The Elusive Art of Acoustic Guitar Amplification

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Permalink Reply by John Gundrum on April 27, 2011 at 6:29am

Do you have any idea who the manufacturer of the pickup system is?  If you do, check with the manufacturer.

You might need a battery, so look for a battery mount inside the guitar.

Getting a look inside the guitar should not be an issue.  Loosen the strings or change them if you haven't already done so.  Once the strings are loose use a flashlight and compact mirror or an inspection mirror you get from autoparts stores to look inside the guitar and figure out the wiring.

When looking inside make sure all the solder connections are solid and there aren't any loose or stray strands of wire that could be causing a short.

Focus on the jack to find out if it's TS or TRS.  A standard TS jack will only have one connection point.  A TRS will have two connection points.  Here is an good example showing the differences between a TS and TRS jack input.  If it's a TRS jack use a TRS cable and turn on the phantom power and try again.  Be sure to give the phantom power about 30 seconds to warm up before turning the input gain up on the channel.

John

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Permalink Reply by John Gundrum on April 27, 2011 at 6:34am

BTW: I know you pain with ambient noises when recording using mics.  I'd like to add kids, trains, firehouse sirens and the "that book has been sitting on the shelf for months, why did it suddenly fall right in the middle of that perfect take!"

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Permalink Reply by John Gundrum on May 25, 2011 at 8:53am

I'd like to add Harleys to the list of more than ambient noise.

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Permalink Reply by David Eaton on May 25, 2011 at 10:37am

Good list, John, but I'd like to add Cat's meowing at the end of tracks.  Often I have cut in my home late at night and had the sound of birds audible on sustaining notes.  I didn't know birds stay up at night!  

But sometimes, the quieter it is, the louder little noises become.  I've become accustom to turning off the refrigerator when recording at home.  Having once forgot to turn it back on and ruining a bunch of food when I left town the next day, I've gotten in the habit of creating a reminder.  I first placed a potato on my pillow to remind me not to go to sleep before turning it back on.  It has become a game to see what strange reminders I can leave myself.

 

With a good internal pickup system, recording acoustic guitar is a joy!

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Permalink Reply by David Eaton on May 24, 2011 at 1:10pm

Hey Regan, 

 

I can understand your confusion.  I am a record producer/engineer, and getting good tone from guitars is crucial to my work.  I own a Taylor 710ce with a Fishman Blender pickup (which has both the under saddle transducer, and an electret mic).  I have used this pickup for recording on masters, and often choose it over my $6,000 tube mic when either the tonal requirement for my track, isolation, or just mere convenience calls for it. I understand your passion to get this thing up and going.

 

Without knowing the exact pickup system that you have, I can only give you advice based on my own system, and some general knowledge.

 

First off, the pickup system is unlikely to use phantom power.  Phantom power is provided via 3 pin XLR mic systems.  Unless your system comes with a special cable (TRS to XLR) that is the last place I would be looking.

 

It is more likely that they system uses a mic, probably powered by a 9 volt battery mounted inside the guitar.  The Fishman Blender has a little tab at the top and pulling that tab down enables the entire control panel to open via a hinge.  From this position the battery is very easy accessible.

 

Also accessible is a “Stereo/mono” switch on the pickup.  In “Mono” both the mic and UST feed the guitar’s output.  A standard 1/4” guitar cable will have you up and going.  The mix is set by a control on the preamp below the Bass, Treble, etc.

 

In “Stereo” mode, the signal of the mic feeds the ‘tip’ and the signal of the UST feeds the ‘ring’ of a TRS cable (I may have that backward, but you get the idea.)  If using this, you can take a 1/4” TRS that splits into a pair of 1/4” standard plugs.  Feed each into the 1/4” inputs on your Mbox and make sure to set the channels to “Instrument” for the right level.  (If you go into your Alesis mixer, you will want to use an “Instrument” input as well.  When you used a cable with RCA ends, you probably sent the signal to “line” level inputs, which do not match impedance or have the gain needed for success.)

 

I hope this shines a light on your path.  Nothing thrills our hearts like making music – nothing pisses us off more than technology getting in the way!

 

Happy picking, 

David Eaton

DavidEatonProductions.com

 

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