Date: 01 July 2000
Contents:
1. Web site Changes
2. New Pictures
3. New Links
4. The Electric Violin Book
5. Makers
6. Ask Andy:
Do I need a Pre-Amp?
What is Impeadance Matching?
Is there an Amp that is specifically for the Electric Violin ?
I will attempt to issue a newsletter either once a month or when something significant
happens.
1. Web site Changes
You will have by now seen my recent changes to my web site. Hopefully it is faster and
easier to use. If you have any problems, please let me know.
2. New Pictures
I have added some new pictures to the gallery. This month 2 new pictures from N.J.
Hudson showing their ingenious tuners on their Jack violin.
3. New Links
I have added links to the following:
SheetMusic - In addition to sheetmusic they also sell music software, stings, tuners,
effects, microphones, cables and the like.
On my Customer list I have added links to:
Guy Fletcher (Zeta Jazz) and his group 'Little Johnny
England'. He has some good MP3 downloads at his site.
Alexandros Papadiamantis (Griffin) Here you will find kind
words about the violin I made for him.
4. The Electric Violin Book
I appologise to any of you that have had problems ordering/receiving the book.
Following these problems, the publisher has now changed their procedures to make life
easier. I now have a credit card payment form where you can order the book and, if you
want to order by a Bank transfer, you can. Just contact me for their bank details.
5. Makers
If you are a maker of electric bowed stringed instruments and would like me to let
the world know about a new instrument that you are selling, please let me know. If you
have any suggestions about my site and the content of this newsletter, please let me know
as well.
6. Ask Andy
Each month I will answer a frequently asked question
which may be of interest to you.
Do I need a pre-amp? What is Impeadance Matching? Is there an Amp that is specifically for the electric Violin ?
You only need a pre-amp if you need one! By this I mean, if you do not have any problems then you don't need one. If however your sound comes over as thin and off-colour then maybe you do. The most common problems with electric violins is frequency response and impeadance matching. Most amplifiers that you will use are designed for the guitar. They have been designed to handle the frequency response of the guitar, not the violin. So the tone controls on the amp may not do what you want and are not very helpful for the violin. To overcome this you can either buy an amplifier that has been designed to work with an electric violin, like the Zeta E-series amp or you could consider an EQ pedal. A 6 band graphic EQ pedal is a very useful box to have. It has 6 sliders to adjust specific frequency ranges to either boost them or cut them. You can therefore shape the sound you make to your own liking with far more control than by using just the amplifier's tone controls. EQ pedals also have a pre-amp section inside them so you can boost the total output of the signal as well as shaping the individual frequencies. In addition they will often have an impeadance matching circuit.
The rule for connecting any pickup to any amplifier or PA is that the socket of the amp must have a higher impeadance than the sound source. Most electric violin pickups are piezo electric devices. These are by nature very high impeadance devices and therefore the amp needs to have a high impeadance socket. Typically a violin pickup has an impeadance of 1M ohm or more. If your amp or PA has a socket that is marked 'High Impeadance' or 'High Z' this usually means that it is expecting a high impeadance microphone (which are around 500k). These inputs may not be high enough for a violin piezo pickup. To overcome this problem (if you have this problem) you need to have an impeadance matching device or circuit to match the pickup to the amp. An EQ pedal usually has this type of circuit. So, an EQ pedal is a very useful box - it shapes your sound, boosts the signal and matches the circuit and they are cheap! Set the amp's controls to mid position and do all your sound shaping with the pedal.
The EQ pedal that I use is one of the cheapest, made by Rocktek. Boss and other effects pedal makers also supply them. Barcus Berry have a couple of pre-amp boxes and as I said earlier, Zeta have one of the only amps in the world that is specifically designed for the electric violin and therefore does not need any of these or have any of these problems.
The above discussion is gone into, in more detail in the book that I co-authored, Electric Violins. You can find a link to a review of the book on the side menu.
I hope this has helped you.
Any suggestions for future discussions, click here Click to Send Me an Email
Bye for now,
Andy Holliman