Gear

"I change my gear quite often, so below are pictures and descriptions of some of the setups ive gone through during the years. The picture to the right is one of my more recent boards. It goes like this: bassoon into Little Jake bassoon pickup that is attached to the neck (bocal) of the bassoon-that leads to a LR Baggs 9V powered preamp on the floor closest to the camera. Then-It goes into the thing on the left-a Avalon U5 direct box. Then-into the main unit that you will see in a lot of pictures because I’ve been using it since about 2012. That would be the thing with the blue light-the TC Helicon Voice Live 2. Then, I have it sent to the Boomerang Looper." 

"Here at another show (picture below) I added an EHX POG2 pedal that goes before the TC Voice Live and I normally just don’t bother with taking the Avalon. I don’t have a roadie so I hate bringing too much. You can’t see it but I also have a MXR Bass Envelope Filter-I love that unit." 

Now I will talk about gear. This shot (below to the right) features a lot of instruments I play. I'll go from left to right.

Yamaha Soprano Saxophone (won it in 1995 from JAZZIZ Magazine). I use a Bari rubber soprano sax mouthpiece with Rico Royal 3 reeds. Selmer Mark VI Tenor Saxophone (serial numbers around 64,000). I play a Vandoren metal mouthpiece that's somewhat open with Vandoren Jazz reeds strength 3. Selmer Mark VI Alto Saxophone. I use a brass Lawton mouthpiece that's medium open with Rico Royal 3s. There's a bunch of stuff in this rack that's not mine. My Studio Vocalist harmonizer is dead-I just purchased a Digitech IPS 33 which is older and sounds better but does less harmonies-that's fine! My beautiful Moosmann 200AP bassoon. I use Legere Reeds Bassoon Reeds and I am proud to be a Moosmann bassoon artist. I currently use Leitzinger bocals-I alternate between the gold-plated one for ease of playing in loud and high passages and the silver bocal for more of a classical sound.  I also have a Yamaha WX5 instead of an Akai EWI. I use Logic 9 sounds and I am starting to get into other sound samplers such as Kontakt and Komplete. 

Morgan Nilsen is an international touring artist

and clarinet teacher located in San Francisco, California. 

Nilsen is a 2006 graduate from the Eastman School of Music for classical clarinet performance and a diploma in Ethnomusicolgy. (World Music)

Nilsen is a Backun Artist with a diverse and rewarding music career. She has performed in 49 states and plays wireless-clarinet at festivals across the nation. Nilsen plays music in ensembles of the following global genres:  Klezmer,  Balkan, Turkish, Colombian Cumbia, and Iranian classical music. 

Ensembles:

La Misa Negra (Colombian Cumbia)

Inspector Gadje Brass (Balkan Music)
MWE (Turkis Zurna)

La Gente (Reggaeton/Raggae)

Dina Zarif Ensemble (Iranian Classical)

Mala Klez (Klezmer)

Makru Musica (Rumba Flamenca)

Media

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PEDALS

In terms of pedals-I have had a lot of them. I currently am really liking the ZOOM B2.1u a lot because it's small and does a lot of things. However-you have to hoop through programs to get to where your sounds are. I also have the Line 6 M13 which is very nice too. In the past few years I've been using theTC Helicon Voice Live 2. I really love this unit(below center). It actually does intelligent pitch-shifting!! In the recent weeks, I have upgraded to a Line 6 Helix LT (below left) which I am incredibly excited about!"

In the last few years-great strides in bassoon pickup microphones have been made. Most notably at the top of the list is Trent Jacob's Little Jake Pickup microphone. Here's a shot of it on my bassoon (right). I have been using it on tour since March and it is really great. I never thought I'd ever stop using my FRAPs but I have."