DPA 4099G Mic Of Choice For Me When Playing Live

For me my microphone of choice when playing live is the DPA 4099G when I play my Lester Devoe Flamenco Negra.  I have used it with the Bose L1 S system with great results only needing to cut a few decibels on the bass (4-6db) for live playability without feedback. 

DTAR Ducan | Turner Acoustic Research Multi- Source Pickup and Microphone System

I just put a DTAR Ducan | Turner Acoustic Research Multi- Source Pickup and Microphone System  into my Córdoba F7 Paco guitar and I really like it.  I set the action on the low e at 2.7mm and on high E 2.6mm I left the preamp at 3db on bass and 0 on treble.  My main purpose for doing this was to keep my Lester Devoe and Jorge De Zofia guitars safe from the cold and humid temperatures and have a good giging system.  I will be using the guitar with a Line 6 Wirless to a TC Mico Tuner- TC Spark- DigiTech Stereo Looper out to either Bose Tone Match or Yamaha MG10XU.  This setup can be split but for my desired purpose I blend the mic and pickup in the preamp and run it out mono.  I am very happy with the woody tone and the blend of the mic.  I will post more in a week or two. 

Córdoba F7 Paco Review

To me this Córdoba F7 Paco is a fantastic find.  For those of us who have beautiful instruments and find ourselves wanting to play in conditions where our prized guitars would be in danger of cold, heat, humidity or other environmental dangers.   This guitar can possibly come to the rescue.  The Córdoba F7 Paco looks and feels fantastic.  Did I day looks good?  The attention to detail that Cordoba did on this guitar really shines through to the matched back& sides (laminitis) and how they match each other in regards to the woods grain patterns.  The finish is not so thick to dampen the tone.  To the normal eye this looks like a fine flamenco guitar that is been handcrafted. The top is solid Cedar while the back and sides are laminate's of Rosewood.  The guitar has been decorated beautifully with trim (Maple Binding) that accentuates the two woods from Cedar top to Rosewood back and sides.  The guitar is easy to play with low action 2.7mm on bass and 2.6mm on treble, and a very comfortable neck with a standard with 52 to 53 mm at the nut.  The fretboard is a Rosewood fingerboard.  Include gig bag is light and easy to travel with but does not offer the gigging or traveling musician good  road protection.  I did change the strings to the D'Addarío EJ25B.   For my purposes I will be putting a pick up with a under saddle coaxial and a small microphone.  I ordered a DTAR Multi-Source pickup coaxial 18v and Omni mic.  DTar is now Seymour-Ducan. I've enjoyed playing the guitar over the last  five days and I enjoyed hearing the guitar played by a friend who also enjoyed the feel and the tonal richness of this guitar.  Córdoba did a fantastic job with this model and it's worth checking out if you need a good travel/ student/ giging guitar for environments where you don't want to take your real babies out.  I will be taking it to play tonight in Long Island NY (it's going to below freezing tonight)  

     I've used the guitar now live and really like it, with a mic such as a Shure KSM 141 or DPA 4099G I rolled of the bass and just a little on Mics to get a very usable tone live without feedback.

Strings and Things Update

 Recently with some travel gigs I've wondered if I could strip down my pedal-board and get something very small to fit on the pedal train-nano pedalboard I've been able to do so coming in from my guitar cable I go into a TC electronics poly tune then the TC electronic spark then the Neunaber Wet stereo reverb then the Digitech jam man solo XT out to my Bose tone match mixer.  

I've also come across a new string that I'm really enjoying on my DeVoe Negra and my JD Z Blanca they are the D'Addario Pro Arté Composite Core EJ 205B strings they are silverplated wound on a copper core, and black treble strings.   I think they feel great they look great especially the black trebles with the cedar top guitars.  The strings are very smooth and the tone is very warm with the base being very snappy and bright with a quick response.  Thanks goes to my friend Yannakie Arrizzia for sending me a set of D'Addarío EJ49 That set made me want to try the D'Addarío EJ25B.   

Juan Carlos Amplification Vicente Doble Pickup and Bose T1 ToneMatch

If you have a Bose ToneMatch mixer and a Carlos Juan Amplification Vicente Doble pickup. Maybe the pickup is on a Jorge De Zofia guitar, mine is. It was also set up with Eric Hansen  who helped set the gain and tone on the pickup system.  These presets will allow you to have a easy set up and very believable tone to play live.  I found the presets on the Bose web page hear: http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/musicians/downloads/tonematch_downloads.jsp and used the LrBaggs Element & iBeam the Element was for the coaxial and iBeam was for the sensor.  See pics for eq settings.  I also used some ParaEQ on coaxial -6dB at 1000Hz and a Q1.00oct.  This pickup system by Juan Carlos Vicente Doble Pickup is by far the best pickup sounding system I have used bar non.  The guitar can be loud without feedback and the tone is very true and believable.  The presets are easy to install on the ToneMatch

L.R. Baggs Lyric is just Amazing (installed on Córdoba 45FP)

I was very pleasantly surprised by the sound of this fantastic pick up (L.R. Baggs Lyric).  When placed and tuned properly it truly depicts a true sound as a microphone would of a nylon string guitar in my case in Córdoba 45FP, the glops and taps sound good too.  (Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto (650) 493-2131 211 Lambert Ave Palo Alto, CA 94306) has always treated me wonderfully.  This morning I was greeted by none other then Frank Ford then James Hingston who did a fantastic install as well as explaining to me the benefits of this pick up.  As I got back to Fresno by 3:30pm I was able to try the pick up with my system and it sounds fantastic looking forward to my 7 o'clock start time this evening.  Since my return back east I have been able to try the Lyric with my home studio set up Pro Tools 11 on Mac Pro and Dig 002 Rack, awesome results and then to my Bose L1S  with Tone Match mixer are fantastic,  I also attached my pedalboard and line 6 Wirless with great results.  

Below are pics of the location of where the Lyric is attached 

Zofia Flamenco Cedar Blanca Pedalboard for use with K&K Trinity Pickup System

This is my pedalboard to primarily use with my Zofia Cedar Blanca equipped with a K&K Trinity Pickup.  The pedals are mounted on a PedalTrain JR board, I'm using a Decibel  11 HC Power supply to power all pedals except the BBE Acoustimax.  I also have jacks and parts from The Pedalboard Shop.  So from the guitar out jack the cable comes into a input jack TRS supplied from (The Pedal Shop) to the K&K Trinity System 2 Channel Preamp, to BBE Acoustimax.  On the BBE I use the effects loop to run 1, TC Electronics Spark, 2, Neunaber Wet Stereo Reverb, 3, DigiTech Jam Man Stereo (in that order) then DigiTech back to BBE to close the effects loop.  I also use from the BBE tuner out a TC Electronic PolyTune mini. I will be adding a wireless system and a compressor soon as well as the Beat Buddy when it finally ships.