Yet another Radius pup question

[raulb]

I have looked on old threads but do not really find the answer to my question there or else it only confuses me more.

I am unfamiliar with amplification. Amps, mics, pups, preamps, and such are all alien concepts to me. And yet, do to a soon to be need, I have purchased a Baggs Radius for my mando. Just a few minutes ago, I tried it out with a Crate amp and a Taylor Guitar cable. Sounds good with good volume. However, there is the finger noise.

I have found a spot where this finger on string/fretboard noise is minimized somewhat, but I could not make it go away.

Now I do completely understand why a contact pup picks up the handling/finger noise. I can accept that it does.

But my first question is, how do I get rid of the noise nd let the music thru?

2nd question, possibly the answer to the first, do I need a preamp to dial out the noise? Is it simply a gain problem? I do understand gain.

Am I making sense? Thank you for any and all advice.

[almeriastrings]

But my first question is, how do I get rid of the noise nd let the music thru?

2nd question, possibly the answer to the first, do I need a preamp to dial out the noise? Is it simply a gain problem? I do understand gain.

Option One
What you need is a good range of EQ options. You can do this in several ways. First, you could get a preamp which gives you much better than average EQ on board. The Headway EDB1 is particularly suitable. It has a 'violin' EQ profile built-in that also works very well on mandolin:

http://www.headwaymusicaudio.com/pro...tic_preamp.php

These are very good preamp indeed. The Baggs Para DI is also good, but the EQ is not a patch on the Headway.

Option 2

Basic preamp to bring the output up to line level, then into a separate, standalone EQ. There are a number of options, at all kinds of prices. One that works well in this application is the Presonus EQ3B, a three-band parametric design.

http://www.presonus.com/products/Det...x?ProductId=19

The downside is more cables, interconnects, etc. and not really cheaper than something like the Headway once you add it all up.

Option 3

A really good acoustic amp with extensive EQ on board, including high pass and notch filters. Look at the Fishman Loudbox, AER, etc.

Obviously, if you are going to DI into a PA, then there are other possibilities. Most 'serious' desks will have sufficient EQ options to deal with this. Low end desks probably won't.

[david blair]

Lowering the the gain/input and turning up the volume/output helps somewhat. And cutting the bass and mid tone controls on your amp. Try comparing the sound of a microphone hanging over the speaker against a line out from your amp to the soundboard.
Blending a pickup with a microphone is best for mandolins. Either a mic on a stand or an instrument mini mic mounted on your mandolin. I use a Countryman Choir mic.

Regards

[Tim2723]

I do understand gain.

OK, then let's start with gain. Your Crate amp is likely to be an electric guitar amp. Is it? If so then the input of the amp may not be correctly matched to the pick up. We call that impedance mismatch. An external preamp- such as almeriastrings mentions will cure that. If you have impedance mismatch you might be turning up the gain of the pickup so far that it presents noise to the main amplifier. The objective is to have a very small signal coming out of the pickup while allowing the main amplifier to make it loud.

Gain often operates in a cascading way. One gain going into another then another, like a row of dominoes falling over. The EQ functions of your amplifier also represent gain; the controls make certain parts of the signal louder or softer. Here your objective is to reduce those frequencies of the EQ that are overpowering, and increase others that are too weak. This is what David refers to when he says to increase the main volume instead of the input gain, and decreasing the bass and mid EQ responses.

Most importantly, you'll need a well-matched preamplifier to solve the problem. Just plugging the pick up into the Crate amp isn't going to work efficiently, and that inefficiency is causing the trouble.

[raulb]

Thanks. Preamp it is then.

BTW, the Crate used was an acoustic amp.

[Tim2723]

Good then. While the problem is more prevalent among those who use electric guitar amps, it can happen with acoustic amps as well. On some models the 1/4" instrument input is poorly matched to this sort of pickup.