Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?

[Ira8]

I modified an old Squire Tele with new tuners, 3-saddle bridge, rear string-through, SD Vintage Rhythm in the neck and SD Hot Rails in the bridge.

And this thread has nothing to do with this guitar at all--I was embarrassed to post here about a non-SD product, and I didn't want to LIE that it was an SD-product, so here's my dilemma:

I have a VERY old Pro-Mag passive soundhole pup that I've always loved for some of my acoustics.

These days, I'm playing a thin-bodied Ibanez Talman acoustic-electric with a piezo, and the piezo STINKS. So I stuck the Pro-Mag in there...even drilled and wired to a dedicated jack input...and I'm a happy camper. Except I have no pre-amp controls.

Can I wire the Mag to the guitar's exisiting preamp (volume, tone, etc. powered by 9v battery) and just disconnect the piezo?

My only other option is a belt-on preamp like this, from LR Baggs:

L. R. Baggs Gigpro Belt-Clip Acoustic Preamp | SamAsh

Thanks for your help!

--Ira

[jeremy]

Re: Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?

you may be able to wire the promag to the preamp. does it have a small jack or is the piezo hardwired to it?

[Ira8]

Re: Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?

you may be able to wire the promag to the preamp. does it have a small jack or is the piezo hardwired to it?

I haven't popped the pre-amp yet, but I've been doing some reading:

It seems that the pots (vol/tone) for active and passive pups have way different values, which is why active piezo pups need a battery and passive pups don't. So unless I can change the values of the 3 slider pots in the guitar, I'm out of luck. But I want to see if I CAN. Seriously, this piezo without external processing STINKS, while the Pro-Mag is beautiful right out of the box. (Through an acoustic amp.)

I emailed Ibanez, but I doubt I'll get any answers from them. Just like Dean Markley wouldn't give me an answer because they don't want to make any incorrect recommendations.

An ALTERNATE solution could be to install three pots of correct value wired just to the soundhole pup, and leave the piezo circuit alone! This would give me two outputs, like stereo!

Pots are cheap enough, right? And it's just a little soldering. Maybe I should ask Dean Markley about THAT.

[jeremy]

Re: Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?

passive controls are easy. volume and tone controls will cost a few bucks but that's it. but they are passive so no boosting of anything.

the piezo pickup itself isn't active, just the preamp

[Ira8]

Re: Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?

Thanks, Jeremy. I don't need the boosting anyway--I'll run the amp hot.

I just emailed Dean Markley again about what pot values to get, and I BEGGED the guy to ask their engineer(s). If I don't get an answer, where the heck do you think I CAN?

[jeremy]

Re: Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?

if you like the sound you get then I would use a 1meg volume control, it will color the sound less than a 500k or 250k. if you want a little les high end then go for a lower value

[Ira8]

Re: Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?o

if you like the sound you get then I would use a 1meg volume control, it will color the sound less than a 500k or 250k. if you want a little les high end then go for a lower value

I like it just fine. So a 1meg for volume, and just one tone control at 1 meg?

[jeremy]

Re: Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?

do you need a tone control as well? If you like the sound you have, the less stuff you add the less the tone will change

[Ira8]

Re: Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?

do you need a tone control as well? If you like the sound you have, the less stuff you add the less the tone will change

I guess I don't need tone--but I figure since I'm already wiring it. Is it worth a try to see the difference, before drilling a hole for it? And is it actually a separate type of tone pot?

Thanks for hanging in there with me. I really appreciate it.

[jeremy]

Re: Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?

pots are pots, its the way its wired that determines what they do. a volume pot can be a tone pot by rewiring it and adding a capacitor

[Ira8]

Re: Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?

So how's something like this. I clicked on potentiometers, then guitar as opposed to amp, and this is the only one available at 1m:

http://www.amplifiedparts.com/products/R-VB-A

[jeremy]

Re: Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?

that pot should be fine

[beaubrummels]

Re: Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?

So how's something like this. I clicked on potentiometers, then guitar as opposed to amp, and this is the only one available at 1m:

http://www.amplifiedparts.com/products/R-VB-A

FWIW - there are several manufacturers. CTS is another well-known company. There're different variations also: split-shaft, solid shaft, long/short shaft. http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/e...al_ctspots.htm

Also the taper is a consideration. Typically audio taper is used for volume controls and linear taper is used for tone controls, but you can use linear for either.

[Ira8]

Re: Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?

I just emailed the company with my link with some queries, before I read your post. So the one I linked is audio taper, good for volume.

I asked if I could use the same pot for tone, and with which capacitor for minimal effect/coloring of the raw signal. So now I'm curious if they tell me I should get a linear pot for that.

As far as the shaft goes, that relates to the kind of knobs I can use, correct? Once I figure out the technical specs, I'll deal with knobs. I'm kind of open as to style.

Thanks to both of you guys for helping me out here. I'm hoping AmplifiedParts also offers some SCHEMATICS for this; I haven't really looked yet.

[Ira8]

Re: Can I wire a passive soundhole pup to guitar's pre-amp?

Typically audio taper is used for volume controls and linear taper is used for tone controls, but you can use linear for either.

I just went to that site, and it's the opposite, right?

The first linear one says for tone only.