Mic' for a djembe.

[bresail]

I am looking for a mic' & amp for a djembe.
To begin with I was looking for an amp' with an input for an harmonica mic, I then thought of a wreless rig to save me tripping on the mic lead.
Then came a break through, I do not need a wireless amp, too expensive.
We can now buy micro amps so it should be possible to mount the mic and amp on the drum.
Any ideas?
Mamady Keita uses a small goose neck mic on one of his dvd's.
Regards.
Bresail.

[michi]

We can now buy micro amps so it should be possible to mount the mic and amp on the drum.

Not sure what you mean here. You want to mount a whole amp on the drum? What kind of amp? A microphone amp? But there wouldn't be much of point as far as I can see--you can use a dynamic mic. Or do you mean phantom power? But that doesn't need to go on the drum--you can supply it through the cable. (Also, for close-up recording of a djembe, a dynamic mic (which doesn't need phantom power) is probably a better choice than a condenser mic anyway.

Mamady Keita uses a small goose neck mic on one of his dvd's.

Mamady's set-up is wireless, similar to the wireless setup sold by Drumskull.

Cheers,

Michi.

[Gothenburg]

We bought some michrophones as Famodou Konate used on his tour 2004 in Europe
It is pretty similar princip but not wireles as as Mamady Keita useds. The sound is nothing to complain about pretty good does its work...
The name of the mic is:
BEYERDYNAMIC OPUS 87 Beyerdynamic Opus 87 Gooseneck condenser microphone for drums, cardioid characteristic, max SPL 136 dB, frequency response: 30 - 20.000Hz, Includes MKV 87 mic clamp for rim attatchment

Approc 89 Euro
http://www.thomann.de/se/beyerdynamic_opus_67.htm

[Paul]

Um 79e now...
What kind of jack is it on that (or what ever the right term is for the 3 prong output) I got one from them before and it was a mini jack which aint so common so I sent it back.... They were cool about it,,, good company thomann

[Gothenburg]

Sorry I meant: BEYERDYNAMIC OPUS 87
http://www.thomann.de/gb/beyerdynamic_opus_87.htm

As an example. the cord for this type of mic:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/pro_snake_tpm_6.htm

[bresail]

Gothenburg.
I was looking at the BEYERDYNAMIC OPUS 87 on your website last week and it is the type I am looking for. By the way I am impressed that Thomann keeps an eye on customer needs on this website.
Michi.
When I was jamming with with my harmonicas I used an old Marshall amp with a green bullet plugged into the guitar jack.
The micro amp that I am talking about is the sort of light weight amp that can be clipped on a belt.
It wouldn't be a great problem to mount this small type of amp on to a drum, it would then mean I would have a mobile rig.
Regards.

[michi]

The micro amp that I am talking about is the sort of light weight amp that can be clipped on a belt.
It wouldn't be a great problem to mount this small type of amp on to a drum, it would then mean I would have a mobile rig.

What would that amp drive? A speaker? I'm having a hard time seeing this at any significant volume level. Where would you put the batteries, how much would they weigh, and how many watts of output would you get? I would expect such a small amplifier driving a speaker to be far quieter than the djembe alone. Or is there something I'm missing?

Cheers,

Michi.

[bresail]

OK, I'll start again.
Plug the mic, as per Gothenburg's suggestion, into a Fender G-DEC Junior practise amp with speaker. Speaker is 15 watts.
Weight 15 lbs
Mount mic on to drum.
I have just used the Fender amp as an example, there are lighter amps on the market.
This rig is just a viability study, hence this post.
I am expecting at least 15 people to partake at the moment, some with mobility problems, so I have to be mobile.
I will be taking the djembe to begin with until we find someone who is better.
I am funding this project myself and I have 8 drums and numerous percussion instruments and further instruments will be made by the group.
That's it.
Regards.

[michi]

Sorry, I still don't understand. This is an image the Fender amp:

Fender G DEC Junior

images.jpeg (4.61 KiB) Viewed 586 times

I honestly cannot see anyone clipping that to their belt or mount it on a drum

Cheers,

Michi.

[bresail]

Nor can I.
Regards.

[bresail]

Michi,
You seem to want to ridicule my question.
I joined this forum to exchange ideas and to learn from likeminded people, this I do by asking questions.
Is this your normal tactic towards new people?
If so I'm in the wrong forum.
My question I thought was a reasonable one.
In another post you wanted to see pictures of a hole, which killed the thread.
A hole is a blank space surrounded by material, in this case the title gave away what the surrounding material was.
So I will try again to get the answer to my question.
I will accept answers on the feasability of what I am asking, even if someone wants to say, it is impractical.
Sorry that I had to say the above but not that I have said it.
Regards.

[Djembe-nerd]

Not that Michi can't speak for himself, but he is one of the most helpful person in the forum. I don't believe he ever meant what you interpreted.

You should consider that this is a forum that is based and discussed only on words. What you think, what you write, what you read, what you understand, and what you interpret are very different than when speaking directly.

I have always been helped here, this is the best you can get, but sometimes even my questions came with no answers or confused answers. I found out later that I didn;t asked the question right

[michi]

OK, let's start again. This is from your original post:

We can now buy micro amps so it should be possible to mount the mic and amp on the drum.

To the best of my knowledge, no amp exists that can drive a speaker at worthwhile volume level while being light and small enough to clip onto djembe, even if that amp is mains powered. If you want a battery-powered amp, it gets even less feasible because batteries add yet more bulk and weight.

As far as I can see, what you ask for does not exist.

Alternatives that are known to be workable:

• Use a microphone that is wired and put up with the wire that trails across to a standard amp or mixer (cheap).
• Use a wireless microphone, so you don't have the trailing cable (expensive).

I believe these are the only available options.

Cheers,

Michi.

[Carl]

Another perspective:

Bresail, it sounds like you have two separate amplification issues to solve.

1) Being loud enough to be heard over 15+ other drummers
2) Being mobile

(if there are other issues, please feel free to let me know)

the main problem is the mobility. There are "micro amps" which are small enough to fit in your shirt pocket (assuming you have a shirt pocket, I'm a t-shirt and sweatshirt guy myself)

reviews:
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/product/Marshall/MS-2+Micro+Amp/25/4

Then there are mini amps or busking amps
Random list:
http://www.zzounds.com/cat--Guitar-Mini-Amps--2593

These fit the exact description that you are looking for as far as application goes. You can mount them on a drum or on your person and go at it (the mini amps are probably a bit too heavy to pull this off on a regular basis, considering the weight of the djembe that you have to start with)

The problem that you are going to have will be with the volume and sound quality. Generally speaking a djembe puts out a lot of sound, and in order to reproduce that sound, you need a big speaker (and the power/batteries to drive that speaker) Smaller speakers will more than likely distort at the volume necessary for what you describe. They would probably sound "ok" at lower volumes, but at that point they will be quieter than your djembe alone.

Another thing that you would probably run into with this kind of setup is finding cords short enough not to trip you up between the mic and the amp, you probably need a 2 foot cable at the longest, the smallest I usually see is 4 feet. Shorter cables tend to be "patch" cables intended to go between foot peddles and would not be appropriate for microphones.

The recommendation that Michi is making is the one that makes the most sense to me. Wireless microphone (so you can be mobile) connected to an amp or PA.

If you are doing drum circle facilitation from a djembe, I would recommend using a PA with multiple speakers. That way you can have the PA at a lower volume spread around the group, instead of blasting from one side so that the other side can hear you.

If you are facilitating a drum circle, my advice would be to not use a djembe at all, but to use a cow bell instead. Less intimidating for the participants, loud loud loud! and easy to put down if you need to help someone with what they are doing and pick up again to jump back in. But this is getting into another whole conversation...

Peace,
C

[bubudi]

bresail, please keep in mind that what you read is your own interpretation of other people's words. to me michi's intentions came across very differently, not only in this thread but the one about the hole in the drum. michi sought clarification to your question about the amp. i must admit i myself am finding it hard to understand exactly what you were asking. could you please clarify a little? thanks.