Piezo Tune-O-Matics?

[Redbowties88]

I just discovered that these exist! Really cool idea and from $100-$250 the prices for them aren't too outrageous.


Anyone have any experience with them? What do you think?


How do you have to wire them to make them work with the passive magnetics? Do they need a preamp?

 

[Securb]

Re: Piezo Tune-O-Matics?

I have a Fishman tune-o-matic in my Iceman. I love the thing. The piezo is wired like any other pickup. You can use it alone or with your magnetic, when using both you get some cool tones. The piezo also takes to effects well including distortion therefore you will get more than just acoustics tones with the piezo. I would suggest getting the onboard PowerChip and having it professionally installed.

 

[Redbowties88]

Re: Piezo Tune-O-Matics?

what do you think the benefits of the onboard premp are vs not using one?

are these pickups actually active and need a battery or are they passive?

 

[Securb]

Re: Piezo Tune-O-Matics?

what do you think the benefits of the onboard premp are vs not using one?

are these pickups actually active and need a battery or are they passive?

They are active and the preamp will come with the pickup. The PowerChip is a balance knob and allows you to blend the magnetic pickup and the piezo onboard. It includes a "smart jack". When you plug a regular guitar cable into the smart jack it recognizes that you are playing in mono (tip, shield) and automatically adjusts. You can now blend the two pickups through one signal. If you plug in a stereo cable (tip, ring, shield) it will split the signal and allow you to run separate signals. Without the PowerChip you will have to run the guitar in stereo and use some kind of device (a volume pedal) to control the level of the piezo.

 

[1b4n3z]

Re: Piezo Tune-O-Matics?

I found a Schaller piezo TOM to replace my Gibson LP TOM (direct swap, both are Schallers) for 50 euros, quite nice I'd say some kind of a preamp is required for a decent tone, since the piezo signal coupled with a regular 500k-1M ohm resistor, such as a volume pot or the amp input, will produce a high-pass filter which leads to a nasty, trebly sound. I used a regular volume boost preamp based on the Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster circuit and a standard .022 tone capacitor in parallel with the piezo signal to avoid the high pass filter. Sounds complicated, but it works great and didn't cost much Not having to modify the guitar is also a bonus.