Yeah, but those were probably not the airtight variety of jack. Don't need them on guitars and amps, but you do on an accordion. Unless you want air leaks.
Actually,
I will tell you what I tell all of my customers that want me to install mics for them.
I highly recommend wiring your accordion using an XLR connector instead of a 1/4"
Why? three reasons.
1. Most mics that you want to install are low impedance. Unlesss you do the mic install with an impedance matching transformer with a 1/4" (unbalanced) connector your mic is likely to sound crappy (yes a highly technical term) because of impedance mis-match.
2. If you use balanced XLR for your connection you will get much better noise rejection. (i.e. no buzz!)
3. If you wire your accordion with balanced XLR, you can walk into any club, unplug one of the stage mics, plug in your accordion and start playing! No muss, no fuss, no adapters, messing with guitar amps (that sound great for guitars, but awful for accordions.
Coach Dana is right! XLR is better. he converted one of my Bon Cajun accordions from the 1/4" phone jack to XLR, and installed the same setup in another Bon Cajun that hadn't been mic'd yet. Works very well.
Thanks Dana!
An additional nice touch is the mute switch he added to turn off one accordion when you switch to another, which is what I do very frequently at a gig.
Following his pattern, I added an XLR mic setup to the new Castagnari single row I bought earlier this year.
Next up: retrofit my Guerrini triple row with a dual mic XLR setup. I am having a hard time finding the right mics, so I will just have to be patient until they come along.
Thanks Again folks, one more question what is the best place in the centre of the treble reed block? should the head of the capsule be aimed at my right hand?
There's not really anyone here in Sydney that caters to this style of playing so your collective experience is fantastic.
Is this for a single row accordion or a triple row?
For a single row, it seems that centering the mic around the reeds for button 7 works out well. The thinking is that the higher notes are more directional, so it makes sense to get the mic a little closer to them than to the lower notes. That is plausible, but I can't say that I have experimented with it to see if it really makes a difference or not.
Make sure that the mic is pointing in toward your chest. This helps minimize feedback. The worst direction would be pointing forward.
With triple rows, there is much less room inside the bellows between the treble and bass reed blocks. You have to make due the best you can with the space available. Pointing the mics toward your chest is even more important with a triple row because they are much more prone to feedback than a single row. But, finding a spot where that will work might be a challenge. This is where using a smaller mic capsule can help. I have a Shure SM-57 capsule in my triple row right now, and it is too big to mount it in any way other than parallel to the reed blocks. I hope to redo the whole mic setup on it soon. I want to try a dual mic setup, with an XLR connection. Need to find the right mics first.
Hi Nick and other members,
Great info on installing dynamic mic (big nick)
Could you please recommend an Xlr plate brand, are they all airtight?
I don't want to buy wrong product.
Thank you kindly to those who reply.
dan