Barbetta

[natbers78]

So I was working with a piano player tonight in a duo setting at a small hotel bar. The piano player has a Barbetta amplifier that has extra channels available and he told me I could just plug into his amp for the gig. I thought that was great because I didn't have to drag amp in...just my bass. Anyway, to make a long story longer than it should've been, I plugged in...nothing. This happened with another piano player I work with on occasion as well, who also has a Barbetta. So that's two different nights, and two different Barbettas that didn't amplify my bass. I have a Realist on my bass and I never have any problems with it on any other amps. I thought it was pretty weird. Anybody else know what that's all about or have a similar experience?

[jsbarber]

Here is some data on the Barbetta 41, their other amps seem to have similar configurations:

http://www.barbetta.com/html/Live/Sona_41/sona_41.html

There are three Line inputs, one marked Line/Pickup, and one for microphones. Line level inputs need a voltage level that is higher than what your Realist produces, and I would not expect these to work. The mic input is not appropriate either. The only hope would be the one labeled Line/Pickup. But it seems to me that an input would not be both a pickup and line input at the same time, so that combination doesn't give me confidence. Also Piezo pickups have high impedence and should be plugged into a high impedance input. On their spec sheet:

http://www.barbetta.com/html/Live/Sona_41/x_41c.pdf

They refer to all four as line inputs, and the input impedance is only 5k ohms. So it appears that plugging directly into the amp should not work. However, if you get a small preamp that puts out line level output, then you should be able to connect to a line input on an amplifier. I am not too familiar with these products, but Bob Gollihur offers a number of them:

http://www.gollihur.com/kkbass/preampmain.html

So now that you have a potential solution to getting the Barbetta amp to work with your bass the question of how it will sound comes to mind. Let us know if you get it working...

Jim

ps. for more info on voltage levels see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level

[natbers78]

Thanks Jim! I'll let you know how it goes!

[fdeck]

I repaired a Barbetta 41 for a friend, and of course had to try it out with my electric bass. It sounds good. But for a piezo, it's like jsbarber says.

[robgrow]

An input impedance of 5K ohms is essentially a dead short to a very high impedance device like a piezo transducer.