Tech21 Acoustic Fly Rig
Hey folks, this time around I want to introduce you to the Acoustic Fly Rig from the fine people at TECH21. The whole idea here is very simple. You’re going to play acoustic guitar and the native volume is not enough, or you want to record your acoustic in your home studio. This of course presumes that your acoustic guitar as some kind of pickup installed in it. If no pickup, it’s physical microphone time and you are into a different game. (see the note later on for what you need).
About the TECH21 Acoustic Fly Rig
The Acoustic Fly Rig (pictured above) comes from TECH21 who while known for their effects have really made a name for themselves with their SansAmp units. It means simply, without amp. Fly Rigs are small, highly transportable units that not only have the preamp function, but a selection of footswitchable effects.
My friend Fraser at The Arts Music Store uses a Fly Rig for many of his gigs that he takes his electric guitar to. He takes the guitar, a cable and the Fly Rig and the sound person plugs the Fly Rig right into the PA. No amp to carry and the audience doesn’t care that there is no amplifier on the stage. Thus you can conclude that TECH21 makes a variety of different Fly Rigs. No one need be left behind.
This particular Fly Rig is for the acoustic player. It includes a preamp section with tone controls for lows, midrange and highs but adds value here by adding an output volume control for the preamp, a low pass filter to deal with boomy guitar issues, a shiftable midrange point, ideal for using the Fly Rig with different bodied acoustics that respond differently and a selectable notch filter to deal with feedback. These are all things that a decent acoustic preamp MUST provide. If you have a guitar with a pickup that you do not care for the sound from (I have guitars with factory supplied pickups that are all piezo, and I don’t like the nasal overtones of piezos) so the tone shaping controls are really important for me. Certainly I could use an EQ pedal and do when working with acoustic amplifiers in general. If you go that route, I heartily recommend the Source Audio EQ2. It’s worth every penny.
Playing and Samples
Sorry for that minor distraction, but if the tone is crap, you will want to solve that either with the Acoustic Fly Rig or an EQ pedal in front of it. The audio sample that follows is the preamp portion only with everything set at noon. It’s not optimal for the guitar in question, but an improvement over the guitar direct. For all the audio samples, I used my Martin SC-13. I wrote about the SC-13 here and you can learn more about it. It comes with a Fishman MX-T pickup and while I love the guitar, I really dislike the sound from this pickup if used direct (meaning not running through my AER amplifier).
Fortunately I have a lot of control for tone tweakage in the Acoustic Fly Rig, but I restrained myself from tinkering for the samples. Heck you might like the sound of that pickup with all the preamp controls at noon.
When you plug in the guitar, the first section that the signal hits is the compressor. It’s not the squishy type of compressor that I do not like. It’s a lovely warm FET style comp with only a compression and a level control. Think along the lines of a classic analog rack compressor. While not as flexible as my favourite Origin Systems Cali76, it is extremely well suited to an acoustic guitar. The next sample is the preamp with the compressor engaged. It is set to 2 o’clock for compression and the level adjusted for neutral volume. To me it increases the natural sustain a bit and warms up the overall tone, just as a proper compressor should, without getting squishy or adding clicky artefacts.
I like the tone with the compressor and for me, it’s an always on effect with this particular guitar. Guitars that are solid sides and back will need different settings, depending on the rise time of the signal based on the wood. The SC-13 is a laminate sides and back guitar, but it’s about the only one that I have tried in this construction that I liked.
But I need some auditory space. I don’t mean surf scene auditory space, I mean just a touch of reverb. The reverb in the Acoustic Fly Rig is very nice and delivers a range from room to hall. It can get a bit swampy if cranked all the way up. There is a single control for the reverb level. For this sample it is set at about 11:30 There is a dedicated foot switch for the reverb function. There is a button to set the room size, small or large.
If I want more space than just what I get with the Reverb function, there is also a built in delay capability with the Acoustic Fly Rig. In delay mode you have controls for delay time and the number of repeats. At noon, the time corresponds to about 200ms. For the sample, time was set to 2:00 and the repeats set to 11:30. There is a separate control for Effects level so you can control how strong the effects section is. Think of this as the wet to dry mix. The control applies to either of chorus or delay depending on which of the latter two is in play. There’s also a footswitch for tap tempo in this section which is a great asset.
Chorus is offered as an alternative to delay. In this mode the Time control and the Repeats control do nothing. The chorus is very gentle and adds a slightly detuned effect to widen the soundstage to be similar to a 12 string guitar. If you want sweepy or swooshy chorus, that’s not here, but do you really want that for your acoustic stuff? Use the effects level control to manage how evident the Chorus is.
There are other functions in the Acoustic Fly Rig. There’s a phase reverse switch in the Compressor section. In the preamp section there are two buttons. One disables the notch filter completely and the other disables the preamp section. This is good to experiment with to learn the difference between what your guitar pickup does on its own and how the preamp can benefit or potentially hurt the tone. That tap tempo switch activates a digital tuner with mute if you hold the switch down. Standing up, the display is a bit small for me, but others will not have an issue. In a stage setting, in my opinion, it is still bright enough to see.
For those who are concerned, the Acoustic Fly Rig provides buffered bypass.
Another function with a level control and a dedicated foot switch is the Boost control which offers a wide mid-boost of up to 12dB.
When it comes to output there is a lot of flexibility. The line out jack can be switched for headphones on or off so you can practice and still get the sound of the Acoustic Fly Rig. The line out jack is an unbalanced line, and if you want to run into your audio interface, or PA or FRFR powered speaker there is a balanced XLR output. The XLR output has a ground lift button if needed.
The Acoustic Fly Rig needs 150mA and can handle between 9 and 12 volts. I have run it off the dedicated power supply as well as a OneSpot supply without issues, but wherever possible I use the 12v supply that comes with the Acoustic Fly Rig.
My Guitar has No Pickup :(
Now as promised, for those of you who love this idea but whose guitar does not have a pickup, well there is a problem. Microphones have considerably lower output than a guitar pickup, so you will need to boost that signal, via a microphone preamplifier. These things can get crazy expensive quickly so my less recommended alternative does not involve an Acoustic Fly Rig. Instead you run your microphone direct to the PA or your audio interface and do your effects after the fact. This gets clumsy and potentially pricey unless your DAW has a bunch of plugins for acoustic guitar or your PA has a decent tone stack and effects loop. My preferred alternative is to spend $150 CAD for a K&K Pure Mini pickup, and if you aren’t confident in your ability to install it, get a professional tech to do it. It’s not hard to install but can be a bit awkward if you do not have the proper tools. I only recommend K&K pickups for acoustic guitars. While you can get more expensive units with in sound hole volume and tone controls, in general I would rather use the Acoustic Fly Rig for these purposes and keep the pickup simple.
In Closing
If you are an acoustic guitar player who has an acoustic with a built in pickup and you want to record to an interface or play through a PA or FRFR, in my opinion, you cannot do better than the TECH21 Acoustic Fly Rig. Be assured that I tried a number of options before dropping my hard earned cash on this. Yes, I own it, the mark of serious commitment to a piece of gear. As always, I receive no compensation for this article.
Thanks for reading and until next time, peace. To ask a question on any guitar related subject, click this link
