How best to explain to the banjo player...

[BenjaminWells]

While the banjo player is a novice at stage equipment, he happens to be a clinical psychologist... which would be a red flag in most situations, but this guy is even keeled and as kind as they come. And, we have a wonderful working relationship. No one took any of this stuff personally, and we are used to bickering about stuff like this. It's great to be in a band where real communication happens, hard as it is sometimes. It's one of the things that keeps me coming back, gig after gig.

[Freakmagnet451]

In your first post you describe hearing an overwhelming sound of metal finger picks.

In his reply we learn his system has a microphone.

I am sort of surprised nobody suggested finding the sweet spot for the mic?

Better yet, there is a Fishman banjo pickup that uses the head of the banjo for a microphone by adding a small piece of ferrous metal and using a traditional coil wrapped around a magnet type pickup.

A giant 5 string dynamic mic! I am sure you could even use it for vocals.

Seems like if he gets the source sorted out and can make it sound good there is no harm on having a subtle boost to put him out front for solos. As a guitarist it is simply standard operating procedure.

I do agree that the time to experiment is not at a gig though.

[hank alrich]

Thanks for this. Yes, I see. Maybe we just need to set up the preamp properly, so that the louder volume isn't screechy. I'll have a look at it tonight I think.

Two issues I see here. The first is the amount of boost, which should be adjustable, and the second is the screechy tone. Regardless of appropriate boost level, that tone is hurting underneath it all, all the time, unless it's a result of poor gain staging, which I'm am not assuming here.

It's damned hard to get a pickup to sound decent on a banjo. When I play banjo (true confession time) I stick with a mic. When I'm playing acoustic guitar (K&K pickup) or mandolin ('22 Gibson A w/Fishman saddle) I use one of these:

http://www.fire-eye.com/

I work with the SR operator to get the amount of boost set correctly. We generally have no problems.