LR Baggs Technical Support On The Forum

Hi Dick,
You are correct that the EAS-VTC is a piezo pickup. It is not so much a "problem" with under saddle pickups as much as it is an inherent property of how piezo responds to the guitar.
Acoustic instruments are very difficult to amplify because the instrument itself is an amplifier. There are many sound waves bouncing around inside the instrument in various directions which brings about many problems (mostly feedback) at performance volume levels.
That being said, piezos are one of the best ways to get a relatively natural acoustic sound at stage volumes without feedback. A good EQ will allow the user to tame the quack but is definitely not going to eliminate it. The Para DI would is a good tool for this because of the ability to EQ the mids. However, the gigpro does not have the ability to EQ the mids so you would not be able to efficiently attack quack.
-Christian

Christian,
Thanks for the info; very useful.
Dick

Hi Bryan,
is it possible to replace the volume pot on a Para acoustic DI ?
I bought two of these around the same time(one for my guitar and one for the fiddle),and the problem I had with both of them was the volume pot
eventually not working.It was a brilliant unit apart from this problem.I've had it in the cupboard for a couple of years hoping I could fix it sometime.

Hello. I have an intermittent problem with my Anthem system installed in my Taylor GS-Custom. I had it professionally installed by a local luthier who is also an LR Baggs retailer about a year ago.

The pickup sounds great and has worked well. Recently while rehearsing for a gig, I notice that the pickup was suddenly picking up the low end frequencies at a much higher sensitivity, to the point that just lightly tapping the soundboard with my fingernail was actually distorting the subs on the house PA. Adjusting the balance between the mic and the element made no change.

I brought the guitar home and after a couple weeks in the case, I took it out and it played fine for about 15 minutes and the problem started again. I reached inside the soundhole and fiddled with the wires where they connect to the back of the preamp. That seemed to solve the problem and I've played about an hour on it in my own house without any issues. I'm a little nervous to use it for gigs though without being sure of what the problem was or if I fixed it for sure.

Any ideas on what to look for here or what might be causing the issue? Could it just have been a loose connector plug on the preamp or is it more likely a short in a wire of some sort?

Any help would be appreciated.


root5150

root5150,
Have you tried a new battery?

Hi Caleb,

Yes, I should have mentioned that. That was the first thing I did.

Have you had issues since changing the battery?

If you are interested in getting faster responses, you can email me directly at [email protected].

Hi - just bought a new Para DI. Plugged it into 2 different PA systems and found that no matter how I have the gain and volume set, the signal overloads the PA and I get heavy distortion. This is the same from either the XLR output or the 1/4" out.

(I've only used phantom power so far)

Any suggestions?

Hi, This is my first message.
I've a PRS hollowbody 2 with a piezo system. In this guitar the E 1° string is MUTE, if I select piezo.
Is it possible delete this problem? How can I do?
I'm an Italian guitarman and is very difficult in my interland search a repair for this piezo. I service myself. Tanks for Help!!

daveyuknat,
If the Para DI is operating on Phantom Power, and the mixer is supplying more than 26v, there shouldn't be any chance for low voltage distortion. If you are able to try the Para DI with a battery, just for troubleshooting purposes, it would help. Then if you still have issues, feel free to email us at [email protected], and we'll see what we can do for you.

guitargio,
Due to our service agreement with PRS, they must be contacted directly for service and repair issues. If you need help contacting them, let me know ([email protected]).

I recently have come across an issue with my input jack.

I own a Gibson J 180 EC Special that came with an Element pickup installed. I went to unplug after I had finished playing and the cable wouldnt come out as easy as it usually does. I gave it a slightly firmer tug and it came out.

I proceeded to try and plug the cable in and noticed that it wouldnt go in easy. I packed up and tried again the next day to insert the cable gently and after a couple attempts I was able to plug it in and unplug it a couple times with no issue.

The next time that I went to plug it I came across the same issue of not being able to plug in. I again tried a couple times and was able to plug it in. Again I unplugged and packed up and when I got home tried to see if the problem persisted.

When I went to plug in this time, I checked to see if there was any signal coming out by plugging into a stompbox tuner. I noticed that only when I plucked a string with force it would read.

Finally, I plugged into my recording interface to see if there was loss of tone and sure enough it only puts out low end.


Im hoping someone could help me as I use my guitar multiple times a week as it I use it as part of how I make a living and to sit down to try and figure out the problem consumes enough of the spare time that I have very little of.

Hi, I'm wondering if the LRBaggs T-Bridge will work as a replacement for the LRBaggs/PRS stock bridge in a 2004 PRS Hollowbody II. It appears the wiring harness is not the same, but that should be workable, are the posts the same? size, position?

Rick,
The PRS bridges are all wrap-around bridges, and the T-Bridge is Tune-O Matic. On top of that, the Piezo sensors themselves are slightly different. So unfortunately, there is no way that the T-Bridge would be a replacement for the PRS Hollowbody Bridge.

hi, really need help regarding this one. i've been using an X bridge for my vintage strat for 5 years now and noticed than my saddles have some sort of corrosion on it. how do i clean them? is there a way to fix it on my own? I also noticed that the high E string has low
volume output compared to the others. what should i do? =(

Hi Adam,
Once that metal is corroded, whether it's due to skin PH, weather, or something else, there really isn't a way to get them back to 100%. You could clean them with a light abrasive cloth, but you may also risk damaging the sensors if mishandled.

If one of your saddles has lost some output, it may be related to a change in string pressure, or it could be a problem with the way that the sensor is seated in the saddle. Those would both be things to look for.

Caleb: first: you were right about the cable on my Anthem not being secured. it was juuuust grazing the top. this caused the wolf bass note that i had bragged about solving with the Venue e.q. now, the sound is perfect.

i am still listening for that "more" perfect sound.

turning the gain all the way up on both my Anthem and my Ultrasound amp does not seem to yield any distortion. The instructions say to maximize gain (before distortion) to get the most nuance and accuracy out of the Anthem. also, the red light does not come on.

so...any reason not to maximize the gain both places?

might there be distortion that I'm not hearing that an audience might???


cheers,

brent marchbanks

Brent,
In order to get the most signal with the least amount of noise, you should turn up each item in your signal chain (ie. The Anthem, preamp, amp, mixing console, etc.) as much as possible without peaking or causing distortion. Then you will be able to get the most detail, and signal from your system. If you aren't hearing any distortion, then it's likely that the audience isn't either.

Hi, I've bought a Custom Warmoth guitar where the former owner have installed a Xbrigde and a Control X.

The guitar has a "3 way flip switch" and a push button (on off?).
Just like this one:
Attachment 38

the system seems to work, when I push "on" and flip the switch I get acoustic sound from my Strat :)

But is there any way to get both?
With a stereo cable or something?

Ive tried a stereo to 2xmono cable but the sound did not seem to be good at all.

I know this is probably something that you can't answer and maybe shouldn't even if you knew. But having put the Lyric in a carbon fiber guitar with no bridgeplate or bracing, and having read about the mechanics of pressure zone mics. It is hard for me not to believe that this is not the ideal setup for a pressure zone mic. The whole unobstructed soundboard as opposed to a wood guitar where the bridgeplate is the only unobstructed plate. Just Curious. The mic works fabulously in my carbon. Steve

The PZM mic averages the vibrations of the top, and not just the sound. So essentially, it will reproduce an accurate picture of what the guitar, as a whole, is doing. No matter if the guitar is carbon fiber, wood, with braces, or without braces, it will reproduce the sound of the guitar. If you like the way your carbon fiber guitar sounds acoustically, that's what you'll get with the Lyric, plugged in.

I hear you but the mic is 3 mm above the surface over the entire surface of a carbon guitar, can see how it can hear and average the entire top. Given you have a boundary pressure zone mic, how can it mechanically do exactly the same thing in the same manner in a traditional guitar?

I don't know that I can give you the answer that you are looking for. I just know that the braces are there to modify and control the vibration and overall movement of the top. The Mic picks up the sound from the top by hearing sound from the flat surface that it is mounted on. And the Mic is not at all limited in it's ability to average the top by the braces. It hears the top's overall movement, and not just the section that it's mounted to. I couldn't tell you why. Our use of the PZM technology is slightly non-traditional.

So I can't see any difference happening between a guitar with traditional braces, and one that has no braces.

Thinking about it you are using the pressure zone differently in that in a normal pressure zone mic the plate is static picking up sound. In the Lyric it is dynamic creating the sound. Still would think a flat unobstructed plate would give a little different dynamic, but not as essential since it is not really collecting the sound. Doubt you would even do testing with a flat surface carbon. Bottom line the product works wonderfully, almost magically, maybe leave it at that! For my Doubleneck application I would kick it up to miracle class, balancing 18 strings from a single point. Simply nuts!

That is a great conclusion to make! I'm excited to see how many different instruments the Lyric will work on.

I have the Para DI box that is being intermittent in outputting signal and has occasional distorted signal. I noticed that there is one screw (out of 4 possible screws) missing underneath. So there are only 3. Could this be the problem? My battery is strong.

The most that a missing screw can cause is some added ground noise. If there is a problem with the signal cutting in and out, it is likely a problem with a worn out jack or a bad cable.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Caleb_Elling

The most that a missing screw can cause is some added ground noise. If there is a problem with the signal cutting in and out, it is likely a problem with a worn out jack or a bad cable.

---

Thanks Caleb - Also the red "on" light is permanently on unless I remove the battery. Could that also be jack related? Everything looks clean and fresh and the box has seen minimal use...

Also the place where a screw was missing has a shiny surface to the metal as if to make ground contact...

Attachment 39

If the light stays on when you don't have anything plugged into the input, then there is probably a short in the jack, or maybe elsewhere in the circuit.

How long have you had it? I can see about getting you a Repair Number, of you are interested in getting your DI fixed.

That is what it's doing. The jack looks fine but who knows. I've had my Para DI for about 5 years. I would like to get it repaired. Any idea on what that would cost?

Email me at [email protected] to get a repair quote and a Return Number.

I recently installed an X-bridge and CTRL-X in a Jazzmaster build. By recently, I mean this morning before work. I love it! It sounds exactly as I had hoped. I have 2 questions, and at least the first one is probably stupid. When using the blend pot, the volume on 1 gives me about a 50:50 blend between mags and piezo. On 10 I get straight piezo. Assuming that the pot should sweep between pure mags to pure piezo, did I possibly wire something incorrectly? I haven't had the opportunity to check yet, but is this potentially an issue with the setting on the internal trim pot?

Also, I purchased the bridge new from an ebay seller a year ago, and I noticed this weekend that it was shipped for some reason without the tremolo arm. I have not been able to fit any of my other tremolo arms to the bushing. A USA Fender arm is too big, and a cheap Proline GC part is too small. What size tread will fit in this bushing?

Thanks.

The blend issues that you are experiencing is completely normal. The way that the components are designed and assembled makes it impossible to get full isolation without using the toggle-switch. So your bridge is functioning correctly.

For your new bridge, did you get a US Standard or the Vintage bridge?

When installing my Lyric, I discovered there was very little room to install the mic centered below the saddle. I had to position the mic to clear the bridge pins and the string ball ends and I just barely succeeded, which put the two ends of the plastic portion of the mic up against the top bracing. Will the plastic of the mic touching here have an effect on the functioning and sound reproduction of the mic?

Also, my cable plugs are very tight and difficult to insert into the Lyric preamp jack. They fit smoothly and with 3 easily felt and heard clicks in the Para DI and my Fishman amp, but these same cables must be pushed hard to get them inserted all the way into the Lyric jack. The gold plating on the plugs won't last long. Is this normal for the Lyric preamp, or do I have an anomaly? I'm hoping it's an anomaly as it's hard to imagine this being normal. I really want this to work. I purchased the Lyric last week. :)

Hi Dave,
The mic touching the braces is mostly a concern because some notes from the guitars will vibrate those braces and cause a rattle in the mic. This can sound like low-level distortion in the amplified signal. So if you have to put the mic behind the bridge pins, assuming there's room on the bridge plate, that would be a safer option.

As far as the jack: some of our jacks are a little tighter than others, but they do loosen up after about two weeks of regular use.

So positioning the mic behind the bridge pins will be ok sound-wise? It does not have to be directly under the saddle? I do have plenty of room on the bridge plate to mount the mic behind the bridge pins. This will position the mic about 2" away from the saddle. And thank you for the help on these issues. It's nice to have quick and reliable supoport from a manufacturer :)

Putting the mic behind the pins is fine. I've done several installations where there was not sufficient room in front of the pins. I've placed the mic in front, behind, on the top itself in front and behind the bridge plate. The tone varies slightly depending on the placement, but you will get the best sound quality if you place it on the bridge plate.

Thanks for the advice.

I just came came form a trip and realized I lost the whammy bar on my bridge (electric)! Please somebody direct me where I can find one, I don't care how much it cost!!! I needed! Pease help!! Tx in advance!

Hey Servivente,
Email me at [email protected], and I'll see if I can find you what you need. Any information you can provide to me about your bridge will be helpful.