Minimal… is beautiful

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This topic contains 2 replies, has 0 voices, and was last updated by  DennisTM 9 years, 6 months ago.

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  • #46

    DennisTM
    Member

    For many years I’ve simply plugged into the PA but was never really happy since most sound dudes don’t know zip when it comes to the Avalon. I won’t even go so far as to asking the guy for 6 channels. I mostly got the “You are kidding me, right?” attitude. So down to the basics and give the guy an answer like “I need two DI’s, one for left, one for right – that’s it.” They even then looked at me strange. However, once they heard what’s going on they understood.
    Nowadays, I play mostly smaller venues and if not, want to have this “Avalon Experience” at my house.

    Here’s the gear:

    *Avalon nylon (pear body) 1991
    *Avalon steel (one-piece!!! quilted maple) 1993
    * Elegy – white (4 made, total)
    * Bose L1 Model II with B2 subwoofer (IMHO, the best marriage of speakers and the Avalon)
    * TC Electronic Hall of Fame
    * DigiTech JamMan (for the lack of a beloved Paradis LoopDelay (could kick myself not buying one when I had the chance…)) Matthias: hint, hint… 🙂

    As you see, not much is needed to hear the angels sing through Paradis’ instruments.

    I played around with compressors etc. but ended up leaving this to the sound engineers when it came to the Avalon’s dynamics on stage.

    So there you have it 🙂

    That’s my gear – what’s yours????

    Best,
    Dennis

    #121

    Matthias
    Blocked

    I never liked guitar amplifiers mainly because they boost treble in the amp and cut treble in the speaker and aggressively bundle the upper mid range, usually to some victim in the public, not to the player…

    after I saw Max Lässer play the Tannoy little red monitors on stage in 1984, I fell in love with them and carried them everywhere and had to replace the box because of the rain but they still sound great!
    now with a tiny class D amp (no fan)

    there are lighter active studio monitors nowadays
    I found a great sounding pair in Rolf’s office and was amazed about the price:
    http://www.monacor.ch/itemcard.php?aid=281612&itemno=SOUND-80/SW&from=20

    #122

    ADuepmeier
    Member

    Minimal – that’s the way I like it too.

    I usually play at small venues and use an AER Acousticube 3 in combination with AER sub 10 (bass extension for the Polysubbass). For larger ones I sometimes use the two channel routing preamp StepABout made by BassLab in Kassel, Germany.

    For additional effects I still take my Alesis Quadraverb.

    That`s all I need for my Avalon-Sound.

    All the best,

    Armin

    #123

    Dragonfly88
    Member

    I don’t think that my way of playing the avalon paradis (’93 nylon) could serve as a good example (and for some days I was considering whether to post this or better not), but ok, this was my way (in the past):

    Started singing Cohen, Dylan etc. in the bath and my computer room at home, accompanying myself on acoustic steelstrings, I once had to work for some months in an islamic state where I needed a “quiet” guitar in my bedroom, played through a tiny headphone amp. By accident, I purchased a nylon paradis from her previous owner, not knowing what kind of phantastic guitar would come into my hands.

    This experience has been the starting point of later being a member of a bebop trio/quartett!

    However, some blues playing came up within our combo that led me to steel string semihollows, as I felt not beeing able to bend the strings as needed.

    The combo playing led to a further step in my “local career” and now I am a member of a bigband since 3 years.

    But I am really longing to come back to my paradis, and maybe after another one or two years bigband I will return to solo performances, maybe bossa nova or such.

    And here is my (old) signal path for the paradis nylon:
    – paradis guitar through a special cable, combing the 6 individual stringsignals in a normal 6,3″ plug
    – BOSS GT10, nearly without(!) any preamp settings, just a little bit of EQ for room-acoustic, volumepedal, tuner and a little bit of reverb
    – first an AER Tramp Amp (predecessor of the AER Compact 60 mobile), later replaced by the Schertler Unico Amp
    – when singing simultaneously, all signals went through a 16Ch-Mackie Mixer, later Edirol MDX16, and a stereo output (11:13 hours left/right) directly into the PA. (Unico remaining as monitor)

    I felt (and still feel) totally comfortable with the overall capabilities of the “multi-FX” GT 10, which very little is utalized from, and my acoustic amp Schertler Unico (which is – among some well known tube amps – a very good amp for my archtops as well).

    2008 Rolf built a subbass for me, and several times I tried VG99 sounds via a 13pin cable from my paradis, but honestly I have to admit, that Duo-/Trio-colleagues (Popsongs) by far preferred natural sounds of either the paradis or my acoustic steelstrings.

    So, my VG99 rests back in the shed waiting for something in the future?

    Bottomline of it all:
    – The paradis is a marvellous guitar, sounds and playability not beeing surpassed by any other guitar I had held in my hands
    – however, bending capabilities are limited on my nylon, thats why I am using steelstrunged archtops since years in a bebop combo and in a bigband
    – I am awaiting coming back to the paradis doing more solo performances, when I feel it may be time to leave the bigband
    – then the paradis, the GT10 (just for little bit of EQ and reverb, tunig and volumencontrol) and the Schertler Unico will be enough again.

    best regards
    Torsten

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