ABY pedal & DI box

[ikan]

Guys, need some help :???:

I have a Schecter C1 E/A guitar, it's the older model with 2 output jacks: 1 for the mag p/u and another one for piezo p/u. The piezo is powered by a 9V batt. Not like the newer model, I can still play this guitar without the batt (on mag only) . Since the electric & acoustic signals are wired separately, the signals can be used individually or blended by controlling their respective volume knobs.

Anyway, I have a problem when jamming in a studio with only one guitar amp and the amp has only one input. With the current setup, I need to choose either one and de-plug the other . Correct me if I'm wrong, I think this problem can be solved by having an ABY pedal. Any recommendation guys?

Another thing is I'm also thinking of getting a DI box so that I can run the signals directly to the PA. I came across with a BBE DI-100X (with Sonic Maximiser!). Will this unit serve the purpose? Any other recommendations?

Oh another thing, do I need to get active or passive units for both?

 

[adrianli]

this is one of the things which is stopping me from getting piezos on my electric guitar. How would the piezo sound going into an electric amp? Ideally you should have another amp for the piezo output, or run it into the PA system.

Btw you selling your C-1 E/A? :mrgreen:

 

[jakartablues]

A piezo is not really designed to run into a regular guitar amp, although some people do this to get a unique tone (especially when combined with the output from the regular PUP). This especially applies to guitars with humbuckers as you can add the bright piezo tone to the mix and shape your tone to be something you can't ordinarily get with humbuckers. If you are looking for an acoustic tone, you need to run the piezo either into the PA or a dedicated acoustic or keyboard amp. Most people are not about to start lugging 2 amps around so the PA usually wins, unless where you are playing has a spare keyboard amp. Adding an EQ pedal is apparently going to help to shape the sound to get closer to a true acoustic tone but I haven't personally tried this yet. I guess a DI box with a built in EQ would be ideal, Google will tell us if such a thing exists. Hope this helps.

 

[Vax]

I own a guitar with a similar piezo setup, with two outputs like yours. I usually send the piezo out to the PA without coloration (hence, a simple DI box will suffice), and it sounds convincing enough. Chorus on the electric signal blended with the piezo gets instant John Petrucci ballad tones

It's not like you're after true acoustic tone from a piezo setup anyway; in a band mix your piezo signal is going to get drowned out if you EQ it like a lush, full-sounding acoustic guitar.

To solve your mono signal routing problem, a simple ABY pedal would indeed suffice. I guess you've worked out your tones to know when to cut out the piezo signal (btw, having it run without batteries is great! I have to perpetually buy 9V's and constantly worry that the battery dies mid-song).