Piezo into the Axe

damo_512

Member
For people with a piezo pickup, more specifically those with EBMM JP models, how do you process the piezo to make it sound more full and deeper?

Has anyone tried running anything of the Fishman Aura series into the axe?
 
You could have two inputs into the AxeFx II but I find it makes my presets more complicated, I like to keep things as simple as I can. I simply plug my piezo output into my mixer and add reverb/chorus using racks that I use for vocals. (Eventide Eclipse Micro Pitch Shift, Kurzweil KSP8 Reverb) i.e. Home studio setup.
 
I own a JP6 BFR and I run the piezo out into a Radial JDI passive DI box and then straight to the board. If I need to adjust the tone, I just use the tone controls on the back of the guitar. Works great for me.
 
Forgot that you asked about studio. I would advise not to use a piezo for studio recording. A decent acoustic guitar and mic will always sound much better. I view piezo as only a convenience for live use. Hell, if I'm in a live situation where I can mic up an acoustic guitar, I'd much rather have that.
 
Of course a decent acoustic would be better, I don't have a good one to record at the moment.

It sounds like the way to go is to keep it simple, with a bit of reverb and light compression. Thanks guys
 
I use a tone match of a recording of an acoustic guitar sound that I like. Add EQ, multi-band compression, maybe a tube pre block for warmth. Just using a piezo bridge without any tone match and the acoustic magic just isn't there. There are some good presets on Axe-Change that should point you in the right direction.
 
For people with a piezo pickup, more specifically those with EBMM JP models, how do you process the piezo to make it sound more full and deeper?

Has anyone tried running anything of the Fishman Aura series into the axe?

Tone Match an acoustic tone that you like - works well for both live and studio.
If you have a great acoustic, a good room, great mics and outborad and a great tech I'd always mic the real acoustic in the studio, but in less than ideal situations I've used a tonematch and it has worked absolutely great.
 
For live use I used to use EQ on a piezo. Then I discovered that an acoustic IR gives a better acoustic guitar sound, and I ditched the piezo.
 
yeah, Y cable from the guitar. mags in the front, piezo in the rear right, volume blocks "input select" parameter to choose left or right so you get automatic selection per patch, or both at once with separate processing and then use a tonematch. i've tried every approach and this one gives the most natural sound, imo. only takes a few minutes to do and you can export it to a cab and use the preamp stuff in the cab block as well.
 
For people with a piezo pickup, more specifically those with EBMM JP models, how do you process the piezo to make it sound more full and deeper?

Has anyone tried running anything of the Fishman Aura series into the axe?

Can't say I've tried with the Fishman stuff, but I have an ESP Eclipse with a GraphTech Ghost piezo installed and it sounds amazing.. Try my patch out, see what you think.. Mind you though, I play that through FRFR of course; via my Friedman ASM-12 active wedge. That patch kinda gets into 'Mama I'm Comin' Home and 'Wanted Dead Or Alive' territory.. Well.. to me it does.
 

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I run a sterrorist cable from the jp to a stereo mono splitter, from there the electric side goes to front input and the piezo side to the right in the back.
Set input to stereo in IO menu.
Open a preset and put 2 mixer blocks in the front row and set one to 100% left and mono and two to 100% right and mono.
On the right do your piezo blocks. For me personally it is a tone match of an acoustic I liked off a cd, reverb, and an enhancer. But you can make it whatever you want.
Then on the left side, do your normal electric stuff and bang your done.

The only other thing I do is I add an fx block parallel to the cab block at the end of my row and then link both paths to it so that I can use a full preset to the PA on output 1 and the preset minus the cab to out 2 to go to my poweramp and cab on stage.

Good luck.
 
Been said a couple times already but I feel like I can add something so I will...
On the guitar... Piezo selector set to center (blend mags and piezo), tone selector on split coils (center tone pot pushed). Gives you a cool mix of stratty / acoustic sound.

Send a TRS cable to a stereo / mono splitter. Piezo in the back (R), mags sent front. From there your possibilities are limitless. I personally like to send the Piezo to a CA3+ and the mags to a Shiva but you can do whatever floats your boat! From there, pan the cab IR's for each hard left and right. Sometimes, you can set up some stereo delay to get a really cool blend effect, and experiment with an enhancer at the end of your chain instead of stereo cabs. Also if you have cab lab, it's a great tool to blend cabs together for this specific use.

You can also EQ each chain differently with your PEQ which can create some really cool effects. I like to boost the lower end of the Piezo sound where I would normally be shaving off some of my electric tone. Really it's all up to what you want to do!
 
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