Let's talk piezo

[Marcus2]

my experiment

Hello,

One reason I love my Petruccis is the piezo. I had a number of piezo equipped guitars incluging hybrid electric/acoustics and other acoustic guitars (including a top of the line Ovation). I had them all on stands in front of my acoustic amp and compared each and every one to my Petrucci plugged in.

Hands down, the Petrucci sounded more natural than any of the others. I even had my wife drop in to listen (she is totally unbiased). She had the smae experience. All the others had a plastic amplified sound. The Petrucci is much warmer.

There you have it.

Cheers,
Marc

 

[puppyonacid]

I don't have a problem with using my piezo through a guitar amp. My main amp, still, is a late 80's fender dual showman head. It's generally taken as red that fender amps have some of the best clean tones around. or at least, they did.

My amp has 4 inputs. 2 for switching channels, and 2 that switches both channels on at once. I basically set my JP6 up so that the mags are into one of the normal switchable inputs, and the piezo is plugged into one of the dual channel inputs. That way, I can effectively switch channels with my guitar using the piezo switch. Using a volume pedal in front of the amp going into the magentic pickup output I can blend and switch sounds really really easily. And because the cleans on my amp are really top notch and loud, it really does sound nice.

 

[universe777]

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?

I noticed this as well, both when running into a single amp (mono) and more so when running into 2 amps using both of the guitars outputs. From what I can deduce it's caused by a few factors (at least with my particular guitar). Rolling back on the piezo volume definatly helps. I think alot of it though has to do with the action on the guitar, it sounds to me as if it's not the piezo "distorting" per se, but more of some fret buzz that is really pronounced and noticeable when being amplified via piezos.

I've found that I can all but eliminate the "distortion" and the pops if i alter my pick attack to be very light and precise. Has anyone else had this experience? Is my guitar improperly set up? or do you all have to modify your playing technique when you switch to piezo mode?

There's always going to be some buzz with these guitars playing as fast as they do, going through the magnetic pickups it's impercievable, so I don't want to raise the action.

 

[eegor]

That's not the case with me. It's definitely not fret buzz or my picking attack, and rolling back the volume doesn't do much. It's definitely distortion (there's a big difference between distortion and fret buzz).

 

[universe777]

I'd like to hear from other players on their experience; Do you all have to modify your pick attack and playing dynamics in Piezo mode? or do you just keep playing as if your running through the magnetic pickups?

The fret buzz (when it hits, man...its enough to take your head off, like razors through your ears) I'm getting seems to be localized between the 12th and 15/16th frets in piezo mode (playing with a regular attack)...however; greatly reducing my attack and playing very mindful of my dynamics i can eliminate the buzz. I've never owned a piezo before, is this just how the system is? or should I be able to really dig in and pick heavy like I do in magnetic mode?

 

[Lou]

Piezos are way more sensitive to picking than your pickups. If you overdo it you can have side effets such as buzzing. Ease up and find the limits.