Banjo Pickup

Jeremy Steele · Post by **Jeremy Steele** » 16 Feb 2006 8:48 am

Not sure if this belongs here, or in Music, or on another forum altogether!

Can anyone recommend a pickup which will retain the banjo sound while allowing for high gain without feedback (I'm competing with loud guitars and drums). Thanks

John Poston · Post by **John Poston** » 16 Feb 2006 9:47 am

I have tried most of the best ones, and found almost all to be unsatisfactory.

The one I liked the most is no longer in production, but the company has another model which works under the same principle.
http://www.kksound.com/banjotwin.html

One of these and a good solid state acoustic amp like the Acoustisonic should do you pretty well. At very high volumes, you might have to be careful with amp location to prevent feedback, or keep your hand on the banjo head to keep it from resonating between songs, but any piezo-electric style pickup will put you miles ahead of any of the magnetic or microphone pickups you usually see.

Even a cheap $10 piezo transducer wired to a 1/4" jack ducttaped right to the banjo head will work, as long as you don't care about the acoustic tone when you're not plugged in.

Dave Boothroyd · Post by **Dave Boothroyd** » 16 Feb 2006 11:04 am

If you do put a piezo pickup on the skin, you can shout at the banjo, and your voice comes out of the Amp sounding like a talking Banjo robot. If you fret the chords the possibilities are endless.
Don't ask how I know! I'm much too sensible to do silly things like that on stage

Cheers
Dave[This message was edited by Dave Boothroyd on 16 February 2006 at 11:05 AM.]

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 16 Feb 2006 11:05 am

<NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO />ouch!

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 16 Feb 2006 12:31 pm

Yeah, I'm sure many would prefer not to ever think about banjos at all. But they don't have to read this.

I can only relate my experience - I haven't found any acoustic banjo pickup that does what you're asking, although I've never tried the Banjo Twin system John mentioned. The Fishman and Schertler pickups sound fine, but could not keep up with loud electric guitar, bass, and drums when I tried them. I have a Fishman now on my Granada - sounds great in a bluegrass context, but not in an electric band. I had a Deering Crossfire - it cut through, but didn't sound like a banjo, to me. Then I found the Goldtone EBM Electric Banjo:

I realize that a new electric banjo may not be the answer you're looking for, but it's the only thing I have found that does the job. Is the amplified sound as good as a real good acoustic banjo? Not at all. But the humbucking bridge pickup is good and twangy, sounds quite banjoey even into a Fender tube amp, and definitely keeps up with a pretty loud band. I recommend that, if you want to think about this, try one out and crank it up using just the pickup under the bridge - see if you like it. The Goldtone website http://www.goldtone.com has lots of details, including a dealer search function. They also make the EBT model that looks more like a Telecaster. One of my buddies is a Goldtone dealer - I'm fairly sure he could put you onto a reasonable price if you like them.

Gary Lee Gimble · Post by **Gary Lee Gimble** » 16 Feb 2006 1:21 pm

Jeremy, an alternative to a pickup would be to mic your banjo with a condenser mic made by Audio Technica and supplement your listening experience by using an in ear monitor. Assuming you don't play banjo on every tune, your sound man (if you have one) should be able to handle a simple chart which indicates where your back up stuff and solo(s) should be in the mix.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 16 Feb 2006 3:30 pm

I've tried everything on and off for 30 years and the only thing that works for me is a magnetic DeArmond pickup mounted on the coordinator rods inside. Somebody used to sell it years ago. A jack thru the bottom of the flange and a volume control thru the top leaves no scars when removed. With this setup and a Boss line selector you can "peel the paint off the walls" as Sonny Osborne used to say.

------------------
Dave O'Brien, Okeechobee
ZumSteel D-10 8&7. Walker Stereo steel
www.banjobubba.com

Garry Vanderlinde · Post by **Garry Vanderlinde** » 16 Feb 2006 3:36 pm

If a good mic won't work try a "Fishman Rare Earth Banjo Pickup". There is a little metal shim that goes under the bridge. Plug it into a graphic equalizer and then into a stomp box that lets you get two different volumes, one for backup and another for lead. Not a true banjo tone but not too bad. There is definitely no way to compete with a electric guitar either way. I did it for a couple of years on a few tunes a night and survived.
Dave M., that Goldtone looks awesome! and probably a lot easier than an acoustic to gig with.

(This thread has been up for about 7 hours and I can't beleive b0b hasn't closed it yet!)[This message was edited by Garry Vanderlinde on 16 February 2006 at 03:53 PM.]

John Poston · Post by **John Poston** » 16 Feb 2006 4:21 pm

Trust me, I've used the Fishman pickup and even with a very good preamp it didn't pack the punch of a piezo. Any condenser mic is much more prone to feedback, as well, no matter how tight you mic the instrument.

Both of those methods are more concerned with presenting a realistic acoustic banjo tone than keeping up with instruments in a loud rock band.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 16 Feb 2006 4:46 pm

The Fishman Rare Earth is what I have on my Granada. It sounds just fine if the stage volume isn't too loud, but it gets completely overwhelmed with loud electric guitar, bass, and drums. Don't get me wrong - I'd definitely rather play the acoustic, but I just can't get any traction with some of the guys I play with like that.

Edited to add: Yeah, I imagine an old DeArmond magnetic pickup might work fine. I need to keep my eyes peeled. They used to turn up now and then, but I haven't seen one for sale in a long time.[This message was edited by Dave Mudgett on 16 February 2006 at 04:48 PM.]

Peter Jacobs · Post by **Peter Jacobs** » 17 Feb 2006 11:01 am

Dave - I don't have the Rare Earth on my banjos, but from what I understand, the built-in preamp is that strong. I use a passive Gerald Jones pickup on one banjo (OME XXX) and an older Fishman on the other (Gibson ES).

I go direct to the PA, so to get a good signal to the board, I need to use a floor pedal preamp. I used to use a Fishman Model G, but it wasn't powerful enough. Now I use a Danelectro graphic e.q. pedal as a boost (because I had it already), but there are better clean boost pedals out there. The signal then goes to an mxr microamp for solo boosts, a Boss CE-5 chorus, then a Whirlwind IMP2 direct box.

I get a very realistic sound and have not had feedback problems in years, even at high volume with drums and electric instruments.

Regards,
Peter

Garry Vanderlinde · Post by **Garry Vanderlinde** » 17 Feb 2006 11:34 am

Trying to play an acoustic inst in a really loud band really is a pain

It's a good reason to stick to steel playing. Maybe someone can come up with a simulator like the Super Bro for banjo.

I wonder what Brad Paisley's banjo player uses?

Chris Grotewohl · Post by **Chris Grotewohl** » 17 Feb 2006 4:13 pm

Gerald Jones pickup is what many pros use

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 19 Feb 2006 5:45 am

Decades ago, I used an old magnetic De Arrmond flat pickup on mine, and it worked great! This pickup was designed to attach to an arch-top guitar, and had a rod that clamped onto the strings between the bridge and tailpiece. The pickup could be adjusted by sliding up and down the rod. I just took the pickup off the rod, and taped it to the head of the banjo under the strings (it was only 1/4" thick). Worked great, plenty volume and no feedback. Of course, it did steal a teeny bit of the "twang" from the sound, but you really never noticed when playing with other electricfied instruments.

Bob Knetzger · Post by **Bob Knetzger** » 23 Feb 2006 8:51 am

I had the same problem--getting a pickup that sounded good AND could be turned up loud enough for band volumes without feeding back thru my regular steell amp on stage. I finlly ended up with a simple solution that works really well.

I put a Fishman coil pick up on my Ode banjo, the kind that mounts to the co-ordinator rods just under the head at the bridge, about 1/16" clearance. A tiny sliver of steel goes under the center foot of the bridge. The coil pick up is magnetic so you get good gain but it picks up the bridge motion, not just the strings like an electric guitar pickup. There is a large amount of "banjo physics" (bridge sound, head flex, etc.) involved int the total sound. I run it thru a five band eq Fishman preamp to dial in the tone for the room.

One last little bit of "physics:" I keep a bandana very loosly stuffed inside the resonator so that it just ever so slightly dampens the head. This prevents the banjo head from becoming an "input device" and eliminates feedback. It's very subtle, nothing like the clamped down sound of the Deering Crossfire. It gives a much more natural banjo sound, without that "pingy-ness" on the ultra high end.

John Bechtel · Post by **John Bechtel** » 23 Feb 2006 1:08 pm

I know nothing about ‘Banjo’ and don't really want to, however; I also don't know if it s intended for that particular use or not, but; I use a contact~p/u that sticks on the sweet-spot on the top on my Baritone~Uke. You might inquire about an item by the trade~name {Wood~Picker} It's about the size of a 50 cent piece w/about a 2’ cord and Female~Jack to add a reg. 1/4” guitar-cord to your amp. You can stuff the short-cord under your belt for safety.

------------------
“Big John”
a.k.a. {Keoni Nui}
’05 D–10 Derby
’65 Re-Issue Fender Twin–Reverb Custom™ 15”
Current Equipment

Jeremy Steele · Post by **Jeremy Steele** » 24 Feb 2006 5:05 am

Thanks to all who replied. My buddy John Swain loaned me his "electrified" banjo to check out, and it works pretty well. The fishman type pickup is held fast to the underside of the bridge using styrofoam, and when played through my Pod XT sounds acceptably "banjoish" and plenty loud.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 24 Feb 2006 5:35 am

Banjo pick-up?

In south west Florida, the best option would be Waste Management...

RR