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My ramblings on microphone systems

3/12/2018

12 Comments

 

Accordions and Amplifiers and my Mic System.


Like many instruments, accordions have trouble keeping up with louder and amplified instruments and over the years people have tried many ways to amplify their sound.


One of the earliest accordion amplifying techniques is the crystal microphone, which was starting to come into use by the late 40’s. Crystal mics were relatively small and inexpensive so a good system could have 6-7 mics with stereo separation of a sort, with separate tone and volume control for the left and right sides. Simpler crystal mic systems had as few as one mic and no onboard volume control at all.


Crystal mics vary in quality and their response is uneven through the audio frequency range. What’s more, response of these mics can deteriorate over time and in some cases they can die entirely. I will occasionally install crystal mic systems in accordions for people who need a vintage sound and I often have to sort through old sets to match up a new set . They can also have a strange echo at the end of each note, but placement of resistors can help.


Condenser mic systems for accordions are a newer type and have been around since at least the 70’s but they too run into some of the same problems that installers found with crystal systems: there is no such thing as a standard accordion so there can be no standard microphone system. Some systems appear to have been designed in a lab by somebody with little experience with accordions and can suffer for reliability issues and no troubleshooting support.


Quality of installation can vary wildly and have a effect on the long term reliability of a mic system, and the types of plugs used to connect the parts of the mic system is important. (The fun ones to work on have no plugs so you can’t separate the bellows from the accordion for service or sometimes the grill is attached by the mic wires and can’t be removed completely.)


It takes 5-6 hours to install one of these mic systems and then they weren’t always reliable, which added on even more hours of (unpaid!) work because of the warranty I offer  Most mic systems were not adaptable to the many variations of accordion construction and many older accordions have no clearance under the grill, and finding a location for the output jack can be a problem.


In response to these problems, I designed a mic system of my own:  With modern tech the boards did not need to be large, but I did want the solder points to be accessible to normal soldering tools and wire. Plugs would be industry standard and findable in the future for service. The mics would be on wires so the board could be put in whatever space was available and the mics could be placed for optimum sound. 


I use two mics in the bass side so you get an even volume across the bass range to reduce the risk of “hot spots” or uneven output on larger accordions. Three mics seems to be enough to get an even response on the right side. (Some Limex systems I’ve worked on use as many as 12 on the right side!)
  
I find that internal mics under the grill are best for performing accordions because the closer you can get a microphone to the source of the sound, the less likely feedback will occur. The microphone capsules are directional by design so they are less sensitive to outside noise than sound from the accordion.


A obvious solution would seem to be to place the mics inside close to the reeds like some of the older crystal systems. Condenser mics can’t generally be placed inside the accordion as the changing air pressure will eventually damage them, and will cause distortion. It is also difficult to get separation of the left and right side of the accordion this way. Separation is achieved by placing mics under the grill and inside the bass machine area, a nice side effect is separate volume control that will allow you to do things like use only the piccolo reed on the right and the master register on the left. 


This setting would be unusable on most accordions as the piccolo would be drowned out by the bass. With good separation you can turn down the bass to match the output of the keyboard. This will sound unbalanced on the accordion but will sound fine coming out of the amp.


Don’t forget that amplifiers have a big effect on the sound. Standard solid state guitar amps can make almost any accordion sound sharp and metallic. In a pinch a bass amp will give a better sound overall. Keyboard amps are better than guitar amps in most cases but they seem to vary. I have been really happy with the sound of tube or hybrid amps because they seem to warm the tone somewhat and generally sound better with accordions.
A mod that works with tube guitar amps is to replace the AX12 tube with a AT12 tube. These can be commonly found on ebay and will reduce the high gain distortion that is popular with a guitar and give you a more acoustic sound at the cost of about 20% gain. This is not an issue if you are not typically running the amp at max.



12 Comments
Alexandria Martinez link
6/15/2018 02:41:12 pm

A good friend of mine was interested in getting an accordion player for an event. She wants to make sure that she is getting the best help possible. I will be sure to tell her that having an internal mic under the grill would be best for performing.

Reply
Bill Dyck
9/10/2018 01:07:24 pm

I appreciated the extra installation idea photos on Flickr. However, it would be nice to have some other place than Flickr to place your photos. Not everyone has an account and the actual URL was so long it was a challenge to get it right. Having a link to click on from your site would be a great help too. Thanks.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/26639011@N06/sets/72157663685346687

Reply
Phil Aaberg
12/29/2019 03:30:08 am

Kimrick, I copied your blog post to a thread on The Accordionists Forum called “Live and Loud - Feedback Please”.
Thanks.

Reply
throat microphones link
2/24/2020 06:36:53 pm

The throat mic was designed to keep out all background noises and allow only the voice to be transmitted over a two way radio.

Reply
Silvana goss
8/12/2020 06:31:58 pm

My son John goss bought a beautiful little accordian and I just received it in the mail today. Thank you so much. I've played it since i was 7 years old i am now 67. God bless

Reply
Frank Jemkins
7/8/2022 01:59:01 pm

I have a 1965 Unico accordion my teacher as a child Installed a microphone system in it and I think it still works havent tried it in several years!
What ampllifiers of todays making might work with it brands or types ?
Kinda want a 30 to 50 watt there are so many iut there its confusing!

Reply
Xiane
1/28/2024 01:27:08 pm

This is very useful. I've started playing melodeon with a Celtic band (mostly) and they asked about amplification.

Knowing little, my answer was "It's complicated." How right I was!

What would you suggest for a Saltarelle Bouebe? I do have a VOX guitar amp that's solid state, but with a tube pre-amp. So maybe that's a good choice? Or a bass amp, which I also have.

Reply
K smythe
1/31/2024 11:42:41 pm

A solid state guitar amp wont sound that great but the tube preamp might help. Guitar amps dont have the low end that a accordion needs. A inexpensive bass amp with you tube preamp would probably sound a lot better.

Reply
Xiane
2/2/2024 01:30:28 am

Thanks!



Xiane
2/3/2024 11:33:28 pm

Hello, I'm back, with more odd questions! Thanks for your patience.

So I've come across an old, but apparently clean and working Corovox-Leslie tone generator, preamp(I think?) and speakers (not the accordion though). It's not all that expensive at all for an early 70s tube amp.

My understanding is you can run another instrument through the mic channel, rather than using the proprietary Cordovox connection set up from the accordion.

I also understand it sounds fantastic, and as it's made for accordions, can handle their range.

So, do you suppose you could mic up your non Cordovox accordion, and then have a great vintage sound out of a purpose made accordion amp?

Is this crazy?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Reply
Kimric Smythe
5/21/2024 11:14:03 pm

That should work sound wise, but I have not actually messed with one of those. You may have to mod it a bit.

Reply
Ron Reimer link
7/4/2024 01:44:54 am

Hi Kimric,
I have been experimenting with just mounting a regular microphone cartridge in just the treble side of the accordion. I suspend it from a velcro sling bridging two of the reed blocks near the bottom of the accordion (the higher pitched reeds). It seems to pick up the entire sound of both sides of the accordion pretty well. Where can I find a schematic that will show me how to incorporate volume and tone pots that I would mount on the grille to give some onboard control to the sound?. Thanks.

Reply



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    I am Kimric Smythe owner and operator of Smythe's Accordion and general all around tinkerer.

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