Can anyone recommend a good clip on mic (not wireless,and no bracket attachment)and good amp (hopefully no preamp) for back porch playing. Just plug and play. Maybe Santa will be good to me. Thanks

You really want to amp yourself without a band? You must really want to disturb your neighbors!

I can dig it.

Sometimes acoustic just ain't loud enough. You can get a gooseneck clip-on (like for saxophones) but you need a fixture to mount it on. Some folks use their shoulder strap, but I've never tried that.

As far as the amp goes, you get what you pay for. A cheap amp is going to sound like a cheap amp -- and most of those are for guitars. It's not going to sound like what you want, IMHO.

You could get a small keyboard amp -- that would work a lil' mo bettah. But the ultimate is an acoustic instrument amp. The best I've found, like I mentioned a few threads down, is the Roland AC-60. It's outstanding for the Cajun box. Expensive...

Fishman also makes a small acoustic amp, too.

Hope this helps,

R!CK

Gorilla makes a small practice amp as does Pignose. Many harp players use these to put a bit more punch into playing without the bigger equipment.

I have not used these myself, as I have a fender hotrod deville 4x10 and also a bass amp. I seldom amp up with an accordion and external mic for my personal pleasure... but I do pipe my music occasionally through the input and turn it down to where it wont break glass or eardrums. Some stereo systems have an audio in which you can also use.

If you go with a condensor mic for the accordion, I believe you have to have a phantom power source ... Others on here that gig, like dana, blair, jude, gainey (and many others) can direct you towards the in's and out's of mic's. I have the old round ball shure mic with the plate and an on/off for an occasional now and then thing. Dont forget that you can also do some personalized non intrussive stuff with a good set of head phones and not overly screw up your neighorly relations.

Do not use a guitar amp.
it will sound like Sh*t.

Guitar amps have very specific EQ for GUITARS.
(They have spent years working on this :)

Rick is right on.

Use a small keyboard amp.
Unlike a guitar amp, these amps are designed specifically NOT to color the sound.

Yes, guitar amps do work for harmonicas!
and harmonicas do have reeds, but that's a horse of a different color. Pun intended.

DP

I am getting some good advice here. I don't want to turn into an amplification tecky, just not smart enough. What do you think about the #1 link mic? Also, like Rick said, the Roland AC-60 look pretty good for $500. One other thing I would like to try is to hook in a drum machine and or a mic for a plywood stomping pad.

I have a Behringer ACX 1000.
That's a guitar combo with two channels.
One channel has also XLR-input with phantom-power.
I can use that channel for my Audio Technica ATM35 for the right side of the accordion and the other side for the bass side or for vocals or so.
Sounds not bad and I use it also for banjo, dobro or steel-guitar.

Might I suggest a small 4 channel PA mixer and a small speaker? The best sound reproduction there is for an accustical instrument is a PA mixer. Pure, clean, no distortion, and fairly inexpensive.
Carvin has a 4 channel with 150 watts of power, phantom power, 7 band EQ, and digital effects for around $250. Add a small speaker of some kind for $100 and you have all you need.
Jude

Is an acoustic guitar amp like a Marshall AS50R any good? I ask because we already have one.

BJ

Any amp will make the accordion sound louder but
guitar amps roll off certain sounds to make the guitar sound natural and really are not suitable for accordions. But, you are on the back porch, so!!!!

I made my comment before reading D.P's. His is much better than mine. The information I had was passed on to me years ago by the engineers at Fishman.

Amps made for electric guitars do not sound good for accordion. But acoustic instrument/guitar amps can. A friend has an old Crate amp that I use sometimes, and the accordion just ROARS - it sounds really good.

The other thing that is nice about these acoustic instrument amps is that they usually have extra channels that you can plug in a mic and drum machine or whatever. In reality, they are mini-PA systems.

Keyboard amps are similar, in that they are made for a wide range frequency response, and have extra channels.

-David

Epiphone Valve Jr

Thru a Boss DD-2 (3)

played into an early 50's Electrovox mic

works for me