Let's talk piezo

[brokenvail]

Just like the tittle says let's talk piezo. Why do you guys think the EBMM Piezo sounds so good? Other companies have piezo. I had a Parker for a while and it treated me well. The piezo was great and I used it all the time. Other brands have piezo pickups that from what I hear don't all sound that great. I don't want to get into bashing any brand here or anything I am just wondering where the differnces are. The piezo is probably one of the top 3 reasons I want to get an EBMM in the first place.

 

[paranoid70]

I am not totally sold on the whole concept of the piezo. (Not just EBMM, but in general). When I have tried them at the stores, they don't sound all that different when plugged into an Electric Guitar amp. I have yet to try them out of an acoustic amp. I guess I must beg the question, why not just use an acoustic guitar?

 

[DoobZilla]

The biggest benefit that I have experienced with the piezo on my JP BFR is when I blend it just right, I get some insane harmonic tone. Other than that, I think that the only benefit would be if you play through a stereo setup, splitting the piezo and the regular magnetic pups and adjusting your setup for even more options. I haven't had my JP long enough to fully explore my tone options through my mesa and gt-6, but so far I have noticed an increase in my ability to obtain better tone. It's hard to explain but I think that once you have owned an instrument with as much tonal capacity as an EBMM, you just might want more options (kinda like have six hundred channels with nothing on), that and who wants to change amps, guitars, effects, etc. while in the middle of a set (unless you can afford a roadie of course).

 

[DaPatrooch]

I guess I must beg the question, why not just use an acoustic guitar?

So you don't have to use an acoustic guitar .

Electric guitars, especially EBMMs, are much more comfortable to play too.

 

[the24thfret]

So you don't have to use an acoustic guitar .

Electric guitars, especially EBMMs, are much more comfortable to play too.

I'll put it this way: I haven't used my acoustic in months. And in the show last week, I seamlessly faded from electric to acoustic, and the thing sounded GREAT. I've also done little gigs with no electric sound at all, only the piezo clean sound, and I'm glad I didn't try to mic my acoustic. At home, also, I own a fancy Ovation a/e and that guitar actually sounds LESS acoustic than my JP6 piezo! Not to mention, as patrooch said above, the JP6 enables me to play acoustic stuff so much easier.

At this point I really can't imagine having an electric guitar without a piezo. It has completely changed the way I look at my "main" axe.

 

[Sweat]

A peizo bridge of any type will never totaly replace a great acoustic guitar but the EBMM peizo sounds great and does a better job of replicating the acoustic tones due to the supierior quality of the guitars, plus as has been stated the blending of the peizo with EBMM well just fing killer

 

[brokenvail]

I loved the flexablity that having a piezo gave me. As I mentioned before it is one of the main reasons I have been thinking of getting an EBMM. For them to sound most convincing you need to run them through either a PA or an acoustic amp. Another thing to keep in mind is the thick the strings the better the sound. "Real" acoustics use like 11's and 12's. When using a a guitar with 9's it will sound much thinner than a "real" acoustic but for the purpose that most of us (and JP for that matter) use them it's sounds close enough. But as we go up in gauge the closer to "real" it will sound.

 

[DaPatrooch]

To add to the whole blending thing, the piezo is probably great for when your doing rhythm playing with lots of chords. On some songs, there's the main electric/distorted rhythm guitar, then you hear the same thing in the back with an acoustic. Kinda hard to explain, but you probably know what I mean.

Actually, a kid in my grade's dad's band played at my school a couple days ago because our principal is leaving, and we had this huge blowout for her. The guitar player had a Parker with a piezo on it, and it sounded great on "party" songs such as Brick House or Play That Funky Music. I know that sounds lame, but...it was pretty cool to see a live band...

 

[TonyEVH5150]

To add to the whole blending thing, the piezo is probably great for when your doing rhythm playing with lots of chords. On some songs, there's the main electric/distorted rhythm guitar, then you hear the same thing in the back with an acoustic. Kinda hard to explain, but you probably know what I mean.

Actually, a kid in my grade's dad's band played at my school a couple days ago because our principal is leaving, and we had this huge blowout for her. The guitar player had a Parker with a piezo on it, and it sounded great on "party" songs such as Brick House or Play That Funky Music. I know that sounds lame, but...it was pretty cool to see a live band...

Playing almost any song by Boston would be the best example of that kind of song. I haven't used a EBMM piezo system, but from the reviews they get here, they must be the shiz.

 

[eegor]

EBMM piezos sound awesome. I love using mine because I am without a good acoustic and with the piezo I totally don't need one. The only thing I'm trying to figure out is what brand of battery to use. I originally had a Duracell in it but it had a crapload of distortion (on the clean channel mind you), and I switched it for a CVS brand battery and it sounds great.

Is there a certain battery brand that will optimize the sound of the piezo? Or is just hit and miss?

 

[whitestrat]

I am not totally sold on the whole concept of the piezo. (Not just EBMM, but in general). When I have tried them at the stores, they don't sound all that different when plugged into an Electric Guitar amp. I have yet to try them out of an acoustic amp. I guess I must beg the question, why not just use an acoustic guitar?

I did an acoustic gig last week with my JP6. The other guitarist used a Taylor. We both plugged in directly into the PA system.

General concensus at the audience was that the JP6 sounded more acoustic than the Taylor... Whahahahaha...

Why not use an acoustic? Because I don't have one, and the JP6 is much easier to play compared to any acoustic... Especially for solos...

Also, I've tried all my EBMMs with piezos (ok, there are only 2) thru an SWR White Blonde Acoustic Amp... Honestly, it's heaven. For the gigging musician, the piezo is a godsend.

 

[whitestrat]

EBMM piezos sound awesome. I love using mine because I am without a good acoustic and with the piezo I totally don't need one. The only thing I'm trying to figure out is what brand of battery to use. I originally had a Duracell in it but it had a crapload of distortion (on the clean channel mind you), and I switched it for a CVS brand battery and it sounds great.

Is there a certain battery brand that will optimize the sound of the piezo? Or is just hit and miss?

Dude... You're scaring me... Are you Eric Johnson in disguise?

 

[the24thfret]

I did an acoustic gig last week with my JP6. The other guitarist used a Taylor. We both plugged in directly into the PA system.

General concensus at the audience was that the JP6 sounded more acoustic than the Taylor... Whahahahaha...

Why not use an acoustic? Because I don't have one, and the JP6 is much easier to play compared to any acoustic... Especially for solos...

Also, I've tried all my EBMMs with piezos (ok, there are only 2) thru an SWR White Blonde Acoustic Amp... Honestly, it's heaven. For the gigging musician, the piezo is a godsend.

Yup, totally agree. The EBMM piezo can sound better than an acoustic.

 

[puppyonacid]

I always thought that "plugging" in an acoustic means you're hearing some sort of piezo or transducer system anyway. I guess that's why well made piezo's installed properly on good quality electrics will, at times, match or even sound better than actual acoustics. But that's the irony I guess. An acoustic kinda stops being an acoustic when it's plugged in.

 

[dannymusic]

I use it ALL THE TIME. So flexible. I use it especially in theatre ensembles where you need a big variety of tones. If you must know how to integrate a piezo into rock, watch any live PETE TOWNSHEND performance. Pinball wizard is a perfect example.
Also, having a bit of piezo blending into a high distortion patch adds a supreme amount of articulation and note definition.
I have my cool theatre rig dialed in. My EBMM JP6 and AL. Both with piezos. Both in stereo with 4 Electrovoice wedges spread acrosss the back of the stage. Driven by a GNX4 and Yamaha AG stomp. It's like one guitar makes the sound come from everywhere!

 

[Lou]

The piezo is a must if when you are gigging and need to switch between acoustic and electric sounds. It's worth the extra coin. I also use my JP's for acoustic gigs, no worries.

 

[paranoid70]

So, you are guys are using the piezo out of your normal electric amp as well? I gotta admit when I was at the GC trying them out, I didn't find that it sounded that close to an acoustic. I was using the clean channel of the Fender Twin with no effects.

I am not saying it is a bad idea, I just wasn't completely impressed with it. Guess I need to try 'em again.

 

[whitestrat]

I always thought that "plugging" in an acoustic means you're hearing some sort of piezo or transducer system anyway. I guess that's why well made piezo's installed properly on good quality electrics will, at times, match or even sound better than actual acoustics. But that's the irony I guess. An acoustic kinda stops being an acoustic when it's plugged in.

Some of the modern day acoustics have 2 sources. A piezo for string tone, as well as an internal mic for resonance tones withing the chamber. Then there's a mixer on the onboard preamp which is used to finetune that sound. Pretty awesome. I tried some recently which blew me away.

That Taylor that was used that night did not have that system.

 

[whitestrat]

So, you are guys are using the piezo out of your normal electric amp as well? I gotta admit when I was at the GC trying them out, I didn't find that it sounded that close to an acoustic. I was using the clean channel of the Fender Twin with no effects.

in the studio, I use it with whatever amp head that's provided, and the 4x12" cab that's there. the piezo seems to ring out really nicely, especially with a BOSS CE2 Chorus. Thing is, don't forget the EQ needs to be tweaked...

The one you tried might have been badly set...

 

[Lou]

I've had no luck getting the piezo to sound good on its own thru a standard guitar amp. Through a PA or acoustic amp no problems.