Essential Ukulele Gear: What I Use

What follows is a collection of some of the things I use in my day-to-day as a working musician.

Anything you see here is tried and tested and is something I would recommend to anyone because I love it – not because you need it. These are the things that make my life in music easier, better, and more enjoyable.

Instruments:

I have two really nice ukuleles and a number of standard models that each serve a purpose. I’ve collected a few more over the years, but those shown here get all the play time.

2x Moore Bettah Ukes Custom Tenors

“Big Island Kalo” studio Moore Bettah

Priceless, one-of-a-kind, world-class ukuleles. Chuck is one of the most sought-after ukulele luthiers in the world and happens to be my good friend (which certainly helped in getting on his build list).

• Performing Moore Bettah (read more) – Spruce top, koa back/sides with a pickup and cutaway
• Studio Moore Bettah (podcast demo) – ʻUlu body, pheasant wood accents

Blackbird Farallon Ekoa Tenor

After a bad experience gigging in the rain I decided to purchase an ukulele purpose built for sturdiness and soggy conditions.

The Farallon has been fabulous insurance for unknown playing environments. I don’t have to worry about it very much and it sounds great. It also plays better than almost any other uke!

Read my review of the Farallon.

Outdoor Tenor Ukulele

This car died, the uke still gets played

If there’s one uke I can unequivocally say has proved its worth a hundred times over, it’s my Outdoor Ukulele. They sound like a five gallon bucket, feel like a plastic cutting board, and are built like an absolute tank.

No case. No care. Hot, cold, wet, dry, sat on, probably stepped on, bottom of a pile of stuff, on the floor of an airplane, strapped to the outside of my backpack, etc. An absolute champ.

It doesn’t sound that good, but this a peace of mind instrument. 10/10

Kala EM-FS UBass

In an effort to diversify and keep myself entertained, I picked up a UBass and have been playing for friends who need backup.

I got the EM-FS model because I heard the Fishman pickup was superior to the alternative.

Jamming with Dagan and Thom at the Big Island Brewhaus – PC: @pleinjayne

It SERIOUSLY needed some sanding on the top edge to make a bevel that was bearable for my arm. C’mon Kala, make a 1/4″ roundover stock please.

Accessories

Little things more useful than their size

Fluorocarbon Strings

I’ve used Worth CH-LGHD strings for well over a decade and love their heavy tension and clear, punchy sound. With a daunting number of options, anybody should be able to find their happy place in the Worth lineup.

Recently I’ve been using Uke Logic strings because they have a slightly more punchy sound.

Six in one, half dozen in another. As long as it’s fluorocarbon and the tensions are right, I’m usually happy.

Clip-on Tuners

The accurate and fast Planet Waves NS Micro Tuner was my mainstay for a long time. I had the 1st version for over five years (only changed the battery once) and have just recently upgraded to version two for no particular reason.

My splurge upgrade recently was the TC Electronic Unitune. I got two of them to keep around the studio. They have a great clip and are easy to pass around to musicians who need to tune (the NS Micro is too small to easily handle). Highly recommended.

Cases

My main gigging case is a Fusion Urban gig bag. Big pockets, lots of padding, and it’s super comfy on my back. The only thing I don’t trust is crushing force. That’s easy to avoid so it’s been great.

Oʻahu Cases are my go-to for everything else. I have several models and iterations. They’re easy for me to get from The Ukulele Site, solid, simple, and reliable.

My current favorite is the ‘Ōlinolino case I keep my UBass and steel guitar in them.

Metronome

My main practice tool is some form of metronome. It keeps me honest and helps build a stronger internal sense of timing.

I use several versions, depending on what I’m doing:

• Pro Metronome app – on my phone for when I’m out and about
• BOSS DB-30 – a small, simple metronome with tap tempo and a 1/8″ headphone output. Kind of expensive for what it does, but it’s worth it for me to have a dedicated unit for teaching and practicing without phone distractions
• Franz LM-FB-5 – a vintage mechanical plug-in metronome. I got one of these after seeing Tomo Fujita use one. It has a pleasant wooden knocking sound and a lot more charming quirk than an electronic metronome. Definitely the most fun metronome I’ve used!

Glass Nailfile

Glass files last mostly forever. Even better, they:

1. Don’t wreck your nails like sapphire or metal files
2. Don’t give you a wicked paper cut like sandpaper-covered foam files
3. Don’t have the yucky, abrasive texture and feel of other emery boards.

If you keep your fingernails long for picking you need one of these. I’ve got 15 years on mine. Probably time for a new one.

Earplugs

Your ears cannot be replaced! Protect them!

I scored a free pair of custom molded earplugs from the MusiCares program at a festival years ago. They don’t come out much, but they live in my gig box in case I have to jam with a loud band.

Short of that I use Isolate Pro earplugs for everything else. Besides looking great and feeling sturdy, they attenuate a ton of sound while retaining a fairly balanced frequency response. I use them mostly for power tools these days.

The Gig Box: Live Sound & Plugging in

A Seahorse SE-710 case containing my kit goes with me to every gig. It has almost everything I might need for plug-and-go performances.

Instrument and XLR Cables

Mogami Gold cables are some of the most boring but important items I own. Sound and reliability are really all you can ask for in a cable and they’ve never failed me. They are all I will buy and supposedly have a lifetime replacement warranty.

Line 6 HX Stomp

These days I’m a huge fan of the Line 6 HX Stomp (here’s my review). I used to buy a bunch of pedals looking for the next best thing, but I haven’t bought a single one since getting the HX. It’s really that good.

For ukulele it can provide ample EQ, compression, reverb, delay, and anything else you might need – in addition to IR support! These together allow me to carry the best plugged in ukulele in the world (…maybe? I don’t usually brag, but I’ve got a really killer preset) in one hand.

Worth every penny. Wish I’d bought one sooner. And Line 6 pushes out new features a couple times a year via firmware!

Shure KSM8 Dualdyne

As soon as I started seeing big acts (lots of them) using the Shure KSM8, I had to try it out. It’s a dynamic mic along the lines of a Beta 58, but without much of a proximity effect (the low end boost from getting close to the mic).

It sounds great, it’s forgiving if you don’t sing right into it, and it gets kinda close to a condenser mic sound quality without needing 48V phantom power. Plus, I love kissing the flat front grille.

Radial Stagebug SB-2 DI

Since the HX Stomp doesn’t have an XLR output (my only gripe), sometimes I have to use a DI to convert my signal to XLR. The Radial Stagebug is built solid, simple, and does the trick.

It doesn’t come out often, but it’s nice to have your own instead of hoping someone else will have one. Plus, it’s small enough that it’s never a big tradeoff to bring it.

Furman SS-6B Surge Block

You can never have enough outlets onstage and the Furman SS-6B multi-strip gets them almost anywhere I need. Instead of whining to the soundman about needing an outlet, I just find my own and get on with setting up.

Supposedly it provides surge protection, but it’s not the a power conditioner unit like the AC-215A I run my studio gear on. I don’t trust it much and figure any of my gear that gets fried is replaceable by my MusicPro insurance.

PA System:

This is my setup for a crisp, feedback-free PA that will blow the windows out of most venues!

I use two QSC K10 Loudspeakers v1 (I hear v2 is even better) on stands as my mains. These babies can slam 1000 watts a pop; I’ve never had to turn them up past halfway (usually 1/4 volume is plenty for an outside gig). They handle a bass guitar well enough for Hawaiian music and are super overkill for an ukulele.

The speakers are fed by an Allen & Heath ZED-10FX Mixer. It’s suitable for up to three people since it’s really only a 6-channel board.

The ZED sounds great, feels sturdy, and is about half the size of my old Mackie that had basically the same number of channels.

Recording:

This is my studio setup for recording myself, my friends, and my podcast.

Microphones/Preamp

I’ve collected quite a few studio mics over the years. They all have their own sound and characteristics. Since most folks don’t need this variety, I can narrow down my top picks easily:

The Shure SM81 is currently my go-to ukulele mic and what I use for the podcast voiceover. It has a very neutral, unhyped sound and nicely rounds out the often harsh attack of fretted instruments (and my voice).

James Hill recommended the Neumann KM184 as my first high-end uke mic. They’re great. I have two. But I find myself preferring the Shure SM81 for most things and it’s half the price.

Microphone preamps are typically a sonically subtle part of the chain, but if you have a good one you don’t have to wonder if something else would sound better.

I bought a Seventh Circle Audio CH02 modular chassis last year and have slowly been adding preamps to it. There are six or seven modules to choose from and if you solder the pres yourself you can save $100+.

• 2x N72 Neve 1073 clone (always what I use for the podcast)
• 1x C84 Grace 101 clone
• 1x DI1 dual-DI input

Sounds stellar, great build quality, and fantastic documentation. If I ever have to fix anything, full schematics, part lists, and build instructions are available.

Digital Audio

I use the Focusrite Clarett 4Pre USB interface to get sounds into and out of my computer. It’s clean, quality, and does the job.

Everything gets recorded into Reaper DAW. It’s an affordable, powerful piece of well-executed software. Very much the future of DAWs, IMO. For plugins, I mainly use FabFilter, Tokyo Dawn Labs, Oeksound, and Noise Ash.

This all runs on an Intel 13600K-based PC with Western Digital Black NVMe drives. I store projects on a 4TB Samsung 870 EVO backed up to iDrive cloud.