Cable length limit before preamp? Wireless?

[Grant Harding]

I want to stick one of those JJB 3 transducer pickups in my LL6, but it's passive and I'd prefer to avoid an onboard preamp.

 

What sort of maximum cable length can I get away with between it and an external preamp before the signal starts degrading noticeably?

Can I use a wireless and put the preamp just after the receiver?

Thanks

[Mikeo]

I want to stick one of those JJB 3 transducer pickups in my LL6, but it's passive and I'd prefer to avoid an onboard preamp.

 

What sort of maximum cable length can I get away with between it and an external preamp before the signal starts degrading noticeably?

Can I use a wireless and put the preamp just after the receiver?

Thanks

 

 

You have a couple of things going on.

 

I understand not want to have a battery and pre amp in your acoustic, but it will give you the best signal. Even with a built in pre amp. I have used a floor pre amp, like the Fisherman Spectra DI or the Baggs venue.

 

You can use a floor pre amp like I mentioned without an onboad pre, which is exactly what the floor pre amps were meant to do. Seems like over kill, but it's not.

 

I have never use the JJB 3 acoustic pick up in a guitar, but it looks similar to the K&K stuff.

 

 

You can try the wireless transmitter and not worry about cord length at all, and I don't see any reason you can't drop a pre amp after the wireless.

 

I have never had a reason to by a wireless system for my guitars, but if you have one kicking around, give it a try.

 

I usually run a 15-20 foot cable to my pre amps ( even if the guitar has a built in pre amp), and the an 20 ft XLR cable ( or what ever is on stage) out of the pre to an acoustic amp or to the sound board.

 

 

My buddy has had the Dtar acoustic pick up system installed on several of his Martins. I have older Martin Gold Plus and Matrix pups in a few guitars.

 

Hot and clean is the name game for getting a killer acoustic sound, and it depends on you play application.

 

I don't know exactly what your budget it, but do it right and do it once.

 

 

Choose your pick up internal pre amp or no internal pre. Choose a pre amp ( you won't need it if you got with built in pre, but once you hear it you'll want it. Then send it to the acoustic amp or mixing board.

 

 

[video=youtube;D5AoId-9fW0]

 

 

 

[Delmont]

Went to hear Gaelic Storm last night. The guitar was a wireless rig. Sounded fine.

[t_e_l_e]

if you go wireless, the wireless system itself is/has a preamp.

it all depends what your applications is and what you need?

 

you can go directly from a piezo pickup into the sound board/mixer, no matter how long the cable will be, the sound quality will be less than mediocre.

even the cheapest passive DI box will do wonders here.

you can spend a small or big fortune on DI boxes and depending on application itmifght be worth it.

 

having a DI box and between you accoustic guitar and whereevery it goes makes you rather independent from cable lengths, unless were are talking of hundreds of hundreds of meters

[DeepEnd]

I don't know about the JJB models but K&K claims their pickups don't need a preamp. If that is indeed true, you should be able to plug directly into a wireless rig. The late Terry Allan Hall was a prolific Forum member and a proponent of the L.R. Baggs Para DI: https://www.lrbaggs.com/preamps-di/para-di-acoustic-guitar-preamp.

[Grant Harding]

Thanks everyone. I think I'll just install the piezo at the next string change anyway and see what's up.

 

Turning the LL6 into an acoustic/electric is a nice to have for me, since I already have a nice AE with a Fishman blender system (with preamp) in it. I'm used to getting a good tone out of a PA, but I didn't want to bother modifying the LL6 if I have to put a preamp in it or if it's likely to sound weak and bland in comparison. The LL6 is nicer to play, sounds WAY better acoustically and looks nicer to me, so I'll persist.

 

I'm hoping that a Fishman Aura or something at my feet (or just after the wireless receiver if I go that way) will do the trick.

 

[Idunno]

My rig(s) in the past.

 

K&K PWM out to a K&K Pure Pre belt-clip preamp - hardwired - with a Nady MT-16R wireless transmitter in the line-out of the belt-clip. This will transmit to the base station Nady MGT-16 which is hardwired to the amp. Having a preamp on board will let you plug the transmitter into the guitar but the K&K belt clip with the 12" cable between it and the guitar is not a cumbersome rig. Before I got the Nady wireless system I went from the belt clip preamp hardwired to the amp. Hating the feck out of cables, I bought the Nady.

 

My current rig - Yamaha classical with the onboards and the wireless Nady transmitter (above) plugged into the cable jack > Nady base station (above) hardwired to the amp.

 

Been using this for a couple-three years without a glitch because glitches are expensive and don't come in fossilized ivory.

[Grant Harding]

That sounds like pretty much what I'm after, thanks. I like the idea of it just fastened to my strap.

 

What's the battery on the K&K like?

[Idunno]

The battery in the Pure Preamp had a pretty good life to it but like anything else battery powered, it's cheap insurance to swap it out when in doubt. I did that but kept the old batteries to run them out in my regular home sessions. The Nady transmitter uses a single AAA battery and it's good for a couple hours only. When it starts to go it begins echoing the signal in a reverberating fashion. The base station is universal and can use batteries or the power transformer it comes with. I've never used it with batteries because I've never had to. The transmitter is, IIRC, designed to give a 100 foot loss-less line-of-sight signal. That puts a little AAA battery to task.

 

I've used the Nady system as far away as (guessing) 70 feet or so line-of-sight (no signal obstruction) without any signal losses. I've never taken the rig to "11" to get an ear on the signal quality from source to amp yet. My sound checks to-date have been in close proximity to people and the Fishman SA220 at that level is painful. I may load it down to the aircraft hangar I work in one weekend to see what shakes out.

 

If I were you I'd certainly check out the JJB product line, as you mentioned previously, rather than the K&K. Piezo is Piezo and from what I've seen of their product line JJB is an equal contender at a fraction of the K&K price point. Just remember that steel strings and Piezo are strange bedfellows and you will be setting yourself up for the signature Piezo sound some people call quack. The best I could do to control that was through a dual source system that included an internal condenser mic with a blend control on the control board mounted just inside the sound hole (LR Baggs). The condenser doesn't do trebles as well as the Piezo so I blended just enough of the latter in to grab it. Then, I left steel strings altogether, went to the nylon string classical, and that pretty much tamed the Piezo rudeness with a more honest acoustic sound.

 

If you're curious, though, try one of those acoustic modeler sound hole mag p'ups. It may not give you the sound of your guitar but we're talking audience here, not you. All other signal chain devices remain the same, minus the Piezo SBT. I hardwired one into a Walden dread some years back and it was good for what it was. All mag p'ups tend to get sparky sounding in the trebles the higher up the neck you go, though.

[Grant Harding]

Thanks again.

 

I bought a handful of different JJB pickups based on the recommendations from here, but have only installed one in my other AE. It sounds much better than the UST that was in there originally.

 

I still have (in the packaging) another steel string acoustic version, a classical one, and a couple of ukulele ones. Don't know how I was planning to install the ukulele ones, but maybe one day I'll make one of those Stewmac uke kits.