his sound is always the same, so I'm not sure which pedals he's using or not using. I could really use some quality instruction on maximizing the benefit of pedals. [/QB] Sometimes less is more. I play with no pedals and no effects, which many guitarists cringe at the thought. But when a guitarist (or non-musician for that matter) in the audience doesn't know I'm not using any pedals or effects, I always get comments about how perfect the sound is. They're dumbfounded when they see no effects. No pedals. Just a black pole and a subwoofer. As much as I'd like to think it's all in my playing, my sound secret is that I stumbled upon the perfect acoustic/PA combination: the textured 1778T through a Bose Model 1 PA.
Obviously I say "perfect" in the most subjective sense, because when you find the right effects combo for your style of playing, it doesn't matter if it's with one pedal, a board of pedals, or a floor that looks like the cockpit of an airplane. I'm just gloating that I found a zero-effects zero-pedal combo that sounds better than any effects chain I tried in the last 20 years. I've stepped on and off so many pedals sometimes I didn't know if I was guitar-playing or river-dancing.
Here is my current zero-hassle setup:
http://ovationfanclub.ning.com/photo/albums/pa-pics
Yes, you can actually see the floor in one of those pics! No pedals. No floor monitors.
Any other O users with a Bose PA? Bose PA's are like O's themselves: they get alot of heat from traditionalists. But whatever. As fellow O lovers I'm sure you can appreciate the rewards of swimming against the stream sometimes :cool: |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7247
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Many are using the Bose L1. I think it's pretty much a given that if you can afford it, it's one the best (if not the best) tool for the job. |
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June 2005
Posts: 1320
Location: Round Rock, TX | I love mine. I love my Fishman SoloAmp, too. Significantly less hassle while getting most of the Bose sound. But, when only the best will do, I pack the Bose. |
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October 2008
Posts: 489
| Question about the Bose: Can you simply send the output of your mixer to it, or is there some reason why this wouldn't work? |
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Joined:
August 2009
Posts: 381
Location: Miami | Of course! There are inputs for mics, guitars, and external equipment. And if you're a solo guitarist/singer like me, you might not even need a mixer since there is one built in. If you're lucky enough like me to find a guitar and mic combination that happens to work well plugged straight in, you'll understand my enthusiasm! No speaker cables, no pedals, no mess. |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Sounds like the ideal rig for your needs. Just curious . . . what do you do when you need to change your sound, i.e., add some effects, overdrive, wah, change volume, etc.? Are these built into the Bose, and are they convenient to use on the fly? |
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Joined:
August 2009
Posts: 381
Location: Miami | The answer to your second question is short: no, the Bose does not have effects built into it, so you would use whatever effects you're accustomed to. What the Bose provides is "tone match" presets - EQ tweaks designed to match different things that would be plugged into it. In my case, I use the piezo pickup tone match preset for the Ovation, and the Shure SM58 preset for my mic (which is an SM58).
The answer to your first question is not so short, and typically gets guitarist's eyes rolling, but since you asked:
I never change my sound electronically. For the last 5 years I have been gigging "unplugged", not in the unamplified sense, but in the no-effects-whatsoever sense.
I have over the years learned how to really use the dynamic range of the guitar (and here is where the 1778T's expressiveness has found no equal in my book), chord variations, and hand techniques to emulate just about every sound I need. Flanging and distorting are easy to emulate by strumming almost on top of the bridge or chunking power 5th chords with palm muting, respectively, for example. Of course, you won't hear any deep flanging, wah-ing, or the like, but you won't miss them either, if you adapt the song to the acoustic the right way.
Effects are great when used tastefully, but at some point I took a minimalist leap of faith and went completely effects free. It started when I stopped using effects on my mic and found that effects were no substitute for the right vocal technique. I decided to do the same with my guitar and pleasantly found myself discovering sounds I could produce from the guitar alone. I'm not talking about anything fancy like Kaki King's board tapping (which I find way cool in its own right). I'm just talking about knowing when to use the right chord voicing, when to mute strings, when to chunk them, when to pinch notes (a la Billy Gibbons), and - probably most important of all - how to vary the strumming rhythm and volume to really capture the feel of a song, no matter how produced it is.
One of the nicest things I hear at a gig is: "I thought there was a whole band playing and it's just you". And one of my favorite questions I get from guitarists are "what effects do you use"?" to which the smartass in me responds by holding my hands up and saying "just these". |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Compak 300 |
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August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Pretty impressive, Joe. Very cool attitude and technique. I'd love to hear some of your stuff. Do you have any music from your gigs you could post up? |
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Joined:
August 2009
Posts: 381
Location: Miami | Yeesh. I was afraid someone would ask me that! Unfortunately everything that's out there is outdated, or not with my Bose PA, or with a band.
Not the best performance, but here's a piece of my version of Hotel California .
If you search for my name on YouTube, you'll find some (pretty campy) band stuff I've done with different bands over the years at my day job for some United Way benefits we threw together. I was mortified when some of these clips went online, as some of them are just rehearsals, mistakes and all, but oh well.
Anyway, I really need to get some Bose samples out there. You have to hear it in person to appreciate just how much the room fills with crystal clear sound. (Oh God I sound like an infomercial!)
Until then, sorry I don't have anything better to post, but at least you can see my sweet Rosalita (my lusty red 1778T) in action. Ain't she purty? |
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Joined:
February 2008
Posts: 247
Location: Delaware | Bose PAS for me also, a little chorus & reverb on the O, and some voicelive harmonies on the vocals. Bose now has a "tone match engine" with all kinds of effects built in along with the presets for different mics, guitars etc. It is compatible with the older Pas and the newer model II. |
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Joined:
August 2009
Posts: 381
Location: Miami | Silly me! ProfessorBB, I should have mentioned I used the Bose Model I, which has only the presets. But the Model II (or the ToneMatch module that you can use on either model) also includes effects. (Thanks, Fridave!) |
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Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 3736
Location: Sunshine State, Australia | I like your attitude JJ. One of the reasons I'm not interested in playing an electric is that there's just way too many knobs and switches on the guitar, let alone the amps and pedals.
I like simplicity, which is why I play simple songs. If I was ever good enough to play a gig, I'd like a simple pure acoustic setup like you have with maybe a stomp box and mic up my harmonica amp.
My harmonica amp is a 5W valve jobby with separate gain and master, so I can play around with that dirty 'Chicago' sound without too much overall volume. That's about as far as I go with 'effects'. |
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Joined:
August 2009
Posts: 381
Location: Miami | Originally posted by Jukebox Joe:
If you search for my name on YouTube, you'll find some (pretty campy) band stuff I've done with different bands over the years at my day job for some United Way benefits we threw together. I just realized there's 2 Jukebox Joes! I'm not the guy you see when you do a search on "Jukebox Joe" (ie, I'm not "Sarasota Jukebox Joe"). To see my stuff, search on my real name, Joe Tunon.
Thanks. |
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The Perfect PA for my O
