Hey, ive been playing my violin for about 6 years or so, and I really wany to start playing electric, mostly because of yellowcard and that alex mitchell and ed alleyne-johnson. I was wondering what basic equipment i need.
things i know i need or think i need
electric violin (duh)
bow (do i need a special one or can i use the same one?)
preamp
amp (do i need any cables or should i expect these to come with the amp or preamp?)
pedals(are there special electric violin ones or can i buy the same ones my friend buys for his electric guitar?)
First you have to think about which kind of electric violin you want. You can simply electrify your acoustic with great results or buy a solidbody or skeletal instrument.
Cheap asian solidbodies and skeletals you'll get on Ebay - but you have to pay attention to the materials used (body, neck, fingerboard, pegs), projection (angle neck to body), weight, rim of ribs, electronics... it's very hard to give advice without writing a book here.
If you want to buy an e-violin of a recommended brand, you'll have to start at USD 1000,-. The cheapest are the semiacoustic Barcus-Berry violins - I played one for almost 20 years (they were expensive then: 2400 DM = 1200 EUR) before I changed to the magnetic Rebo, which I now use on all my instruments.
As to amps: depends on which style of music you want to play: a tube guitar amp (Fender Blues Junior or Hot Rod Deluxe) for rock influenced music with the option of tube overdrive, an acoustic amp (AER, Zeta, active monitors) for trad. jazz, folk etc. Never buy cheap stuff, it will fall apart soon.
Since the mid- 80ies I work mostly with an old VOX AC 30 and since a few months with a Fender Blues Junior.
When I started to play the violin electrically in 1979, I played solid state amps: a Barcus-Berry XL 24 (100 + W, 2x 12'' speaker) and a little Acoustic G 20 (20 W). Lately I had them overhauled & gave them to the school where I'm now working.
You can use any guitar effect you want. Start with single stomp boxes or a fine multieffects processor. Add a wah pedal - and that's it. If you have a fine instrument with a GOOD pickup, you won't need a rack full of equalizers to achieve a sound you really like.
I made the experience that modern gear tends to develop noise soon. All my old stuff (Dunlop cry baby wah, MXR flanger, Ibanez delay stomp box) still works fine. I use it very rarely - most of the time it is stored warm & dry. Recordings with effects - listen to the solos: http://www.uli-boesking.de/download/munoiled.mp3 http://www.uli-boesking.de/download/munribed.mp3
The spring reverb & overdrive is that of one of my tube amps - + wah pedal: that's it.
You want to buy an electric violin and your budget is limited?
Check the following items:
Shape:
- choose between various solidbody and skeletal instruments – but - "achtung, baby":
- certain instrument shapes are instable, tend to bend, won’t stay in tune (the treble clef shaped “things”) or were reported to break (the big S shaped products).
- If your favourite instrument has an uncommon shape – how does the special shoulderrest fit and feel?
Wood materials and manufacture:
- neck: polished?, laquered? – how does it feel?
- fingerboard: ebony? hardwood or softwood painted black? plastic? - corrugated or even?: look along it against light
- pegs: ebony? hardwood painted black? plastic? - do they fit properly / stay in tune? – if possible test with peg compound: where it sticks to the peg after turning it several times, there is no contact to the peghole.
- Body: weight? Top-heavy? Does your favourite shoulderrest fit / does the instrument’s (rudimentary) ribs have a rim?
- the bridge is often roughly cut (esp. the feet) and a bit too high – this is fine: your luthier can adapt it to your needs.
Projection:
- is the angle neck to body OK? – measure from mid-upper-edge end of fingerboard down to the body: flat-top solidbodies or skeletals: approx. 26 mm, semiacoustics: approx. 20 mm.
- too flat projection may cause instability.
- the bridge / the strings-to fingerboard distances may be too high – in some cases a luthier cannot cut down the bridge enough (not enough wood above the heart) to make playing comfortable for you: the instrument will need a new bridge.
Pickup (transducer) / electronics:
- test your future new instrument thoroughly. It should sound fine with a STANDARD guitar amp, (Fender tube amp) when you cut the treble control frequencies on the amp a bit (because of “the screachies”: frequent piezo disease).
- most cheap up to mid-price e-violins are equipped with a cheap piezo transducer under the bridge (popular: Artec 8888). Some producers even replaced it with an even worse device.
- the Artec doesn’t sound THAT bad purely – but many producers have added active electronics to eliminate the well-known screechy character of many of the piezo transducer family products, improving the Artec sound to the worse (muffled and flat – no clearness / brilliance, no “ground”).
- also test the often provided onboard headphones amp – many make a lot of noise or are even distorting.
- Some instruments have a plastic electronics unit pinned to the bottom including potentiometers, jacks and a battery compartment. Mostly the components are very cheap, are not replaceable and tend to make nasty noise soon. Not reliable.
- Some semiacoustics have slider units (see above) or battery compartments “nailed” to the ribs or elsewhere without adapting them properly to the curvatures of the corresponding body parts.
- I have even seen semiacoustics with a Barcus-Berry piezo bridge installed the wrong way round (piezo element under the e-string).
Connections:
- have a look at the output jack(s): mini jack or 1/4 inch standard (guitar) phone jack? Headphones jack may be mini (mono signal to stereo) jack, output should be 1/4’’ jack.
- Where is the output jack placed? – On the right (bow arm) side the cable may tear down the instrument (weight on the wrong side) and interfere with the bow arm.
Forget the bow delivered with cheap e-violins: light the open fire with it or break it on purpose in a show – it’s too soft, often twisted, tending to bend to the wrong side etc….
Use your own fine bow (I believe you started with and are still playing a tradional acoustic violin).
Forget the cables supplied with cheap stuff: limited frequency range, bad shielding, bad plugs…
Forget the rosin – buy something serious for few money at your luthiers’.
The cases are cheap foam but do their job – as long as you don’t let it fall down with your instrument inside. Temperature isolation sometimes is better than with expensive cases.
If you have satisfactorily checked all these items, you’ll probably opt for an instrument more than USD 1000 worth: congratulations – you will surely have a lot of fun with your professional instrument.
If there are too many negative checks and you want electrification now: think about electrifying your acoustic instrument. Have a look at my website: http://www.uli-boesking.de/rebo/
Once again “achtung”: Big recommended music industry names don’t mean EVERYBODY is satisfied – many musicians spend a lot of money and only believe that THIS HAS TO BE IT – because of the price / the pain having spent much money. If you want to buy an instrument above USD 1000 make sure the company has an adequate return policy. You’ll probably need it, because very few serviceable instruments or almost none can be tested in even bigger music shops – only the big Y and F (last of low-mid price range) are represented here and there. See above.
I hope this article is somewhat impartial - except the Rebo link ;o)
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