Your Experience with piezo/acoustic bridge on electric guitar on single/stereo out

[ari]

I installed LR Baggs X-Bridge on my Strat long ago, thinking that I wanna build a parallels electric/acoustic rig. I got a Y cable to split the signal, but then I realized that some of the acoustic sounds were bleeding through to the electric side.

1) Anybody else experienced this?
2) A way to get rid of that, without drilling a hole and putting in a separate output?
3) How do you make your electric-with-acoustic-pickup guitar work?

Thanks!

ari

[Gitarman]

Hmm... I never heard of that one. Do you have your X-Bridge on a separate (5 Meg) volume control? Did you add a switch into the circuit to isolate them from the magnetic pickups?

I put an X-bridge in a cheapo Strat a couple of years ago and, honestly, I hated it until I added the CTRL-X preamp. With the CTRL-X, I can run piezos either independently or mixed with the magnetics. Plus, with the simple button push, I can set them to run to a dedicated amp (via a stereo cable) separate from the 'regular' guitar signal.

[ari]

Originally Posted by Gitarman

Hmm... I never heard of that one. Do you have your X-Bridge on a separate (5 Meg) volume control? Did you add a switch into the circuit to isolate them from the magnetic pickups?

I put an X-bridge in a cheapo Strat a couple of years ago and, honestly, I hated it until I added the CTRL-X preamp. With the CTRL-X, I can run piezos either independently or mixed with the magnetics. Plus, with the simple button push, I can set them to run to a dedicated amp (via a stereo cable) separate from the 'regular' guitar signal.

I did have a separate volume control, but can't remember if it was a 5 meg or not. And no, I didn't have a Ctrl-X, either -- I couldn't think of a reason why I'd feed the piezo signal to the electric signal path, I was thinking of always running that signal down the acoustic path into an acoustic amp. So I plugged it into an external acoustic preamp. It sounds like I better have a Ctrl-X even if I plan on pretty much running them through two separate paths.

So you don't have any problem with the piezo signal bleeding into the electric signal, when you do run it via a TRS(stereo) cable?

ari

[atquinn]

I've experienced this bleed-through on every hybrid piezo guitar I've played (a Petrucci, a couple Parker Flys, and several guitars with Fishman bridges), which is why I don't like them. Not sure what the solution to the problem is and I'm not sure why the majority of people don't notice it. That ever-present piezo "edge" drives my crazy!
-
Austin

[doublescale1]

put a Ghost piezo bridge in a parts-tele about five years ago - I have dual concentric Bartolini vol/tone pots for all three pickups - can blend the middle position as if on a gibby - used a 3 position mini-switch to select piezo/mag/both and have a stereo Y cord to an A/B/Y box - never had any crosstalk issues, use a Mama Bear pre-amp for the piezo's into an acoustic amp - very satisfied with that one-guitar solution for the occasional need for an acoustic sound in a set list live.

[major-minor]

It's probably the cable you're using. You have to have a high quality, heavily sheilded stereo cable. I had this problem when I started using piezo bridges. I was told by Fishman, and the builder (Tom Anderson) that the problem was my cheap stereo cable that I had purchased. Ordered the heavy one that Fishman was sending out with their Power Blend pedals (now dis-continued) , and the bleed through problem was gone.

So-----I'd say a stereo cable with the proper sheilding is what you need. Anderson suggests Lava cables. Call, or email and tell them what you need.

Hope this helps. Sure worked for me.

[rcl]

I have a lifeson on order, currently have a carvin with mag and piezo. The lifeson has 2 jacks-and he runs two packs and has a footswitch on his board to engage it. Not gonna fit my needs. I plan to rewire the default setup of 3 volumes and a magnetic master tone to vol/tone on bridge pup(like a normal LP). Then I'll use a mix knob so that in the up position of the 3 way I am using either all neck hum, all piezo or some mix in between. The output of that mix will go to the neck volume pot. So, vol, vol, tone, mix. I need to be able to switch back and forth quickly. I can be rocking some heavy dist on the bridge pup, flip the switch up(mix set to piezo) at the same time I hit the axe-fx button for the acoustic-piezo setup and be clean and acoustic-ish.

I don't like the look of concentric pots, but that would get me back a tone control if I think I need it. As you can see from the comments so far-lots of ways to tweak this depending on what you use the most etc.

[doublescale1]

I found the tele knurled looking stacked chrome knobs, that at first glance don't look all that different from what your used to seeing - however, it was the pure functionality of them that got me to that decision, the cosmetics of them still looking like what you'd basically expect to see was a lucky strike extra. A blank tele control plate was drilled to accept three knobs and the mini-switch - after the first week, I kind of forgot about all that stuff on the control plate and just got used to using it.

[Gitarman]

Originally Posted by ari

I did have a separate volume control, but can't remember if it was a 5 meg or not. And no, I didn't have a Ctrl-X, either -- I couldn't think of a reason why I'd feed the piezo signal to the electric signal path, I was thinking of always running that signal down the acoustic path into an acoustic amp. So I plugged it into an external acoustic preamp. It sounds like I better have a Ctrl-X even if I plan on pretty much running them through two separate paths.

So you don't have any problem with the piezo signal bleeding into the electric signal, when you do run it via a TRS(stereo) cable?

ari

Well, if you're running the piezos to a dedicated preamp & never want to blend the pickups, there really isn't much need for the CRTL-X. However, it does give you the added ability of taking the piezos completely OUT of the circuit via the mini-toggle switch, which should (theoretically) eliminate any interference.

I'd also reiterate what has been mentioned above re: your bleeding may be coming from cables that aren't shielded well enough.

[atquinn]

I first noticed the bleed-through on a Parker and I was using the cable that they were shipping with their guitars. So, I guess they were shipping out cheapy cables with them?
-
Austin

[ari]

Originally Posted by major-minor

It's probably the cable you're using. You have to have a high quality, heavily sheilded stereo cable. I had this problem when I started using piezo bridges. I was told by Fishman, and the builder (Tom Anderson) that the problem was my cheap stereo cable that I had purchased. Ordered the heavy one that Fishman was sending out with their Power Blend pedals (now dis-continued) , and the bleed through problem was gone.

So-----I'd say a stereo cable with the proper sheilding is what you need. Anderson suggests Lava cables. Call, or email and tell them what you need.

Hope this helps. Sure worked for me.

Aha. That makes sense. Thanks! ari

[Whiskeyrebel]

Th CTRL-X is handy if you ever run into a problem in the signal path for your separate piezo signal, since it lets you blend a little piezo back into your main amp. I never had any bleed problems using mine, even with Radio Shack TRS stereo cables. And as Gman said being able to flick the mag or piezo off is very convenient.

[Mitch T]

The CTRL-X makes it a lot more reliable, according to my luthier due to reasons explained above. Nonetheless, I use separate outputs on my guitar to be totally safe and I must say: it works flawlessly for about seven years now. Main advantage is you can use every cable you want without ever having to be afraid of bleed.

[Troubleman]

I have a Bridge-X and Control-X in one of my Strats. Cables were custom made and of the highest quality. No signal bleed problems...


jb

Originally Posted by Mitch T

The CTRL-X makes it a lot more reliable, according to my luthier due to reasons explained above. Nonetheless, I use separate outputs on my guitar to be totally safe and I must say: it works flawlessly for about seven years now. Main advantage is you can use every cable you want without ever having to be afraid of bleed.