Alix and a buffer

[rschultz]

15’ GLS. I don’t know. Not cheapos but not Mogami either. 10’ always seems too short for me on stage, 15’ feels right.
FWIW it isn’t a beat up old cable that’s been sitting around for 25 years. Probably <5 years old.

[lkingston]

Originally Posted by rschultz

15’ GLS. I don’t know. Not cheapos but not Mogami either. 10’ always seems too short for me on stage, 15’ feels right.
FWIW it isn’t a beat up old cable that’s been sitting around for 25 years. Probably <5 years old.

I wonder if that has anything to do with your problem. My understanding is that passive pickups have such low output and high impedance, that the cable resistance and capacitance (times the length of the cable) is far more important than it would be with a regular active pickup. That with an active pickup, most people really can’t hear any difference in cables, but that with a passive pickup, short runs of high quality cable make a striking difference. I remember using about an eight foot cable to a preamp near me on my brief affair with a passive M1 pickup. I remember thinking that I could hear a difference.

You might want to try it and see if it matters. The theory never matters as much as experience.

[rschultz]

Originally Posted by lkingston

I wonder if that has anything to do with your problem. My understanding is that passive pickups have such low output and high impedance, that the cable resistance and capacitance (times the length of the cable) is far more important than it would be with a regular active pickup. That with an active pickup, most people really can’t hear any difference in cables, but that with a passive pickup, short runs of high quality cable make a striking difference. I remember using about an eight foot cable to a preamp near me on my brief affair with a passive M1 pickup. I remember thinking that I could hear a difference.

While I've never found cables to be the problem, I agree with you that the issue may be more sensitive with passive pickups. I am aware that cables have not only resistance but also capacitance that affect/filter frequency response. It's definitely possible... I'll try a few things.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by lkingston

I wonder if that has anything to do with your problem. My understanding is that passive pickups have such low output and high impedance, that the cable resistance and capacitance (times the length of the cable) is far more important than it would be with a regular active pickup. That with an active pickup, most people really can’t hear any difference in cables, but that with a passive pickup, short runs of high quality cable make a striking difference. I remember using about an eight foot cable to a preamp near me on my brief affair with a passive M1 pickup. I remember thinking that I could hear a difference.

You might want to try it and see if it matters. The theory never matters as much as experience.

It's complicated. Piezo transducers are known for their high output levels by nature. That output is knocked down a lot as soon as there's any load presented to the output.

The early technical information provided by Fishman and other manufacturers of piezo based pickups stressed the importance of keeping the cable length as short as possible between the transducer and first stage of preamplification due to cable capacitance and its negative impact on resulting sound. It was often stated that cable lengths in excess of SIX INCHES could create problems, and was the main reason why at bare minimum they at least used a preamp contained within the output jack housing to address the need to prevent degradation of sound quality. The preamp prevented the cable length from instrument to amp from effecting sound quality when plugged into a lower impedance amp, which is what many players were using in the early days of amplifying an acoustic guitar utilizing piezo technology.

So many of the amps a player might choose today as an "acoustic amp" already have higher impedance inputs, so that helps a bunch to prevent improper loading of a piezo transducer's output.

There are lots of names you can assign to "impedance matching", but the bottom line is it can, and does, effect the tone. The Alix's input selector does just that, and it may or may not accomplish the chosen goal. The end user gets to decide if it makes enough difference to use.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by lkingston

My understanding is that passive pickups have such low output and high impedance, .

The Barbera is a *very* hot pickup, far more output than most active pickups.

[Doug Young]

I'm not sure I understand the problem you're having, this hasn't been my experience with the Barbera. I do usually pair it with an internal mic, which adds some air and helps smooth out the slight piezo sound, but I wouldn't call it thin. I've used it with Felix, which always sounded good to me.

[rschultz]

I forgot to circle back on this. I came to realize that the buffered compressor (Becos CompIQ) I was using was significantly changing my tone BECAUSE it was first in the chain. If I went straight into the Alix and THEN the Becos, turning the Becos on/off didn't affect the tone.

In fact, I've tried a hand full of buffered pedals before the Alix, and they all pretty much kill the high end of my tone. But I've played this way for so long that I've just EQ'd it out, cut the bass, boost the high, adjust the gain.

But I'm convinced that going straight into Alix is best, it sounds the same as me going straight into an FRFR.

Long time Turbo Tuner user (true bypass). Thinking I wanted a buffered tuner pedal, I bought a Peterson strobotuner. It can do true bypass OR buffered. Massive difference in sound. TB sounds like straight into Alix or FRFR. Buffered kills the high end.

So I learned that passive pickups (Barbera, K&K, etc) are very sensitive to the first pedal in my chain