PA & Amps Soprano live amplification

[Nick Wyver]

I occasionally drag out the sop to play in one of the bands I play with. I would like to do it more, but one of the things holding me back is the sound of the thing when using a clip-on mic pointing up the bell. (The main thing holding me back is the suitability of the thing but I'm pretty used to cramming a sax into a song where there was none previously). It's a Yanag S6 that I bought new 28 years ago - so I'm fairly well used to it and I still like the sound it makes. I know you can get dedicated double mic set ups for sops, but for probably rather more than I would wish to spend. It occurred to me that a bent sop might give a better sound with a clip-on since it should pick up some of the sound coming from the body. Anyone got any experience? Thoughts?

I not a fan of mics on stands - I like to be able to move around - and the band can be pretty loud on stage (I'm usually in front of the guitarists Marshall cab - see avatar) so I need to be close mic'd.

 

[rhysonsax]

Clip-on with a curvie works fine (as well as for alto or tenor). As an alternative you can use the clip-on fixed to a stand and mic it near the middle of a straight soprano, but the sound will vary more as you go up and down the horn, it will pick up other instruments close by and you might as well use a proper stand mic.

It all depends on how often you will be doing it, how good you want it to sound, how much you want to move about and how much you want to spend.

A cheap (but good) Chinese curvie might even cost less than a decent mic for your straight sop and would work with your existing clip-on.

Good luck

Rhys

 

[Neffmusic]

I've used an AMT Roam 1 clip on on my soprano quite a bit and always loved the sound on it.

 

[rhysonsax]

I've used an AMT Roam 1 clip on on my soprano quite a bit and always loved the sound on it.

Is that a straight or curved sop ?

If it's straight, where do you fix and point the mic ?

Rhys

PS In the UK the AMT Roam 1 costs around £500 and you can get a pretty reasonable curved sop for that.

 

[Jules]

Is that a straight or curved sop ?

If it's straight, where do you fix and point the mic ?

Rhys

PS In the UK the AMT Roam 1 costs around £500 and you can get a pretty reasonable curved sop for that.

I was wondering the same thing....

 

[thadnoland]

I prefer to use to 2 mics on stands for a straight sop, 1 pointed @ the keys and 1 @ the bell. AMT has clip-on systems for soprano w/ 2 mics that would also work well.

http://www.appliedmicrophone.com/instruments/profile/SopranoSaxophone

Here is a picture of Wayne Shorter using 2 Sennheiser MD421s: