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Mark2 -> RE: Microphone or pickup for live use? (Oct. 28 2011 0:26:57)
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I was doing a lot of band gigs at one point so I had a Mclish pickup installed in a Conde. Incredible volume, but loss of flamenco tone. So, I'd also mike the guitar, and using a volume pedal, would roll off the pickup when playing rhythm and only add the pickup when playing single string solos lines. This gives a bit of flamenco tone by having at least some sound from the mike even when your soloing, and with the volume pedal, you can add as much volume from the pickup as you need. Also , when your playing rhythm, you've got the good tone from the mike. I've tried various mikes, but the one that gave me the most volume and tone was a rode nt5.
The McLish pickup sounds much better than most, but it still isn't a flamenco tone, and I found that incredibly frustrating. It was always a compromise, and I thought, why on earth do I compromise my tone? I never did that in any other musical situation. When I played electric guitar, no way I'd play with a tone I didn't like. If you love your tone, you simply play better. When I did solo gigs, or played for dance, tone was never an issue-I liked the sound. But somehow to play a flamenco guitar with a group, especially one that includes players who are used to playing with other groups that play at higher volumes, it became a huge issue.
You go see Paco with his group, and of course he sounds incredible and plenty loud enough, but that's different than playing in a club or restaurant. He's in a theatre, and his sidemen's levels are controlled by a sound guy. The guy who seemed to have it licked was Vicente. When I saw him, he played with incredible volume, but his sound guy was pushing his volume to the max, and he created ear busting feedback a few times.
I saw the GK's recently, and they had completely given up any flamenco tone by using pickups. It was sad, because I'd think a group with their resources could do so much better. You listen to their first record, and the guitars have so much flamenco sonnikette, and then in concert today, zero.
I've seen good guitarists using pickups in flamenco shows, and it never sounded right. I get the attraction-less hassle, more mobility, but it's also nice to be able to use a mike for dynamics. I consider a pickup a last resort, although there may be something out there that really works-I just haven't seen or heard it.
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