Acoustic accordions and amps?

[Javthedog]

I agree about the pickup. My accordion guy suggested the Sennheiser (I'm pretty sure that was the one) but my budget is more limited. So he is installing less expensive one but setting it up if I want to upgrade later.
How do you use the transmitter that you referenced on Amazon? Did I mention that I am a complete ignoramus on this electronic stuff? I've always played acoustically.
I like the idea of something I don't have to plug in. Usually their gigs are a couple of hours.

Only issue - perhaps - is that the battery dies unexpectedly.........duff battery, forgot to change it..............cable connections don't suffer like that.

 

[JerryPH]

Only issue - perhaps - is that the battery dies unexpectedly.........duff battery, forgot to change it..............cable connections don't suffer like that.

The newer ones are all rechargeable and last 3-4 hours but if you do what I did... for $9 at a local Walmart, I bought a USB battery that can charge and power the transmitter for over 15 hours (yes I tested it that long... still going strong at 15:20 and driving me nuts... lol). The one time I did that, it was for a gig and I simply taped the battery to my straps. It held very well and I had no worries about the transceiver battery dying on me in the middle of a song!

 

[Dingo40]

FWIW
Here's something about the WEM accordion amplifiers:

 

[Alan Polivka]

I've found Roland keyboard amps to be great for amplifying accordions. Their only drawback is that they are rather directional. The Bose tower system, on the other hand, produces very good sound quality as well and is far less directional.

 

[Javthedog]

FWIW
Here's something about the WEM accordion amplifiers:

Only very slight issue is if you can't hear the sound quality on a phone - and you just say what you think........How about - it's the best/worst/thin/rounded/full (delete as applicable) sound I've ever heard!!

 

[CC_PDX]

I have a Fishman Loudbox performer. My buddy had bought it to do small gigs with his acoustic guitar and ended up not liking it. He was offering it for a good price and I found it really works well for me. I usually run midi for the bass side and condenser microphones on the grill on the right hand. It ended up being a nice compact package that’s plenty loud and has a full frequency response to make sure the bass notes (mic’d up reeds or midi) can be heard well.

I have the Fishman Loudbox Artist model and am also very happy with it. It adds phantom power for the two combo xlr - 1/8 inputs so a condenser mic is possible. It is very neutral sounding and makes your box sound the same, only t louder. It has plenty of power for decent sized venues and is compact—I have my gig gear limited to what I can carry for two blocks in a single trip.

 

[96Bass]

So...for the first time I'm playing in a band that plays Irish music--so not exactly rock and roll, but everyone is amplified. I'm getting a pickup installed for my accordion by my accordion guy.
But what kind of amp?
I just talked to a friend of mine who plays violin, and he told me it took him almost 40 years to find the right amp that actually made his violin sound like a violin; also that most amps are made for guitars, which generally doesn't work for an acoustic instrument.
Those of you who play in an amplified situation, what kind of amps do you suggest? Weight can be an issue--I already have an accordion to deal with!

I am going to give you the definitive answer to your question. Along with playing accordion professionally, I have been a professional live sound engineer for over 25 years and own a small sound reinforcement company - www.authentic-audio.com

First rule - Buy once, cry once. Do not buy something that you will soon need to replace because your initial purchase was not satisfactory.
Buy the correct equipment the first time.

debra made an excellent suggestion in the Bose L1 system. There are other manufacturers that make similar design systems that are also high quality such as Electrovoice, dbtechnologies, RCF. These column systems will be far superior for your needs compared to a traditional guitar or keyboard amp.
I personally use a K-Array KB1 which is Italian made but unfortunately no longer being manufactured.

K-array - KB1 / KB1R

Portable line array for musician sound

www.k-array.com

If you are performing live, forget about stereo as very few people will be in the sweet spot. The people on far left or right won't hear a thing coming from the opposite side speaker.

Best accordion pick up system I have heard, hands-down, no comparison, is Harmonik. These start at around $500. Incredible natural sound. https://petosa.com/collections/accordion-amplification-microphone-pickups

I see you are in San Francisco area. What is the name of your band. I'm in the North Bay in Sonoma County.

 

[hummingbird]

I am going to give you the definitive answer to your question. Along with playing accordion professionally, I have been a professional live sound engineer for over 25 years and own a small sound reinforcement company - www.authentic-audio.com

First rule - Buy once, cry once. Do not buy something that you will soon need to replace because your initial purchase was not satisfactory.
Buy the correct equipment the first time.

debra made an excellent suggestion in the Bose L1 system. There are other manufacturers that make similar design systems that are also high quality such as Electrovoice, dbtechnologies, RCF. These column systems will be far superior for your needs compared to a traditional guitar or keyboard amp.
I personally use a K-Array KB1 which is Italian made but unfortunately no longer being manufactured.

K-array - KB1 / KB1R

Portable line array for musician sound

www.k-array.com

If you are performing live, forget about stereo as very few people will be in the sweet spot. The people on far left or right won't hear a thing coming from the opposite side speaker.

Best accordion pick up system I have heard, hands-down, no comparison, is Harmonik. These start at around $500. Incredible natural sound. https://petosa.com/collections/accordion-amplification-microphone-pickups

I see you are in San Francisco area. What is the name of your band. I'm in the North Bay in Sonoma County.

Now you tell me! My accordion guy said the best accordion pickup hands down was

I am going to give you the definitive answer to your question. Along with playing accordion professionally, I have been a professional live sound engineer for over 25 years and own a small sound reinforcement company - www.authentic-audio.com

First rule - Buy once, cry once. Do not buy something that you will soon need to replace because your initial purchase was not satisfactory.
Buy the correct equipment the first time.

debra made an excellent suggestion in the Bose L1 system. There are other manufacturers that make similar design systems that are also high quality such as Electrovoice, dbtechnologies, RCF. These column systems will be far superior for your needs compared to a traditional guitar or keyboard amp.
I personally use a K-Array KB1 which is Italian made but unfortunately no longer being manufactured.

K-array - KB1 / KB1R

Portable line array for musician sound

www.k-array.com

If you are performing live, forget about stereo as very few people will be in the sweet spot. The people on far left or right won't hear a thing coming from the opposite side speaker.

Best accordion pick up system I have heard, hands-down, no comparison, is Harmonik. These start at around $500. Incredible natural sound. https://petosa.com/collections/accordion-amplification-microphone-pickups

I see you are in San Francisco area. What is the name of your band. I'm in the North Bay in Sonoma County.

 

[hummingbird]

Wow. For the first time I actually got this one right! My accordion guy said these were the best also. My boyfriend was at a loss as to what to get for my birthday so we decided he could get the pickup for me—5001 I think, the more expensive one. I’m waiting on delivery.
The group I’m in is called the Irish Newsboys. They are mostly a group of journalists I’ve been friends with for a long time (all are musicians as well as journalists), as well as a few longtime musicians (Barry Melton from the Fish, Peter Albin from Big Brother and the Holding Company, Dick Bright— more locally known but if you watch the Giants games he often plays the anthem for the games on his violin). Then…me. I’ve been a pianist all my life and an accordionist for almost twenty years, but mostly played in more casual groups and never in a band. So this is all new to me. Our next gig is at Chief Sullivans in North Beach. They’ve just started up again since the pandemic.

 

[96Bass]

This is a very small world indeed. First, congratulations on your excellent choice of accordion microphone system. Who is your accordion guy?
I am the sound engineer for PeaceTown Concerts in Sebastopol and have done sound sound for Big Brother and the Holding Company. We also had Barry "The Fish" Melton who had Peter Albin playing bass and Banana on keys. Dick Bright has shown up three times at Healdsburg Summer Concerts where I also do the sound. I believe he was the one who managed/booked the bands. He sat in on violin with Tom Luce, The Rubinoos, and Club 90. My wife is friends with Lee Ann Fagan, Kevin Fagan's sister. I recently attended Kevin's mother's memorial service. Kevin sang and played guitar along with his daughter at the service.
Here is a video of the concert where I ran sound for Big Brother at PeaceTown, Sebastopol with Peter Albin on bass.

 

[hummingbird]

This is a very small world indeed. First, congratulations on your excellent choice of accordion microphone system. Who is your accordion guy?
I am the sound engineer for PeaceTown Concerts in Sebastopol and have done sound sound for Big Brother and the Holding Company. We also had Barry "The Fish" Melton who had Peter Albin playing bass and Banana on keys. Dick Bright has shown up three times at Healdsburg Summer Concerts where I also do the sound. I believe he was the one who managed/booked the bands. He sat in on violin with Tom Luce, The Rubinoos, and Club 90. My wife is friends with Lee Ann Fagan, Kevin Fagan's sister. I recently attended Kevin's mother's memorial service. Kevin sang and played guitar along with his daughter at the service.
Here is a video of the concert where I ran sound for Big Brother at PeaceTown, Sebastopol with Peter Albin on bass.

That’s pretty amazing!
Yes, Kevin is a friend of mine, along with Steve Rubenstein, another journalist at the Chronicle who plays in the band. And my boyfriend is Pat Johnson, a music photographer who’s shot many of them and has known Dick since the Bammies. Dick is a brilliant musician. I would swear they were having a conversation that mentioned the Rubinoos, who I hadn’t heard of before then.
Are you going to the Cotati festival?
My accordion guy is Valdet Jakubovic; he’s in San Jose. You must know Kimric—he now has an accordion place in Petaluma. I think he’s on this forum too.

 

[Ventura]

the "Bammies"

i still have a few old issues i can't bear to recycle

 

[hummingbird]

the "Bammies"

i still have a few old issues i can't bear to recycle

the "Bammies"

i still have a few old issues i can't bear to recycle

My boyfriend had a kind of make-shift studio that the musicians walked into as soon as they walked off stage at the Bammies. The result was that he would not only shoot the musician/s but he would put together an extremely eclectic group of people. In one famous shoot he had Bill Graham, John Fogerty, Todd Rundgren, Margot Kidder, Bonnie Raitt, Chris Isaac, John Lee Hooker, Robert Cray, Neil Young and Metallica. Can't get more eclectic than that!

 

[Zevy]

Best accordion pick up system I have heard, hands-down, no comparison, is Harmonik. These start at around $500. Incredible natural sound. https://petosa.com/collections/accordion-amplification-microphone-pickups

Ditto!

 

[96Bass]

That’s pretty amazing!
Yes, Kevin is a friend of mine, along with Steve Rubenstein, another journalist at the Chronicle who plays in the band. And my boyfriend is Pat Johnson, a music photographer who’s shot many of them and has known Dick since the Bammies. Dick is a brilliant musician. I would swear they were having a conversation that mentioned the Rubinoos, who I hadn’t heard of before then.
Are you going to the Cotati festival?
My accordion guy is Valdet Jakubovic; he’s in San Jose. You must know Kimric—he now has an accordion place in Petaluma. I think he’s on this forum too.

I've been to see Kimric a few times, when his shop was in Oakland. Fortunately I've only needed a couple of minor repairs.
I'm sure I'll have something better to do the weekend of the Cotati Accordion Festival.
They do have some good players but the majority of acts are garbage, using the accordion as a comical prop.



Dick Contino is a well regarded player but he has no right to have that haircut or wear that shirt.

 

[hummingbird]

I've been to see Kimric a few times, when his shop was in Oakland. Fortunately I've only needed a couple of minor repairs.
I'm sure I'll have something better to do the weekend of the Cotati Accordion Festival.
They do have some good players but the majority of acts are garbage, using the accordion as a comical prop.



Dick Contino is a well regarded player but he has no right to have that haircut or wear that shirt.

Aww, I think it can be fun to go to. Some of the acts aren't great but some are worth watching. Depends on which stage you're looking at. If Guy Klucevsek thinks it's good enough to play there, that's good enough for me.

 

[96Bass]

I just looked at the line-up. Looks pretty weak. I wouldn't be caught dead there.
Here is your Saturday headliner - Junk Parlor. I watched a few videos. Looks like the accordion player only plays chords.
Accordion is fairly insignificant in this band.


This is the Sunday headliner - Jet Black Pearl. The video speaks for itself.

 

[Alan Polivka]

We used to have a monthly informal Irish music group meeting at one of the pubs.
There were numbers of guitarists, fidlers, banjoists, penny whistlers, melodeonists, the occasional uilliann piper and harmonicists.
There was NO amplification.
Let me assure you, when everyone let rip on a popular tune, the accordion/s stood no chance!
It was like everyone piling on a wave at a break at the beach: everyone for himself !

Your comment (Dingo40) provides a great example of how much difference the type of reeds makes. In this video (linked below), I'm using no amplification but I'm using an accordion with some of the best reeds ever made ("a mano" "handmade" by Guidobaldi). The pianist said he was playing as loud as he could and there is also a guitar, violin and bass, yet you can clearly hear my accordion. If I had been using an accordion with standard grade (tipo a mano) reeds, I'd probably have been drowned out. I've also played this accordion (and others with similar top quality reeds) with the 70-piece Pueblo Symphony Orchestra on multiple occasions and not used or needed any amplification.

 

[Alan Polivka]

I think that I would prefer a stereo image no matter what, and I tend to use a mono setup when I don't have a choice. I don't play a lot in public, but when I do, I choose stereo image each time for me. About the only time I can see that not happening would be if I was playing a bigger venue (2500+ people) in those cases stereo is pretty much useless and even if I had a stereo setup in a small venue, it means that I can "pipe" 2 mono signals in to 2 different areas, making for some very interesting options (having sound in 2 rooms or having sound inside and outside the venue and full control over both individually at all times).

I hope I wasn't one of those that was rude to you about your choices... if I was, I do apologize.

JerryPH, so do you run your left hand into one side of your stereo amplification system and your right hand into the other side? I do that when I'm using two of my Roland keyboard amps and it works well. If, of course, the person(s) seeking advice on this topic only has a mono output from their accordion mics, then there is no need for stereo amplification, unless they use some fancy stereo FX, to achieve something beyond a natural accordion sound.
If somebody is looking for a cheap solution for use in small to moderate halls (e.g., when not having to compete with loud electric guitars), Behringer makes some keyboard amps that sound pretty decent with accordion. Sure, they're not studio-quality, but they sound good enough for my needs in typical performance situations where the acoustics are less than ideal, so even the best amp doesn't sound perfect.

 

[JerryPH]

JerryPH, so do you run your left hand into one side of your stereo amplification system and your right hand into the other side?

No, I never do just a 100% hard left/right setup, that may sound somewhat passable on a recording (though still sound odd) but we always want a spread, so that people on the dance floor if they are kind of centered, hear an image where most of my treble comes out on their left sides when looking at me, and inversed for the left hand. For me the magic number is about 35% panned left and right. I do hard pan of 100% L/R on the mixer, but in my accordion setup tweak the settings a little... not much really... over what nearly all the Noel sets or what all the Roland sets/UPG are set to. It's not so drastic that it affects me during times that I am just playing the 8X alone.