The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anyone use one of the McIntyre "feather" Dobro pickups for live performing? I bought one about five years ago and finally got around to installing it in my Fender square neck. I also have another resonator guitar with a Barcus Berry flat pickup on top which works very well without a preamp but doesn't have the real Dobro sound, it's more like a lapsteel.

I'm taking my McInyre equipped guitar to a gig tonight and seeing if I can get the volume level I need. I have a Fishman preamp that I use with a mandolin which seems to work pretty well in the house but we'll see how it does live.

If anyone has a McIntyre, what do you pre-amp it with. Also would it be better to go through the board? I was thinking of an A/B switch with my pedal steel so it'd go through the same amp and I'd have more control on my sound...........JH in Va.

I've got the Feather and I ran mine thru a SansAmp DI, with eq (Hi, Lo, and sweepable mid to notch out problem freqs). Still problematic at times, depending on the stage volume (sometimes I went to the board, sometimes thru my amp).

If possible, allow yourself extra time during set-up/soundcheck to troubleshoot feedback issues. These days, I usually just got with a lap steel for loud gigs, and just mic my dobro with quiet bands/small venues.

I've got the old style McIntyre pickups in my Guernsey, and while I use it mostly for tuning in loud conditions, I have plugged in a time or two. If you want it to sound like a dobro, you've GOTTA use an acoustic guitar amp, or run through the P.A. Plug ANY pickup, on ANY reso, into a guitar amp, and it's gonna sound like a lap steel.

Thanks for the help. I tried it out last night and it worked pretty well. There were a couple of squeals at first but when I turned off the amp reverb it seemed to eliminate that. I have a metal Dobro stand that puts it in playing position so I used that instead of a strap and positioned it before we started to get the best sound without feeding back. The Fishman preamp worked pretty good but I think I'm going to go the acoustic amp route and just buy an amp dedicated for use only with the resonator guitar as at times it seemed to sound like I was playing slide on a Stratocaster!.............JH in Va.

Hey Jerry, Let us know how it sounds with an acoustic amp. I just bought a GHS sound hole mic for my Tut Taylor because I hadn't found a resonator pickup that I liked yet. I've never tried the McIntyre so I'll be interested to hear your take on it once you think you've got it dialed in.

Boy, this is an important thread for me.

I have a Guernsey 8-string, with a McIntyre Feather pickup. Plugged it into a Paracoustic DI/pre into a plain ol' Nashville 400 and it sounded awful. Lots of tweaking and still a feedback machine. So I know I need a band EQ of some sort.

Some players I know have a pickup/internal mic combo in their dobros, stereo out into a 7-band EQ (per side). Some use an acoustic amp in addition. I've heard some beautiful sounds come from these rigs.

Add drums and it all falls apart!

I still use a mic

Drew

I've sent this advice a few times before, but I swear by the Schertler Basik Reso pick-up. I've had the Barcus Berry, McIntyre, Fishman, Lapel mics, and just about everything else and none of them come close to the Schertler. Fishman has a new one coming out that may work well, but I haven't heard that one. I play through the pre-amp that comes with the Basik and also run it through a Fishman pre-amp with EQ. There's no EQ with the Basik preamp. I usually play it plugged directly into the PA, but it works great through an amp as well. You can get plenty of volume in an electric or acoustic band and it still responds and sounds like a dobro. It's not really necessary to run through the EQ, but I usually have one set up for acoustic guitar anyway and run into an AB switch with both guitars into the pre-amp. I roll off just a little bit of the high end to find the spot where it's still bright enough without getting a clanging tone. The Basik isn't cheap, runs around $300, but when you consider how much I spent over the years on all that other stuff it's not so bad.

Drew Howard wrote:Boy, this is an important thread for me.

I have a Guernsey 8-string, with a McIntyre Feather pickup. Plugged it into a Paracoustic DI/pre into a plain ol' Nashville 400 and it sounded awful. Lots of tweaking and still a feedback machine. So I know I need a band EQ of some sort.

Some players I know have a pickup/internal mic combo in their dobros, stereo out into a 7-band EQ (per side). Some use an acoustic amp in addition. I've heard some beautiful sounds come from these rigs.

Add drums and it all falls apart!

I still use a mic

Drew

The "Feathers" don't have NEAR the output of any other pickup, so you're going in the right direction with a preamp. The usual rules apply about plugging into a "normal" amp. Ya GOTTA use an acoustic amp! I've got three--an SWR Strawberry Blond, an old Crate like Jerry used to use, And an older Trace-Eliot. The Strawberry Blond has a big speaker, while the Crate and the Trace have 5 or 6 inch speakers, and they're easier to tame feedback with.
Jerry's still using that Shure, and as far as I know, Mike is still using that ancient Neumann. Mikes are gonna sound best, I think---Wonder what would happen if you plugged a mike into the mike channel of one of those acoustic amps??

I agree that the best sound comes from a good mic, but it's very difficult to get a stage volume up where you can hear yourself in an all electric setting. If you're playing in an acoustic band a decent condenser mic sounds great. Sometimes using a pick-up for your monitor sound and the mic for the fronts can work, but I'd rather have a monitor sound that sounds pleasing to my ear.

I have a McIntyre feather in my Lazy River Weissenborn and have played it in a number of live situations, including with a full band with drum set. I run it through a LR Baggs preamp into the board. Never had a feed back problem even at pretty loud volume.