A big THANK YOU goes out to Ellise and Lidia at the Westfield shopping centre at Westlakes. They have kindly given permission for me to busk INSIDE the shopping centre in inclement weather. Several other buskers have also taken advantage of this opportunity. Of course, permission must be sought and gained from the management, but I have found them to be very accommodating.
Here’s me at Westlakes with my new(ish) Martin six-string acoustic and my also new(ish) Roland AC-33 acoustic amplifier.
Now this Roland amp is just the best thing since sliced bread, for the busker who wishes to retain the acoustic sound of their instrument whilst enhancing their vocals with a chorus effect that works just great. It’s a true stereo amp and so the chorus operates by splitting the output between the channels and altering the phases relative to each other, to give a huge ‘wide’ or ‘broad’ sound. Oh yeah, it runs on either mains power OR eight AA batteries. I use rechargeables and I get at least five hours out of them without showing any signs of fading, so I have no reason to doubt their quoted life of over 8 hours of operation.
Add to that the Fishman controls on the Martin (which does it’s own phase-shifting trick) and this setup sounds so professional, yet so natural too, WITHOUT being unnecessarily loud (an important consideration with other traders closeby).
I know this must sound like an advertisement, but I have no association with either company but I DID research heavily before making my purchases. Having done that, I could not be happier with the setup I now have!