Piezo pickup buffer, or not?

[Woodpecker]

Hi guys.

I'm building myself a "mini-bass" (alot like the Kala U-Bass Solid Body) and is wondering if some sort of piezo buffer is really necessary (like this one; http://www.scotthelmke.com/Mint-box-buffer.html).
I'm planning to use one of the Shadow Piezo pickups, the SH 064 (SH 064 Akustik-Bass Tonabnehmer für Stegschlitz) but I can't find any info on IF a buffer is recommended or not.

Anyone ever used this pickup and with or without a buffer???

Cheers,

"Bobby"

[Razar]

All piezo pickups have very high impedance. So if you connect them to a normal guitar amp or line input it's impossible to get full frequency range, mainly the lows will be lost. FET buffer will help to get the full range.

[Woodpecker]

That's what I remember/thought too.
HOWEVER, on the Shadow web-pages I found something wierd. Reading the Installation manual for the pickup there is a note that says; "Note: Piezo pickups and transducers have a very high output impedance. In order to get the optimum sound output we
recommend an amplifier with low impedance input".
http://www.shadow-electronics.com/do...4_englisch.pdf

This seems to be false info, isn't it?

I remember reading that the higher the output impedance is (higher than normal), the higher the input impedance should be too (higher than normal).

"Woody"

[Razar]

Yes, that's definitely their mistake.