The Steel Guitar Forum

A couple of years ago, I used a cheap tie-clip mic on the soundhole of an acoustic guitar, and thought it sounded pretty good (maybe I'm easily pleased). I since moved to an Ovation, and lost the mic. I've got a resonator now, and I'm wondering if this would work, clipped into one of the coverplate holes. I'm no pro, but I would like something a bit more natural sounding than a magnetic pickup. Before I waste my money, has anyone else tried this?

Yes, I tried this with the pickup clipped to one of the holes in the treble side, and also with the mike mounted in a rubber grommet- didn't like it. I play very aggressively and this type of mike picked up all kinds of pick noise, string noise, and thumping and bumping of my hands.

Went exclusively to a AKG C1000S condenser mike mounted on a boom stand and got the best stage sound ever - at a reasonable price. You will have to avoid standing in front of loud monitors. I played over 300 shows at a local opry (played both steel and dobro) and settled on the AKG as the best for that gig.

Thanx,
Jim

ps - for small bluegrass jobs, I would plug mike into an acoustic amp like the Peavey Ecoustic or into the house.

I used that setup for a couple of years. I liked it. I used a very good quality Shure Beta 98 (supercardioid condensor) clipped to a mount that's screwed onto the coverplate. The fact that it had a shock mount kept from the percussive body noises from being a problem. I know that Kevin Post (Terri Clark's dobro player) uses a mic clipped to the body and he's happy with the setup too.
The only thing that got to me about it was the awkwardness of dancing around the two cords running off the dobro (I blend in a lace sensor pickup), and I found the mini XLR wire to be unreliable over a stretch of weeks on the road playing every night. (Hence, I'm selling it. Make me an offer if you wish.)
For what it's worth, I recently A-B'd a C1000S with a R0DE NT3 microphone. Although lots of dobro players have been raving about the C1000S, I think it's pretty weak. Better than a 57, yes, but it has low output compared with the NT3 which means it feeds back faster (your worst nightmare) I find it muddy, and surprisingly, for a condensor, it doesn't really seem all that directional (it picks up a lot of extraneous noise from all around). My suggestion with mics is that you go to the P.A. department of your favourite big music store (preferably at a non-busy time), line up a bunch of condensors and go to town.

-Tim

I've used a Sony clip-on mic with a Baggs Para Acoustic DI preamp on my Dobro and it works great. No feedback and I get "real" dobro sound from the cone, not piezo transducer sound.

Without the Baggs it sounds kind of lame, though. that's one heck of a preamp for any acoustic instrument - I've used it with Dobro, mandolin, guitar, even upright bass. A must-have for the acoustic player IMO.