Wireless interference in my Larrivee/LR Baggs system

HornAlum02 · #1 11-02-2018, 10:12 AM

Back story: Bought a Larrivee D-03E back in early 2007. I want to say it was a 2005/2006ish model. It uses, what I believe to be, a LR Baggs Stage Pro preamp, and an Element pickup.

The stage pro has the 3 vertical EQ sliders, and volume, then 2 knobs on the bottom and the phase button. (looks like this - http://www.daveswoodstockmusic.com/i.../d_4045-01.jpg)

Been playing this guitar in a large church setting, wired in for many years. We then began using Shure wireless packs for the upfront guitarists also on vocals. From what i understand, they were the analog packs. We use some SGI/Reamp boxes from Radial to convert signals

From what the audio techs tell me, the chain looks like: guitar to wireless pack, to receiver, back to the pedalboard, through the Studio Re-Amper, through the pedals, into the SGI TX box, back to the amps, through the SGI RX box, and into the amp.

This last fiscal year, they just upgraded the Shure's to new DIGITAL wireless packs. The new digital wireless packs are creating some interference with the pickup or preamp system in my Larrivee. We basically troubleshooted the hissing/interference that we hear over our in-ears/PA system back to the wireless pack. the further away the tech held the wireless pack from my guitar (normally attached to my guitar strap, on my back), the interference would diminish. We eventually had to hard wire my guitar in.

Does anyone know what would cause this? I perused the forum for similar issues and saw things about polarity, or even using mono cables, but figured this was a shot as well.

raysachs · #2 11-02-2018, 10:28 AM

I don't THINK this is relevant to your situation, but just in case it is.... I know that some digital wireless systems (which a lot of them are these days) don't work well or at all with an active signal - i.e., coming from a preamp rather than just from a passive pickup. I have the relatively cheap Xvive wireless system and it works wonderfully with my electric guitars (all passive) and did work fine with a totally passive acoustic I was playing for a while. But now I have an Emerald with active electronics and it doesn't work at all - just gives me a high pitched squeal and no guitar sound. Wired it sounds great, but my wireless gear doesn't work with it at all.

Again, doesn't sound like your problem since you have a guitar signal getting through and just some interference that's reduced with distance, which is different. I have heard you should keep these types of digital wireless systems some distance from a router or other wi-fi devices, so maybe that has something to do with it???

-Ray

HornAlum02 · #3 11-02-2018, 10:36 AM

right, I have been reading some stuff about the digital wireless packs and active systems, but i can't claim to know enough about it myself.

The audio engineer seems to think, in the past, with the analog wireless packs, the problem may have still been there but not as pronounced as with the digital.

Many of the other acoustic players have active systems, and no issues yet. the main leader uses a Taylor 310CE.

jonfields45 · #4 11-02-2018, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HornAlum02

Does anyone know what would cause this? I perused the forum for similar issues and saw things about polarity, or even using mono cables, but figured this was a shot as well.

In my career as an EE, I did have the displeasure of having to get FCC part 15 to pass on various demo and customer VGA cards back in the 90s. All sorts of things that would not make obvious sense became our common practice as we worked our way through that era. Your wireless system is intended to emit RF energy (unlike our VGA cards) and likely something inside your guitar is acting as an antenna, rectifying the interference (demodulating it to the audio frequency range for this problem), and feeding it out of your guitar's preamp. My guess is your older Baggs preamp is not up to this challenge. Likely an upgrade to the latest Baggs preamp is in order. I would call them first to get their judgement.

HornAlum02 · #5 11-03-2018, 05:53 AM

I emailed LR Baggs, once i texted the audio director as to which system we were using. We're now using the Shure Axient digital system, using the AD1 body transmitters. got this response back.

Quote:

Unfortunately, you are not the first person to have issues with the Axient system. The new digital transmitters have shown to cause some pretty severe digital interference issues with some of our pickups. Like you said, moving the pack away from the guitar does help, as does setting the pack to a lower power setting.

We haven’t had issues with any wireless systems in the 35+ years that we’ve been in business, so this is a new issue that we are dealing with. We are working on some long-term fixes for some of our pickups as we speak, but it will take some time to get any good fixes into testing and then into production. If setting the pack at a lower power setting and moving the pack onto your guitar strap are not enough to make the guitar usable, you may need to keep the guitar hard-wired for the time being.

I wish I had a better answer for you, but we are doing what we can to figure this out. I hope this helps.

I'll email back and see if they have something I could possibly upgrade too and not encounter issues, otherwise, i may be hunting reverb.com for a new guitar

jonfields45 · #6 11-03-2018, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HornAlum02

I emailed LR Baggs, once i texted the audio director as to which system we were using. We're now using the Shure Axient digital system, using the AD1 body transmitters. got this response back.

I'll email back and see if they have something I could possibly upgrade too and not encounter issues, otherwise, i may be hunting reverb.com for a new guitar

Maybe a second pickup, such as a passive K&K Pure Mini SBT, would be another option. Baggs could advise you on the best way to install it such that both systems can be used.

HornAlum02 · #7 11-03-2018, 07:07 PM

at rehearsal/runthrough today ... tech dropped the AD1 pack to the "low" setting. he said it's 1/5th of the power output, but our system would be able to handle it.

testing it, the hiss is still there but it's much more manageable, so we ran with that for today, with a hard line patched in, ready if we needed it.

I'll look into secondary pickup options, but i also saw some taylor 310CE's for around $900 that seem appealing, even to just have a 2nd option.

HornAlum02 · #8 12-07-2018, 03:39 PM

Just an update, in case this ever helps anyone else.

LR Baggs support offered to let me ship my preamp in for possible modifications to fix this issue. They discovered the preamp was actually an LR Baggs Larrivee specific preamp, a precursor to the stagepro element.

LRBaggs went ahead and replaced my preamp with it's direct replacement, a Stage Pro Element Preamp ... at NO CHARGE. I got it installed and tested it out on our system and not a single hint of signal interference. The hiss is TOTALLY GONE.

LR Baggs has forever earned my business. I'll probably upgrade my system to an Anthem within a few months.