Another old man with a new modular rig

[Jim Soloway]

I've been working on putting together a new rig for a while now: something small and light weight using a powered speaker or micro-pa that would give me more sound spread at lower volumes.

I had a lot of preconceived ideas. Some of it worked and some didn't but I learned though the the experience that I wasn't going to know for sure until I got the gear out at a gig. It's one thing to play this gear in my own little office at condo volume but it's something entirely different to get into the real world and try it.

I started by buying and returning a couple of the new small modelers from both Line 6 and Tonex. In both instances I found the interface to be completely maddening and certainly not something that was willing to deal with in a real world situation. Next I bought and sold a couple of very nice amp-in-a-box solutions and while both were impressive, there were small issues, mostly with the reverb, that left me unsatisfied and at those prices I wasn't willing to live with any unhappiness, so I decided to go with a separate reverb and preamp.

I did a ton of research on the reverb and had set my eye on a UAFX Evermore. It does a lot more than I need but the large hall reverb with a touch of mod is really lovely and is the sort of verb that I can just set and forget. So that one was a win on the first try.

My first idea for the preamp was an Empress ParaEq. At home the ParaEq was brilliant but in the real world, I found the sound too focused and forceful. No matter what I did, it lacked the lightness that I look for in an amp. I still have the ParaEq here but it's in the box and listed locally for sale. It's a quality box and should sell eventually.

I rambled through a lot of old posts here to see what people had used and there were a lot of folks who like the Joyo American. I had owned one before but never really given it much of a shot. The price is so low that I figured there's really nothing to lose so I ordered one. I ever found a video on-line of someone using one for traditional jazz tone and it had a photo of all his settings that I cud use as a starting point. I don't love the interface. I'd much rather have a toggle switch to select the amp model than a rotary knob with gradual change of the amp voice but once the voice is dialed in, the sounds from the unit are surprisingly good and I can always mark my voice setting with a sharpy to take away the mystery. It also couples very nicely with the Evermore to give me a good Fender-ish overall sound.

The decision on the powered speaker was a bit more difficult. When I started this process, I spent a lot of time looking at the new generations of micro-PA's that have popped up in the last few years. I especially liked the idea of one with a battery. I went to a few sources for advice and almost no one liked the idea but somehow I was unable to let it go. I rented one for a few weeks and while it wasn't perfect, it did give me great coverage at low volume. While I continued to dither on this decision, looking at countless options, fate intervened on my behalf. One unit that I had been considering was the Yamaha Stagepas 100 but no one had them locally and at the price there was a lot of competition. Then just as it was time to make a decision, Yamaha discontinued both the 100 and 200 and they were suddenly getting blown out all over Canada at half price. I was able to find a floor demo unit for even less. That made the decision easy. So far so good. I've played four gigs with it and it's done a great job. It's tiny, light weight and has a really good design with a built in stand that allows it tilt to almost any position. There isn't a hint of noise at the volumes that I play at and it seems to fill a substantial space without having to get really loud. On it's own, the sound is VERY dry but with the reverb and a preamp, it does a wonderful job.

This version of the rig has now been real world tested in a few different settings and worked really well. So the rig is now done and for much less than I was expecting to spend. I know myself too well to say that it stops here, but I'm confident that it can do whatever I'm likely to ask of it in the next while.

And I have to give special thanks to a couple of forum members who went way out of their way to make this process easier. I'm very grateful to you both.

[pingu]

Hi Jim ,
glad you’ve got a nice light working
rig together

I’m interested that so many players
here have had good sounds with
the Joyo American Sound pre-amp

I bought one (a Harley Benson clone
from Thomann)
a while ago and tried it a few times
but I can’t get anything out of it that I like !

I’m normally pretty easy to please ….
if there’s am amp available at the venue I usually just use that ….
whatever it is
Ive even just plugged direct to the small
pa on a couple of gigs , with a
long guitar cable no pre-amp or DI , and been quite happy with the sound

anyway , rambling
happy for you man

[garybaldy]

I've been working on putting together a new rig for a while now: something small and light weight using a powered speaker or micro-pa that would give me more sound spread at lower volumes.

I had a lot of preconceived ideas. Some of it worked and some didn't but I learned though the the experience that I wasn't going to know for sure until I got the gear out at a gig. It's one thing to play this gear in my own little office at condo volume but it's something entirely different to get into the real world and try it.

I started by buying and returning a couple of the new small modelers from both Line 6 and Tonex. In both instances I found the interface to be completely maddening and certainly not something that was willing to deal with in a real world situation. Next I bought and sold a couple of very nice amp-in-a-box solutions and while both were impressive, there were small issues, mostly with the reverb, that left me unsatisfied and at those prices I wasn't willing to live with any unhappiness, so I decided to go with a separate reverb and preamp.

I did a ton of research on the reverb and had set my eye on a UAFX Evermore. It does a lot more than I need but the large hall reverb with a touch of mod is really lovely and is the sort of verb that I can just set and forget. So that one was a win on the first try.

My first idea for the preamp was an Empress ParaEq. At home the ParaEq was brilliant but in the real world, I found the sound too focused and forceful. No matter what I did, it lacked the lightness that I look for in an amp. I still have the ParaEq here but it's in the box and listed locally for sale. It's a quality box and should sell eventually.

I rambled through a lot of old posts here to see what people had used and there were a lot of folks who like the Joyo American. I had owned one before but never really given it much of a shot. The price is so low that I figured there's really nothing to lose so I ordered one. I ever found a video on-line of someone using one for traditional jazz tone and it had a photo of all his settings that I cud use as a starting point. I don't love the interface. I'd much rather have a toggle switch to select the amp model than a rotary knob with gradual change of the amp voice but once the voice is dialed in, the sounds from the unit are surprisingly good and I can always mark my voice setting with a sharpy to take away the mystery. It also couples very nicely with the Evermore to give me a good Fender-ish overall sound.

The decision on the powered speaker was a bit more difficult. When I started this process, I spent a lot of time looking at the new generations of micro-PA's that have popped up in the last few years. I especially liked the idea of one with a battery. I went to a few sources for advice and almost no one liked the idea but somehow I was unable to let it go. I rented one for a few weeks and while it wasn't perfect, it did give me great coverage at low volume. While I continued to dither on this decision, looking at countless options, fate intervened on my behalf. One unit that I had been considering was the Yamaha Stagepas 100 but no one had them locally and at the price there was a lot of competition. Then just as it was time to make a decision, Yamaha discontinued both the 100 and 200 and they were suddenly getting blown out all over Canada at half price. I was able to find a floor demo unit for even less. That made the decision easy. So far so good. I've played four gigs with it and it's done a great job. It's tiny, light weight and has a really good design with a built in stand that allows it tilt to almost any position. There isn't a hint of noise at the volumes that I play at and it seems to fill a substantial space without having to get really loud. On it's own, the sound is VERY dry but with the reverb and a preamp, it does a wonderful job.

This version of the rig has now been real world tested in a few different settings and worked really well. So the rig is now done and for much less than I was expecting to spend. I know myself too well to say that it stops here, but I'm confident that it can do whatever I'm likely to ask of it in the next while.

And I have to give special thanks to a couple of forum members who went way out of their way to make this process easier. I'm very grateful to you both.

That looks to be rig that I would easily get my head around!
I'm afraid I'm still in the dark ages and use my Polytones for jazz (with possibly modest reverb an 7 band eq pedals) and a 1x12 65w (potentially extremely loud) Musicman combo with a mostly analogue pedalboard for rock and pop. At the age of nearly 69 it's all starting to be a bit of a chore weight wise but I can't see me ever changing now even if everyone around me is. It's not quite like the Twins and Marshalls of yore - they are in the cupboard and have been for some while now!