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  #1  
Old 05-08-2016, 04:52 PM
VictorV VictorV is offline
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Unhappy Carbon Fiber Live

So I have purchased a Composite Acoustic GX. I love the way it plays and sounds. I play in a rock band and some of our songs are acoustic based, so I play a live acoustic rig. I bought a QSC K12 and I have a LR Baggs parametric DI. I have a couple of problems.
1. When I play unplugged, I like the sound of the guitar, but when plugged in, I feel the sound is sterile and unpleasant, not warm in any acoustic way.
2. When my bass player starts to play, it vibrates through my guitar to the point that I have to hug the guitar to my body and it creates feedback, especially when I play bar chords. I get a vibration in the strings that carries into a feedback. So I find I play less and dont enjoy my performance.

So, do I give up on this guitar and get something that will be better for a live gig or should I try to improve on this setup if so, how?

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. I have a show this week and would love to have an improvement soon.

Thanks VictorV
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  #2  
Old 05-08-2016, 05:30 PM
donh donh is offline
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Try a different pickup, perhaps a Sunrise or a Baggs M1 or M80. I prefer the K&K Pure Mini, but I suspect that you will need something different.

And have a Talk with the bass player. If they are flooding the stage with that much acoustic energy dureing an acoustic number, they need attitude re-arrangement.

Good luck.
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  #3  
Old 05-08-2016, 05:47 PM
Captain Jim Captain Jim is offline
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First thing I'd try with your set-up is a sound hole cover - you may find that it changes the tone and sustain, though. There are vented covers. The notch filter on your LR Baggs should be adjusted to see if/where that helps.

If you have the QSC or the bass amp directly behind you, you can also try to adjust your position relative to those.

Start with your volume low to see what level the feedback starts. Increase gradually. Same with the bass players volume.

Have you tried muting the A string momentarily when you first hear the feedback?
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Old 05-09-2016, 10:28 AM
VictorV VictorV is offline
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I have been using a sound hole cover. I think that is partly the reason for the surgical sound, and yes I agree it does mess with tone and sustain. The sound hole on this guitar is larger than normal. So I have been forced to make my own soundhole cover. The first one I made was a little snug and because of that I believe it messed with the sound. I am still experimenting with that.

I have been experimenting with the notch on the DI, but when I set it when playing solo and things sound good, but it all falls apart when I play with the band.

I do think another pick up will help.
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  #5  
Old 05-19-2016, 11:07 PM
slewis slewis is offline
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Wow. Sorry to hear you're having troubles. I've been gigging -- although solo -- with my GX for a few years now and love it. Mine has the Fishman Prefix T pickup in it, from the factory, and on more than one occasion I've had soundmen tell me unsolicited that it's the best acoustic sound they've ever heard. I mean, that even surprised me. What's in yours? And as for the bass vibration issue, I agree -- your bass player may need to tone it down a bit! Good luck!
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  #6  
Old 05-20-2016, 08:17 AM
Minstermarce Minstermarce is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VictorV View Post
So I have purchased a Composite Acoustic GX. I love the way it plays and sounds. I play in a rock band and some of our songs are acoustic based, so I play a live acoustic rig. I bought a QSC K12 and I have a LR Baggs parametric DI. I have a couple of problems.
1. When I play unplugged, I like the sound of the guitar, but when plugged in, I feel the sound is sterile and unpleasant, not warm in any acoustic way.
2. When my bass player starts to play, it vibrates through my guitar to the point that I have to hug the guitar to my body and it creates feedback, especially when I play bar chords. I get a vibration in the strings that carries into a feedback. So I find I play less and dont enjoy my performance.

So, do I give up on this guitar and get something that will be better for a live gig or should I try to improve on this setup if so, how?

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. I have a show this week and would love to have an improvement soon.

Thanks VictorV
Hi Victor V

I wouldn't give the CA GX guitar up at all. The next hollow instrument you buy will encounter the same issues (unless it happens to be a Godin A6 or something like that).

I am far from an expert and only play as a hobby (in an indie/rock band), but, like you, we have a number of songs with an acoustic in it and have had feedback issues. Anyway, I found this very useful blog about the frequencies of different instruments. In the case of acoustics the 120-200Hz is what causes the booming feedback. You can dial these freq out on the acoustic which in a band environment will not be noticeable as the other instruments that dominate these freq will fill it in. You want the acoustic to cut through in the mid range.

http://blog.sonicbids.com/the-ultima...mon-instrument

What we did was dial out, by way of the mixing desk EQ, the "unnecessary" frequencies of instruments - in effect aiming to get each instrument to occupy different frequencies in the spectrum. It really helped and I could play without having to plug up the sound hole.

"Gain staging" also helps. This is sound engineer-speak for going through each microphone or instrument and setting the gain to just below the maximum level without peaking (done by using the PFL on the mixer). Once it is set (needs to be done for each individual venue) the gain knobs should no longer be tampered with during the performance - only the channel faders or the master volume.

Hope this helps!
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Last edited by Minstermarce; 05-21-2016 at 03:08 AM.
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  #7  
Old 05-20-2016, 12:51 PM
hotroad hotroad is offline
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Just a thought.....do sing and use a mic? If so, could it be the vocal mic picking up the stage sound and feeding back? I have had this problem with a lot of stage volume especially with a condensor mic.
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Old 05-20-2016, 02:22 PM
AZLiberty AZLiberty is offline
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I agree with Marcel,

The issue is that the top of your guitar is acoustically coupled to the bass output from the speakers. It's going to be an issue with any hollow bodied/acoustic instrument regardless of pickup.

One option might be to intentionally unbalance the speaker stack. Send the bass output to the far side of the stage.
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  #9  
Old 05-20-2016, 06:19 PM
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I'm pretty slow with the electronics that go along with performance. However, what I've found is that where I face makes all the difference in the world.
Even more difference is created by where the other instruments are and are facing. I have played with a bass, a violin, drums, and so forth, and managed to avoid the kind of feedback I used to experience. I might just be lucky, and my understanding might be seriously flawed. Just thought I've chime in....
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