OT: Cheap microphone for guitar amp

I a few days time we'll be running a quiz night, which will be held in the bar area of our local leisure centre. We've got exclusive use of the room so we won't have to compete against noisy customers or juke boxes or anything like that but we don't fancy shouting the questions all night either. The bar doesn't have any PA equipment but I do have a small 10W guitar amp (one of these

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which is (probably) better than nothing.

We don't have a microphone though and we don't want to spend a fortune on one just for this, which is only a once-a-year thing, so would any of these work alright with that amp:

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Reply to
Dave
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Its hard to find a mic that wouldnt do that job. The broadcast engineers will be along to say you need to spend a large amount to get the best directionality and so on, but its quite practical to work with any old mic for such jobs. If you're buying a bottom end mic I'd pick a condenser or electret one preferably.

NT

Reply to
Tabby

Does the guitar amp have a mic input? If not, you'll likely need to get a high impedance mic or a low one plus transformer.

My local pound shop had mics last time I looked. ;-)

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Very easy, actually, since most mic these days are low impedance, and the mismatch would mean the amp likely wouldn't have enough gain.

Actually, this 'broadcast engineer' prefers an omni directional mic for hand held use where feedback isn't going to be a problem. As it won't be with a low powered system.

It's those who have little experience of using mics who usually have weird ideas about them. Wish I had a pound for each time I've seen an SM58 etc used for a totally non suited purpose. Just because they've seen one used elsewhere.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

CPC don't appear to have any *cheap* hi-Z mikes.

Cheapest I can find quickly is Maplin YU33L, dual Z at =A315

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Reply to
Owain

No, it doesn't have a mic input - only jacks are guitar input and headphones. Cheers Dave.

Reply to
Dave

Question. Why is it called a guitar amp? (hint: what is there about a musical instrument that needs a piece of electronics to work at all, as distinct from taking a sound and merely making it louder).

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

ergo its completely and utterly unsuitable in every way for PA work.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

How much are they?

Baz.

Reply to
Baz

;-)

They actually looked not bad in a karaoke sort of way. Quite heavy, so appeared to have a metal body. On/off switch too. Just shows the factory price when these things can be sold for a quid. It's the old Woolies in Balham High street close to the station if anyone wants to look - it's not a regular haunt of mine.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

At least a bit of overload shouldn't worry it. ;-)

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I used to play in a band and we had a PA amp and speakers, a lead and rhythm amp and a base amp.

The PA amp was nearly always in for a repair and the singer had to plug his mic into the guitar amp, we never had a problem other than lack of volume for a large hall.

Dave

Reply to
Dave

Situated at the base camp? ;-)

Lead guitar amps are usually a general purpose device and quite ok for speech or any musical instrument other than bass guitar etc. Many do have a separate proper balanced low impedance mic input. But not so likely on a practice unit.

Just a bit inconvenient to put on a stand, as vocal PA is best with the speakers close to the audience. And high impedance mics don't like a long lead.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

And this one, doubly so in the hands of the inexperienced. Lower risk of a howl when they "accidentally" point the mic at the speaker. Omnis are very forgiving.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

You could look up Eagle G148B Microphone on Google. Amazon seems to list what might be the same thing for about £3.50 but with a highish delivery charge.

I used to have 2 radio mics, one from a pound shop, one that was about a fiver from a not-quite a pound shop. They were both usable, but the expensive one did sound better. Mine were hand held mics and one worked as a wired mic as well and was dual impedance. Can't remember which was which. I think the receivers, although low impedance did have enough oomph to work into a guitar amp.

There's a review of one of this sort of thing at

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is bizarre in that he seems to have used some adapters that make the audio out of phase in "stereo". Radio mics do bring a load more possibilities for the untamed to mess up, but they can be worth a try. Ebay has some 99p plus postage ones now.

A condenser mic won't work into a guitar amp. The mic needs power.

Reply to
Bill

Many contain an internal battery to do just this. Or have that option. Including some very expensive pro designs. The U87, for one. Although I've never seen it used on that mic.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Well, having spent 4 years of my life measuring them and designing them, all I can say is you must have cloth ears.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

So tell us how a good guitar amp measures? And how it differs from any other amp? Didn't imply it was ideal for speech - just that it would be ok.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Also, it would be very unusual to find a condenser mic for about a fiver!

Any cheap dynamic mic should do the trick but make sure it has a 1/4" jack plug.

If you buy a mic with a mini jack plug, it won't fit in the amp without buying a 1/4" adapter.!

Reply to
Wesley

Hang on a minute, lads, while I get a chair and a beer. . . . Right, off you go.

Reply to
Huge

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