Trance Amulet: Finally installing!

[Petty1818]

Question for Amulet owners... Last night, I plugged my Amulet equipped Taylor into my Fender amp. I don't normally do this but I felt like being amplified and was too lazy to grab one of my QSC K speakers. Anyway, I noticed hiss coming from my amp and at first I figured it was just the amp. However, once I unplugged the guitar, the hiss was completely gone. It seems as though the Amulet is providing the hiss.

I checked on the Trance website to see if they have troubleshooting options but didn't see any. Do you think this could be a bad battery or is it possible that the pickup just has some noise to it?

[Cuki79]

The amulet preamp has a DC-DC converter to porduce -9V. This means the voltage is switched at very high frequency.

Maybe your amp is not properly grounded.

Is it the same kind of hiss you hear when you use analog and digital pedals on the same 1-spot wallwart?

If it is the same, it could be the reason.

Cuki

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Petty1818

Question for Amulet owners... Last night, I plugged my Amulet equipped Taylor into my Fender amp. I don't normally do this but I felt like being amplified and was too lazy to grab one of my QSC K speakers. Anyway, I noticed hiss coming from my amp and at first I figured it was just the amp. However, once I unplugged the guitar, the hiss was completely gone. It seems as though the Amulet is providing the hiss.

I checked on the Trance website to see if they have troubleshooting options but didn't see any. Do you think this could be a bad battery or is it possible that the pickup just has some noise to it?

Always judge your guitar's pickup/preamp system by what you'll actually be playing into. Do change the battery as it may have depleted over time. If the battery is getting low, you should see your M-VT module's warning light glow to indicate this condition provided you've already received and installed the M-VT module/harness.

P.S. I recently bought a Fender Blues Junior Humboldt Custom with Jensen P12Q alnico speaker and plugged-in my Trance-equipped Martin HD-28 and it sounded like crap, so don't despair but plug into what you're going to be using in real life for your performance.

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Always judge your guitar's pickup/preamp system by what you'll actually be playing into. Do change the battery as it may have depleted over time. If the battery is getting low, you should see your M-VT module's warning light glow to indicate this condition provided you've already received and installed the M-VT module/harness.

P.S. I recently bought a Fender Blues Junior Humboldt Custom with Jensen P12Q alnico speaker and plugged-in my Trance-equipped Martin HD-28 and it sounded like crap, so don't despair but plug into what you're going to be using in real life for your performance.

I actually don't have the VT controls in yet (should be here soon). I didn't even know that there is a battery light so that's a plus!

I am wondering if maybe the fact that the amulet is active means that it's driving my amp a bit more, creating hiss. I don't remember hearing it through my pa so hopefully that's the problem.

[Petty1818]

Despite my best efforts, I have been unable to make the Trance Amulet M sound good. I installed the VT controls and they do help but I find I have the tone knob almost all the way off because it's still too bright and thin. I realize my guitar is brighter so that factors in, I just can't get the single note lines to sound all that warm or rich. There's a distinct piezo tone that I cannot dial out as well. I might try it in another guitar but unfortunately, this was a big failure.

[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by Petty1818

Despite my best efforts, I have been unable to make the Trance Amulet M sound good. I installed the VT controls and they do help but I find I have the tone knob almost all the way off because it's still too bright and thin. I realize my guitar is brighter so that factors in, I just can't get the single note lines to sound all that warm or rich. There's a distinct piezo tone that I cannot dial out as well. I might try it in another guitar but unfortunately, this was a big failure.

Petty, I'm sorry to hear that. I wonder if Ken on here (SpruceTop) would have any tips. Did you try and eq it with an outboard eq?

scott memmer

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by Petty1818

Despite my best efforts, I have been unable to make the Trance Amulet M sound good. I installed the VT controls and they do help but I find I have the tone knob almost all the way off because it's still too bright and thin. I realize my guitar is brighter so that factors in, I just can't get the single note lines to sound all that warm or rich. There's a distinct piezo tone that I cannot dial out as well. I might try it in another guitar but unfortunately, this was a big failure.

I’m sorry to hear that. But, I had a similar experience. The install is incredibly sensitive. I had the system in one guitar sounding perfect, and the other was a failure.

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

I’m sorry to hear that. But, I had a similar experience. The install is incredibly sensitive. I had the system in one guitar sounding perfect, and the other was a failure.

I still think the Koa taylor is simply thin and bright. The pickup is probably being fairly true to the crisp snappy thin treble stuat Koa had Taylors often exhibit.

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks

Petty, I'm sorry to hear that. I wonder if Ken on here (SpruceTop) would have any tips. Did you try and eq it with an outboard eq?

scott memmer

Yeah, I found that I always needed to turn down the treble but then things would become too muddy.

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

I’m sorry to hear that. But, I had a similar experience. The install is incredibly sensitive. I had the system in one guitar sounding perfect, and the other was a failure.

Oddly enough, my Larrivee has the K&K pure mini in it and when I plug it in, although it's not as hi-fi and present as the Amulet, it seems to have a woodier, fatter and more natural tone. I can't really explain it but when I plug the Amulet M in, I hear more of a piezo tone than with the K&K. It's to the point where I listened back to some recordings I did of the Amulet at a live show and at first I thought it was a UST. It's very strange.

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by Petty1818

Oddly enough, my Larrivee has the K&K pure mini in it and when I plug it in, although it's not as hi-fi and present as the Amulet, it seems to have a woodier, fatter and more natural tone. I can't really explain it but when I plug the Amulet M in, I hear more of a piezo tone than with the K&K. It's to the point where I listened back to some recordings I did of the Amulet at a live show and at first I thought it was a UST. It's very strange.

Those are different guitars. The direct correlation would be K&K PWM in your Taylor compared to the Amulet in the Taylor. (same guitar)

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by Groberts

Those are different guitars. The direct correlation would be K&K PWM in your Taylor compared to the Amulet in the Taylor. (same guitar)

I am basing this solely on the tone of the pickup itself. For example, if I put the Lyric in two different guitars, yes it will sound different but I would still be able to give a breakdown of how the mic sounds. Hopefully that's clear.

Obviously they are two different guitars, I am just hearing a distinct piezo tone with the Amulet that I don't hear with the K&K.

I would try a K&K in my Taylor but I can't bring myself to super glue it in.

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by Petty1818

Oddly enough, my Larrivee has the K&K pure mini in it and when I plug it in, although it's not as hi-fi and present as the Amulet, it seems to have a woodier, fatter and more natural tone. I can't really explain it but when I plug the Amulet M in, I hear more of a piezo tone than with the K&K. It's to the point where I listened back to some recordings I did of the Amulet at a live show and at first I thought it was a UST. It's very strange.

I will reiterate that I had a great experience with the Trance in one guitar. And, the failure experience is probably my fault. But, after thinning my herd of acoustic guitars down to three Martin dreadnoughts, I have two with passive K&K installs and one with factory Aura F1 Plus. This was after a lot of deliberation. I am playing the passive K&Ks through the new Zoom AC-2 Acoustic Creator pedal. It seems to be a good match and gives me nice results, similar to the Aura. The Aura remains a little bit better, but the K&Ks and the new pedal are about as good as anything else I’ve had. I’m not using anything else in the signal chain since the AC-2 comes with reverb, EQ, IR, and DI features.

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

I will reiterate that I had a great experience with the Trance in one guitar. And, the failure experience is probably my fault. But, after thinning my herd of acoustic guitars down to three Martin dreadnoughts, I have two with passive K&K installs and one with factory Aura F1 Plus. This was after a lot of deliberation. I am playing the passive K&Ks through the new Zoom AC-2 Acoustic Creator pedal. It seems to be a good match and gives me nice results, similar to the Aura. The Aura remains a little bit better, but the K&Ks and the new pedal are about as good as anything else I’ve had. I’m not using anything else in the signal chain since the AC-2 comes with reverb, EQ, IR, and DI features.

Yeah, part of me wants to just go back to something like the Fishman Matrix/Aura set up or even pair it with the tonedexter. I have come to the conclusion that as natural and as nice as SBT's can sound, I just don't have the time or patience to make them work and I really dislike the "experimental" factor. I think the K&K is the most consistent but still, you never really know what you are going to get with a SBT.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Petty1818

Oddly enough, my Larrivee has the K&K pure mini in it and when I plug it in, although it's not as hi-fi and present as the Amulet, it seems to have a woodier, fatter and more natural tone. I can't really explain it but when I plug the Amulet M in, I hear more of a piezo tone than with the K&K. It's to the point where I listened back to some recordings I did of the Amulet at a live show and at first I thought it was a UST. It's very strange.

Hi Scott,

Perhaps, your choices could be:

1) You can try remounting the Amulets using my method which uses the lightweight Stew-Mac C-clamp for complete clamping pressure on the Amulet (no one but me seems to want to do this, though, and it may or may not help the Amulet's tone);

2) Sell your Taylor and buy a dreadnought (to me, because of their scooped mid-range, dreadnoughts have the "smoothest" amplified tone) of some brand in which to mount the Amulet;

3) Sell your Trance Amulet M-VT and try something else;

4) Frankly, I hate to say it but I'd sell both the Taylor and the Amulet and start from a fresh perspective on choice of guitar and pickup system. This, obviously, makes it inconvenient for you because of your ongoing gigs.

Have you auditioned any of the Yamaha line with their take on onboard IR imaging? I haven't but they look interesting and maybe you can audition one at The 12th Fret if they carry the line? The Yamaha 5 Series (Japanese-made and about $1500 USD) and 3 Series (about $900 USD) are stage-ready and may be a reasonably-priced decent solution in your amplified tone quest? https://usa.yamaha.com/products/musi...ies/index.html

How about a Japanese-made Takamine EF360S TT or EF340S TT all-solid-wood dreadnought with torrified top and onboard TLD-2 Palathetic pickup/Linedriver 2 preamp? These guitars are about $1600 USD with included hardshell case.

I'll bet the Takamines, especially, would work well for your music and even better if you add a ToneDexter. http://www.takamine.com/thermal-top

Every pickup/preamp system seems to be a compromise between what we want to hear and what they're capable of delivering but I'll bet the Takamine is as good as anything and will serve you well until someone invents the perfect system, which is unlikely to happen.