![]() ![]() ![]() Bronze wound strings will give you the typical acoustic resonance nickel wound electric guitar strings are versatile, and flatwound strings will work great for jazz. Then take great care in choosing the strings, as they can significantly affect the tone of a Semiacustica. Marshall amps generally do not sound so good as they cut out the high frequencies. Jazz oriented amps are ok as well but will not do justice to Piezo. SR and AER amps sound best and maybe something else I did not test. When playing through an amp, you should ideally use an acoustic amp, but many acoustic amps feature a V-shaped EQ, a typical “acoustic” enhancement, which is not necessarily good for the Semiacustica. The flatter the response, the better the overall tone. It is best to use a PA with two midrange cones and a horn, or multiple 10″ speakers. When playing through a PA system, you need to have a good midrange response (a woofer with a satellite tweeter is the worst PA you can use). The Semiacustica sounds very good when played directly through a PA or through an amp, depending which sound you like better. Removing the battery will not affect the magnetic pickup output, but the piezo will stop operating. So, to preserve the original passive magnetic tone, we are using a passive balance that has a more limited mixing range. This might result in a more consistent mix between the two pickups, but it would also add a compression and thereby modify the dynamics of the instrument. An active circuit would preamp both the piezo and magnetic signals. We have chosen to use a passive mixing circuit. The balance between the magnetic and piezo tones can be set by using the piezo level as a reference, then re-adjusting the magnetic pickup distance from the strings (adjusting the two side screws) to obtain the desired and appropriate magnetic sound level. – How you amp it….With a strong midrange amp or cabinet, the magnetic pickup will sound more powerful and can overpower the piezo. – The way you play….if you play hard the piezo tone will be much more prounounced, if you have a light touch the piezo response will be much lower. – Whether you usually use it with the tone pot open or closed The power you feel from the piezo (that is preset by its preamp to a single coil sound level) varies depending upon the following: But there are many variables so the best way to adjust the balance between magnetic and a piezo is to lower the magnetic (maybe someone have raised it after our preset) until the sound is ok. Usually we adjust the pickups to have similar output (in the middle) when playing through a PA. The Acoustibass is equipped with a pan control, which is used to adjust the balance between the magnetic pickup and the piezo element. Then close (clockwise) the two screws lightly until they can hold the bridge in position without dampening the tone.īalancing the piezo and magnetic pick-ups Move the bridge a bit with small movements to find a position where the bass response sounds correct. To adjust for this, connect the bass to an amp, select the piezo pickup only with the balance control, open (counterclockwise) lightly the two screws and listen to each string’s response. This is usually caused by the over tightening of one or both the bridge side screws, or if the bridge has moved from its original position and is not pressing down on the piezo perpendicularly. Sometimes a bass frequency drop can occur. ![]() To let the piezo element do the best job, the saddle should vibrate over it freely. The piezo element is placed in between this resin element and the brass saddles visible from the top of the bridge. So the easiest way to do it is adding or removing small shims under the resin base. All height adjustments should be done by changing the thickness of this base, without changing its straightness on both faces. The heights of the strings are determined by the resin base you will find in between the metal bridge saddles and the instrument body. We have put all our efforts into developing a good system that carefully transduces the vibrations into sound, but this process is critical and delicate, so there is the possibility that some adjustments may be needed from time to time. To get the best sound from the specially designed piezo pickup in the Acoustibass bridge, it is necessary that the bridge is correctly adjusted. Height adjustment on manne piezo saddles.Push/pull knobs or multi position switches for pickups connections String lenght on string thru body basses.The cheapest I've found is the Leo Quan type, which run about $25. You can fill the post holes with doweling and redrill, or you can buy an all-in-one intonatable wraparound bridge from Stew Mac (or a hunert other places). Asian TOM bridges are 72mm center-to-center so will not work with the wraparound post holes. Currently, Asian wraparound bridge post holes are 82mm center-to-center. ![]()
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