Here's a link to sound clips of a few instruments recorded using my piezoelectric contact microphone and preamp that I built. I have a good ear, and I think it sounds good, but I'm curious how it stacks up to more experienced ears.
My biggest validation was playing (viola) in the orchestra for a TEDx event, before the lockdown, where all the violins and violas were amplified using AKG C411 contact mics.
I just used my pickup/preamp, and I think it sounded comparable to the C411, if not better.
Side note: I recently found out that, while using my preamp, I can generate a signal as low as a few Hz by shaking my viola. So that tells me the bass response is pretty good - and absence of bass is the main complaint with piezo mics, lol. This low frequency output could have the potential to clip the signal or damage speaker outputs, luckily it is easily avoided with a high pass filter which is standard on most mixers.
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