urk sounds nasty, Benjamin. As I said, one thing I immediately liked about the Oskars was the smooth fit and finish on them- lots of round surfaces.I've always played right through the mike channel of the PA, but I'm told the way to go is through a small (25-30 watt) tube amplifier, and then mike that to the PA. Others in this thread seem to play directly through amps or PAs- any one use the amp/PA approach?