Acoustic Tones

D

DangMe

Member
I was think about getting a Grace Alix preamp for my acoustic, but I got to wondering if my FM9T could approximate the Alix. I’m running a K&K Pure Mini. Has anyone compare the two or came up with a patch that does a similar thing?
 
I'm not familiar with that particular preamp, but looking at the product page it appears to feature a parametric EQ, a variable input gain, and a clean boost. You can easily do all of those things with the FM9. Additionally, the FM9 can host a tone match IR, add compression, reverb, and other effects that are nice colors for your acoustic tones. Assuming you already have the FM9, it would be a no brainer to at least try it before shelling out hundreds of dollars on an analog preamp pedal.

There are other members of the board who have reported using the FAS products with a K&K pure mini with no need for an external preamp. I use mine with a Ultra Tonic pickup (derivative of the K&K design) and it works well.
 
I use my FM9 with a Fender Acoustasonic with excellent results. In addition to what @OrganicZed wrote, FM9 input impedance is also variable. So it should be able to cover a lot of preamp territory.
 
IMO. The only argument for a separate, dedicated acoustic DI/pedal is if you have a passive piezo pickup in your instrument, and don't run it through an onboard or external preamp.

Those like to see very high input impedance, 10M+, and IIRC the FM9/etc is fixed at 1M.

My acoustic instruments all have built in preamps, so it's not anything I even think about any more. (Except my banjo, and I just live with it cuz it's pretty bright anyway so I don't mind a little high end loss :cool:
 
gdgross said:
IMO. The only argument for a separate, dedicated acoustic DI/pedal is if you have a passive piezo pickup in your instrument, and don't run it through an onboard or external preamp.

Those like to see very high input impedance, 10M+, and IIRC the FM9/etc is fixed at 1M.

My acoustic instruments all have built in preamps, so it's not anything I even think about any more. (Except my banjo, and I just live with it cuz it's pretty bright anyway so I don't mind a little high end loss :cool:
Click to expand...
Right, some want 10MOhms. Good point!
 
I put the K&K in my Gibson J15. I purchased some IR’s of a J45 (closest to my J15 I could find) from 3 Sigma audio and have one loaded in a cab block. The FM9 signal chain also includes a little compression, the tube pre, a GEQ, and a hint of reverb and delay.

First I recorded myself playing my acoustic through a Rode NT1 into Reaper to use as my goal tone/sound. I then played the same 35-40 second phrase into the FM9’s looper. I used a spectrum analyzer on both the mic’d track and the FM9 track, and adjusted the GEQ until the FM9 and Rode tracks were as close as I could get them.

Multiple sound guys have told me it sounds like a studio recorded acoustic. IDK if it’s THAT good, but I’m pleased with it.
 
I like Alix a lot, and used it as my main acoustic preamp for 2 years or so with K&K equipped guitar. I have done acoustic gigs with my Ax3 or FM, and it can work fine too. But, particularly for acoustic, I really want to be able to grab a physical knob when things start feeding back or I’m trying to dial in the overall tone. That’s sort of possible with the performance screens, but it can feel like the difference between using a tape measure vs an iPhone to measure something; one tool dedicated for one purpose and little chance of it not working. So I run the Alix into one of the inputs of my Fractal devices and get all of the effects and a little less cpu load.
 
gdgross said:
IMO. The only argument for a separate, dedicated acoustic DI/pedal is if you have a passive piezo pickup in your instrument, and don't run it through an onboard or external preamp.

Those like to see very high input impedance, 10M+, and IIRC the FM9/etc is fixed at 1M.
Click to expand...

The K&K preamp (designed to work with their pickup) has a 1MOhm input impedance. The FM9 has the same input impedance. It will be fine.

https://www.kksound.com/pure-preamp
 
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