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FX(Pedals)+IEM+Mixer Board Setup For Acoustic+EWI - Anyone Do These?

4K views 17 replies 9 participants last post by  saftaffe 
#1 ·
Just curious... I know there are some folks on the board who run electronic sax effects, and who've built up FX boards for their acoustic instruments and I know there are some guys around here that play EWI and I know some folks that run IEM (in ear monitor) and wireless...

Has anyone cobbled all of this together either in a Pedal board or a small rack? I'd like to do such a thing (basically only have 1 output to my sound guy from my EWI and Sax with light FX) and also run an EWI.
 
#3 ·
I simply use a little 4-channel mixer for a sax mic (or pick up) and a flute pick up. I could add some reverb (but normaly let the soundguy do this), but then I only have one output and a little bit of control for balance between the instruments or solo/ backing settings.
This should work with EWI too.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the replies so far!

Ericdano - Thanks for the product. Looks like it could be pretty handy for some applications and definitely a good way to get from a standard effects pedal back to a DI connection for a PA/Board.

Taragot - This is pretty much what I was thinking as well, to grab a little mixer board to control both instruments. I usually run wireless on most of the gigs I'd be using this for.

Still curious if anyone has ever thrown Mixer+Effects+Wireless IEM together on a board or a *small* hand carry-able rack?
 
#5 ·
Yeah, mounting your wireless receiver on your pedalboard is pretty common and works great. It's easiest if you use a wireless system with a portable receiver due to size like the AMT mini. IEM's are little different. If you only need to hear yourself then mounting on a pedalboard might make sense. If you want any of the rest of the band in your mix though, you probably want to leave your IEM transmitter loose so that you can plug it in by the club's mixer or main snake without running a bunch of extra XLR cable to your position. Just as a matter of practicality, it's probably better to go with a small rack if you're not concerned with using foot pedals because the standard half rack size of most IEM transmitters and wireless receivers will take up all the space on a pedalboard very quickly.
 
#6 ·
Crawford! This is exactly the kind of input I've been interested in, thanks!

So a bit more background... The sound company that usually comes along with a band I often play with (that plays too loud) has a horn wedge in their sound-plan. They band's horn section can be anywhere from 2-4 instruments depending on what size group the customer requested. In some cases the sound-co is pretty nice about musicians that bring their own IEMs and patch them in on their own send... In less nice cases (either an annoying sound guy or one who's equipment doesn't enough sends) I'll often bring a line out of the wedge into my IEM so that I can mix the wedge with myself how I like, so I've done this both ways.

I do fuss with pedals and click in/out different effects from a digit-tech vox pedal that I like.

Just for an idea of the gear I'm trying to fit on here with my current gear:
IEM: https://www.pyleaudio.com/sku/PDWMN...ge-Performance-Selectable-Audio-Frequency-Kit
Wireless: http://cdn.shure.com/user_guide/upload/1915/pdf_eng_pgx_wireless_ug.pdf
Effect: http://digitech.com/en-US/products/vocal-300

I'm not opposed to a small rack either. I'm looking for functionality over looking cool. Upon browsing I just came across something like this which might fit the bill if I can figure out how to rack mount most of my gear:
https://smile.amazon.com/Gator-Audi...5760&sr=1-3&keywords=equipment+rack+case&th=1

Effects and Mixer may be annoying, but probably not terrible to access, or just pull out on the gig.
 
#7 ·
Just wondering because it wasn't super clear when I first read it.

Are you intending to use your effects pedals for both your sax and your ewi?

I had never considered you could run a line from your mixer with both the signals right into the pedal board. And then from the pedal board to the house. Although at this stage it would likely be going to a DI and then to the house.

I always used my pedals pre board. So if I wanted to run two things into one channel I'd have to use something like an ABY pedal. Since I have a bunch of electronics going I personally would just need to buy another small mixer to get the job done.

I use a Beta 98 wireless with a wah wah, reverb and delay pedal. Instead of EWI I'd be running my keys through my pedals.

I personally really like that you get a line out from the wirelesss receiver. It makes life way way easier than with some mic set ups.

I don't use IEM's though. I rarely find the occasion to bring my own monitor. Sound at the venues I play it is usually pretty good. And I'm not going to bring a ton of stuff to a 3 tune bar jam.
 
#15 ·
I'd do this the other way around...or put the FX on the mixer inserts - you could then easily send the left channel to the FOH, and the right to your in ears... With a line out from the FOH to your mixer you could also pan that hard right and mix some of the FOH mix into your IEM's
 
#8 ·
Littlewailer - the EWI is plenty trippy on its own and won't be needing it through any effects (though if I ever can get the hang of a looper, that might be a good reason to patch it through). I was thinking that I'd do the sax post pedal board into a mixer and the EWI directly into the mixer. From there I'd take one output to the IEM and the other to the sound-co (or house).

Playing EWI with a crappy wedge can be fairly annoying with loud bands so the IEMs help quite a bit for that, and most of these gigs are 2-3 hours, so not intending for this to go to open jams and the like.
 
#9 ·
Gotcha. Actually your simplest solution is probably just to run your EWI and your sax into your wireless. Cheapest solution is to buy a 1/4 to TA4f cable and just adjust the gain on the transmitter pack for switching between instruments. What I would do is buy a second transmitter pack and mount it to the EWI with heavy duty Velcro (assuming you have 4000s or earlier here although this would still work with 5000). Then just turn off whichever transmitter you aren't using, turn on the one you want and you're in business. Only downside to putting both axes on one channel like that is if the soundguy wants to EQ your sax separately. If you tend to like flat EQ on sax though it should be fine. Particularly since you're already sending a sweetened signal from the pedal this might be the way to go. Since you're using a pedal and the shure receiver isn't too big I would definitely recommend mounting those on a pedalboard for convenience's sake. I guess if I were you I would probably go ahead and mount the IEM transmitter on the board too. It's likely that if they're already running a monitor to that position and you tell them ahead of time they won't mind running one extra monitor line there as well. If you do end up daisychaining from the wedge you'll have it right there and as long as you use Velcro to attach it to the pedalboard, you can always pull it off and put it by the soundboard or wherever else you need it in a pinch.
 
#10 ·
Oh, and if you're using EWI5000 and you're already wireless, I would try running the receiver for that and your shure receiver into the two inputs on the back of your pedal and just see if it works with two things plugged in. You'd be using them one at a time anyhow.
 
#13 ·
crawford: thanks I never even thought of the idea of just getting a second transmitter for the EWI! That's a pretty good idea... I think! I'll have to try it! I have an EWI 5000, so it does already have wireless, though I haven't used it much. I also like the idea of running the EWI to the pedal board, and being done with it, but worry about gain matching between the EWI and the sax. The sound-co we use sends out different folks with different gear a lot, so it varies. I'd like to just use Velcro for everything, so if I did need to remove a component for some reason it's easy; I think I'll make sure that I don't stack something on top of my IEM transmitter (so that I can easily pull it out to go to the sound guy); I was thinking of stacking the Shure PGX on top. Thanks very much for the great input!

littlewailer: That's the plan!

Woody Reed: I'm not looking to re-purchase a bunch of stuff (though gear can be fun). I'm pretty fine with my current gear (Shure PGX Wireless, Digitech Vox 300, Pyle IEM) but would be interested in packaging it in a reasonable way to reduce setup time. I was hoping to throw most of this together for less than $300 but that's flexible. This would include things like the actual board itself + small mixer + patch cables.

Also two more questions...
1. For those of you who have put together pedal boards or portable racks, did you just get a piece of OSB/Plywood and work with that or did you get something like a NOVO board (https://smile.amazon.com/PT-N24-SC-...21210&sr=8-9&keywords=guitar+pedal+board+novo) or other pre-designed base?

2. For those who have put a pedal board together for sax (just in general) could you attach a picture? Mostly just my curiosity. I did a search on the board and it looks like a lot of the pedal threads have been archived which seems to strip any rich content.
 
#14 ·
2. For those who have put a pedal board together for sax (just in general) could you attach a picture? Mostly just my curiosity. I did a search on the board and it looks like a lot of the pedal threads have been archived which seems to strip any rich content.
I use the wirless case my microphone came in.

You could do the same with a gear box and custom foam.

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Also just noticed you play a 61 tenor too!
 
#16 ·
littlewailer: I still use the 61 from time to time, but it's actually not my main horn anymore... I switch often between my Mark VI and Cannonball (mostly for bar gigs with too many drunks around). Still love the -61 for a lot of reasons, and it's probably the horn that I have the most personal miles on at the moment (10 years as my main/only tenor + 7 on/off) so I know it inside and out. The -61 alto is still my main alto, though I have been halfheartedly searching for another. I like your idea of using a gear box with foam cutouts. It's definitely light weight!
 
#17 ·
I have a 12U space rack that I have mounted to a piece of plywood and put wheels on it. Then in the rack itself, I have a 4U space drawer, a shelf on which I have a DI box to a very old EWI that I sometimes use (definitely need to upgrade that), two 1U rows with wireless mics (all Shure), and a 1U space for my IEM (AudiaTechnica). I've been wanting to implement FX into my stuff to experiment a bit, but so far just haven't had the time. Anyway, I modified the rack by cutting a hole in the side and mounting an AC plug (male end w/ ground). Then I ran this to two 4 AC outlet boxes on the upper back side inside the rack and a power strip along the bottom. So essentially, I pull out an extension cord, plug it into the wall and then plug in the rack and everything turns on. The wireless mics that I use are all Shure with the instrument clip. I run everything to a sub-snake that is labeled as to which one is which horn. So when I hand the sub-snake to a sound guy, they plug it where they want into their snake and take it from there. With regards to my IEM, I typically play w/ one in and one out, as I never get enough crowd sound or everything "feels" too muffled to me. So what I did is split that IEM into 2 channels, as my son plays drums. He also likes to go 1 in and 1 out. So one of us gets the right mix and the other the left mix. We currently run to a Behringer board to which we have a network connection via WiFi and therefore can mix our own IEM mix via our smart phones using the Behringer app. My next hope is to implement some FX, a sub-mixer for my horns and their FX that I would pass onto the FOH board. Anyway...the biggest plus that I love the most out of all of this is that it's all self contained and that the rack itself is powered. There's no need to have to plug in everything into a power strip somewhere on stage and have a bazillion power cables everywhere. Everything in the back of the rack is neatly wrapped and cable tied so that one can access everything. I even hung a little LED flashlight in the back that is easily accessible for when you need to access the back of the rack in a dark room.
 
#18 ·
I use a smal rack with wireless receiver and sender attached togheter with an personal mixer and a DI-box.

Signal chain is:
DPA4099
Senheiser ew G3 sender
Senheiser ew G3 receiver
XLR snake to pedalboard
Eventide mixing link --> stompboxes in fx loop
XLR snake back to rack
Rolls PM55p --> stereo tele to LD systems IEM 100 sender
XLR to FOH

I can also plug in a stereo or mono monitor/aux/mix to the the Rolls pm55p and mix in with "me" for the IEM.
If I want to use something else than my sax I just plug in to the DI box instead of the senheiser wireless.
If I won't use the pedalboard I just put an XLR direct from the receiver to the PM55P.

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