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  #1  
Old 06-17-2019, 04:33 PM
Arthur Slowhand Arthur Slowhand is offline
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Default Yamaha passive pickup plus looper... and a preamp?

Hi.

I've just bought a used Yamaha LS6 ARE with the passive 'zero impact' pickup.

For home use only - if I go straight from the guitar to a looper (Ditto X2, for instance), then to a small amp... will I need a preamp for the looper to pick up a signal from the guitar?

I've never had a guitar with a passive pickup before - and I don't have any gear to try things out (having sold all my electric stuff) - so forgive me if it sounds a daft question.

Thanks.
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Old 06-17-2019, 07:41 PM
YamahaGuy YamahaGuy is offline
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As described, the looper will pick up the signal from the guitar just fine. Keep in mind the tone will not be optimized yet, though, so the signal to the looper will be the raw, un eq'd guitar sound going into the amp, which, once processed through the amp, may not sound half bad.

My experience with the L-series Zero Impact pickup is that the sound is kind of overly bright and lacks low end. Ideally, if your amp has an effects loop, I'd run the looper through that. So guitar to amp. Effects send out to looper input. Looper output back to effects return. That way the looped sound has the guitar's tone shaped nicely prior to going through the looper.
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Old 06-18-2019, 12:38 AM
Nick84 Nick84 is offline
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The raw sound of the zero impact pickup is very thin and brittle sounding. Run your looper through the effects loop of your amp so it gets the processed sound.
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Old 06-18-2019, 03:39 AM
Arthur Slowhand Arthur Slowhand is offline
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Thanks guys. My intended amp won't have an effects loop and it's only for practice / playback of loops, but I'd still like the sound to be pleasing - even if it's for my ears only - so I might get some kind of preamp or EQ.

Would TC's BodyRez be a simple solution? Failing that, I was thinking of a used TC Helicon Play Acoustic... they are not that expensive and it has enough of a looper for my needs.
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Old 06-21-2019, 10:10 AM
GuitarLuva GuitarLuva is offline
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For passive pickups impedance matching is critical. The Yamaha zero impact pickup has an impedance of 10 mohm which is much higher than most (k&k=1 mohm, Schatten=2mohm). You want a preamp with as close to 10mohm first in your chain or its going to sound thin (harsh, trebly) like others are reporting. The Ditto looper input impedance is 1mohm so it's a horrible match for the Yamaha.
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Old 06-21-2019, 02:42 PM
Arthur Slowhand Arthur Slowhand is offline
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Okay, forget the Ditto. I bought a Zoom G3n (at a price that was too cheap to ignore), on the basis that the looper is good enough for my needs and it has reverb, chorus, and so on. Will experiment with the G3n's various EQs and see what I get out of it.

The more I read about the Yamaha zero impact pickup, the more I'm tempted to fit a K&K Mini or a JJB Prestige 330. I got the guitar super-cheap, so I don't mind spending a little on a better pickup.

Are there any Yamaha players watching, that have done this?

Last edited by Arthur Slowhand; 06-21-2019 at 02:48 PM.
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