| Author |
Subject |
Kyba
Global user
(4/24/00 7:01:38 pm)
Reply |
Electric cello
As a professional cellist in
Scandinavia playing contemporary music, I am looking for an
electrical cello with a good tone.
If anyone knows makers or
brandnames, I would be very happy for a recommandation.
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TheDerekMJohnson
Global
user
(4/24/00 8:30:56 pm)
Reply |
Re:
Electric cello
G'mornin',
most are kinda
pricey, compared to other electronic instruments like my guitars.
compared to our acoustics they don't cost anything.
anyways,
here is what i can remember off the top of my head.
Jensen-
based in Seattle, WA, USA. a few different models. 4,5, and 6 string
models. various pickups and options. from what i've seen the mose
reasonably priced. starting around $2000 American. which is what,
$12,000 Canadian nowadays? ha ha ha. i dont remember his web
address.
NS Designs- Ned Stienburger is primarily a guitar
and bass guitar luthier. he made all the headless electrics that a
lot of bands like Genisis were using in the 80's. I still want one
of his guitars. anyways, he has a 4,5,6 string cello. nice looking.
run from about $5000. according to one guy i've talked to on this
list the tone on some of the strings bite hard and there are no
marks to figure out where positions are and is generally difficult
to get around on. this is from another member. i haven't seen one in
real life yet.
Yamaha Silent Cello- in my opinion, yuck.
horrible tone, especially on the G and C strings. i was not
impressed at all when i played it in Helsinki last summer. too big
with no need for it. crappy electronics. however, as far as i've
seen they are the cheapest on the market at around $1400 or
so.
i know there are other companies but thats off the top of
my head.
oh yeah, Zeta-over priced from what i've seen. other
instruments that use the same pickups have cost less and had more
options. who knows, maybe it's for you. they do have a cello amp
though. that might be nice. i'm using a Roland Jazz Chorus 120 right
now, soon to be coupled with a small bass amp.
the other
option, of course, is putting a pickup on your existing cello.
Fishmann-probably the best known. i can't stand mine. too
much noise from the bow sliding on the strings and from my finger
movements. @#%$ty tone. the preamp helps though. not a very even
sound when comparing the 4 strings.
bowtronics- they make a
new humbucking pickup that sits at the end of the fingerboard.
doesn't affect natural tone of cello when playing acoustic. however,
you HAVE to use steel core strings since it works via magnetics like
guitar and bass pickups do.
let me see, there are LR Baggs
and i don't remember which one theirs is. there are other companies.
some make 'clip on' kinda things that fit onto the bridge. IMHO,
crap. some make actual bridges which then afffects your acoustic
playing greatly.
-----watch out, seudo soap box
alert!!-----
most equipment i've seen for our loverly
instrument seems to attempt mimicing the tones and qualities of our
acoustics. my girlfriend (also cellist, much more classical than i)
thinks that instruments like the Jensen are not cellos at all
because they don't sound the same. if that is the case then my
Fender Telecaster is not a guitar because it doesn't sound like a
Martin D18. most companies do NOT seem to want to rock the boat in
making actual INTERESTING instruments and equipment. Give me
experimentations with electronics. Put a Theramine under the bridge.
What about multiple pickups? A new type of bow? Adjustable bridges?
MECHANICAL TUNERS (I honestly do NOT understand why ANYONE would
want to use wooden pegs even on modern instruments when the
technology to REPLACE them made itself known well over 100 years
ago.)? A New Breed Of STRING? Why would I want to sound like an
acoustic when I use distortions and flanges and envelope filters and
wahwahs (you get the point)?
why can't someone really bust out
and make the Bootsy Collin's SPACE BASS version of the cello? Why
are there only about 2 or 3 companies doing anything remotely
interesting?
enough. i'm sorry for the rant. i just get
little frustrated sometimes.
i think i'm more than done
now.
TheDerekMJohnson@hotmail.com
http://home.switchboard.com/THEdmj
Olympia,
WA USA
'Cello 4 Hire
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Bob
Local user
(4/24/00 9:41:36 pm)
Reply |
Re:
Electric cello
We're glad to see anyone on this
board, though you might get more responses to this particular
question over on the "Instruments & Equipment" board.
|
justinkagan1
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Global
user
(4/27/00 8:59:43 am)
Reply |
Re:
Electric cello
Bob is right, you probably will get
more attention to this question on the other board, but I can share
my experience with you....when I began investigating the electric
cello market, I keep bringing up questions to the Cello Chat, and
really nobody responded, so I went and checked as many instruments
as I could, which wasn't a lot...the manufacturers are simply not
promoting these instruments well at all, and that goes especially
for Yamaha, which surprises me, considering that they're so huge. I
just got a Yamaha yesterday, and bought it from Cellos2Go.com, by
the way. I had first tried it only last week. Havfe played Jensen,
Tucker Barrett and NS Cello, and had a whole day with Ned
Steinberger hanging out and trying different things with him. I
think the Yamaha sounds as good as all of these. It is what it is.
If you want real you get real, simple enough. I really havbe had
problems with my neighbors complaining when I practice, and @#%$ it,
I sometimes want to play at odd hours. The Yamaha feels comfotable
enough and sounds decent. I have a great amp and effects and will
try it out today with that setup. It's the player, not the axe, BTW.
So go for it
justin
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Evan
Evanson
Global
user
(7/24/00 9:58:41 am)
Reply
 |
Re:
Electric cello
Here's a copy of a comparative
review I sent to the Celloworld mailing list 2 years ago; it's
mostly still current, and I just looked at the Vector, Steinberg,
and Yamaha ones a few weeks ago at the New Directions Festival, so I
can say that I also was not thrilled w/ the Yamaha cello as a
performing instrument (all of these make great
late-night-don't-wake-the-neighbors cellos w/ headphones, although,
I find I keep hitting the headphones on the pegs - yet another
reason why everyone should join the 20th century and make their
instruments w/ guitar-style tuners).
Tucker Barrett (http://www.tbviolins.com)/
This was the first electric cello I ever saw (in the pages of
Strings magazine), and after trying one out for a month or so, I
bought the five-string model (love that low F string). To be honest,
I wish I had done more comparison shopping. There's always a
trade-off between lack of feedback and acoustic sound; the Tucker
Barrett is a completely solid-body cello, so the chances of feedback
are almost nil, but because it has no hollow areas, it sounds like,
well, a stick with strings slapped on it. A good pre-amp will help
"warm" the sound, and you can spend more and more money on effects
boxes to get closer and closer to the sound you're shooting for;
unless you've got a lot of self-control, the initial cost of an
electric instrument is just the tip of the iceberg (just like MIDI
equipment). A lot of people love the Tucker Barrett, though, and, to
be fair, every time I've played a Barrett that he's set up, it's
sounded much better than mine (and he's not even using a pre-amp -
he just plugs it straight into an SWR amp - the man knows how to get
the best out of his children). For my purposes, though, it's fine -
I mainly use it late at night w/o plugging it in, so I don't wake
the neighbors while practicing. [I have since caved in and bought a
pre-amp w/ fun twiddly knobs, and am quite happy w/ my Tucker Barret
- Evan.]
Jensen (www.halcyon.com/jensmus/cello.htm)
[fixed link 7/24/00; they've added a new (to me) cello to their
lineup, too]. I haven't really played this cello much, but a local
cellist named Seth Blair who plays in a balkan/lounge/funk band
(honest, that's an accurate description of their repertoire) called
Reptile Palace Orchestra (cello.zoology.wisc.edu/reptile.html)
plays one as a functional bass - all pizz., no bow. The first time I
heard the band, I was unable to see what I thought was the bass
until the set finished, and I was stunned to find it was a guy
playing the cello, so it very creditably passes for a bass. This
cello goes even further in the stick-with-strings direction than the
Tucker Barrett - it's pretty much all metal except for the
fingerboard, and it's extremely stripped-down for maximum
portability. Seth told me he tried the Tucker Barrett, but he was
specifically looking for something that sounded like a bass, and
settled on the Jensen as his best choice. A big plus that the Jensen
and most other electric cellos have (sadly, not the Tucker Barrett)
is guitar-style tuning mechanisms, rather than pegs. These are a lot
easier to deal with, and, if you've got more than four pegs, they
have to be cramped together in order to fit in a standard cello
case. On my five-string pegged cello, I sometimes have to use
needle-nose pliers to tune - my fingers just don't fit between the
pegs.
Ned Steinberger (ncoln.midcoast.com/~nsdesign)
Very nice. This has an acoustic resonating chamber (if memory serves
correctly), which gives you a warmer sound than a completely
solid-body cello, but may very well mean an increased chance of
feedback in amplified situations (and you'd be surprised how much
amplification you need to compete with drums and brass). Ned's also
an electronics wunderkind, so there's a lot of wizardry inside that
I don't really understand (and I have a long-unused B.A. in physics
lying somewhere around here), that makes this sound a lot like a
real cello. It has no shoulders, which I find disorienting for
locating your fingers in shifts (but I'm sure I could get used to),
and it is played standing up with a stand, like a Clevenger bass.
This puts you on an equal par visually with with the other members
of a pop-oriented group (rock, jazz, etc.), but I'm lazy; I like
sitting down when I play. [Update: on trying this again, I found I
was thrilled w/ the pizz. sound - really warm and full. Arco-wise, I
still prefer the Vector.]
Vector (142.176.85.10/vector/cello.html)
A beautiful looking and beautiful sounding cello. Like the Tucker
Barrett, the Vector retains all the parts of the cello that your
body comes in contact with and removes the rest, leaving an elegant
sculpture made of some gorgeously-finished wood. But more
importantly, this cello really sounds like an acoustic cello; it's
warm and full even if you plug it directly into an amp, since
there's a built-in pre-amp. I really like the sound of this cello,
and it (like the Tucker Barrett) is very easy to play; as far as
your fingers are concerned, it 's just another cello, not a new
species.
Jordan (jordanmusic.com)
Here's a kind of miracle: a completely solid-body cello that looks
totally unlike a cello (comments I heard ranged from "spider" to
"giant catcher's mask" to the not-very-specific "creepy"), yet
sounds and feels like an acoustic. I have no idea how this was done,
but I found this cello a surprising pleasure to play. It had a such
a genuine acoustic sound that I kept asking the maker "you're sure
there's no resonating chamber? really? come on, there's gotta be
some trick." And maybe it just coincidentally had exactly the same
measurements as my acoustic cello, but I though this was an
incredibly easy cello to play - what the software-oriented refer to
as a "transparent interface." Also, at least to my taste, while it
in now way resembles a cello, it's a very elegant-looking
instrument. (To be honest, though, I'd play a cello that looked like
a giant bust of Ernest Borgnine if the sound was good; I hate trying
out acoustic cellos and having the sales weasels wax rhapsodically
about the "lustrous finish" and the "warm honey-toned back." If it
doesn't sound good, it isn't worth $10.)
and finally, Zeta (w.zetamusic.com).
A piece of crap. When I tried out the Zeta Strados cello at the New
Directions Cello Festival two years ago, the consensus among all the
cellists was pretty much that this was an unpleasant hunk of lumber
that sounded like an unpleasant hunk of lumber. As far as I could
tell, electric bowed string instrument standards have really shot up
since Zeta made these, but Zeta is still putting their original
designs out, coasting on their well-funded PR department. Zeta does
have a lot of spiffy stringed-instrument MIDI toys that they've come
up with; in that department they're pretty much second to none, and
I'll give them full credit and my own humble (if crotchety) thanks.
It's just a shame that they can get away with selling a seriously
inferior instrument to people who probably don't have the
opportunity to comparison shop, or who have never heard of any other
electronic instrument makers. BTW, the consensus about the other
cellos available at the NDCF that year was that the Jordan and the
Vector were wonderful instruments that we'd love to own if we could
just find rich patrons to buy them for us. Some of us were willing
to marry into wealth with just that goal in mind (okay, that was
just me).
As a caveat, I should point out that [the Zeta,
Jensen and Jordan] I've only played once [3 or 4] years ago, and
memory is a tricky thing; I of course really only remember my
impressions of my impressions (if you can follow that), not the
actual sound of these instruments. And of course, most makers are
constantly reworking their instruments: I'm sure my six-year old
Tucker Barrett sounds different from one hot off the lathe. If
you're interested in trying some of these out, the New Directions
Cello Festival (www.newdirectionscello.com/default.html)
is the best place in the world, bar none, to go. The makers that
show up all set up their instruments in the same room, so you can
literally hop from table to table comparing the sounds and feels of
the different cellos. Also, some people come to the festival with
their own electric cellos [so even if a manufacturer doesn't show up
to represent his or her wares, you may still get to try one
out].
Plus, if you go to this year's festival, you can meet
me and tell me how damned annoying you thought this post was in
person.
Evan Evanson
Edited by Evan
Evanson at: 7/24/00 9:58:41 am
|
Nicholas
Anderson
Local
user
(7/4/00 3:21:01 am)
Reply |
What
about.....?????
Of course, this may not be what
everyone's looking for, but just for the sake of completeness, it
seems odd that no one has seen fit to mention the earliest electric
cello that *I* know of, which is the "Travielo," hand-made by Ernest
Nussbaum in Maryland. I've owned one since 1983, and have schlepped
it all over the world with me, primarily for practicing on
non-performing trips. (It can also be played without amplification,
which makes a soft but audible sound that doesn't disturb neighbors,
etc.) It collapses down to the size of a standard violin case, and
is designed to avoid one's having to pay for extra plane tickets for
the cello. But the sound is listenable enough that I've used it
(with enhanced speakers) for informal performances, quite
successfully. It's also the most reasonable price-wise. When I
bought mine, it was $650, and then later it went up to something
like $850, in the 1990's. It's like an old faithful friend,
especially for someone with professional needs. Among the satisfied
customers is Yo-Yo Ma, who bought one several years ago.
|
Patocellist
Registered User
(7/23/00 11:30:42 am)
Reply |
Electric cello: a sudamerican option
I must say that you cand find a very
good sounding cello and for one of the lowest prices you could find
at:
http://www.verdi.com.ar/
They
are argentine luthiers, and thats the explanation for the low price,
not the quality, i own one of them and its excellent. It sound warm
and has a incredible acoustic feel.
Talking about of The Jensen
cello page, the address posting above by Evan Evanson is wrong, the
real address is:
www.halcyon.com/jensmus/cello.htm
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