Module for piezo/acoustic sounds on an electric guitar.

[felineguitars]

I have a few guitars that I have built that have a piezo loaded bridge - I tend to use Graphtech Ghost , but this would apply to Fishman Powerbridges or LR Baggs systems .

Usually I use LP style guitars like this :

The tunamatic bridge is in fact loaded with piezo saddles so at the flick of a switch it goes from electric guitar to acoustic, and the acoustic sounds great - especially through a PA or dedicated acoustic amplifier

Anyway - I find that I want to switch back and forth between acoustic and electric sounds and whilst a separate line out to a dedicated acoustic amp would be cool I fancied having a module in one of my M4s or RM4s that would sound great with the "acoustic" signal.

The big problem can be that the piezo can sound a little harsh and spiky (there is a particular frequency spike that just overloads the front end and it sounds awful if you hit the strings hard) through normal clean amp modules such as Fender Twin, Blackface , etc and I wondered if there is already a module or if one of the clever modders has come up with something that will work well.

Any ideas anyone?

 

[Jaded Faith]

Yes I do: My new Super Clean module. I am going to be officially announcing it very soon, but PM me for details. I had applications like your specifically in mind on this one.

Mattfig, Davetheslave and Tbag can all chime in on this one.

 

[Tbag]

****!!! that's awesome, by PRS 22 is loaded with the graphtech system, but because i use 4 cable method with the boss gt pro, i switch the RM4 off by midi and it selects the enhancing acoustic bank, which sounds killer, but i am stoked to hear my SuperClean with my piezo's now!!!!Soon i hope....

 

[davetheslave]

I just had my first band rehearsal using my Superclean and it was awesome. I was playing stuff that I usually play with an acoustic and it was the closest I've ever gotten my PRS to sound like a piezo without having one. This module just ate my Fender for breakfast. So so good and loves pedals too

 

[Jaded Faith]

I just had my first band rehearsal using my Superclean and it was awesome. I was playing stuff that I usually play with an acoustic and it was the closest I've ever gotten my PRS to sound like a piezo without having one. This module just ate my Fender for breakfast. So so good and loves pedals too

Excellent! This one was Mattfig's baby from the start and I really put a ton of time into tuning it. The options were all my ideas and acoustic-like tones were high on my list.

 

[felineguitars]

I just had my first band rehearsal using my Superclean and it was awesome. I was playing stuff that I usually play with an acoustic and it was the closest I've ever gotten my PRS to sound like a piezo without having one. This module just ate my Fender for breakfast. So so good and loves pedals too

Excellent! This one was Mattfig's baby from the start and I really put a ton of time into tuning it. The options were all my ideas and acoustic-like tones were high on my list.

But will it specifically work with a piezo system rather than letting an electric/magnetic pickup sound like an acoustic guitar?

It is the harsh & spiky overloading I need to elimiante and also making the piezo sound natural through speakers that are better tuned for electric guitar sounds.

 

[davetheslave]

I only have a piezo in my Ovation acoustic not a solidbody guitar. I have a mate with one in a Slash Les Paul but he's away for a while so I couldn't test it till I see him again.
The Superclean is the best most versatile clean out there at the moment so if it's a module your looking to plug into you couldnt get anything better.

 

[m0jo]

I have to say, the custom Mu?eca module that Anthony built for me should definitly do this too. It also allows for a lot of tweaking in the EQ section and the gain structure.
The dark setting of the 3-way bright switch could help smooth those highs.

Combining the Warm mode with some settings of the EQ voicings I can get an acoustic-like sound right there. It also tames my harsh-ish custom strat. (custom wound high output strat pickups, awesome with gain but a bit too harsh with cleans). So I think it should work well with piezo's, actually, I'll try my acoustic through it sometime soon!

It is based on a tweed circuit, also eats my Twinface for breakfast
Rob: is your superclean based on a tweed as well by any chance? That would be a funny coincidence

The Mu?eca will be available in the Salvation Mods line under another name soon. You'll see it arrive!

 

[Graham Pearson]

Rather than focus on the most appropriate module, I've incorporated a MIDI-controlled EQ in my rig. I play acoustic J45 with piezo pickup, humbucker PRS, and single-coil Strat through my RM4 and RT2/50 setup.

I've put a Rane MPE 28 in front of the RM4. This allows me to customize a 28-band EQ for each of my different guitars and MTS modules and my whole rig is easily configured for each type of guitar using a MIDI footswitch.

I use a stock Blackface module for my piezo-equipped J45. I also use the digital effects section of an old DigiTech GSP-2101 in the parallel effects loop of my RM4 to add a small amount of delay and reverb to fatten-up the tone.

You don't really need as many as 28 EQ bands to effectively adjust the EQ for each type of pickup. The only reason I bought my MPE 28 was price. The other options are:

Rane MPE 14 (stereo 14-band, rare)
TC Electronic 1128 (28-band, pricey)
Rocktron Pro-Q (used by Mattfig, rare as hen's teeth)

Behringer has a cheap and nasty unit, not recommended.
Hope this helps.

 

[hyenik]

after more than 10 years of digging this...

1) Solidbody with piezo NEVER sounds like acoustic guitar. It is only closer to acoustic sound than elmag pickups
2) Every clean module will serve well, talking about some superclean is nonsense for this field, sorry.
3) Most important is SPEAKER (what a surprise), for example with V30 is almost impossible to have really good acoustic sound.

My way is splitting signal for piezo and go to active monitor (or acoustic, keyboard combo) this is best. Or put some effect on piezo line (Zoom A2, Boss AD, Fishman Aura whatever) it really helps. Snobing is not efficient here, cheap things have similar results as most expensive ones, believe or not (I tried almost everything for electric/acoustic sounds)
Compressor, touch of chorus, multiband EQ and reverb help too. A lot.

And live with sad fact, that it will never sounds like acoustic guitar through microphone. But for live performances - piezo bridge with effects and full spectrum speaker can give surprisingly nice results.

 

[Jaded Faith]

Rob: is your superclean based on a tweed as well by any chance? That would be a funny coincidence

No, it's based on nothing but Mattfig's laundry list and my brainstorming for a perfect clean. I printed up all the things he wanted out of a clean, made a second list of my own, stripped a Clean module bare and went at it from scratch from the ground up. I specifically didn't want to base it on anything and really wanted to build my own circuit the way I wanted it.

 

[m0jo]

Rob: is your superclean based on a tweed as well by any chance? That would be a funny coincidence

No, it's based on nothing but Mattfig's laundry list and my brainstorming for a perfect clean. I printed up all the things he wanted out of a clean, made a second list of my own, stripped a Clean module bare and went at it from scratch from the ground up. I specifically didn't want to base it on anything and really wanted to build my own circuit the way I wanted it.

Okay then.

The Mu?eca was really meant to be the ultimate tweakable tweed sound
So different approaches for different goals.

 

[Mattfig]

Gotta say, this one is really excellent...It is everything I hoped for and more...Pretty darn right perfect for live settings and flexible enough for great studio recordings too...It opens up so nicely...Just a gorgeous clean tone...I really like that there aren't anything but functional options....The single coil/humbucker switch is genius and the Touch is so expressive...The spank is my fave and not just because of the name...It takes this module from smoothed out natural goodness to chimey Fender/Vox style cleans...I LOVE IT....

I know I keep promising vids....They are in production....My studio is in my home as were many house guests for the past week....

The XTC is first...Then 59RR , then Super Clean....The vids will be shorter and more professionally recorded -which makes synching audio/video a fine art I have yet to master...