I need help with my plugged in tone

[cb56]

I recently bought a Taylor gs mini E spruce rosewood. This is my 2nd gs mini rosewood. I've had the first one a couple years. It has no pickup.

The new one has the ES2 pickup with the newer ESb preamp. The tone is very harsh and crispy sounding. I first used my Katana 50 on the acoustic setting. I blamed the amp so i bought a fishman loudbox. The tone is better but still harsh and tinny sounding unless I use extreme settings on the pre amp and loudbox.

I'm using phosphor bronze strings which are supposed to be more mellow sounding. I usually strum with a flat pick.

I've tried adjusting the pick up polepieces with no success.

Any suggestions?

[shufflebeat]

Originally Posted by cb56

I'm using phosphor bronze strings which are supposed to be more mellow sounding. I usually strum with a flat pick.

I've tried adjusting the pick up polepieces with no success.

Any suggestions?

No matter what the sales pitch (or anyone else) says, PB strings do not work with magnetic pickups. Only the central steel core induces current in the coil and the cores of the wound strings are small in diameter so their electrical "output" is weedy compared to the acoustic properties of the core+winding. The plain strings, on the other hand are exactly in proportion to their acoustic sound so they sing out loud and proud.

If your string balance is a problem but you like the time of a mag pickup (I don't) then nickel (electric guitar) strings are an option, just like the old days before "acoustic" guitar strings (or electric guitars) were invented. Other options might be nickel bronze (I like them) or white bronze (I've never used them but heard them discussed).

It may be you just don't like the sound of the pickup. Other pickups are available.

[Mandobart]

The ES2 is NOT a magnetic pickup. It's a piezo. "Very harsh", "crispy" and "tinny" are the adjectives (along with "quack") used to describe a piezo pickup with no working preamp or DI. How is your preamp battery? How is the wiring? You don't need a new amplifier for this - any of the usual suspect acoustic amps should work.

I'd go after the wiring and preamp in the guitar first. If you just can't get it to work I'd pull the stock pickup and go with a passive SBT like K&K, JJB, Dazzo, etc.

[shufflebeat]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

The ES2 is NOT a magnetic pickup.

Ouch.

Your totally correct. That's twice in one day I've been rightly pulled up for posting without checking.

Much obliged.

[EZYPIKINS]

Have always used 15" wedges and quality DI into mixer.

All smaller format speakers, including acoustic amps seem harsh and thin to me.

I'm a big supporter of wooden cabinets, and large, 15"speaker/2" horn enclosures.

The more air you can move, the better tone you'll have.

Though not as convenient to carry around.

[Murphy Slaw]

I think tone is a life long chase.

[cb56]

Do I really need a pre amp between my guitar and acoustic amp?
My GS Mini has a pre amp and so does the loudbox mini.
I see plenty of folks plugging their acoustic guitar directly into acoustic amps with no problem at small gigs and open mic performances.
The low battery indicator isnt on but I'll go get a new battery and try that.

[cb56]

Originally Posted by Murphy Slaw

I think tone is a life long chase.

I understand that but I'm not looking for perfection I'm just looking for a tone that doesn't suck. My guitar playing covers that.

[cb56]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

I'd go after the wiring and preamp in the guitar first. If you just can't get it to work I'd pull the stock pickup and go with a passive SBT like K&K, JJB, Dazzo, etc.

Will the Taylor preamp work with the jjb?
I'm not so good with wiring electronics etc...

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by cb56

I recently bought a Taylor gs mini E spruce rosewood. This is my 2nd gs mini rosewood. I've had the first one a couple years. It has no pickup.

The new one has the ES2 pickup with the newer ESb preamp. The tone is very harsh and crispy sounding. I first used my Katana 50 on the acoustic setting. I blamed the amp so i bought a fishman loudbox. The tone is better but still harsh and tinny sounding unless I use extreme settings on the pre amp and loudbox.

I'm using phosphor bronze strings which are supposed to be more mellow sounding. I usually strum with a flat pick.

I've tried adjusting the pick up polepieces with no success.

Any suggestions?

If you're looking for a more rounded tone from a GS Mini there are a few things to consider. I have personal experience here, so it reflects what I have found.

First, there are differences in the top wood of GS Minis and I bought a mahogany-topped version which I found to be much more pleasant sounding.

Second, I'm not appreciative of any of Taylor's electronics. If you tried to adjust the bridge sensors I'd suggest you find their setup information for adjusting their positions and follow it. It might make a slight difference in tone, but probably not much.

I'm not a fan of built-in electronics, so all of my guitars have K&K Pure Mini transducers installed. I love them and plug directly into different amps and don't use an external preamp. Depending on what amp you are using you may need an external preamp to impedance match the K&K to your amp's input. That will effect tone and/or volume.

Changing over to a less edgy string like "silk and steels" or a Monel set will most definitely have a big effect on your guitar's tone. Bronze strings (regardless of the formulation) were developed to produce brighter tone.

Amp-wise, do try to use an amp with at least 8" drivers. Anything smaller will tend to sound more focused and edgy.

Lastly, if you don't play with a thicker pick do consider putting the time in to using a pick that is in the 1.0mm or thicker category. I play exclusively with a large triangle 1.4mm Dunlop Primetone. It WILL make a difference!

[Harmony123]

I have never gotten a good sound from acoustic into a guitar amp. I've tried with K&K Pure Mini passives and active Fishman pickups. It always sounds tinny to my ears.

My next try will be through a pre-amp/DI box to the PA.

[rmp]

I like Taylor guitars, I have three.

the Es2 is stock in my 814CE Deluxe
my nylon as the NS (which is a piezo with bass/treb/volume

I love the gutiars. I don't love the pickups.

I have a fishman infinity in my Grand Symphony. It's miles ahead of the ES2 and NS IMHO.

The cheapest way around it is some signal processing before the amp.
A Boss GE7 EQ will help with tone shaping and will help to cut some of those undesirable frequencies

The other solution is a Tonedexter, but now you're starting to getting into the price break where the preamp almost costs as much as the guitar.

To me, not a worthwhile investment.

An EQ is cheap, and I think an effective way to help.

[cb56]

Ok, i give up. I just bought the jjb330 system. I'll install it on my other GSmini.

[rmp]

well you can do that (give up) , but if you ask for suggestions, why not at least try a few of the ones we've offered?

An EQ could probably solve a lot of what you don't like

for the money and easy plug an play solution, it's worth a try

[shufflebeat]

Does it sound like this?

Leon Brown - ES2 review and comment