Piezo - PRS vs EBMM

Chewie5150

Chewie5150

Fractal Fanatic
Really LR baggs vs fishman. Can anyone comment on the difference between the piezo on the EBMM JP guitars vs PRS?
 
Chewie5150 said:
Really LR baggs vs fishman. Can anyone comment on the difference between the piezo on the EBMM JP guitars vs PRS?
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I played a PRS Hollowbody II for 10 years exclusively and used the piezo out on its own cable with very good success.
I ran the magnetic pickups into Hughes & Kettner / Mesa, and the piezo into a SWR California Blonde before going to the PA.
 
I have a JP15 that I'm considering selling as I have other super strat type guitars that take care of that side of the business. I also need a vintage style type guitar that could cover piezo so was eyeing this guitar.
 
No experience with EBMM but I have two PRS's with Piezo, a P245 Semi Hollow and a Custom 22 Piezo. Both with the PRS LR Baggs system. I think they both and sound great with an acoustic IR loaded into the cab block.

I also have a Taylor T5z that I've been fighting with all the time I've got it. The Taylor T5z is a hybrid with a Taylor body sensor for the most acoustic type sound, a lipstick style stacked humbucker and another humbucker hidden under the neck. The reason I got it was that I wanted an acoustic style guitar that really plays like an electric, and it does. The reason I'm fighting with it is that it doesn't sounds like an acoustic. I know that it's not, but, either of my PRS's with acoustic IR's sound more like an acoustic than the Taylor that is a lot more acoustic-like than either of the PRS. I'm far from alone in this and a lot of people with T5z's have installed Fishman Matrix Infinity undersaddle piezo pickups (finally we get to the relevance to the OP 😀) so as did I. Using the Fishman is a lot better. It's now a much, much better as an acoustic sounding guitar than with the builtin pickups. But, and here's the next issue - the output from the Fishman is really low (also a well documented issue). I've built a preset that can take the original output into Input 1 on my FM3 and the Fishman output on Input 2. I have to boost Input 2 15dB to get a matching signal compared to the builtin pickups at noon (active pickups and they have a notch for the middle/default position). Boosting the input in itself is not an issue but with that also comes noise and whenever I'm using the Fishman pickup there's a constant hiss that I really can't remove with the builtin noise gate without completely killing the signal.

I don't know if this is just how Fishman tunes their pickups/preamps and if this is the same across the board. I haven't gigged the T5z yet but I have a gig coming up in a few weeks which is why I'm looking at it again. Maybe the hissing is only a problem at home and in a live environment it's not going to be an issue. Or I'm looking at replacing the pickup with the LR Baggs Element which seems like a drop-in replacement for the Fishman Matrix Infinity. I will probably also bring both an actual acoustic and maybe my P245 SH to try it out.

As yet another alternative for you, I have another PRS (Signature Limited) that I've added Ghost piezo saddles to and that works really well as well.
 
I bought a Paoletti Nancy lounge 850 Piezo recently. really bought it literally as a 'lounge 'guitar, as sometimes with people round and kids in bed etc wanted an unplugged electric but with more volume. Have to say its a cracking guitar, has the Ghost Piezo, and works really well plugged in, the Paol own brand tele pup is nice as well, very surprised how well it works & well its made, great fun guitar

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Honestly if you get a great acoustic IR, how much difference will the piezo make between the two options? Legitimate question.
 
Budda said:
Honestly if you get a great acoustic IR, how much difference will the piezo make between the two options? Legitimate question.
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Well, in my case as stated above, the Matrix Piezo has about 15dB less output which makes me having to increase that gain elsewhere, which in turn seems to lead to more noise. Almost all piezo's have a builtin preamp as well and different preamps will definitely affect the sound even if the piezo pickups themselves probably are not going to be that different.
 
I think I spend more time on this subject than actually playing. Two hugely apparent missing pieces to the equation are lack of the miced pic sound striking the strings and resonance of a huge thin walled wooden box. I die on the inside every time I strike a note/cord. Do the Acoustic pedals they sell make it feel any more real than just EQ and compression? I keep looking at that Tom Anderson Crowdster Plus 2 guitar, feel like I really need that in my life.
 
la szum said:
Piezos suck, period. Piezos suck on full on acoustics and even more on electrics. ;)

Not sorry. :)

I know they are a necessary evil and that the moral compromise with them is part
of the deal. They still suck.... I mean quack. :)
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Lol 🤣
If you lived closer.. I'm sure we would be great friends.

I spent a lot of years trying to get the quack out those ducks. I'm pretty happy with the fishman powerbridge in my spruce thinline through an IR . But buried in the mix. And slathered with verb.
 
My friend and I were pretty impressed with the fishman aura pedal and the piezos in his tele. Through a PA it sounded fantastic. It obviously doesnt feel the same because an electric is not an acoustic lol.
 
The piezo on my JP15 actually sound pretty good, mind you I rarely ever just play straight up piezo but when mixed with a nice clean from the magnetics it sounds gorgeous. I also don't use IR's with the piezo just have a line that runs through the grid for a little compression at times and some verb and touch of eq and out to my atomic CLR's.
 
Budda said:
My friend and I were pretty impressed with the fishman aura pedal and the piezos in his tele. Through a PA it sounded fantastic. It obviously doesnt feel the same because an electric is not an acoustic lol.
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I have multiple PRS guitars with the L.R. Baggs Piezo system in them. This is exactly how I like to run it. I tried using an Acoustic FlyRig as well. The other guitar player in the band I was in at that time liked it better but I thought the Fishman Aura sounded better. The only good thing about the FlyRig is that is has some effects in it that the Aura doesn't have. For a live situation I couldn't really hear a difference when using my PRS guitars into the Aura than I have when running a Piezo from an actual acoustic into it.
 
They are both good. I used both in the studio. The biggest hurdle with a JP model is all of the electronics going on. The barrel input jacks tend to fail and if memory serves me correctly the guitar fails if the battery fails. The PRS doesn't seem to do that and the sound is very good. I personally don't hear all the much difference with piezo sounds - they all kind of hit the same territory. I feel like if that is the only "additional" sound you need, then the PRS tends to be a more usable guitar. The JP models are great and I endorsed them for a while - they just have a lot going on which means a lot can go wrong - which it did at times. Nice guitars all around. It just comes down to how much you need. The other thing I did not care for too much was the mag pickup sound on the EBMM or the fretboard radius. I like a compound fretboard much more 12-16. The 17'' was not great for chording esp playing acoustic voicings. They both have a good take on an old idea. The PRS is coming from a LP/335 with a piezo and the EBMM comes from a LP/Super Strat with a Piezo. They are close, but different at the same time. For less than a grand you can buy the PR SE model and honestly it is a fine guitar for the money if all you need is something with an acoustic type sound.
 
Budda said:
Honestly if you get a great acoustic IR, how much difference will the piezo make between the two options? Legitimate question.
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I'm still STRUGGLING to find a good acoustic IR. I bought a bunch of 3Sigma and I've tried every IR in every folder (Taylor and Martin).
They all have this phasey hollow sound.... I've tried running them as a side chain, direct signal path, tried EQ'ing before and after...I just think they sound 'weird'. I wish they worked because I'd love to have a better sounding live acoustic sound.
I'm using a Godin A6 Ultra and I think it sounds better without an IR....but still quack.
 
WKSmith said:
Lol 🤣
If you lived closer.. I'm sure we would be great friends.

I spent a lot of years trying to get the quack out those ducks. I'm pretty happy with the fishman powerbridge in my spruce thinline through an IR . But buried in the mix. And slathered with verb.
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Haha! Could we please sit around the campfire and regale each other with our splendid piezo acoustic tones?? :)

Yeah, that quack (and ping and pluckiness!!) is not a mating call. :) I do like it when you pick closer to the bridge
and accentuate all that goodness for your listening audience. They never seem to appreciate how much work
goes into making a guitar quack, though.

Edit: also best if you leave your Tone control on your guitar full tilt!!! :)
 
Oh, and people who adapt their listening to how a piezo sounds maybe forget what a real acoustic sounds like.

Too late not to be THAT guy, so I figured I might as well go all in. :)
 
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