SBT pickup: Dummy experiment II

[sunnaudio]

Have you tried 2x 9V batteries to get 18V? It would remove the switching artifacts in the supply rails plus help the A/D process stay cleaner.

Sunny

[Cuki79]

Originally Posted by sunnaudio

Have you tried 2x 9V batteries to get 18V? It would remove the switching artifacts in the supply rails plus help the A/D process stay cleaner.

Sunny

No I did not. Actually right now I am back to all analog (Baggs Anthem like preamp).

The distortion seems to be present whatever the preamp (Allen & Heath ZED10fx, focusrite...) ...

It might be the pickup (cable rattling?)

I wonder if I should have used larger ceramic discs...

Today I improved the common mode noise rejection on the pickup and it is much better. I still have to solve that distortion problem. It occurs when I play a G on the low strings (main resonance) so it might be rattling, microphonic cables... I don’t know

If I go digital I will use Li-ion 18650 cells because the digital stuff are consumming tons of power.

[Cuki79]

Here is a demo.

The distortion is gone since I checked inside the guitar...no idea why.

[Cuki79]

As shown by the picture above, I made a proper box version. After trying it in my local dealer shop with different amps, I adjusted the low end and cut a lot below 100 Hz to make it clean and more feedback resistant. Also I found that a Mic gain pot (similar to Baggs Anthem) is a must to have balance between lows (below 250Hz) and the rest of the spectrum (above 250Hz). It enables to have a nice balance tone even with the mix pot at max.

I also rearranged my pedalboard and battery power supply to integrate the new pedals (Just need a Switchcraft low profile XLR connector to finish). Note that this version sips 22mA.

Since the pedal worked, I started modified the Lego demo board and got rid of the +18V / -9V. It still works with no distortion and draws 12.5 mA (see image below) which means 44h battery operation on a 9V battery.

So I planned to make a backup pedal with this version and leave it in the case.


Also I thought that since I had power left, I could give a try to the Fishman "tone pot". So I designed a simple mid scoop at 700 Hz (see image below) and add it to the circuit. It only draws 2mA extra.

It works but I am not satisfied... It would probably benefit from a log pot... but the effect is not as impressive as in the Aura VT. When the mic is at max, scooping the mids does cleanup the microphone low mid rumbling mess but the gain "tonewise" is not better than blending more pickup.

The mix/blend pot alone provides "that low mid cleaning" and some extra "punch & cut" in a smoother way.

[Cuki79]

Hi everyone,

I think my amplification journey is over. Weird enough, my pedalboard does not include any IR device.



For those who already saw most of my previous videos you can jump to 4:00 or 5:23.

0:00 Pedalboard presentation
2:21 DIY dual-source passive pickup & external preamp presentation
4:00 DIY dual-source pickup & preamp demo
5:23 Pedalboard demo (featuring one of my song: "Mme Sophie")

NB: All EQ are flat, HPF off. Reverb comes from the EAE stompmix4