Preamp / FX for acoustic guitar

ToneControl

crunchman said:

ToneControl said:

 as this sounds, so don't  take it to heart:

Making simple electronics in small batches, by hand in the UK is not going to  compare well with Chinese factories, for  various reasons. It's not an adequate explanation though - what is the benefit to the user of having small-batch  electronics?
Why aren't iPhones made this way?
we are talking about a  single-channel preamp  with BMT + Vol, costing £180, and it looks like an old Maplin kit  tbh

The mass made Chinese stuff will use cheap surface mounted components, and probably lots of ICs.  I haven't looked inside one but I'd be willing to bet that the Orchid one will be high quality discrete components.  The Chinese ones wouldn't be so cheap if they used good quality discrete components.

If the Chinese built stuff in question comes from TC then in my experience you've only got about a 50% chance of it lasting 5 years without breaking as well.

I don't believe  the slightly-racist idea that the Chinese factories can't solder PCBs together as well as  a cottage-industry  firm in the UK

What's great about discrete components anyway (actually, it could well be ICs in there)? 

crunchman

It's not the soldering together so much as the design and the quality of the components.  The soldering may actually be more consistent.  Most "boutique" manufacturers (pedals and amps as well) will go for much higher quality components than you get in the mass market stuff which is made at the lowest possible cost.  It could be made in China or elsewhere.  It's just that most of it is made in China.

You can hand build something with rubbish components but most cottage industry types will use higher quality components.  For example they use good quality film capacitors rather than cheapo ceramics.  They will probably over-engineer it a bit as well.  If a capacitor rated for 16V is 10p cheaper per thousand than a 25V one then the mass manufacturer will use the 16V one.  The small guy will use a 25V one to get a bit of a safety factor.  As an example this is why it's safe to run Fulltone (and some other boutique manufacturers') drive pedals at 18V where it's not a good idea with the cheaper mass market stuff.

It's a matter of what your priorities are when you are designing as much as anything.  The big manufacturers will compromise on long term maintainability, and possibly on component quality that might get you the extra 2% so that they can make it cheaply.  If it dies within the warranty period it's cheaper for them to just shove in a new board, or give you a replacement.  If it dies after the warranty is up, you often have an unrepairable brick - as I know from experience with some TC stuff.

I know from experience that TC pedals have PCB mount jack sockets and switches.  The circuit board can be populated by a machine and it costs peanuts.  When they break you have a real problem.  Best case they are a fiddle to repair.  Worst case it's a bespoke component that you can't get and/or whatever broke the jack has cracked the PCB.  A lot of the small cottage industry types will use chassis mounted jacks.  The board will never get any stress from someone treading on the cable and they are a doddle to replace.  It is what your design priorities are.

AuldReekie

ToneControl said:

ICBM said:

ToneControl said:

The fishman preamps look promising, but local shops don't stock them

Avoid the Fishman Aura for that - they don't work well with magnetic pickups, body transducers or resonator guitars at all, they're best with a plain undersaddle transducer.

The Boss AD-5 is pretty nice and has both piezo and magnetic input options, although it doesn't have compression.

To be honest I would probably look at a small acoustic amp with two channels though - that will give you better control over your own sound and monitoring even if you're then connecting it to the PA as well.

thanks for that
I will look into the AD-5

unfortunately, he's disabled, and needs to travel light, so  would prefer not to take an amp. 
He's looking at paying pro prices, if  cheaper stuff won't suffice

Originally I had pointed him to the Yamaha AG stomp, which I  found quite good, but that didn't work  out
I see Radial do a few things, but I just haven't researched acoustic preamps much, for me it's either mic'd or into  my AxeFX2, which must be the most overlooked acoustic  preamp in existence - studio level reverbs, complex delays,  multi-band compressors and IR of guitar bodies, plus any other fun stuff.

I have boh the Boss AD5 and its big brother, the AD8 and whilst both are good, it's the AD5 I actually get a better sound with.  I only have piezo p/ups so cannot comment on their performance with magnetic pick ups.  As already mentioned, there is no compression but tone quality and variety of tone available, is very very good.