Hound: I miced a three row corona III with a sure. I put it on the middle reed block as I remember and had to fiddle with it so the box could close all the way. Larry Miller told me it wouldn't work as there is not enough room in there for it to close all the way but I was able to do it. I run it through an ART tube MP so there is lots of gain. Sound is awesome. I saw one of those Helikon triples on Elderly a couple years ago. A red GCF with lots of glitter. I think it went for 750.
You and Mrs. Hound going to Ninigret? How about Buffalo Jambalaya this weekend?

Hey Ace-

Thanks for the reply... looks like there might be room to fit a shure there. Did you point it towards the treble? How far down did you position it?

I am starting to get the hang of just lightly hitting those bass buttons... probably be OK. I think part of the issue is that this is an FBE and thus a full step lower than the more common GCF heligonka.

No plans yet for labor day... learned my lesson last year when if we had flown 1 day earlier we would have been trapped in the NOLA Superdome.

Never been to Buffalo Jamby... hope you have fun there.

I'm hot sure how your monitor setup is,
(Or how much hearing you are missing :)

The past two years I have been putting my monitor behind me facing out toward the audience. No feed back. (ever)

BTW, Curley Taylor is running three mics under the grill of his PA and these guys are pretty LOUD on stage. (No feed back, if done right)

It can be done.

All the best,

DP

what kind of mics?

I have one of those sennheiser strips... maybe that will work... or I could take the elements out of it and put them behind the grill... I can just go unplugged for the bass (ha ha).

Having tried almost everything with PAs over the years, I am just over- envious of the internal shure solution... but maybe it is not the best answer for a 14 inch triple row... but it sure looks effortless when the zydeco guys plug in.

Hi Soundhound!

On my triple row I have had pretty good luck with a single Shure R-65, and later a single SM-57. There is little or no feedback. There isn't room to point the mic toward the reed blocks - I had to lay the element sideways. But, that does not seem to be a problem. Maybe the sound is all swirling around inside that enclosed space enough so that it comes out pretty even regardless of where I am on the keyboard.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are better ways, but this works well enough for me.

I never had much luck with external condensor mic strips - it was feedback city! I tried all diffferent kinds of placements of monitors and amps and just gave up in the end.

-David

Hey Dave---
does that 4 reed 3-row have honkin' bass notes (is it FBE?)?

I really want to lay a shure in there and just have one feedback free 1/4" plug.

So did you lay the element with the live end pointed at the treble side?

Centered or towards a particular direction?

The 3-reed FBE is amazing... a little heavy, but what a sound!

Playin much? We need a trip to Louisiana, but after last Labor Day we gonna pass on Plaisance this year. kiss them gals.

John

Hi John,

Yes, the mic picks up the bass notes, and yes, it is F/Bb/Eb. I don't know exactly whether the bass notes fit your definition of honkin', but you can definately hear them very well. They are not overpowering the treble side though.

There isn't much room inside. The mic is attached to one of the treble reed blocks, and lays right along it (parallel to the block). It is on the block that stands up the least (it is "shorter" than the other block); that was necessary because there wasn't enough clearance to avoid the bass side reed blocks and still be able to close the bellows all the way. The mic element is oriented so that it is pointing up toward the top of the accordion. There is no way to make the live end point toward the treble side with that particular mic because there just isn't the room. (Larry English has a different kind of mic, which is small enough to point towards the treble reeds.) The mic is roughly centered along the reed block.

Like I said before, there might be other mics and other ways of setting things up that could be better than this, but it works well enough for me. When I switched out the R-65 and put in the SM-57, I definately got a hotter signal, which is cool.

Things have slowed down a little bit on the gig front for the moment. That is OK with me - I know things will pick up again later as they always do. We have a festival gig coming up in September, and we will be on the bill with Geno and some others. I had some nice bass gigs with Mark St. Mary, and it is always fun jammin' with him. Also, I have been spending more of my time honing my vocal skills and have joined a large choir - that has been a huge and enjoyable challenge. Now, when I sing, instead of totally sucking, I am at least mediocre. (well, maybe it is better than mediocre, but let's put it this way: I don't have a big head about my singing ability)

It sounds like a cool box you have there. Could you post a picture maybe?

-David

Hi Dave-

So you used the element from a shure 57 ?

I have a 57... think I can just take out the element or do I need other parts?

I send Joanie the jpeg, and hopefully she will post it here.

later

John

John,

Yes, I just unscrewed the lower part of the mic case, and took off the top screen. It didn't seem like was any way to get the mic out of the middle section of the mic case, so I just left it in there.

You also need a transformer if you intend to hook up the mic with a guitar jack and cord, rather than an XLR connector. I used to get them from Larry Miller, but since he is retired, I don't know if that is an option any longer. Also, you need a sealed phone jack - don't use the open jacks as they will leak air.

The picture looks real nice - that is a cool box!

-David

You might be better off with the element from an sm48.
The mic is cheap, can handle the sound pressure levels, and best of all does not need a transformer.

My 2-cents.

DP

OK, they are cheap. But I don't care about cheap. How do they sound?

-David

Thanks Dave--- I am gonna give it a try. Anyone know where I can get the transformer?

I have xlr to 1/4" transformers, but they are huge & heavy things and use the xlr plug--- which if I understand you correctly --- is to be disconnected.

Somebody must be filling the Larry Miller gap (not at events I am sure)... at least in trms of having these parts.

BTW--- the box is great looking & great sounding, and the buttons are nicely tapered to the holes in the fingerboard so you can just glide effortlessly over them. Highly recommend this box for that Bafetti sound at a small fraction of the price.

And Dave--- if you remember my daughter Emily--- well she now lives in Prague, so I am thinking I can get into some Czech accordian joints when we get over there.

hey Dave--

The 57 came right apart for me... but it looks really weird.

The element has a long threaded screw on the bottom that screws into a plastic piece that has the wires attached (?) No wires to the element itself (?)

Know where I might be able to get a picture of how this element is wired when out of its case?

I will need to go back and check how I have it wired, but it is very simple.

As far as I know, there is no good way to remove the mic element from the middle section of the mic case. I just clipped the wires going to the bottome section, and then wired them up to the little transformer and airtight phone jack.

You are correct about those big transformer/converters - that is not what you want to use. Instead, it is a little transformer, about 1 inch square and maybe 3/4 inch deep. You just wire it up in line between the mic and the jack.

It may be that a SM57 won't work out due to space constraints inside the accordion - it just barely fit on mine. Like Larry and DP have pointed out, there are other mic element alternatives that are smaller and/or don't require a transformer. But, I have used the R-65 elements and now the SM-57 and they get the job done for me. There are plenty of people who go that route, and it seems to work for them. I got the idea to try the SM57 from Leroy Thomas a few years ago when he was in town.

-David

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