Accessories Amplifiers

Pete Effamy · Jun 30, 2021

Colin the Bear said:
It even has a little teepee for the bell. 😉

Yes it’s a mini shock mount style. Don’t know if it’s better than the usual clip with rubber but it is certainly slower to switch horns with.

6441 · Jun 30, 2021

Pete Effamy said:
In fact, the recording of my alto here is on my SD Systems clip on.

Nice tune!

@Kathy Pearson I own several amps, three guitar amps which as they've said above are NOT good sax amps, and one keyboard amp. The keyboard amps should work well, but they are usually heavy and more expensive. They have a better frequency range and different effects (if they have any at all).

People asked about power, meaning do you need an amp that can work on batteries, as fro busking.

The one thing I did not see mentioned was that as a saxophone puts out a lot of sound, in many cases, the amp sound will be heard with the dry sax sound. In a smallish club, that's a problem. My approach for that is to use reverb in the amp and have the amp reproduce a little less of the saxophone, but more reverb (or delay, or other effects) than you normally would for a natural balance.

I would not recommend a mic that requires phantom power except for studio use with a mixer, which will add a lot of functionality and supply the power to the mic.

My own setup in the studio uses one of two mics to a mixer, then to the desktop or laptop for recording. One of the mixers has four separate tracks so a trio can play with three mics onto a multitrack recording setup. My two mics are general use but seem to render the sax sound pretty well. One is an expensive Sennheiser I bought at a good price in a pawn shop years ago. The other I also bought used for about $80.

Colin the Bear · Jun 30, 2021

@randulo you really need to master playing quietly. If you're louder than the pa why use it?

I find a good vocal set up works for my horns.
I'm not keen on clipons live. I like to move in and out from the mic.

thomsax · Jun 30, 2021

@Kathy Pearson Why are going to buy an amplifier? To be heard when you play in a group so other can hear you? Or is it to hear yourself when you are playing with others?

If it's possible I play without amplifiers/PA. If I'm the only hornplayer a microphone and some kind of ampflication is good if you play a solo ..... . I also prefer an ordinary microphone instead of a clip-on. If want to play softer you just take a small step away from the microphone. A clip-on microphone has the same distance between the microphone and bell. To use a pedal is also an alternative when you use clip-on microphone.

A keyboard ampflier is working for saxes.

This is what I use when I am playing with backing tracks or at small places.: A monitor/speaker with built-in ampiflier. Is an active monitor (you can adjust the microphone mix, volume and tone control yourself), a Shure 57 or 58 (58 on the picture), xlr microphone cable, a laptop, and a (small) microphone stand. Very basic equipment. The is much better stuff to buy ..... .

This is how you connetct the amp/monitor.
I prefer xlr. Needs 230V/50hz

Kathy Pearson · Jun 30, 2021

Wow!!!!
Thanks for your input. I've got a long ways to go😛

turf3 · Jun 30, 2021

Kathy, I can't tell your level of experience with other instruments, but I have a few comments.

1) In almost 99% of performance environments where a microphone is even needed, you'll be provided with one. You will have no choice on what type, or how it's handled through the PA. Just blow toward the thing and hope for the best. Point it generally at the bell, don't crowd it, and it'll come out OK.

2) Saxophone players rarely carry their own amplifiers. Especially as the current trend amongst rock groups is to take the amps off the stage and hear themselves through in-ear monitors, even in the rock and roll world you're unlikely to be emulating a guitar player and clapping your amp up on stage next to theirs.

3) Most performances that include a saxophone don't even have the sax miked at all, or for solos at most.

I can tell you that I started playing rock gigs on saxophone at 17 and I never owned a microphone of my own till I was in my 30s; I still don't own a "saxophone amplifier", though I own three bass amps. If I were to invest in more amplification equipment it'd be a complete PA system, not an amp for one instrument.

I'll also point out that if you're playing in situations where saxophone players normally don't use amplification and you can't be heard, you need to work on airstream and projection, not to rush out and buy electronic aids.

Colin the Bear · Jun 30, 2021

Or a new mouthpiece. Or a new band...😉

thomsax · Jul 1, 2021

I have just played one gig with backline (bass amp, guitar amp, keyboard amp, drumkit) and monitors. We had to send our stage plot as well!!!! This was at a street festival with several stages and we played at a small stage. A big firm was running the sound and light and they gave all band the same treatment. We played a 45 min set and we had to do quick soundcheck. But we have to carry our own PA most of the time. If there is a PA at the venue we use that but often there is no PA at the local pub, café .... here around . And we just have the vocals into the PA. So most of the time horns are not going through the PA.

To hear myself and the vocal is important for me. You don't need a monitor to hear hear yorself. A "NoteBandit" is good. A round sheet of plastic that mounted on a stand and reflect your saxsound back to you. I bring my monitor with me but I don't carry it into the place if it's not neccessary.

I bring my own microphones. I'm picky. It's just me that sing into/use my SM 58.

To work on airstream and projection is important. And also to have a mouthpiece that fit in. So a big natural sound is the first thing to get.

Steve Douglas did a VHS called "Rock & Roll Saxophone" and he talkes about mouthpieces, reeds .... and he was medium guy (tip opening, reeds...). " - No need for big tip openings and hard reeds these days. Today we have good microphones and ampflications" .

Pete Effamy · Jul 1, 2021

There are lots of variables, in terms of the band, venue, and music expected by the venue/audience.Once a gig is big enough with money to fund it, a PA company will have been engaged.

Guitarists, keyboard and bass players will still most likely bring their own gear and be integrated into the PA system, but us wind players don't as a rule - though a small speaker that my mate in the US refers to as a "hotspot" mounted on an ear height stand can be used as a monitor (I think that @thomsax was talking about these?). You may have a mic that you particularly like, and you can ask the PA guys to use this for you - occasionally they won't as they know and trust their own gear best.

Large setups can pose problems with space. With a large setup/big venue monitor speakers (foldback) are used. They sit on the floor and are angled upwards. They occupy the same space as your mic stand and music stand want to. The music stand also likes to be at a similar level to where your mic wants to be. Playing in a 4-piece horn section exacerbates all of this. You also have to find space for your sax stand if your are playing more than the one horn. Monitors are needed on the biggest gigs as you'll hear little of what is going on around you. A stage can be so big that there could be 20 - 30 metres (without pacing this out I might have underestimate this) between you and the player furthest from you on stage. Sound is directional too, so you'll be unlikely to be able to hear much of what the guitarist or bass player is doing.

Ways to improve this are learning the music and going without - fine if you gig with that band regularly. Using a clip-on mic - I prefer this anyhow as you aren't rooted to the spot, and if you have a wireless "bug" then you can go out front for solos and try out all of your moves.

"In -ear" monitors are the other way of tidying up on stage.

At the other end of the spectrum there are cafe or restaurant gigs. @randulo was making this point - they are very often rather a dead acoustic and you can use a PA to give yourself a bit of reverb, rather than volume which I've never needed for a restaurant gig. If you are too loud you'll not be asked back. People like to talk. once they've finished their dessert, drunk a few glasses of wine and run out of things to say, you can maybe up the intensity and volume a little - often they will become an audience at this point. Some big restaurants have a multiple speaker system that you can tap into via a small mixer - this allows the music to be heard throughout the restaurant without having to blast those nearest to you.

Jazz clubs in the UK can be some of the least gratifying venues to play at with regard to sound. They always seem to be a really dead acoustic with a low ceiling. Often, bands play without a PA.

The long and short of it though is that you should never have to play as though you were the big bad wolf trying to blow a house down. If that is the case it could be poor technique, or the need for a bigger mouthpiece, to be mic'ed up, or maybe for some of your band mates being told to pipe down.

The variables are many.