String Charger mod

macca · #1 11-21-2006, 10:50 PM

I'm currently running a String Charger and a K+K Bass Max on my ply wood Hofner into a Fishman Acoustic Blender, I know its designed for a microphone but I'm really happy with the sound i'm getting.
At the moment I'm using two leads (one for each pickup, a real pain), but I was wondering if it was easy to modify the String Charger so i can run the K+K into the String Chargers' RCA input and use a stereo cable to blend the two signals at the Fishman, as the String Charger sends the two as a single signal.?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Macca

fdeck · #2 11-22-2006, 04:04 PM

Would you mind posting a picture of the innards of the String Charger? Then maybe I can take a look and guess a way to modify it.

screamkingart · #3 11-23-2006, 02:52 PM

I did this, to blend my rev solo and schaller magnetic pickup, im using a rane AP-13 2-channel preamp. (pretty much the same thing as your fishman blender

the pics show the rev solo and a radioshack piezo that i made (because i orderd a shen sb80 from upton and had bob ship a schaller to them so they could install it, so i wont get to try out the schaller until i get my upton shen), i used the Y adapters so i wouldnt have to solder anything and so i could easly just plug in a new pickup if i wanted too or just unplug everything completely, i just run a 20ft cable from my bass to my rack, I like it because i could use one or both pickups and i just plug and play

check out the actual pics here...
http://rockabillybass.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3804

this was a little pic i drew out to give me an idea of what i was going to do, im just using the rane preamp instead of the k&k preamp

16fuss · #4 11-24-2006, 05:58 AM

...but what do you need the Schaller for- as you play on unwound Gut?

BassGreaser · #5 11-24-2006, 09:51 AM

my setup is String Charger and Rev Solo I plugged int the RCA jack of the SC. Then I had a cable made to run from the SC's 1/4 jack down to the Solo's RCA jack that mounts on the tail piece. I'm going to get a Rev Solo II soon to run in the other bridge wing so I can use that for gigs that calls for more of a real upright tone...

screamkingart · #6 11-24-2006, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 16fuss

...but what do you need the Schaller for- as you play on unwound Gut?

Thats my swingmaster that im going to keep on all plain guts and just a plain rev solo II (for a more traditional rockabilly sound), I just started experimenting with the pre amp and radio shack piezo so i new what to do once my shen came, and i was impatient too.

but i wanted bass that i could have for loud situations with no feedback, So i got some GAS and decided to order a whole new bass with completely different strings, pickups and setup that i would normally have, So i went off and ordered a shen sb80 on spiros solos, i had urbbob ship a schaller magnetic pickup to upton and i shipped my old rev solo and had them install both, Im going to be blending the schaller with either the rev solo, or the radioshack piezo i made, since the schaller alone doesnt pickup any slap.

Its been a month since i placed the order on my shen, so hopefully in 2-4 more weeks

macca · #7 11-25-2006, 01:56 AM

Thanks to everyone for your help, its been invaluable!!!!!

screamkingart - I'm going to go with your approach for now.... seems like it'll work great. But i would like the less wires of modding the SC which i'm sure is just a matter of a few simple solders.

fdeck - I've taken a few pics as best i can, not sure if their good enough though.

Thanks everyone for your time and huge effort you've gone to to help.

Macca

macca · #8 11-25-2006, 02:06 AM

Maybe this one will work!!

macca · #9 11-25-2006, 02:07 AM

Thankyou

BassGreaser · #10 11-25-2006, 08:52 AM

macca how do you like the tone of your SC? I'll post pics of my setup later today...

macca · #11 11-25-2006, 09:53 PM

On its own I still like it, but it does sound like a giant fretless hollowbody bass guitar, I think that i'm kinda ok with that because i'm an EB player primarily, so its comfortable. Using the K+K gives it that little bit of a woody, more natural double bass sound but still allows me to a fair bit of volume......

BassGreaser · #12 11-26-2006, 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macca

On its own I still like it, but it does sound like a giant fretless hollowbody bass guitar, I think that i'm kinda ok with that because i'm an EB player primarily, so its comfortable. Using the K+K gives it that little bit of a woody, more natural double bass sound but still allows me to a fair bit of volume......

yeah thats why I like mine....it lets me use my upright on gigs where I won't be able to use it with a peizo pickup

billyfalconer · #13 11-28-2006, 07:29 AM

When I bought my Josephs String Charger about ten years ago, it came with two piezos that were mixed into a single out signal with a simple plug-in. There's not a mixing pot, but they are there. It looks like Josephs only has an option for a single piezo now. Have any of you tried that? I've been happy with mine. If it's so loud on stage that I'm feeding back, I can just unplug the piezos.

brianrost · #14 11-28-2006, 01:40 PM

fdeck,

The thing inside the can on the bottom of the String Charger is a transformer in case you didn't guess that already.

My guess is that the RCA input is just passively mixed with the transformer output (never bothered to open mine up to check). I have found it pretty useless as there is no way to balance levels of the two.