Electric Violin Questions

July 25, 2009 at 11:48 AM ·

Hey all,

So I'm making the transition to the wonderful world of electricity after about 8 years of playing acoustic. I've been inspired by the likes of Ed-Alleyne Johnson and Alex Mitchell, who both use looping and various effects. So far, I'm pretty certain that I'd like to get A Boss RC-2 Loopstation, as well as a Boss ME-50 guitar multi-effects processor. (Which I'm hoping will take the place of several stomp pedals)

Anyway, I'm just down to finding an actual violin and a good acoustic amp. Thus far, I've found a relatively good deal on a Zeta Strados Modern, which is a five string. It comes with a case as well. It's in used condition, but supposed to be fully functional and looks good from pictures I've seen. I would prefer a fifth string violin such as this, as I've heard the C opens up a lot of possibilities.

I've also had my eye on an NS Design Wav 4, which I could buy new for significantly less. Essentially it's the same as the CR series, apart from Chinese manufacturing coupled with a passive pickup and lack of arco and pizz. switch. It also uses the polar pickup system though. If anyone has experience with this model, or NS in general, what do you think? It seems to me like it has a good natural sound, which is a definite plus. I'm not so sure about the Zeta. The downside to the NS being that it's only a 4 string, and I don't know how essential a 5th string is for what I'm trying to do. If NS had cranked out a five string model in the Wav series, I would almost definitely go for it, but with current circumstances it's difficult to decide.

I'm also looking for a pretty good acoustic amp for around or under $200, if possible. My plans are just for playing around and some busking in the town. So whatever would work for that would suit my purposes nicely. I'm also planning on just using my acoustic bow for the time being, so no worries there. (I think.)

So my real questions are: Does my setup as a whole look sufficient? What's your opinion on the violins? Can you recommend a good amp? If you have any other advice or changes, I'm totally open to them. That all being said, many thanks to whoever wades through this all and puts in their two cents, I can assure you it's most definitely appreciated. Thank you!

Replies (2)

Danielle Gomez

July 25, 2009 at 08:04 PM ·

I'm not familar with the two electric instruments you mentioned (as in I haven't played them). But I'll share my expereince in regards to electric violins.

I have owned two electric violins. My first one was a 4 string Yamaha which I sold after 7 years or so and put the money towards my current 5 string Wood violin.

With violins, specifically, some things you should really look out for are the jack size and the quality of pick up on the instrument. Amps are designed for a 1/4in jack plug in becuase that's what is put on most electric guitars. Many electric violins including my old yamaha come with an 1/8in jack simply beucase the instrument is smaller and the instrument may be more geared to playing with headphones (which use an 1/8in jack). In order to plug into an amp, you must get an 1/8 to 1/4 adapter. And let me tell you that having that extra "connection" to deal with really throws off your sound. I found that my sound was frequently fuzzy when playing on the Yamaha.

This leads in to the quality of pick up. Unfortunately, they have not yet designed an amp for violins yet. Amps are designed to pick up the short bursts of sound that result from picking or plucking an instrument (guitars). Many of them struggle with bowing beucase it's more of a gradual start of sound and is more sustained. This problem can be almost neutralized by splurging on a really high quality pick up for your electric violin. It makes a huge difference. That's partially why I sold my Yamaha beucase I couldn't even really use it on an amp.

I own two amps. I have a 300 watt Roland and a 90 watt Line6. The Line6 cost me $95 on Amazon and has a great sound for such a small amp. Both have a very different sound though. Like the Roland is a little cleaner sounding. It's hard to explain. It's like the difference between a Stratocaster and a Telecaster. I would recommend buying your violin first and then just going to a place like Guitar Center and plugging it into every amp they have and see what you like.

So to sum up, becuase of the limitations placed on us electric violinists by the amps, it is way more worth it to save a little longer and get a higher quality instrument. My Yamaha was way cheaper than my Wood violin but I couldn't even really play the Yamaha on an amp so what's the point, you know? My Wood violin is fantastic. It's really fun to play and you actually feel like you're a competing force when you plug in next to an electric guitar.

This is the Yamaha I had: http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/ModelSeriesDetail.html?CNTID=2601&CTID=231800

This is the website for the electric violin I currently have: http://www.woodviolins.com/html/home.html

Raymond Barsness

July 27, 2009 at 07:23 AM ·

Thanks a lot Danielle!

Your post was excellent and your great advice helped me a lot. I ended up going with the Ned Steinberger Wav 4, along with a Boss Loopstation and ME-70 multi-effects processor and a smaller Crate Taxi 15-watt amp to complete the set-up. I realized recently that the NS has no onboard pickup, but does have a tone control knob. The ME-70 actually has a COSM preamp system though I found out, and the amp also has some type of EQ system, so I'm hoping I'll be all set there. Anyways, I made sure to go with the 1/4' plugs as per your advice, and I think it will be nice to have the independence of not being as limited as I perhaps might have been with the 1/8'. Well, looks like the rest is history! Thanks again!

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Electric Violin Questions

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