rwandering
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- Joined
- Oct 22, 2022
- Messages
- 144
I thought this might be helpful or interesting to folks; first, some background on why a mag/piezo:
Since the whole point of me getting the guitar is to switch between mag and piezo quickly, *and* I want the piezo through the PA directly, I had a few options.
1. Use two TS cables out of the guitar (it has a mag/mix and a dedicated piezo). I know some people do this, but it seems cumbersome to me. I don't need a second thing to step on. Other people do a combo wired / wireless. Regardless, I did not take either of these options.
2. Use an insert cable to join two TS to a single TRS. This is fine, but it is hard to find stock cables that make sense here (i.e., where the connector gender makes sense).
3. Make a custom cable. I built a short dual TS-male to XLR-M, and a short dual XLR-F to 2 TS-male. This allows me to use a high-quality (low-capacitance and thin) microphone cable in between. It also allows me to switch out the back-end with whatever is necessary for the application (e.g., an XLR-F to TS-male for the electric side, and a TS-female to jack in a TS cable to the PA).
Note: one of my band members said I have mad soldering skills, but all you can really see is my mad shrink-tubing skills.
4. Even better, don't buy or build anything! I built the cable mostly for fun, but it is unnecessary with my use case (i.e., I don't mix the pickups and have outboard equipment that does what I need). I route the single mag/mix output into the front-end of my HX Stomp XL. I connect the left-output to my cabinet (a PowerCab 112+), and the right-output to the PA.
4a. For acoustic: I flip the CU22 switch to acoustic-only and select an acoustic preset on the HX. I don't have to do anything special. The piezo (with light processing on my presets) goes through both channels, and the PA sounds great. I send it to the PowerCab because that is often used as a monitor for me, but better is to right-pan the preset so I only hear it through the PA (and assuming I can get that through an actual stage monitor, I would).
Note: for Helix users, you can do panning in the output block so this doesn't take any additional blocks.
4b. For electric: I flip the CU22 switch to mag-only and select an electric preset on the HX. All of these presets are set to "left-pan" so they don't feed the PA.
Note: that I use modelling in the PowerCab and so send its output to the desk.
Note: the acoustic signal ends up going to the PowerCab too, unprocessed through the PowerCab (then to the desk), so I don't *have* to plug in the right-channel for acoustic to get the best sounds into the audience.
Note: I'm not using stereo effects at all, and I would need a different approach if I did.
5. So, I'm not using my new cable. But what are the cases that I would I need both outputs?
5a. If mixing mag and piezo and want the piezo to route separately to the PA (i.e., you want it to sound like an acoustic).
5b. If I didn't have the outboard switching capability. For example, if I wanted to plug directly into an amp and PA.
5c. If I want to switch the pickups without touching outboard gear. For example, I might still want to use Helix presets, but do everything from the guitar; if so, I need both outputs. In that case, I would create a preset that handles left/right input channels separately.
Note: I think is idea is actually super attractive; however, on an HX you can run out of blocks pretty quickly to support both the acoustic preamp and a guitar amp with effects, so I haven't spent much time on it. On a Helix, there should be enough DSP to play with, but I don't drag mine around for performance.
I hope this helps.
As noted elsewhere, I use a CU22 Piezo for flexibility while performing. I had been switching between a Paul's and Gibson acoustic and often fought with feedback on the acoustic. In the best of times, the audience was hearing the piezos on the acoustic anyway, so why not get them from an electric instead? The CU22 Piezo solved the problem. Of course, the magnetics are very different from the Paul's, so I've made some adjustments outboard . . . but they sound great. The other note is that there is a difference in piezo sound between the CU22 and the acoustic, which I think is primarily the lighter weight strings I play on electrics. Of course, the CU22 doesn't feel/play like an acoustic, but it gets the job done. To get the best sound, the key is to run the piezo into a PA (not an electric guitar cab), just like you wouldn't run your acoustic through your electric guitar cabinet. |
Since the whole point of me getting the guitar is to switch between mag and piezo quickly, *and* I want the piezo through the PA directly, I had a few options.
1. Use two TS cables out of the guitar (it has a mag/mix and a dedicated piezo). I know some people do this, but it seems cumbersome to me. I don't need a second thing to step on. Other people do a combo wired / wireless. Regardless, I did not take either of these options.
2. Use an insert cable to join two TS to a single TRS. This is fine, but it is hard to find stock cables that make sense here (i.e., where the connector gender makes sense).
3. Make a custom cable. I built a short dual TS-male to XLR-M, and a short dual XLR-F to 2 TS-male. This allows me to use a high-quality (low-capacitance and thin) microphone cable in between. It also allows me to switch out the back-end with whatever is necessary for the application (e.g., an XLR-F to TS-male for the electric side, and a TS-female to jack in a TS cable to the PA).

Note: one of my band members said I have mad soldering skills, but all you can really see is my mad shrink-tubing skills.
4. Even better, don't buy or build anything! I built the cable mostly for fun, but it is unnecessary with my use case (i.e., I don't mix the pickups and have outboard equipment that does what I need). I route the single mag/mix output into the front-end of my HX Stomp XL. I connect the left-output to my cabinet (a PowerCab 112+), and the right-output to the PA.
4a. For acoustic: I flip the CU22 switch to acoustic-only and select an acoustic preset on the HX. I don't have to do anything special. The piezo (with light processing on my presets) goes through both channels, and the PA sounds great. I send it to the PowerCab because that is often used as a monitor for me, but better is to right-pan the preset so I only hear it through the PA (and assuming I can get that through an actual stage monitor, I would).
Note: for Helix users, you can do panning in the output block so this doesn't take any additional blocks.
4b. For electric: I flip the CU22 switch to mag-only and select an electric preset on the HX. All of these presets are set to "left-pan" so they don't feed the PA.
Note: that I use modelling in the PowerCab and so send its output to the desk.
Note: the acoustic signal ends up going to the PowerCab too, unprocessed through the PowerCab (then to the desk), so I don't *have* to plug in the right-channel for acoustic to get the best sounds into the audience.
Note: I'm not using stereo effects at all, and I would need a different approach if I did.
5. So, I'm not using my new cable. But what are the cases that I would I need both outputs?
5a. If mixing mag and piezo and want the piezo to route separately to the PA (i.e., you want it to sound like an acoustic).
5b. If I didn't have the outboard switching capability. For example, if I wanted to plug directly into an amp and PA.
5c. If I want to switch the pickups without touching outboard gear. For example, I might still want to use Helix presets, but do everything from the guitar; if so, I need both outputs. In that case, I would create a preset that handles left/right input channels separately.
Note: I think is idea is actually super attractive; however, on an HX you can run out of blocks pretty quickly to support both the acoustic preamp and a guitar amp with effects, so I haven't spent much time on it. On a Helix, there should be enough DSP to play with, but I don't drag mine around for performance.
I hope this helps.