Bertbart Posted May 30, 2007 Report Share Posted May 30, 2007 I have a customer who wants a piezo acoustic pickup in addition to the magnetic pickups. He doesn't want a six saddle bridge with individual piezos. What he wants is a bone saddle with a Fishman Matrix. The Fishman has the input jack pre-amp. He wanted the under-saddle pickup mounted where the tune-a-matic was. I have built a wooden platform/bridge and slotted it for a compensated bone saddle with the pickup underneath. I have hard wired it externally and strung it up and it works surprisingly well...sounds very acoustic. The problem is that I need to wire the magnetic EMG's into that single Fishman pre-amp jack. It's a stereo switching jack to turn the nine volt battery on so it can do both. He also wants a volumn control for the Fishman so he can adjust and blend the two systems. The Fishman instructions say I need a 20K potentiometer for a volumn control and the EMG's require a 25K potentiometer. He also wants a switch to run either magnetic or piezo or both. I could install two output jacks and run two separate systems but I'd rather run one single jack with a switch instead of un-plugging one and plugging into the other. Can anyone help me out with this problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crafty Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 Use a 25k blend pot. Connect the EMGs to one side, the Fishman output to the other. You could also ditch the Fishman altogether and use the under-saddle pickup with the EMG APA-2 preamp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 I've been researching into this, and without doing custom electronics there are 2 decent options that I've found-- but they're in the neighborhood of $100 for either. A little bit less actually, but once shipping is rolled in... 1. Fishman Powerchip: It includes its own jack which not only serves as the on/off (for the battery consumption) but will detect a mono or stereo 1/4" being inserted and adjust the output signal accordingly. With a mono plug inserted, it 'blends' the two signals. With a stereo plug, it'll send the mag along one lead and the piezo along the other. The Powerchip is all attached to a *volume* knob. There IS a blend, but it's a mini trim pot on the circuit (inside the control cavity after mounting). But you can also use a 3-way mini-switch to select which signals are being used (mag/piezo/blend) 2. LR Baggs CTRL-X: Similar technology, but different approach. It also includes its own jack, but does NOT auto-detect a plug type. You can manually select output type (mono/stereo) with a push-button, and blend type with a mini-switch. Its knob is a *blend* knob. Each of those products has a reasonably helpful (though not exhaustive) user's guide... just Google and you'll come across them within minutes. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertbart Posted May 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 Thanks Greg, I have checked into both of those and I think I'm going with the control X by Baggs. Bert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 FWIW, that's the one I'm going with, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 Yep, easiest way you just need a pre for the piezo that is not integral with the output jack. Although that is not exactly a deal-killer, as you could probably bring the leads out from the output jack to a 3-way and then back in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertbart Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Yep, easiest way you just need a pre for the piezo that is not integral with the output jack. Although that is not exactly a deal-killer, as you could probably bring the leads out from the output jack to a 3-way and then back in. Yea, I'm going to use a pb-2 EMG pre-amp on the Fishman piezo and save the Fishman input jack pre-amp for another project. I ordered the Control X from Baggs so it's on the way. I've installed a Control X on another weird system before. It was a Telly with EMG's and a Fishman Telly Power Bridge. I was some what disappointed in the so called acoustic sounding Power Bridge. It doesn't sound very acoustic to my ears at all. I tried EQ-ing and a different amp and still disappointed...too thin sounding...brassy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 That's typical of Piezo bridges, though, on acoustic guitars as well but particularly on solidbodies. You won't find one without that characteristic piezo sound. At best, it's a passable version of something our ears perceive as "acoustic-ish". For my custom order, the idea wasn't so much to have access to an "acoustic" sound but rather to be able to blend in that unique "piezo" sound with the magnetics for a huge range of otherwise impossible tones. It's even cleaner than a clean low-output single-coil. Plus, not prone to EMI/RFI... <3 Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertbart Posted June 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2007 Well I got it all working properly with one EMG switching jack using the pb-2 EMG pre-amp on the piezo along with 25K vol. and tone. (The piezo from Fishman said it required 20K's but the 25K's work just fine) I installed a mini "on-on-on" switch to engage either the EMG's or the piezo or both. It sounds great in all three positions. I also put and EXG EMG on the SA's. The tones are seemingly infinite especially blending the piezo and the magnetic pick ups. Thanks everyone for all the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted June 16, 2007 Report Share Posted June 16, 2007 Bertbart, glad to hear everything went well! I hope you don't mind if I call on you some day in the future when it comes time for the installation of my electronics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertbart Posted June 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2007 I'll be glad to help Greg...anytime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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