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Topic: Jerry Douglas Aura w/ Black Box? |
Brooks Montgomery
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 19 Apr 2023 8:43 am |
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Note: this is an electronics question, but specifically for reso-guitars. I apologize if it should be in the electronics section.
For those of you with experience with the Jerry Douglas Aura and Nashville pickup: is there any reason that the Sarno Black Box should not be in the signal chain (first out of the guitar)? I'm a bit dense with electronics, and not sure if a tube buffer interferes with the Aura "imaging".
I know the obvious answer is "well, listen to it--what do you think"? The problem is, I have enough trouble hearing the difference between the 16 mic images, because the cone is blasting the real sound straight up to me, and I have a heck of a time hearing the pure amp tone (I hear the real dobro tone with the spill-over amp tone).
I am trying to simplify my pedal board for some small local trio gigs (coffee-house, brew-pub type gigs), but I do like what the Black Box does for my 8-string lap steel, and would like to keep it in the chain for the dobro.
And to pile on here, any opinions on the Fishman AFX Pro EQ Mini Acoustic Preamp & EQ? and where would you put it in the signal chain?
thanks in advance. . .
Brooks
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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first. |
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Howard Parker
From:
Maryland
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Posted 19 Apr 2023 10:05 am
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I'm not sure of the usefulness of the BB with vari-Z since the Aura is specifically designed to be mated with the Nashville pickup. Also the BB is designed (?) to be used with a range of steel guitar pickup impedences.
That being said, I think the BB is designed to be first in line with the pickup.
That is where I would try it.
- edit Sarno specs that it will work with piezo pickups so, you've got nothing to lose by experimentation.
h
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Howard Parker
03\' Carter D-10
70\'s Dekley D-10
52\' Fender Custom
Many guitars by Paul Beard
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Brooks Montgomery
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 19 Apr 2023 10:50 am
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Thank you Howard. I was hoping you'd see my question.
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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first. |
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Howard Parker
From:
Maryland
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Posted 19 Apr 2023 11:28 am
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Sure! Digging a bit deeper, Fishman lists the Aura's nominal input impedance as 10M. The BB is designed for max input impedance from a pickup as 1M.
That would lead me to speculate that the BB probably is not optimal for the Nashville pickup.
But, trying won't hurt anything.
h |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 19 Apr 2023 11:50 am
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I’m sort of impotent when it come to impedance, Howard knows a lot more than me - but I have been under the impression over the years regarding any pedals/effects in a dobro signal chain involving the JD Aura, it’s always cable from the guitar first into the Aura, anything else comes after.
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Mark |
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Howard Parker
From:
Maryland
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Posted 19 Apr 2023 12:00 pm
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In this case you have 2 devices designed to "look" directly at a pickup.
One (Aura) was designed for this pickup.
The other (BB) was not.
The rest is do you like/not like the way it sounds.
I've never been tempted to try the BB in my reso rig. It remains dedicated to my pedal steel.
fwiw
h |
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Brooks Montgomery
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 19 Apr 2023 1:04 pm
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Thanks guys. I'll be playing a dobro, a Clinesmith cast 8-sring, and blues harp, all through the same amp & chain, more or less.
The harp goes straight in, the Clinesmith uses the BB first. . . so I'll see if the dobro works with BB also. No big deal, I can just plug into my pedal array disconnecting the BB if need be.
As I mentioned, I have a heck of time telling what sounds better over the sound of the dobro cone blasting straight up to my ears.
I'm not much at trusting my attempts of recording the sound for analysis. But, heck, it's all fun messing with it.
-B
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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first. |
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Brett Lanier
From:
Hermitage, TN
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Posted 23 Apr 2023 8:41 am Re: Jerry Douglas Aura w/ Black Box?
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| Brooks Montgomery wrote: |
| I am trying to simplify my pedal board for some small local trio gigs (coffee-house, brew-pub type gigs), but I do like what the Black Box does for my 8-string lap steel, and would like to keep it in the chain for the dobro. |
Something I didn't realize right at first with the JD Aura pedal is that if you're using it in thru mode (meaning it's still passing signal when switched off), the volume knob is still active. So if you're playing lap steel through the same effects chain, just be aware that the volume control on the Aura will act like a master volume, even with the pedal off.
My .02 would be that once you have the Aura and an acoustic EQ in your chain, having the lap steel go through them will make switching instruments more difficult. Cutting down on the number of things you need to do between songs is always a good thing.
Here's a picture of my pedalboard that's for steel, acoustic guitar, and dobro. Everything on the bottom row is for pedal steel, and the top row is for dobro and acoustic. It looks like a lot of stuff but it's really simple to use. Every instrument gets its own line. The Aura pedal can't accidentally be used for acoustic or steel, and the reverb and tuner are patched in to the Grace pre so they can be used for both acoustic instruments - which each have their own isolated inputs, outputs, and EQ curves.
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