Editing Viola (section)

== Electric violas ==
Amplification of a viola with a [[pickup (music technology)|pickup]], an [[instrument amplifier]] (and speaker), and adjusting the tone with a [[graphic equalizer]] can make up for the comparatively weaker output of a violin-family instrument string tuned to notes below G3. There are two types of instruments used for electric viola: regular acoustic violas fitted with a [[piezoelectric]] pickup and specialized electric violas, which have little or no body.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Electric Viola: Amplifying Violas in Modern Music|url=https://www.johnsonstring.com/violas-facts/electric-viola.htm|access-date=6 August 2021|website=[[Johnson String Instrument]]}}</ref> While traditional acoustic violas are typically only available in historically used earth tones (e.g., brown, reddish-brown, blonde), electric violas may be traditional colors or they may use bright colors, such as red, blue or green. Some electric violas are made of materials other than wood.

Most electric instruments with lower strings are violin-sized, as they use the amp and speaker to create a big sound, so they do not need a large soundbox. Indeed, some electric violas have little or no soundbox, and thus rely entirely on amplification. Fewer electric violas are available than electric violins. It can be hard for violists who prefer a physical size or familiar touch references of a viola-sized instrument, when they must use an electric viola that uses a smaller violin-sized body. Cale, formerly of The Velvet Underground, is one of the more notable users of such an electric viola and he has used them both for melodies in his solo work and for [[drone (music)|drones]] in his work with The Velvet Underground (e.g. "[[Venus in Furs (song)|Venus in Furs]]"). Other notable players of the electric viola are [[Geoffrey Richardson (musician)|Geoffrey Richardson]] of [[Caravan (band)|Caravan]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=Barnes|first=Mike|date=2016-04-01|title=Caravan's Geoffrey Richardson on sobriety and going solo|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/caravan-s-geoffrey-richardson-on-sobriety-and-going-solo|access-date=2021-08-06|website=Louder|language=en}}</ref> and Ramsey.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Iwasaki|first=Scott|title=Mary Ramsey celebrates 25 years as a 10,000 Maniac|url=https://www.parkrecord.com/entertainment/mary-ramsey-celebrates-25-years-as-a-10000-maniac/|access-date=2021-08-06|website=ParkRecord.com|date=8 January 2020 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Instruments may be built with an internal [[preamplifier]], or may put out an [[buffer amplifier|unbuffered]] [[transducer]] [[Signal (electrical engineering)|signal]]. While such signals may be fed directly to an amplifier or [[mixing board]], they often benefit from an external preamp/[[Equalization (audio)|equalizer]] on the end of a short cable, before being fed to the [[public address|sound system]]. In rock and other loud styles, the electric viola player may use [[effects unit]]s such as [[reverb]] or [[Distortion (music)|overdrive]].