Need a mic for the nylon guitar (Live situation)

[Nama]

Hi!

My friend plays a nylon guitar and he's trying to incorporate it into our group.
Our other instruments are an electronic guitar, laptops, xylophones and various percussions.
They are all louder than the nylon guitar,
(the xylophones are pretty loud without being miced.)
so we've been micing the guitar with a dynamic mic or the mics that the houses have, but we haven't been satisfied.

I think we need a small diagram, loud cardioid condenser mic that doesn?t get much feedback.
What can you think of?

Your input would be much appreciated.

Best,

Nama

[Cornvalley]

When playing live try a transducer type pickup. For the nylon or steel string one of the most natural sounding I have come across is the B-Band. You can always supplement it with a mic but you may be suprised at what it can do all by itself.
http://www.b-band.com/

[jabney]

I guess I should drag out the asbestos suit in anticipation of getting flamed :-), but the best sounding nylon string guitar I've heard in a live situation with a loud(er) band wasn't through a mic' or a pickup. It was the Yamaha "Silent Nylon String Guitar" which is primarily marketed as a practice instrument.

[Cornvalley]

The Yomama uses a B-band pickup otherwise you wouldn't hear shite.

[doorknocker]

Never used it live, but I got really good results with a Beyer M201 for nylon string guitar, very full, unhyped and warm sounding. I bought the M201 for snare (amazing!) but it works equally well on guitar. It's a dynamic mic but the hypercardioid character will get you outstanding left-right rejection so I guess it would work great in your situation.

Andi

[jabney]

hi Cornvalley,

I did not know that the Yamaha used another manufacturer's pickup. I knew that a transducer of some sort had to be involved, but the point I did not manage to get across (my fault) was that what I enjoyed hearing sounded like a nylon string guitar (think King Sunny Ade on "Aura") even though it was really just a stick with strings, a transducer, and vestigial bouts. I figured I'd get flamed for daring to call it a "guitar" :-).