Baggs Soundscape: The anti-feedback aspect

[guitaniac]

Most of the speculation on the Soundscape has been on whether or not it will completely rid one's signal of piezo quack and provide the best possible amplified tone.

I'm thinking that the anti-feedback circuitry might provide the most help for the Anthem SL users, Lyric users and SBT users (especially iBeam users) who are already fairly pleased with their tone, but who need assistance in reaching a higher feedback-free sound level in situations where its needed.

In theory, at least, the Soundscape will analyze a guitar's pickup signal and create an "anti-feedback profile" which pinpoints exactly what frequencies need to be most suppressed (when raising the amplification level) so that those frequencies can get special attention when the sound level goes up and the need for feedback suppression increases.

I really like the idea of being able to use a single dial to dial in the exact amount of feedback suppression needed for a particular performance situation - without also rolling off deep lows which don't need to be rolled off. I'm looking forward to reading some anecdotal reports on how well the Soundscape anti-feedback circuitry works in practice.

[Cuki79]

Originally Posted by guitaniac

In theory, at least, the Soundscape will analyze a guitar's pickup signal and create an "anti-feedback profile" which pinpoints exactly what frequencies need to be most suppressed (when raising the amplification level) so that those frequencies can get special attention when the sound level goes up and the need for feedback suppression increases.

You don't need a soundscape to do that... When you make the IR for your guitar, the resonances clearly appears. As in this old picture below from a previous post I wrote. You can see on the yellow frequency response the two resonances on the lower part of the spectrum that will feedback.

10^2 = > 100 Hz
2.10^2 = > 200 Hz

Then any notch filter would do the job.

Another way is to use James May installation technic for the UltraTonic pickup. It enables to spot the main resonant frequency of your guitar.
See James May Eng. page.

http://jamesmayengineering.com/

[guitaniac]

Cuki,

Agreed, one doesn't need a Soundscape to do an effective job of finding the problem frequencies and suppressing them. An experienced person with a good ear and a parametric EQ, or even a Baggs PADI, can do a decent job of that. I'm just hoping that the Soundscape will do it more precisely and quicker. Most of us don't want to spend too much time futzing around with gear at the gig, so the temptation is always there to just roll off the bass end and call it good enough.

[Cuki79]

Originally Posted by guitaniac

Cuki,
An experienced person with a good ear and a parametric EQ, or even a Baggs PADI, can do a decent job of that. I'm just hoping that the Soundscape will do it more precisely and quicker.

Does the feedback frequencies related to the guitar top main mode changes with conditions? (Temperature, Moisture...)

Anyway if you use LR baggs soundscape, the frequencies will be spotted only during the training process... so it is like controlling 1-2 fixed frequency notches with one pot.

[guitaniac]

Originally Posted by Cuki79

Does the feedback frequencies related to the guitar top main mode changes with conditions? (Temperature, Moisture...)

Anyway if you use LR baggs soundscape, the frequencies will be spotted only during the training process... so it is like controlling 1-2 fixed frequency notches with one pot.

I'm sure that the "feedback profile" of a particular instrument is a lot more stable and predictable than the acoustic conditions of varying performance settings. I doubt that the Soundscape can anticipate for difficult performance settings, but I'm hopeful that just knowing the feedback profile of the instrument will make a big difference. Its interesting that Yamaha seems to be doing a similar anti-feedback thing with the bass knob on their new "Atmosfeel" pickup system. The reviewer of that system observed that using the "Bass EQ" knob did a good job of suppressing feedback when he cranked the sound level. If I understood this promotion/"review" article properly, lowering the Atmosfeel system's "Bass EQ" reduces the feedback-prone low mid frequencies, rather than rolling off the entire bass end.