PRS SE Hollowbody II Piezo

[AZGiant]

I am thinking of adding one to the collection. The focus would be primarily recording acoustic tones through the Piezo into my DAW as opposed to putting a mic on an acoustic. Not the same tone I know, but easier to work with. Just curious if anyone has one, used it maybe for that purpose, and how it performed.

Thanks

 

[markd21]

I have one. I use it for that purpose, though it's usually in a full mix, not solo.

 

[AZGiant]

I have one. I use it for that purpose, though it's usually in a full mix, not solo.

Thanks man. Are you layering other acoustics on top of it, or drums, electric guitar, bass, etc?

 

[FragileThunder]

I have one, and it is my main player right now. If I'm running split signals and trying to get a true "acoustic" piezo tone, I do run through a LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI Pre to mellow out the sound a bit. YMMV

 

[RickF]

I have two of them (one is for backup, I gig a fair amount). I use mine with a HXStomp loaded with a Taylor IR and it sounds very good. I use it all the time live in a mix with looping or sometimes solo behind a singer. I am very happy with the sound. With that said, your expectations need to be realistic, it is not going to compete with a true quality acoustic. It still sounds darn good though. My 2 cents...

 

[markd21]

Thanks man. Are you layering other acoustics on top of it, or drums, electric guitar, bass, etc?

I will use it when there is a song with a full mix. I always run the piezo into my Helix. From there I use 4 paths with 4 different IR captures of a Martin D35. Those are sent via 4 outs to 4 line inputs on my interface, which generates 4 tracks in Protools. Then, those 4 tracks will be blended, grouped and assigned a VCA master. Then I repeat using a different IR of another acoustic.

I have the following acoustic guitars captured:

Martin D35
Martin 000-28
McPherson Camrielle
Taylor 816ce

Then I have some older acoustic IRs from when I used my P22 a lot. These include models by:

Collings
Lakewood
Santa Cruz
Guild

In all, it works pretty well. However, I can't iterate enough that by itself, even with the IRs and layers, the mic'd SE T60E sounds better.

I also use the HBII for any "acoustic" solos I do. My fingers are NOT acoustic fingers...they are wimpy "I've always played 9s" fingers, lol.

 

[AZGiant]

I will use it when there is a song with a full mix. I always run the piezo into my Helix. From there I use 4 paths with 4 different IR captures of a Martin D35. Those are sent via 4 outs to 4 line inputs on my interface, which generates 4 tracks in Protools. Then, those 4 tracks will be blended, grouped and assigned a VCA master. Then I repeat using a different IR of another acoustic.

I have the following acoustic guitars captured:

Martin D35
Martin 000-28
McPherson Camrielle
Taylor 816ce

Then I have some older acoustic IRs from when I used my P22 a lot. These include models by:

Collings
Lakewood
Santa Cruz
Guild

In all, it works pretty well. However, I can't iterate enough that by itself, even with the IRs and layers, the mic'd SE T60E sounds better.

I also use the HBII for any "acoustic" solos I do. My fingers are NOT acoustic fingers...they are wimpy "I've always played 9s" fingers, lol.

Well I can record on my Martin or older Ovation, but I want to set the main track to this, and then layer mic'd acoustics on top of it. I am hoping it will help me lay a base tone, and then fill it with mic's guitars (which is never easy to do in AZ when the A/C runs every other minute lol)

 

[dogrocketp]

I’m getting ready to use mine for the musical “Alice by Heart.” There will be 1 less guitar in the pit.

 

[markd21]

Well I can record on my Martin or older Ovation, but I want to set the main track to this, and then layer mic'd acoustics on top of it. I am hoping it will help me lay a base tone, and then fill it with mic's guitars (which is never easy to do in AZ when the A/C runs every other minute lol)

Yeah! It's perfect for that and more. I just don't ever want mislead and have someone think I meant the HBII Piezo was more acoustic-like because of being hollow and deeper. While that helps, an acoustic guitar it does not make, you know?

 

[JackB1]

I gig with mine regularly. I play with tracks so it's great to be able to switch back and forth between electric and acoustic sounds.