Do I need stereo cords? 2 pickup query.

jgregpegleg · #1 05-09-2008, 11:59 AM

I know there are bigger brians out there. Hopefully someone has knowledge with this. I don't have, want, need or have the ability to afford a blender. Added to my bass, I have a neck pickup with its own volume control. I plugged both pickups into a "Y" adapter. I tried a mono and a stereo adapter with a standard instrument cable. The results I cannot decipher. There was some weird blending/mixing/pots controlling the other pickup happening. I was wondering if I needed a stereo intrument cable and a stereo " Y " adapter to have total independent control and blending?
Thanks for taking the time,
-jgregpegleg

Koeda · #2 05-09-2008, 12:07 PM

I am guessing from your sketch - yes. With the piezo you would either need a buffer/blender to combine with the mag pu, or run a stereo jack and run into seperate preamps - one acoustic for the piezo and a regular one for the mag and mix them after the pres or run separate amps. If you run stereo keep the cable short. I keep a Fishman BII on the belt for the piezo. and mix with a Boss LS2. Hope that helps,
David

RyreInc · #3 05-09-2008, 07:24 PM

The problem is most likely that your volume pots are both wired as master volumes, shorting the output the ground. What you need instead is for the pots to ground the pickups, not the output.

jgregpegleg · #4 05-11-2008, 11:50 AM

I need a small, simple 2 channel mixer with 1/4" output that does not exist.
I gigged with it Fri. and used an 8 channel Mackie and it worked fine. Not my ideal final solution.
I think I am going to get a small mixer or preamp and take the piezo's pot out of line.
K&K makes a dual channel preamp for blending piezo and magnetic. It is $126 and has EQ and such that I do not need and do not want in my signal. My budget is small and I don't like throwing money at a problem that seems as simple as the right cord or wiring. I just know how to solder and read a simple diagram. Nothing more electronically.
There are 2 channel mixers out there, but they are large and for DJs, they have too much crap on them and their output is RCA. Putting an 1/4" adapter on an RCA jack creates major noise. Rolls is an awesome company that has some small mixers, but they still have more channels than I need.
Thanks for all the idea guys.

jgregpegleg · #5 05-11-2008, 03:05 PM

An A/B/Y box.

Koeda · #6 05-12-2008, 12:51 PM

The Boss LS-2 is about a simple a mixer as you can get - but you still need a Hi Z preamp for the piezo before mixing. Another option is an onboard -
http://www.graphtech.com/products.ht...9&CurrencyID=2
The Fishman BII preamp can be found for ~$50 if you want an external.
Here is another similar post:
a piezo bridge...and what preamp?
David

jgregpegleg · #7 05-14-2008, 05:13 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. I ended up getting a Behringer MX400 4 channel mixer for $20. The thing is about as big as pack of cigarettes. I would have got the Rolls discontinued MX44 mixer that has 9 volt option for $35 if I could have known when I was going to get it. I may still get it.
Thanks again.

edwinhurwitz · #8 05-14-2008, 11:47 PM

One thing you need to deal with is the very high impedance of the piezo. It's very important that whatever it goes into has a high impedance. A passive mixer won't do it and most cheap mixers won't either. It needs to be at least 1 megohm, preferably higher. Also make sure that the volume pot you are using is suitably high as well. When you get the right impedance, you will find that the tone improves greatly, it won't be thin and scratchy, but deep and full.

You can make a buffer for about $20 worth of parts. Check Craig Anderton's DIY for Guitarists book. I adapted one of his plans for a couple upright players here in Boulder and it worked great.

Edwin

jgregpegleg · #9 05-20-2008, 04:34 PM

Hi Edwin,
I talked to you a bit at Camp Zoe in Salem, Missouri last month or so.
You showed me your Alembic. I play in the Woodbox Gang.

Thanks for the recommendations. I had this idea for a while and I am not electronically minded. I tried running it by some techs and everyone either immediately shot the idea down, did not know how to go about doing it the best, or wanted to try wiring everything together and making it the best it could be but never actually accomplishing anything for me. I did it in a few hours with a $4 pot and not much else. I was/am curious about different pots for the job. I had read about using 250k with hotter pickups if you want to tame the sound. Using a 1 meg ohm on telecasters or lap steels for some piercing, on top of the mix, full signal from the pickup.

I used a 250k pot between the pickup and the input jack. It is working just fine. It adds the K&K rockabilly neck pickup sound to my electric and it has a fair amount of acoustic sound info added in there as an extra bonus.

The Behringer mixer works like a charm and for $20 it is ultra replaceable.

Good running into you on here,
-Greg