JLMusicUK - Posted - 04/03/2026:  11:50:01

Hi.
Trying to sort out my live sound. Has anyone had any experience using a Tonedexter live and if so which pickup have you used with it? I’m on a Deering Sierra which has both a Kavanjo head and a Pick Uo The World fitted although never use the Kavanjo. The whole band are on IEM’s so stage monitoring isn’t an issue.
Any other ideas welcome.
Thanks in advance.

Brian Murphy - Posted - 04/03/2026:  14:16:44

banjopodcast.com/152-tonedexte...-bennett/

banjopodcast.com/153-tonedexte...shootout/

Edited by - Brian Murphy on 04/03/2026 14:18:11

Ty Presley - Posted - 04/03/2026:  16:08:53

I use a Pickup of the World with a ToneDexter II and it sounds very good to me, I'm happy with it. It took many attempts to dial in a combination of settings that I was happy with though. I created at least a dozen wavemaps (impulse responses) with the mic in different positions/distances, with or without EQ on the mic itself, different rooms in my house, etc. because although I was getting a decent sound, it wasn't good enough for me to settle with. It wasn't until I spent a lot of time with the EQ through trial and error that I was able to get a sound that really impressed me live. Even then, I still sometimes tweak it since the sound can vary so much between the little room at home, a club/bar, or outdoors. Those are relatively small tweaks though because I have my base sound figured out.

The EQ is very powerful and I expect would compensate for pretty much anything you feel is lacking from the wavemap by itself. It's parametric so you get a lot of control and unlike some other EQs, the graphical display allows you to easily see how the Q setting, notch filter, and high-pass all overlay on the frequency spectrum. I'd get the EQ as right as you can and then add just a tiny bit of compression and plate reverb afterwards. I was recording the ToneDexter into a DAW and playing it back through studio monitors to compare settings.

So, I think it's a great option but in my experience, it wasn't as easy as the demo videos show. It took some time and was frustrating at the beginning. I'd suggest using the type of pickups they recommend. I tried it with a different banjo that has a Fishman Rare Earth (active magnetic humbucker) and wasn't able to ever get it close enough to consider using live.

JLMusicUK - Posted - 04/05/2026:  03:42:51

Thanks for your advice.
I think I’ll give the Tonedexter a go. It’s a bit of a bad investment if it doesn’t work but I’ve heard good things.

TimFoster - Posted - 04/05/2026:  13:43:42

I had the tonedexter (bear in mind this was the original iteration), tried it with a few different transducer/piezo based pickups and was never truly happy with it — but everyone’s preferences and needs are different.



In the end I landed on a DPA 4099 mic through a Grace Felix preamp, and that setup has served me well for rehearsals,

bar/brewery indoor and outdoor gigs through our PA, and a few festival gigs with larger scale sound support over the past 4-5 years or so.



If Tonedexter doesn’t do it for you, that might be worth a shot.

Edited by - TimFoster on 04/05/2026 13:51:38

Ty Presley - Posted - 04/05/2026:  18:01:39

quote:

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Originally posted by TimFoster

I had the tonedexter (bear in mind this was the original iteration), tried it with a few different transducer/piezo based pickups and was never truly happy with it — but everyone’s preferences and needs are different.



In the end I landed on a DPA 4099 mic through a Grace Felix preamp, and that setup has served me well for rehearsals,

bar/brewery indoor and outdoor gigs through our PA, and a few festival gigs with larger scale sound support over the past 4-5 years or so.



If Tonedexter doesn’t do it for you, that might be worth a shot.

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Tim,

I was contemplating a similar setup using a gooseneck mic like that but was worried about feedback and I play with a drummer. Have you needed to do anything to mitigate feedback? That mic and preamp combo is very nice but expensive. Are there any more budget options that you would recomment?

TimFoster - Posted - 04/05/2026:  21:25:07

Yeah — feedback was definitely one of my worries with a mic setup. I hadn’t been super happy with the various pickup systems for banjo I’d tried and was familiar with the DPA, having used it on acoustic guitar a few times prior. I was always blown away by what you could get away with volume-wise when standing right in front of a monitor.



Feedback rejection is noticeably better than other small condensers I’ve used (Audio Technica Pro and ATM series, shure beta 98, etc…) But that goes hand in hand with an extremely directional pickup pattern — so it’s sensitive to placement, with small positional movements having a big impact. That made the standard banjo/mandolin mount unusable for me — I was constantly knocking it around, stepping on the cable and yanking it off in some cramped corner of a bar… A complete and utter hot mess. Almost gave up on it altogether, but turns out the drum rim mount works great — far more secure and out of the way (for clutzy folks like me).



I can’t really think of an alternative for that mic from personal experience, though I do think you could manage just as well with a less extravagant preamp. Anything reasonably clean,

ideally with some form of parametric eq.



Buuuuuut to your point, I play in a small trio without a drummer… I’ve used it a few times messing around with one and it worked — but this was with a volume conscientious drummer using the heavier variety of “hot rod” sticks. If your stage volume is pretty loud — drums, electric guitar — might be risky to count on a mic from room to room and you’re probably on the right track with the Tonedexter. Heck, in either case, its definitely worth trying befoe jumping too far down the rabbit hole.

Edited by - TimFoster on 04/05/2026 21:36:15

banjohood - Posted - 04/21/2026:  10:33:38

It took me a while to dial in, but I've played hundreds of shows with a Tonedexter 1. I've performed with rock bands, bluegrass, folk ensembles, orchestra pits. I use it with a Schatten piezo pickup. It's the best solution I've found as it is feedback resistant, sounds natural enough, simple to use, and not confusing to sound board operators. I actually had a mic-pickup blender that I stopped using in favor of the Tonedexter.

One caveat: it is difficult to get a good wavemap for banjo. Took me a few hours of experimentation with microphones, placement, and playing style to get a couple wavemaps that sounded natural enough yet had a "direct" sound without too many overtones.

Brian Murphy - Posted - 04/21/2026:  12:58:41

This may be an ignorant question, but that never stopped me before: Are wavemaps transferrable? In other words, if you have done a wavemap with banjo that sounds amazing, can I copy it and transfer it to my Tonedexter to make my banjo sound like yours?

banjoak - Posted - 04/21/2026:  18:50:43

quote:

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Originally posted by Brian Murphy

This may be an ignorant question, but that never stopped me before: Are wavemaps transferrable? In other words, if you have done a wavemap with banjo that sounds amazing, can I copy it and transfer it to my Tonedexter to make my banjo sound like yours?

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Not really.

It works by measuring the difference in the input from that specific banjo and pickup setup... and then compares that specific as an electrical signal, to what it sounds like acoustically through a mic; thus can subtract, calculate the difference...  and then translate it to know how it's supposed to translate and change the input.

Your "input" of banjo and pickup is going to be different.

Not to say you can't use other's preexisting wave maps; possible luck out your banjo and pickup setup will be fairly close input... and sound okayish. But better to just put in the time to make one from your banjo and PU.

FWIW, I do use a pre-made violin IR for my elec fiddle... it's not really like the expensive violin, but it does give some added acoustic quality to the output.

Edited by - banjoak on 04/21/2026 18:56:46