Lace Dobro Pickup ?

Bob Watson · From: Champaign, Illinois, U.S.

I have a single coil Barcus Berry magnetic pickup on my Dobro. It sounds pretty good but it makes a lot of noise in certain clubs. I was wondering if the Lace Dobro pickup would be any quieter. They don't say whether they are single coil or humbucking pickups in any of they're advertisements that I have seen. I would appreciate any input from anyone who has experience with these pickups. There doesn't seem to be any general consensus as to what pickup works best with a resonator guitar. I hope to be gigging more on Dobro soon and it seems that this is a good time for me to open up this particular "can of worms". The band that I will be playing with all use pickups in their instruments and I don't think I could keep up with them with a microphone. Lets hear what you gigging Dobro players have to say on this subject.

Sonny Jenkins · From: Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx

I too am interested in amplifing my reso,,,and there seems to be many mixed opinions. Mike Auldrige told me in Dallas that mic-ing it is the best option,,
I'm wondering about a fiddle mic,,,not sure how they work,,but seem pretty small,,,at least more convenient than having to stay under a mic,,,I'd like to hear some more opinions

Gary Anwyl · From: Palo Alto, CA

I'm interested in hearing from other Lace Sensor users too.

I recently got a Lace Sensor dobro pickup. Maybe only once a year our bluegrass band plays a noisey bar gig or has to share a setup with an electric band. I wanted a simple setup for that situation. I haven't gigged with it yet.

It has that single coil pickup hum. I also have a Telecaster and the hum is pretty comparable. I'm thinking that I'll probably use a Noise Gate pedal with it.

It attaches to your dobro with double stick tape. You can remove it without hurting the finish, but the double stick tape looses it stickiness if you do it too many time.

I emailed the Lace tech support to see what tape I should use to replace it. They don't seem to answer emails. I also emailed them with some question before I bought the pickup and they didn't answer.

It comes with an endpin jack that is wrapped with a rubber coating and has a loop on it. You can temporarily install it by looping the jack onto your existing endpin. Alternately you can install the endpin jack and leave the pickup permantly installed. I haven't decided if I want to do that and have to stare at the pickup everytime I play my dobro Smile

.

The endpin jack doesn't seem as secure as my current endpin. I've noticed that some dobro players (e.g. Jerry Douglas) leave their endpin installed and install a jack below that.

The pickup height is pretty critical for good sound. I use J42 phosphor bronze strings. Initially the treble strings were harsh and a lot louder than the bass strings. By trimming the double stick tape I could alter the height and get a better, more balanced sound.

The sound is okay. You're starting to approach a lap steel sound. I think some good EQ would help. I haven't experimented with that yet. I'm thinking a good setup would be a Lace Sensor into a multifunction effects unit that has a Noise Gate, Tuner, EQ and maybe reverb. It would be cool if I could also get a smooth overdriven sound out of it, but I haven't had any luck.

If I were gigging with a pickup regularly I'm probably go for a more sophisticated solution.

Michael Kienhofer · From: Goulais River,Ontario,Canada

Hi Bob i,m a bluegrass Dobro player and I,ve tried them all you name them I,ve wasted money on them!!My best results are using the AKG100 or my favorite now is the Shure Beta98h clip on ...No pickup will outperform these two combo,s Trust me..Hope this helps you out.
M,Kienhofer

Bryan Bradfield · From: Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

After about 20 years of bluegrass gigging with dobro, I find myself in one of 3 situations:

1) Bluegrass festival, full of purists - I play acoustic through the house mic, or my Shure SM58. The whole band plays acoustic.
2) Small bar job, limited space and gear - I run my permanent spider-installed piezo transducer through a buffer pre-amp. The whole band then uses "acoustic" pickups.
3) Bar job with an electric band - I'm essentially wanting about the same volume as a pedal steel - I use a Barcus-Berry humbucker that is permanently mounted on the top of the dobro.

My piezo and humbucker both run throught the same stereo output jack. The frequently used piezo is wired to tip and ground. The very infrequently used humbucker is wired to ring and ground. I have an 8" patch cord with a stereo plug wired monaurally to ring and ground that runs to a standard female output jack. In this way I use a standard guitar cord to run the piezo to the mains or amp, with the special 8" adaptor cord only needed for the humbucker gigs.

I find that when I encounter those very infrequent situations when I need the power without the feedback, I ignore elitist tone considerations, and just shoot for being heard. It's either that or go home.

As far as the cosmetic issue of looking at a pickup on top of the guitar, it's a gigging guitar, so I want it there when I need it.

Larry Robbins · From: Fort Edward, New York

"I ignore elitist tone considerations, and just shoot for being heard. It's either that or go home."

Well put, Bryan!
I am in the same boat. Sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind and crank er up or its no-gig! Shocked

I (like many here) prefer the sound of a mic when its feasible. There are many times in the "real" world when its not!
I like these:
http://www.schattendesign.com/resonator.htm

for a decent stage volume and work the mic for leads.
_________________
Twang to the bone!

Gary Anwyl · From: Palo Alto, CA

Larry, what setup do you use with the Schatten? I see that it comes in a passive and active version (who wants to have to open up their reso just to change a battery?). Do you use pre/DI box? Do you go into an amp or a mixer/PA? Do you have any problem with feedback if you crank up the Schatten and don't use a mic? Thanks.

Dave Harmonson · From: Seattle, Wa

I've tried a lot of things to amplify the dobro for years. I haven't heard the Shatten, but I've used Barcus berry, McIntyre, Fishman, a lapel mic held by a rubber grommet in a hole on the cover plate(which actually works pretty well if you don't need a lot of volume). None of the others really sounded right and still had feedback problems. I got turned on to a Schertler basik-reso, that's put out by Tim Sheerhorn. I'm teling you straight, it's the best by far. I can get volume in an electric band, and it still plays and sounds like a dobro. I usually play it through the PA with an EQ, but it has it's own outboard pre-amp that works fine. It also works real well through an acoustic instrument amplifier, Fishman, Fender Acoustasonic, SWR California blond et al. If you get a chance to try one somewhere I highly recommend it.

Joseph Rush Wills · From: New Jersey, USA

I don't have any pickups installed, I always mic. The problem there is that the volume must be turned up high enough so the Dobro will be heard, and you have to learn to "work the mic" so you remain closed to it.
my son-in-law, who is an EXCELLENT audio engineer want to try a dual microphone set-up. I'll let the forum know how this works out. It may be the solution!

Larry Robbins · From: Fort Edward, New York

Hi Gary,
I use the passive model with a LR Baggs Gig-Pro pre amp. Most of the time I go from that into my amp. If am gonna have to be pretty loud, Ill go to the house system. But, I still try to work the on stage mic for all its worth and still recomend just a mic when feasible.. Smile

_________________
Twang to the bone!

Keith DeLong · From: Dartmouth NS Canada

I use mine with a Fishman outboard preamp, and usually pull the bass frequencies down a bit. If you can get the sound engineers to go easy on the monitors, this works. It's a nice natural sound. I heard some old YouTube clips with Jerry Douglas using a magnetic pickup of some sort and it didn't sound like a natural dobro, but you gotta admit, they heard him. Not an easy instrument to pick up, that's for sure.

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