Talk to me like I'm five

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Permalink Reply by Jim Scanlan on December 30, 2009 at 5:57pm

Hi Brent,
I assume your Taylor sounds fine played acousticaly...and is it equipped with the Taylor Expression system? You've got a lot of gear in the chain, and not knowing what you expect from it makes answering your questions a bit more difficult.
A balanced cable is the way to go for better sonic response..a blanced cable usually has 2 cannon plugs, one male, one female. There are "low loss" guitar cables available and usually a bit more expensive than regular cables. If your Taylor has an "after market" pick up installed, make sure it was done properly. Can't offer much more advice..don't know enough about what you're trying to accomplish. Also, there is a group of Taylor owners on site...maybe they can help you more.
Jim

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Permalink Reply by Brent Cummings on December 30, 2009 at 6:34pm

Hi. Thanks for the response. Yes my Taylor sounds great unplugged, and it has the factory installed Expression system. Still not quite sure of the balanced cable thing. In my set up there are cables from the guitar to the tuner, more cables connecting the pedals, another cable to the DI box and yet another to the snake. Not to mention the snake is a 80 feet long. What ticks me off is my old cheap Garrison guitar sounded fine with this set up. I've had other Taylor owners tell me they have the same troubles plugged in. I'm hopeful there is a simple solution.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Scanlan on December 30, 2009 at 9:23pm

Brent here are a few things you can try: 1. to eliminate the problem if it originates with your Taylor, by pass all other gear, plug directily into the P.A. if possible. set your expression contols to a "flat" setting. the electronics in you guitar are already "pre-amped" to some degree so there should be plenty of gain to feed the PA. If you are feeding to an 80 foot snake there is going to be a gain loss, and maybe some noise, but try it anyway. If you still have the problem with the e-b-g strings it could be the problem lies somewhere in the Taylor, probably the electronics. If so, try adjusting the Bass and Mid range tone functions to see if that has any effect on the tone of the treble strings...I am asumming here that you are haveing a tone problem as apposed to a rattle, buzz, or fret problem. I don't play Taylor guitars, although i have friends who do. When we Jam they all run their taylors through an active Di and they seem to work fine. If you have an amp that is designed for acoustic instruments try plugging directly into it, without a Di or any other gear in line . ..if the guitar sounds fine in any of the 2 scenarios above, then chances are the problem lies somewhere else in your signal chain. Blanced Cable: MIc cables are considered Balanced or Lo Z (impedence) Guitar Cables are unbalanced or Hi Z . Low impedence cables are best for sending sound. I don't know how much help any of this is..Can't really do much more without visually inspecting your setup.
Jim

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