Piezo pickups, why aren't these coming back?

[BUC]

I periodically ask around about piezo pickup usage among guitar players and it's been a few years so here I go again:

I think with everyone switching to modellers, it's time for a Piezo comeback. They're better and easier to use than ever, and with the advent of quality IR's that you can run in your modeller, you can get a decent acoustic tone from them without bringing a couple different amps to the gig. I'm periodically tempted to buy a used Axis SS with a piezo. Not a lot of companies make them in new guitars lately and the ones that do typically have them in their $3000-$5500 range guitars. MusicMan of course still has them in the Petrucci's (thank you John!) and PRS has them in some really high end Custom 22/24s.

Nothing will replace the sound and look of an acoustic, but if you got that one song, or just that chorus or bridge that needs an acoustic, it's perfect.

Not to mention all the other great tones you can pull that don't really emulate an acoustic per-se, they just sound unique with a piezo or layered with a piezo. Trevor Rabin used to use them in some great lead tones.

So, who out there is playing live with the piezo and how do you use it?

 

[racerx]

I don't play live with it much, but I do use it around home recording. I suspect the reason it isn't more popular is the perceived complexity and the overhead of getting the best sound out of it (straight into the front of your amp is fine but could sound better into a separate amp or acoustic preamp). Not for nothing, of the five guitars piezo equipped guitars I've owned in my life, 3 of them had piezo issues at one point or another.

I'm with you - I think its a criminally underrated and useful tool, but it isn't perfect either.

 

[BUC]

I run through a Helix to FRFR so it's not a problem. I've had bigger problems with the TRS->2xTS splitter cords more than anything else. These things go bad at the drop of a hat.

 

[beej]

Might be easier to just use a TRS -> TRS cable into a splitter box.

 

[jayjayjay]

Seems to me that piezos are a solution in search of a problem.

If I want something that sounds like an acoustic, well, I just grab my Taylor that has a piezo pickup in the bridge, and/or put a mic on it. An electric with piezos would really only be necessary, for me at least, for songs that require shifting between acoustic and electric on the fly without time to switch instruments. I have yet to encounter such a song.

Even in those cases, arguably there are now alternative solutions - A guitar with Roland's hex pickup going through a guitar synth with an acoustic patch, for example, or even some of the more modern Boss synths that don't require the hex pickup. Or, Fender's Acoustasonic line which is basically a hybrid acoustic/electric with mag pickups and Fishman acoustic piezo pickups. I believe Godin makes something similar.

 

[msquared]

I'd love it if the BFRs came with a piezo. Right now the only piezo equipped guitar I've got is a PRS SE Hollowbody II.

This guitar has separate outputs for piezo and magnetic, I run them into the two main interfaces on a Quad Cortex and do a wet/dry/wet setup with it. I have a solid state power amp driving two 1x12 cabs doing the wet/dry thing and then a powered PA wedge with the piezo output doing the other wet feed (with different layered effects). I usually end up doing most of the in your face effects stuff on the wet side of the magnetics (delays, phaser, tremolo etc) and the more subtle layered effects on the piezo (chorus, big reverb, rotary).

I've gotten so much use out of this setup with the PRS that I've considered butchering one of my Valentines to have separate outputs per pickup so I can make use of this idea without the piezo but haven't quite gotten there yet.

 

[cbc83]

I use the piezo on my JPXI all the time - with a good IR in my Helix Stomp, it sounds pretty convincing live for acoustic parts. I'm very happy with the sound (and I get some funny looks from people thinking we use pre-recorded parts).

 

[BUC]

I've gotten so much use out of this setup with the PRS that I've considered butchering one of my Valentines to have separate outputs per pickup so I can make use of this idea without the piezo but haven't quite gotten there yet.

Have you considered the Dustin Kensrue signature Stingray guitar? It does that exact thing right out of the box. It's actually a pretty interesting and inventive setup...which means it is certain to fail!!! All joking aside, there's videos of him explaining his system and it sounds very usable if you use a Helix or something similar.

 

[msquared]

That's awesome!