Why piezo on electric bass is so underrated?

[HaphAsSard]

It's pronounced pee-eh-TAH.

Yes for the stress, no for the "ee": it is actually a two-sillable word. See my post above.
[Regarding the exact value for the "e" (I mean the "e" in "pietà", not "piezo"), it tends to be a close-mid vowel (not unlike long A in North American English apart from the offglide, hence my mention of Scottish English), except in some local accents, mine included, where it is indeed open, and more similar to English short E (Aussie accent excluded).]

 

[Slidlow]

I started to look at piezo back in the erly 80s. The allure was a flat response from DC up to 100K plus hertz. Due to that some filtering is required to mimic regular pickup cararacteristics. I looked at using them for solid body and not acoustic. It seems everyone equates them to acoustic sound these days but thats not how I initially approached their use. Anyway I think the are mostly misused. Here is mine and it sounds like an electric bass.

 

[matante]

Yes for the stress, no for the "ee": it is actually a two-sillable word. See my post above.
[Regarding the exact value for the "e" (I mean the "e" in "pietà", not "piezo"), it tends to be a close-mid vowel (not unlike long A in North American English apart from the offglide, hence my mention of Scottish English), except in some local accents, mine included, where it is indeed open, and more similar to English short E (Aussie accent excluded).]

You're right that it's two syllables but to write out the pronunciation in English it's still three vowel sounds. I studied Italian in college and speak Spanish natively. I can't spell it "pie", one syllable, because people will think I'm spelling the word "pie" as in cherry pie. I wanted to show that the i and the e are both pronounced even if they run together to make a single syllable.

 

[HaphAsSard]

You're right that it's two syllables but to write out the pronunciation in English it's still three vowel sounds. I studied Italian in college and speak Spanish natively. I can't spell it "pie", one syllable, because people will think I'm spelling the word "pie" as in cherry pie. I wanted to show that the i and the e are both pronounced even if they run together to make a single syllable.

A "y" should suffice...if not for the annoying existence of the surname "Pye". :\
Still, I've tried to be creative and come up with un-English but unambiguous spellings above. (For everyone else: think "y" as in "nyet, tovarishch", not as in "Bill Nye".)

 

[jmlee]

One of my pet peeves is how so many English speakers think the letter E is pronounced "A" when the word looks foreign, especially words that are Spanish, French, or Italian. The letter E sounds exactly as it does in the English words Ted, Fred, Bed, Hello, Sell , Tell, etc. There's absolutely no reason come up with an A sound there.


Why the "y"?



It's pronounced pee-eh-TAH.

Crap! I forgot about the accent! Mea culpa! (Pronounced "Duh…")

 

[Outbush]

I pronounce Piesso

But its written, "pies so". Must be lunchtime...

 

[donhank]

In our band, both of the guitarists routinely switch back-and-forth between acoustic and electric . . . so me too! Although I really like the sound and feel of my Carvin AC40, it is arguably the least versatile (therefore most expendable) instrument that I still own.

 

[Sid the Kid]

One great thing about piezo electronics, their tracking with analog Octave pedals is superb. I am a fan, but my piezo equipped bass is a well thought out and well executed example.

Tone wise they are not for everyone. They are very honest! The immediacy of the sound and the big punch with a solid envelope after is too different to be popular. If they were more common and therefore executed properly many players would would insist on having them. That said we aren't seeing any quality piezo/magnetic setups in the budget price range, and the budget stuff that does exist is a bad representation of what they can be. They are a better ingredient cooked into the recipe than they are sprinkled on top, if that makes sense.

 

[SubNoizeRat3691]

I had a Carvin LB70WP back in the day. The piezo blend knob gave a WIDE variety of tones!

 

[mambo4]

If you combine 5 or 6 piezos in parallel the impedance changes and it can be used passively

interesting. Does it sound any good without further tone manipulation? The piezos I have used all needed extra oomph in the lows -thus the need for a preamp of some kind..

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I never really cared for the piezo sound, but if Fender ever releases a bass version of the Acoustasonic series, I'll be all over that.

 

[rickster4003]

Ibanez Portamento has a piezo

 

[40Hz]

…because not all piezo pickups are created equal. And everything (IMO) depends on the preamp that's used with them.

I personally think Shadow Electronics does the best sounding piezo systems. I never much cared for what Fishman was doing. And L.R. Baggs was workable but still required additional outboard EQ shaping for best results.

But that's me.

 

[gstaats]

I had a couple Carvin's with the piezo fitted saddles. Super nice preamp - allowed adjusting the volume of each string. On fretted basses, I didn't care for them much as they picked up fret noise and had excessive "zing", especially with SS strings. I still have a couple carvin fretless basses with piezo fitted saddles and do use them with the fretless basses.

 

[Jefenator]

I've heard of piezo pickups that supposedly work well passively with most bass amp inputs and I've heard of amps with extra high input impedance that accommodate most passive piezo pickups. Alas, I've never quite encountered either in my travels.
Handy as it would be, it is not an overriding priority since onboard and outboard buffer preamps have worked out great for me.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

I never really cared for the piezo sound, but if Fender ever releases a bass version of the Acoustasonic series, I'll be all over that.

Fender Japan PBAC...

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Fender Japan PBAC...

Tried one of those back in the day but didn't really like it. Think it was in the Ozzy Osbourne "Mama I'm Comin' Home" video. The Acoustasonic guitars have some modeling tricks up their sleeve.

 

[JimmyM]

The only piezo pickup I ever used was on my friend's Lightwave. Thought it had possibilities but wasn't really my thang. I use a piezo on my upright, though.

 

[Doner Designs]

I'm not sure it's of much benefit on a solid body but on a hollow or semi hollow it helps bring out the acoustic tone. I'm in the process of adding four piezo transducers to each of these basses with two under the fretboard and two under the bridge. Planning to use two Audere preamps in each. One for magnetic and one for piezo with separate EQ for each pickup.

 

[Johnny Fingers]

How to pronounce the word Piezo | English Pronunciation Dictionary | howjsay
Three syllables for sure.