Jimothey Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 (edited) Hi I’m thinking of making a slimline corvette inspired acoustic bass I’m going to make it about 40mm thick so I can’t fit a preamp to it, I know it won’t be very loud acoustically but I’ll only ever play it through a PA I’m thinking of fitting a ceramic transducer pickup under the saddle (Artec or similar) can I wire it up passive or do they need to be active? Also I know with disc piezo pickups if you solder a 0.1pF cap on the jack socket it takes some of the shrill tones away is that the same for a Ceramic one aswell? Any advice gratefully received 👍🏻 Edited June 8 by Jimothey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itu Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 It is very common belief that piezos sound brittle. The reason is that the ceramic and the first electronic stage form a high pass filter, if the input impedance of the first stage is not high enough. To get the best out of the piezo, a buffer really helps to tame any brittle sounds. It widens the low end just like the size of the ceramic. A cap will cut highs, but I would rather use a good buffer, and eq the sound later in the amp or an fx board. A buffer has to be with hi-Z input (Mohn to Gohm area). Try a few and find your favourite one. Some amps can eat piezos easily, some fx are also effective. Still the buffer is the thing here. If you have a friend that understands any electronics, a modern opamp, or FET can make wonders and does not cost a lot. Usually the box and the connectors are the most expensive parts. Net is full of examples. https://www.instructables.com/Hi-Z-Opamp-Piezo-Buffer/ http://www.scotthelmke.com/Mint-box-buffer.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 I used an analogworkshop piezo preamp in one of my piezo equipped basses, it's just 40mm x 26mm x 10mm so should fit in anything. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimothey Posted June 9 Author Share Posted June 9 Thanks for the advice I think I’ll just make the body thicker and just use a spare Fishman preamp I’ve already got 👍🏻 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itu Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 It is fine to put that preamp outside your bass, if the space is limited. Recommendation is to put the preamp as close as possible to the ceramic but I haven't have any issues if the buffer has been 3 m away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.