I have an acoustic that i have permanently installed a fishman rare earth pickup. I know that this is essentially a single coil pickup and that there is going to be alot of buzz associated with it. I also purchased a buzz eliminator and all that it does is suck the tone and volume from my guitar. What can i do/need to get to take away some of the buzz?
-Ben
Ben
OK, I'm going to do some guessing here. Do you mean buzz like your strings or this pickup itself vibrating, or do you mean feedback?
Are you using a down tuning? Perhaps your strings are very slack. This might cause a buzzing.
Perhaps the buzzing comes from your acoustic guitar itself.
Acoustics tend to feedback easily. Maybe you are hearing feedback. This could sound like a sustained buzzing which can grow to a loud howl. Do not allow this as it could damage your speakers.
One thing you might try is turning the gain down on the channel your guitar is going into on your mixer. Also, experiment with your channels EQs. Perhaps you have too much bass, or too much mids. See if you can make this sound go away.
Perhaps you are hearing feedback. Make sure your speakers are in front of the guitar facing away from the soundhole. See if this eliminates this sound.
These are all just guesses.
What kind of PA do you have?? (make and model of mixer, amp, speakers, etc....)
Anyway, try a few of these things. Let us know what happens.
Oh, and what is a Buzz Eliminator?? Who makes that??
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
I have an acoustic that i have permanently installed a fishman rare earth pickup. I know that this is essentially a single coil pickup and that there is going to be alot of buzz associated with it. I also purchased a buzz eliminator and all that it does is suck the tone and volume from my guitar. What can i do/need to get to take away some of the buzz?
-Ben
Hmmm, Fishman makes good stuff. I might check with them to see if they have any suggestions. If as you suggest, you are getting 60-cycle line buzz, then the only external things you can do is make sure you are using a good guitar cable, and maybe put a DI box on the strap to give you a local pre-amp.
As for the Eliminator, the problem is that the buzz has a very wide harmonic content. There is almost nothing at 60 cycles, but lots between 300 and 6000, which is where you hear it best.
Good luck!
Laz
Do you also have this when you record directly from the mixer board? Could you maybe post a sample?
wes: the Buzz eliminator probably is a noisegate.
Its the single coil pickup just reacting with my pa system. I think i need to somehow switch the ground on my pa so that it isn't as bad. I was also thinking about investing in a pre-amp. Thanks for the suggestions so far!
could be an earth hum. check your cabling, including the mains lead to the mixer. if possible, check the rig in another building - could be bad mains supply that's causing the hum.
eeasiest thing to do would be to get a DI and use the earth(ground) lift switch - just be careful, as if its mains-related, it could lead to serious injury!
if its feedback from the guitar, you can buy feedback eliminators that are a rubber thing that fits into the sound hole of the guitar - if this is what you already have, then apologies!
I would figure out whats creating the noise and then perhaps use some type of pre-amp or equalizer in the signal chain.
Joe
