Alvarez Acoustic Electric Pickup Problems

Pine Cone · #1 12-20-2019, 08:52 PM

I recently bought a new Alvarez Artist AMP610E Acoustic Electric guitar. I wanted a small body acoustic electric for festivals and busking. As an acoustic I am pleased with it, but when I plugged it in I couldn’t get the Alvarez Sys100 pickup and pre-amp to work.

I can’t find any info or manual for pickup. While I wait for a reply from the online vendor I thought I would see if anyone here was familiar with this pickup system.

This is an active under saddle pickup, with a 9 volt battery, tone and volume controls in the sound hole, and a 1/4” end pin jack. It appears to have no on/off switch and no LED battery check light. I replaced the battery in case that was the problem, but the pickup still didn’t work.

I tested the cable I was using and it worked fine with a K&K pickup guitar.

Any suggestions as to what I should try next? I am hoping it is something simple like an on/off switch I haven’t found. I have a multi-meter if there are any useful tests I could do.

I like the guitar and am not eager to send it back if I can figure out how to get the pickup to work.

jseth · #2 12-21-2019, 12:11 PM

Any chance you have the volume turned down all the way? Good call on replacing the battery; always the first thing to try when a pickup goes sour...

Barring that, I'd return the thing IF playing plugged in is something you want from that guitar. Alvarez is putting out very consistent acoustics these days; if you do return this one, the next will likely be very similar in sound... and hopefully, the pickup will work!

MarkF_48 · #3 12-21-2019, 03:27 PM

Not familiar with the guitar or pickup system, but the 'on/off' function is likely part of the jack that when you plug in the 1/4" cable a contact in the jack makes connection to the sleeve part of the 1/4" plug which then connects the battery to 'ground' and powers up the electronics. If by some chance the cable you have has 1/4" TRS (tip/ring/sleeve) plugs on its ends the preamp in the guitar will not likely power up. A passive pickup would work OK with a TRS type cable.

L20A · #4 12-21-2019, 03:58 PM

Does it have a timer built in? If it does, the tuner has to be off for the pickup to be active.

Pine Cone · #5 12-21-2019, 04:43 PM

I have adjusted both volume and tone controls, no change.

I am using a 1/4" Tip/Sleeve cable, not TRS cable.

I think I am closer to solving the mystery. There is a small cable which ends in a 1/8" (3.5mm) TS plug which is just floating free inside the guitar. When I look at the underside of the bridge I can see a similar looking cable presumably coming from the UST through the top of the guitar. I need to untangle wires to see if the unattached plug is coming from the UST.

The other similar looking cable comes out of the volume/tone unit which is attached to the underside of the soundhole.

If so, then I will try and figure out where it plugs in. So far the only thing that looks like it might have a female 1/8" plug is the the back end of the 1/4" endpin jack.

SUCCESS!

I removed endpin jack from the guitar, discovered it also contains the preamp. Plugged in the disconected 1/8" plug from the UST into the preamp, re-assembled everything and it works!