So, My brother-in-law has a beautiful sounding acoustic guitar. I heard him play it through a PA system the other day and it sounded awful. he uses a Para DI and has a reverb pedal in the fx loop of the di. anyways, his awful sounding guitar got me to thinking what pcbs are already available that would translate to a better acoustic sound and also what (if any) pedals you use for playing acoustic. with the release of the pultec eq pedal I was thinking that would be a necessity. but I was curious on what other pedals you use. I'm almost "done" this iteration of my electric board (I realize I am lying to myself) and would like to build an acoustic board. I wasn't think about anything too wild maybe eq/preamp, verb, delay, chorus, gated fuzz, comp, and a clean boost. thoughts?
Acoustic guitar pedals
- Thread starter Funnel
- Start date
Passinwind
Well-known member
This one works great for acoustic instruments and I'm just tidying up a few things before I sign it over to Robert to do a PPCB at his leisure:
That Gorva C65 enclosure is a very tight fit with the three board modules in the prototype, but a 125B build with the right single board seems pretty feasible, or a 1590BB could leave room for a few more controls and functions.
That Gorva C65 enclosure is a very tight fit with the three board modules in the prototype, but a 125B build with the right single board seems pretty feasible, or a 1590BB could leave room for a few more controls and functions.
Feral Feline
Well-known member
One thing I hate about most amplified acoustic guitars is that piezo-sizzle, some sort of EQ to diminish that as much as possible and make it sound like you're in the room with unamplified acoustic guitar-sound would be... amazing if not downright impossible.
Some people add an acoustic-sim to the amplified acoustic signal...
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Looking forward to the Passinwind-PedalPCB collab!
Some people add an acoustic-sim to the amplified acoustic signal...
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Looking forward to the Passinwind-PedalPCB collab!
Passinwind
Well-known member
The filter preamp section is especially good for that. The lead guitarist at my regular Friday night jam has an old Gibson acoustic with both a piezo and a mag pickup, on separate jacks and volume controls. We've tested quite a few variants of these things and they've all worked well with that guitar, and with the jam host's mandolins as well.
And tonight I get to test one on a really nice carved upright with one of the more reputable piezo systems, so hopefully I can break out the owner's bow for a minute or three and see how the orange box deals with the tortured penguin thing.
Feral Feline
Well-known member
Awesome, Charlie, full deets on bow-hunting the carved tomorrow, please!
Passinwind
Well-known member
The owner has some serious lust for one of my fretless BGs, so I'll probably take that one over there to make sure I can get some quality time with her new upright.
That does look tempting. The last time I saw the preamp I think it was in a 1590bb! Was that a different pedal that I’m thinking of. Doesn’t matter. I’d love to build one when they become available. I’m excited to see how it sounds with an acoustic. I have a dual pickup system that is half piezo… I think. But brother in laws is piezo.
I totally agree with you. Unfortunately, with acoustic drums a mic isn’t practical. But for recording purposes that’s how I would go about it. I would love to be able to have several mic’s to choose from for recording. But that isn’t really practical for me. Do you have a mic that you would recommend?
Bricksnbeatles
Member known well
For my own acoustic use, I do:
I don’t just do acoustic guitar thru this rig— it’s Acoustic guitar, tenor guitar, mandolin, mountain dulcimer, and autoharp.
- Tuner
- Comp
- Phaser
- EQ
- Tremolo
- Chorus (the Unison Double Tracker is the perfect choice for this!)
- Volume pedal
- Looper
- Reverb
- DI
I don’t just do acoustic guitar thru this rig— it’s Acoustic guitar, tenor guitar, mandolin, mountain dulcimer, and autoharp.
NickC
Well-known member
the chap way AKG c3000, i use it and get really good recodings, for more "pro" Warm Audio wa87 , great mic for acustic and vocals
The TC Body Rez is supposed to be for this exact purpose - take an acoustic that sounds bad amplified and make it sound more like a good unamplified tone.
I had one for a bit, but honestly I quite like the sounds straight from my K&k pickups so I didn’t feel like I needed it.
A simple eq that’s available now is the PPCB Box and all (Eqd tone job) that should be pretty user friendly, though not super powerful eq shaper.
I had one for a bit, but honestly I quite like the sounds straight from my K&k pickups so I didn’t feel like I needed it.
A simple eq that’s available now is the PPCB Box and all (Eqd tone job) that should be pretty user friendly, though not super powerful eq shaper.
MichaelW
Well-known member
What kind of pickup system is he using and what is he using for a Preamp? Just the Para-Di? The Para-Di is legendary in acoustic circles and can deal with a lot of feedback and eq issues with a GOOD pickup system. But an under saddle piezo is still going to quack like a duck no matter what outboard gear you use if that's all he's using. I spent many years, maybe decades trying to chase down the perfect acoustic amplification system, and it always winds up with some kind of dual source, with an under saddle or underbridge pickup for attack and an internal condenser mic for body and "air" and running it into a quality blender unit of some sort. When I was playing acoustic live a lot I used the legendary Raven Labs PMB which is still probably the best ever made. (Long discontinued).
That said, @Passinwind gave me a schematic to convert one of his LPF boards for acoustic use. I'm planning to build it in the next couple weeks and try it out to see if I can get a good a D.I. sound into my interface with no mics. I'll post a build report and demo when I get it all done.
(provided I don't bork the build of course........
)He has the k&k pure mini, which many people love. But it definitely has a quack to it. I’ve also read that the impedance match between the k&k and the para don’t play well together. I agree with you on the dual source pickups they tend to be what I go for. But my acoustic pickup knowledge is limited. I’ll have to look up the raven labs I’ve never heard of it.
@phi1 i forgot all about the body res pedal. I’ll have to see if we can rent it to see if it works. At this point I think he’s closer to switching out the pickup for a dual source because he likes the sound of mine.
I’ll have to a closer look at the ppcb eq offerings. I’m to focused on the OD pedals that come out… I need to start building other pedals…
@NickC thanks for the akg recommendation I’ll have to take a look at it. I used to have an mxl 990 I got it based solely off its price point I eventually sold it to fund pedal building or buying. It all blends together now.
The trem and looper would be a nice touch. I have a twin peaks that needs troubleshooting that i could use. What looper do you
Bricksnbeatles
Member known well
Pigtronix infinity looper with a homemade remote switch. Running in stereo
MichaelW
Well-known member
This is definitely part of the problem. The Pure Mini is a passive system and I think he definitely needs some kind of preamp to bring it to the right impedance with the Para. I personally don't care for the K&K systems but you're right a lot of people really like them. I find soundboard pickups tend to have a lot of handling noise. I bet you could try something simple like a an MXR EQ pedal between the guitar and the Para (set flat) and it would probably sound better. Or any of the simple clean boosts, like a Katana.
Feral Feline
Well-known member
Ohh there's another PedalPCB WISH LIST item, right there!