TIPS  &  TUNING TECHNIQUES

How to Amplify a Dobro

I started out with a Fishman active reso pickup which is a piezo washer that fits on to the cone set screw and secured with a locknut.

On its own this pickup produces a truly awful ‘quacky’ sound that no EQ could overcome. The sound is not really useable.

I then tried putting this signal through an L R Baggs Para Acoustic DI. This has a five band EQ , volume control and XLR  socket for output to a PA and a jack socket for output to an amplifier. For some reason this really sweetens the sound no matter what EQ settings are used but still not good enough.

I then added a Kent Armstrong Slimbucker neck pick up and this works really well. It adds bass and warmth which combined with the piezo really sounds like the miked instrument. If you had a really good PA and sound engineer you might get a better tone, but this set up is consistently good.