Amplifying Your ‘Ukulele

Amplifying an ‘ukulele can be a blessing and a nightmare. It’s easy to get a halfway decent sound plugged in, but to get a clear and warm tone, a lot of things have to go right.

Specifics:

• Pickups – Unless you are using a mic, this is the beginning of your amplified sound.
• Amps – Learn about the parts and workings of an amp.
• Effects – Sound-shapers and how they work.

How To Plug In:

To plug in your ‘ukulele you need three things:

• An ‘ukulele with a pickup
• An instrument cable
• An amp

Plug one end of the instrument cable into the jack on the bottom of your ‘ukulele.

Plug the other end of the cable into the “input” jack on your amp. Plug the amp into an electrical outlet (or install batteries). Make sure that all of the volume knobs (or sliders) on your amp and pickup controls are set to zero. Turn your amp on. Turn the volume knob up as you play, until you reach the desired volume level (With an active pickup, turn your pickup volume up and then adjust the amp to control the master volume). Play!

Basic amp controls:

• Input – jack where you plug the cable coming from the ‘ukulele in
• Volume – controls output volume
• Gain – controls input volume
• Tone or EQ – controls which pitch range gets the most volume
• Amp models (some amps) – selects amp model
• Effects (some amps) – controls effect and amount

The Amps Page

Plugging into your home audio system:

I have found that I can get a good amplified sound from my ‘ukulele if I run it through my old Yamaha stereo. A home audio system is essentially a small PA because it is only used for amplifying a clean sound – your CDs wouldn’t sound very good played through an electric guitar amp. Here is my setup:

• ‘Ukulele pickup (passive) to Boss ME-50 multi-effects
• Boss’ line out into an RCA cable via some hokey adapters
• The RCA jacks plug into the the Line/Auxiliary input on the back of the Yamaha stereo.

From there I power up my multi-effects, check the volume on the Boss (volume pedal on and master at 12 o’clock), and slowly turn up the master volume on the stereo. It’s not a perfect solution, but it sounds better than a Micro Cube. Use your best judgment if you try this. If you hear distortion or buzzing speakers, stop before you break something.

Feedback:

Feedback is the nasty screeching sound that you hear when a mic gets too close to a speaker. This can also happen with acoustic instruments. You get feedback when the amp’s speaker vibrates the strings or soundboard of an instrument, and the pick-up feeds the signal back into the amp. This creates a loop that gets louder and louder.

There are two kinds of feedback:

• High frequency feedback – When the mic near the speaker or ringing string kicks off the loop. This is defeated by reigning in the treble with some EQing or by mic placement. Usually this only happens with the ringing strings when you aren’t paying attention. Just know the limitations of your setup and keep a hand on the strings when you aren’t playing.
• Low frequency feedback – When the vibrating sound board causes the loop. Besides positioning in relation to the speaker, a cut in the problem frequency or a notch filter will go a long ways.

In general, to eliminate feedback there are a few things you can try:

• Turning down the volume.
• Changing the EQ or a notch filter (an extension of EQ). Usually found on good preamps or the amp itself. It cuts down the small frequency range that is causing the feedback. Sometimes there are more than one feedback frequencies, but the notch filters on my Fishman Pro-EQ Platinum preamp or Roland AC-90 amp are really phenomenal tools. I can play as loud as I want and the feedback frequency I have dialed in won’t even be an issue (others might, but that’s not the point).
• Standing in a different spot. The last place you want to be is facing the front of the amp and 3 feet away. Try playing to the side or behind the amp. Some distance will help too.
• Some people stuff socks inside the ‘ukulele’s body. Others say you duck tape the sound hole closed. I’ve tried the socks, but not the tape.

Video Rundown: