Electro-Acoustic Failure is Real!

bluechargeboy

Soundchecking for our pub gig last night...I plug in my guitar (Takamine with Cool Tube pre-amp)...farty quiet sound was all we could get out of it. Obviously much panicked battery/cable changing and prodding and poking ensued but we could not resuscitate it. Fortunately we were only 30 minutes from home so Mrs BCB brought my other guitar. Need a more robust plan B than that though!

I tried it at home and could replicate the problem; my old non-cool tube preamp seems to work fine so something is amiss with the fancy one. Nothing obvious inside the preamp but tapping/hitting the guitar seems to make it happen. Hmm.

Now trying to decide whether to go for a cheap backup soundhole pickup, or a fancy soundhole pickup to replace the UST system and sound nicer!! I can't be having failures like that, and I don't really want to have to lug two acoustic guitars about....

thomasross20

Could you have just mic'd it up?

What a nightmare!

bluechargeboy

Mic was the last resort @thomasross20, but then you have to stand still!

richardhomer

Have an electric and a Boss acoustic simulator pedal with you? Not ideal - but better that silence.

bluechargeboy

richardhomer said:

Have an electric and a Boss acoustic simulator pedal with you? Not ideal - but better that silence.

We are an acoustic band so no electrics knocking about, although it would be the perfect excuse for me to sneak my Strat in!

koss59

I have a brand new unused LR Baggs passive sound hole pickup if you want a back up.

ICBM

koss59 said:

I have a brand new unused LR Baggs passive sound hole pickup if you want a back up.

Get something like this. You can fit a soundhole pickup in a couple of minutes if you have to - you don't normally have to take the strings off, although sometimes it can be a bit of a fight.

Like I said, electro-acoustics are the work of Satan .

Actually Takamines are some of the least bad because it's fairly easy to replace the entire preamp if necessary - if you know exactly how, it is actually feasible to do at a gig too, although it would mean owning an expensive spare preamp box for the relatively unlikely happening of it - and still not cover you for the pickup or the jack failing.

bluechargeboy

@ICBM I have a spare Tak preamp but of course it was at home!

 

I am looking into soundhole pickups; it would initially appear that Fishman Rare Earth humbucker might be better for me than Baggs, as my style is aggressive and the M1 is allegedly quite sensitive to being hit by the pick.

bluechargeboy

koss59 said:

I have a brand new unused LR Baggs passive sound hole pickup if you want a back up.

@koss59 Cheers dude, which model is it?

sweepy

Sometimes I have found this problem to be the result of a faulty piezo, if it's the thin plastic flexible under saddle type, it can be worth pulling it through a few mm and snipping off the end. Ad they are trying to get a thin piece of card to bend through 90 degrees, they sometimes fracture, moving the fracture point along can give you a perfectly serviceable temporary fix.

koss59

It's the M1 passive which comes with a long cable so you could just fit the pickup in an emergency and not even alter the guitar.

Never used £100 if you want it.

bluechargeboy

koss59 said:

It's the M1 passive which comes with a long cable so you could just fit the pickup in an emergency and not even alter the guitar.

Never used £100 if you want it.

Cheers dude, let me have a ponder.

steamabacus

Just a thought - you didn't actually mention what you were plugged into. Are you absolutely sure it wasn't a fault in the desk channel/whatever?

bluechargeboy

steamabacus said:

Just a thought - you didn't actually mention what you were plugged into. Are you absolutely sure it wasn't a fault in the desk channel/whatever?

Aye, was plugged into desk but I could replicate it at home into me amp.

Bluesman1989

You can get a K&K Pure Mini for £70 from tfoa.eu

bluechargeboy

Bluesman1989 said:

You can get a K&K Pure Mini for £70 from tfoa.eu

Cheers, I will check it out although it looks like a recipe for feedback through a loud rig????