At gigs, I almost always have 3 accordions and switch between them frequently. There's the triple row, and two cajun accordions, in C and Bb.

Because of the frequent switching, I keep them all plugged in on separate channels to the mixer, or use an A/B footswitch.

But, this means long cable runs which can be a pain. Now, I am thinking about getting a very small mixer, and possibly mounting it on a mic stand on stage. The small mixer would then be connected to the main mixer.

Does anyone else do this?

no
i made mine all have the same output
basically it means the single rows have their output partially reduced by a resistor network, because they are louder internally
also i used different mics

what keith frank did was
he had one wireless transmitter
each accordion had a mic
when changing he would plug the new accordion in
obvious

but here was the trick

the output of the wireless *receiver* went to a mixer
each accordion had a channel, which was labeled
"blue C", "red triple row", " green C #", etc

step 2 to switching the accordion was,
he would move the receiver output cable plug, to the input channel for that accordion

i thought that was brilliant

an 8 channel mixer, or whatever, only using one channel at a time, but each one is set for a specific accordion
i assume each one needed different levels and eq

so
a. he had NO cables
b. he didn;t have to futz with settings on stage
c. if he hadn;t had wireless, it would still have meant one cable not 3 or 4 or in his case 10 or 12

this was maybe 4 years ago i saw him doing this
plus i think it was a powered mixer that could also run an 'accordion monitor'


wle

I used to use a wireless for each accordion.
The wireless reciever would go into a 1U, 8 channel rack mixer.

The mixer R and L outputs would go to my personal monitor and the house sound.

Yes ..

When I was using several accordions (I think one PA,
one 3-row and 3 Cajun accordions) I used a small
"snake" which I ran to an on-stage mixer and
equalizer.

Actually, Dana made the suggestion and provided all
the technical know-how on how to do this. I had
separate EQ for each instrument as well as volume.

When I played large festivals, the sound-guy only
needed to mind one line-in on his end.

There were too many occasions where I'd switch
accordions and the sound guy would miss the whole
tail end of the song as a result.

Of course, the problem with sound men .. it's a
profession that demands professional performance for
amateur wages!

-- Big

I run my Shure wireless into a Boss GE-9 EQ pedal via a boss tuner/mute pedal. That goes into a Baggs Parametric/DI. I adjust the GE-9 to reflect the three-row,1-row and Piano accordions natural EQ for feedback sensitivity. My Bb 1 row requires a little boost in total output and maintains the same eq setting as the C 1-row. The 3-row and the piano accordion have the bass eq backed off a little. Otherwise, very little adjustment from accordion to accordion. The mute button/universal boss tuner cuts the signal while switching. The Baggs DI is never fooled with. So, no chords, only a small pedal board with above items, no mixer and works well with just about any sound guy, pro or amateur. Three pedals, one wireless. No problems.And, I can use the same set-up when I get a guitar gig, too.

Sound man confusion is part of my motivation for this. I usually have them set up a separate channel for each accordion because the EQ and gain requirements are different. I make a point of telling them that they don't have to worry about raising and lowering the volume on the accordions when I switch between them, due to the fact that I turn the unused accordions off myself. But, they sometimes seem to forget that and lower the volume anyway, and then fail to notice that I switched accordions with the result of no sound! GRRRRR. (this just happened to me last month at Gator By The Bay).

So when you used the mixer on stage, did you have it mounted on a stand somehow? What kind of mixer did you use?

I used to run wires from 4 accordions to a small Behringer mixer, with one send to the house PA. I could set up custom EQ and gain on each accordion channel, but the input cables from 3 single-rows and a triple-row got tangled up pretty good, so I switched to a Boss EQ-20, with signal sent to an ART pre-amp and from there to the house PA. Advantages are one cable in and one cable out to the house, and I could zero out the ART preamp when plugging-unplugging accordions, so no "pop" going to sound system. Boss EQ-20 lets you pre-set and store up to 9 custom EQ settings (10-band), which let me dial in each accordion's optimal sound. Eventually I added a TC Helicon powered personal monitor to the circuit, giving me full control over my monitor settings, and allowing band members to set their own accordion monitor comfort level through the house system without affecting what I heard.