Magetic to Piezo/Mag blend? Needing suggestions.

Mark IV

Mark IV

Member
If any of you have a JP guitar or any kind of setup that you're running with a piezo, try and shine some light my way on this. I'll try not to word this confusing either, so sorry if I do!

Ever since I've picked these kind of guitars, I've found myself not wanting to play on the clean channel without the piezo blend option enabled. No big deal, just flip the switch on the guitar right? All is cool there. However, seeing how flexible the Axe FX/MFC setup is with routing, I want to see who can help me out with going from a distorted amp (a) on the magnetic pickups to a clean amp (b) with the blend of magnetic and piezo triggered all in one switch on my mfc. I'm aware you can blend in magnetic/piezo with an expression pedal, but that's not what I'm trying to do.

In my mind so far, I'd probably have to pick up a Y cable (Pro Co PARKER20 Magnetic/Piezo Guitar Y-Cable - 20' | Sweetwater.com) and have the different ends into different inputs. One in the front and one in the back (and of course setting that up in the input menu), but I'm not entirely sure how I would setup the layout. I'm assuming the amp change portion would have to be in different scenes x/y of course, but how would I change which input(s) on the unit gets used for which scene. Again, I'm not trying to go from magnetic to piezo, I'm trying to go from magnetic (amp A) to the blend of both (amp B).

To get a little better insight, check this guy's video out. Just watch 4:00-6:30 to get the quick idea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSF388pA4vM

In his video though, he does all of the pickup/amp changes with his piezo/mag switch on the music man JP instead of an MFC switch and also setups everything in one layout, which might work in my situation too, unless that's not possible with the mfc and I'd have to use scenes instead. (or heck, a whole different preset if I have to)

and one last thing, I'm also assuming the switch on the guitar would have to already be set in the blend mode. Correct me if I'm wrong there.

Anyways, thanks to anyone who read through all of that and will be willing to make this easier for me!
 
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got your PM but it's better to talk here so others can chime in with good ideas.

you should find my setup video on my youtube channel to get the piezo/electric thing going with the axe.

i now suggest using Volume Blocks and not Mixer blocks (man i really should update that video, again!).

yes, you'd have your guitar live in the piezo/electric blend mode. once you have the 2 separate lines in the layout for the electric and piezo sounds, you can change the Bypass mode of the first Volume block set to Mute, instead of Thru.

this means when you bypass that first Volume block of the piezo line, the signal will mute. using scenes, unbypass the Volume block and the piezo will now pass signal through along with all other changes you make in the scene. alternatively, you can set a switch on the MFC to manually bypass/engage that volume block, but scenes allow you to do more with a single button press.
 
Mags in the front, piezo in the rear to input 1 right, set input 1 to stereo. Use the input select param set to L or R in two volume blocks at the beginning of two rows. Process as appropriate. Tie a cc prdal to the volumes to crossfade between the two rows. I can give you more info tomorrow and an example patch if you need it.
 
You could use scenes to switch if you wanted, by bypassing one of the volume blocks with bypsss mode set to mute
 
Yes Simeon, an example patch would be extremely helpful! I'm fairly new to the dual guitar input/midi world!
 
here you go

input 1 set to stereo in I/O > audio
Y lead from guitar, mags to front input, piezo to input 1 right round the back

scene 1 - acoustic
scene 2 - rhythm
scene 3 - lead

i've included my tonematch block that i use for my piezos, from a nice recording of a real acoustic
 

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simeon said:
here you go

input 1 set to stereo in I/O > audio
Y lead from guitar, mags to front input, piezo to input 1 right round the back

scene 1 - acoustic
scene 2 - rhythm
scene 3 - lead

i've included my tonematch block that i use for my piezos, from a nice recording of a real acoustic
Click to expand...

Do you think it would work as charmy as this when it's mono summed piezo? :)

The thing is I can't give up my wireless and have 2 seperate outputs.
 
this patch is set up specifically to work with split outputs. if you wanted to use it mono summed, you would need to remove both volume blocks and switch outputs via the guitar at the same time as switching scenes
 
simeon said:
this patch is set up specifically to work with split outputs. if you wanted to use it mono summed, you would need to remove both volume blocks and switch outputs via the guitar at the same time as switching scenes
Click to expand...

Got it. And I have read about, summing up magnetics and piezo to a mono doesn't sound good as stereo output. Is it right?

My piezo bridge is on shipping yet, can not try it out for a week or 2, after the installation :)
 
Just a suggestion (as the main question was already answered):

Try to put a TMA on the piezo row and match it to one of your magnetic pickups. Then add a multiband compressor to add sustain to taste.
Run both magnetic and the tone matched piezo signal into a distorted stereo amp setup and profit.

Stereo tone right from the depths of hell.

Takes some time to tweak the multiband compressor, though, to get the piezo-ness out of the piezo. You definitely don't want the piezo to go into a distorted amp without a lot of high-cut.

Oh, and yes, a Y-cable is definitely the way to go. You can also use a double-Y cable and use both output jacks on the JP. I think that yields some noise advantage (as you have seperate grounds for piezo and magnetic, but I'm not totally sure if that is actually accurate or even a real issue).

Cem said:
Got it. And I have read about, summing up magnetics and piezo to a mono doesn't sound good as stereo output. Is it right?

My piezo bridge is on shipping yet, can not try it out for a week or 2, after the installation :)
Click to expand...
It doesn't change the sound. But you miss the opportunity to mix and match digitally. And also it requires a lot more coordination to switch both the pickup and the preset at the same time. Also, you can not abuse the piezo to get a wider stereo sound anymore.

If you want to retrofit a piezo bridge, you should definitely replace the output jack with a stereo jack and seperate the channels!
 
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Zwiebelchen said:
If you want to retrofit a piezo bridge, you should definitely replace the output jack with a stereo jack and seperate the channels!
Click to expand...

Yes I'm replacing a stereo jack, but the system has the option of using stereo cable or mono summed. @home I will probably always use split :)

The bridge is, LR Baggs T-Bridge for les paul.
 
simeon said:
here you go

input 1 set to stereo in I/O > audio
Y lead from guitar, mags to front input, piezo to input 1 right round the back

scene 1 - acoustic
scene 2 - rhythm
scene 3 - lead

i've included my tonematch block that i use for my piezos, from a nice recording of a real acoustic
Click to expand...

Thanks Simeon!! Can't wait to try that out later on.
 
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