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Author
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Topic: Best Dobro Pickup?
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Bart Maloney
Member From: Houston, Texas (from Tomball, TX)
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posted 22 June 2004 10:22 PM
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Just curious what the best pickup for a squareneck dobro would be? |
Jerry Hayes
Member From: Virginia Beach, Va.
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posted 23 June 2004 06:15 AM
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I think you can't go wrong with the MacInyre feather pickup. They're available from the Stewart/MacDonald catalog. My Gibson Hound Dog Dobro came with a Fishman pickup factory installed and it sucked. I put in a Mac and it's like night and day. It's the one that Jerry Douglas recommends....JH------------------
Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning. [This message was edited by Jerry Hayes on 23 June 2004 at 06:16 AM.]
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Bob Hickish
Member From: Port Ludlow, Washington, USA
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posted 23 June 2004 06:41 AM
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Bart
In My humble opinion there is NO good Dobro pickup - the best thing I have found is a good mike - I have tried several of the pickups and they all have some draw back . Good luck in finding the sound you want
Bob |
Charles French
Member From: Ms.
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posted 23 June 2004 07:19 AM
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Good luck in finding the sound you want
Bob AMEN! |
Alan Kirk
Member From: Santa Barbara, CA, USA
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posted 23 June 2004 07:28 AM
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All dobro pickups add mass to the spider/cone assembly and thus all dobro pickups change the sound of the instrument.If you love the sound of your dobro, buy a good mike. If you want to experiment with getting different sounds from your dobro, buy a pickup. ------------------
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Brad Sarno
Member From: St. Louis, MO USA
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posted 23 June 2004 08:23 AM
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We gave up in our band messing with Dobro pickups. We found the Shure Beta 57a to be the best mic for the job. They're real resistant to feedback and the tone is real natural. You need to get it real close to the cone, like almost touching the guitar. If you use a windscreen it can minimize the thumps if you hit the mic by accident. The pickups just didn't cut it. I've heard that everytime you take a cone out of a Dobro to install a pickup, it takes months for the tone to settle back in. Brad Sarno
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Tim Tweedale
Member From: Vancouver, B.C., Canada
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posted 23 June 2004 01:39 PM
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There Is No Good Pickup For Resonator Guitars I just simply cannot stress that enough, and I wish someone had told me that last year around this time. The unique sound of the dobro comes from such a complex set of variables that there is no way a piezo or magnet can do it anything remotely close to justice, to say nothing of the expense and damage you'll incur. Mic Mic and Mic some more...
...and reinforce with a lace sensor if need be. -Tim
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Bart Maloney
Member From: Houston, Texas (from Tomball, TX)
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posted 23 June 2004 01:49 PM
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I have been doing some studio work, and the engineer has just used two microphones. one over the cone and one on the neck. The tones I have gotten out of that have been great. My only problem is that if i go out and play an open mic somewhere, they never have any condenser mics. So they always put a mic. really really close to the cone and always sounds like crap. I was hoping there was some good pickup that i could just plug in and play. I have some internal pickup in a martin concert that i have, that has an incredile acoustic tone. But i am not gonna try and rip that out! |
Dirk B
Member From: Columbia, MO, USA
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posted 23 June 2004 02:13 PM
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After trying a lot of things, including clip-on mics and the McInbtyre pickups, I've had great luck with the Lace Sensor. Only minor complaint is low output, but that's minor compared to the feedback I had to deal with using the McIntyre products. |
Ron Randall
Member From: Dallas, Texas, USA
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posted 23 June 2004 07:43 PM
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Bart,
I agree with those above. I have tried the Fishman and others. The best pickup is a microphone. The Fishman and others can do a reasonable job of sound reinforcement, but they cannot duplicate the tone. The pickups are handy for tuning.Watch Jerry Douglas. Every time I have seen him in person or on TV, he uses that Shure condensor mic. Good luck
Ron |
Howard Parker
Member From: Clarksburg,MD USA
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posted 24 June 2004 05:49 AM
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quote:
Watch Jerry Douglas. Every time I have seen him in person or on TV, he uses that Shure condensor mic.
And everytime I've seen him in person he uses both a mic and pickup. More on Jerry's setup Here! A Luddite he aint  YMMV of course. ------------------
Howard Parker
poobah@resoguit.com
www.resoguit.com
ListOwner RESOGUIT-L
77' MSA Classic D-10 |
David Doggett
Member From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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posted 24 June 2004 11:41 AM
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I remember years ago hearing about a mic holder that attached to the Dobro body and held the mic at an appropriate constant position over the resonator. I believe it was suspended by strings or rubber bands, so it didn't pick up body contact noise. Anybody know anything about this?What about the kind of small mic you attach over a saxaphone bell. Would that work, or do you need a different kind of mic for Dobro?[This message was edited by David Doggett on 24 June 2004 at 11:43 AM.] |
Bart Maloney
Member From: Houston, Texas (from Tomball, TX)
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posted 24 June 2004 11:43 AM
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I have never heard of that David. It sounds cool. I hope someone on here know something about em'. |
Alan Kirk
Member From: Santa Barbara, CA, USA
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posted 24 June 2004 03:14 PM
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There's been talk of using clipon mics here on the forum. Search "clipon" and you'll find seven threads.As far as feedback, a clipon run through a preamp with a notch filter might be a workable setup. ------------------
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Lincoln Goertzen
Member From: Rose Prairie, British Columbia, Canada
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posted 24 June 2004 08:37 PM
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No good pickup for dobro? I have to say that the MacIntyre Feather works extremely well for me and my Melobro. I don't even have a preamp for it yet, and have not had problems with feedback, or low output, or anything. I can hardly wait until I can afford a really nice preamp. BTW, all I play through is a Peavey Classic Chorus 212. Yes, a lead guitar amp! Sounds perfectly natural to my ears. Mikes are nice, but sometimes plugging in is so much easier. I love having that as a great option. Lincoln |
Craig Prior
Member From: National City, California, USA
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posted 24 June 2004 09:26 PM
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Based on the reviews I put Schattens in both my Dobros. That and the fact they're located in Kitchner, quite close to where my cousin lives in Ontario (Guelph).They do a reasonable job of giving you something to work with but, admittedly, it doesn't sound like playing through a mic. It sounds like what it is, a pickup. I use a LR Baggs Para DI with the notch filter and that seems to work okay in combatting feedback. The sound I get is exactly what it is: a Dobro with a pickup run through an amp. Currently I expect that's as good as you're gonna get without some elaborate setup. Craig.
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Travis Bernhardt
Member From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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posted 24 June 2004 11:24 PM
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Mic all the way. A mic and a good pre-amp with maybe a magnetic pickup to add punch and warmth to the bass, or for emergencies. The Lace Sensor is a nice sounding magnetic pickup. It IN NO WAY sounds like a dobro, it just sounds like a nice magnetic pickup. There's probably a way to get a decent sound out of a Feather, but I've never heard it (but then, I'm going to see Jerry Douglas in Seattle on the 26th, so that may change--and even he only uses it to reinforce the sound a little, I think...). -Travis |
Travis Bernhardt
Member From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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posted 24 June 2004 11:31 PM
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Oh yeah, if you're just looking for something practical and easy for live use and you don't care about reproducing the actual sound of the dobro, I think the Lace works great. Just remember that your audience won't hear that "dobro" sound (not necessarily a bad thing in some contexts, and you can throw effects on it with ease--distortion and whatnot ). -Travis |
Tim Tweedale
Member From: Vancouver, B.C., Canada
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posted 25 June 2004 01:27 PM
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Hi Lincoln - a fellow BC member! I would love to hear some sound clips of your dobro w/ feather. Is there any way you could upload some? -Tim |
Lincoln Goertzen
Member From: Rose Prairie, British Columbia, Canada
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posted 03 July 2004 07:59 AM
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Hi, Tim. I wish I was computer literate enough to upload some sound clips, but I am not. I don't think I have the electronic equipment, or the memory on my computer to do so. Starting now I will do a little research, though. It could be easier than I think.  Lincoln Goertzen |
Tim Tweedale
Member From: Vancouver, B.C., Canada
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posted 03 July 2004 03:27 PM
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Hey, in my books the guy who gets a Mac Feather to sound good can do anything. -Tim |
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