warwickhunt

First off I'm a strummer not a widdler and I play in an acoustic duo doing a mix of Americana / AOR / easy listening tunes. I've been a bassist for 40+ years and know what I'm doing re. amps, cabs, basses, effects etc. but getting the best from my acoustic sound is a new adventure. I'm using a mix of Godin (nylon string/SA) acoustic, Simon & Patrick 6 and a Taylor Mini GS into a BBE acousimax to an Ashdown Radiator (to small PA). I've realised that to get the best out of what I/we do, a little bit of effects might work nicely (the reverb on the amp was my starting point). An opportunity to bag a TC Plethora X5 to use with my bass (the Plethora effectively duplicates my little pedalboard of chorus, octave, looper, tuner, flanger), means that I can save boards dedicated to my acoustic... but where to start? Are there any TC / Plethora users on here or does anyone have any global or specific effects that would enhance a strummers sound, that I might be able to replicate. I've literally never dabbled with any effects pertaining to acoustic and my starting point is what I use on my bass, which is song specific. I'm going to trawl youtube for sounds I like and try to find out what effects and general settings are used but pointers would be appreciated.

Nearly there! UST fitted and soldered correctly. New bone pre-shaped bridge saddle bought (£2.50) and sanded to fit (height + length). It works... BUT the centre strings have greater output. I 'think' that as I've sanded the underside to the correct height, I've potentially applied more pressure to the outer edges and hence the centre is a whisker deeper/higher. I've also profiled the bottom face/edge to a 'U' shape as I'd seen somewhere that if the bridge tilts even a fraction in the slot (which most will) you get less contact area on the UST; maybe I need to flatten that to get a bigger contact area. We shall see.

£6.99 free delivery (Amazon Prime), bare wire connection. We'll see how this one pans out; if it fixes the main issue but I don't like the tone, then I've sourced an Artec PG607 @ £15 which will be next.

I think I'll see if I can get the PG model @Matt P but I'll need to dig out my gauge to ensure it fits as I have a niggling feeling the dimensions on the B-Band was 2.2mm. I'll also need to look at getting a female socket to solder to the preamp as I'll be annoyed if desoldering will give me grief. The piezo @Dad3353 suggested appears to only be available from China on a 3 week delivery.

Hi Matt. It is this example of the B-Band. Externally the controls are on a curved triangular plate. I'd happily buy the UST off you if it is for sale?

B-band no longer available... £14 substitute it is then!

I'm certainly up for a DIY job. I've already cleaned out the base of the slot and I'm happy to file/sand down the bottom of the nut, in fact I'll likely fit a new bridge nut as the previous one is a bit chewed and chipped in places. I think at £15 ish I'll try that first... just got to make sure the slot is correct size for the UST.

Preamp is OK as far as can be tested. The strip was earthing and buzzing like crazy when tested and went silent if I earthed it but the 'cable' is a flat strip of plastic like material, likely it is conductive on one side with the ground on reverse and an insulator strip between. The new strip will need soldering to the pins due to the make up of the existing 'cable'. The impedance was my worry as a local tech reckoned that they vary and if you get a low one the preamp will never boost it sufficiently but then maybe he was angling for the job. I've seen the strips for £5 - £110, I'd hate to buy anything for much more than your £14 @Dad3353

Message sent. I did find a replacement which I believe is called a 29R type but it was £110... almost 50% of the value of the guitar and I could likely buy a complete new system for that much!

The UST is defo goosed as I tried to refit it to try different things but it just hummed and had zero output. The flat plastic lead had various breaks of material. I might well try S&P but I'm not even sure they are still trading.

The under saddle transducer on my Simon & Patrick has died (lost output and then started to hum and generally not be well). I took out the UST thinking easy swap but the B-Band system fitted has a thin plastic transducer and you can't get them anywhere! Thought of just fitting something else but I'll need to do some jiggery with the fitting as existing is push fit connect and worse still I've heard that sometimes the output/impedance doesn't match! My dilemma is do I just fit a whole new system and if so are there any good systems that won't cost more than the value of the guitar?

Cheers Matt, I'll certainly bear it in mind.

Hi Matt. The Ashdown isn't physically large (8" driver) so I may see how close I can move it (and what to stand it on). I'm hosting a buskers tonight to help a friend out, so I'll experiment. I also have a DBX GoRack heading my way, which might prove useful. https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/dbx-gorack

I've tried the Taylor via a dedicated preamp (BBE) and into a dedicated acoustic combo (Ashdown Radiator) as well as the PA which has a guitar buffered preamp (Allen & Heath). I agree that it is likely the inherent tone as the Simon & Patrick has no such harshness when going into the preamp or combo and that likely has a very cheap internal preamp/buffer compared to the Taylor. I may have to accept it just can't sound how I want it to sound and either trade or sell to get something which fits with what I want to hear.

I'll try and source a bung as a first step. As it happens the combo is only used as a monitor, so is on the floor front and tilted back. I go guitar > BBE preamp = (split) PA/combo (monitor). I'd be getting into a whole other level if I started to mic the acoustic, so that would be a last result. Thanks for the input though.