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Location: md | I have an old celebrity...circa 1988 or so and I am having problems getting anything out of it when I plug it in. Any tips or help would be appreciated. |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Troubleshooting from the 10,000 foot level is a little difficult. What is it doing or any clues to throw at us would get the OFC Trouble shooters going for you.
If you're quick, and this will help:
Preamp on eBay |
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Location: md | I plug it in to a monitor and get nothing. However, a friend has a newer Yamaha acoustic/electric and has no problem getting sound out of the monitor. His has a powered pickup whereas mine isnt powered. Would a pre-amp solve this? |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | I think the easiest solution would be to use your friends guitar.
Seriously, you probably have a loose wire someplace. I would poke around inside the guitar and see if there is anything obvious going on.
Dave |
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Location: Isle of Man, UK | Apologies for sounding patronising (hey - I live on an Island, I'm allowed...) but have you put a new battery in the pre-amp? Just my first thought, so please throw something at me if I've understepped the mark on that one.
It must just be fresh in my mind - I can testify how important this is when everything went bum over bits at my gig last Friday night when my battery died. It sounded like the bottom fell out of my sound (and vice-verse, I'd like to point out) for the rest of the song. I knew I carried that spare for a reason...
JB |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | I think his is a passive. |
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Location: Tampa, FL | Sounds like an agressive-passive to me |
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Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by bobodean:
I am having problems getting anything out of it when I plug it in. Does this mean you never get anything out of it, or sometimes you get something out of it?
The first means you either have a bad pickup, or you have a disconnected or shorted wire between your pickup and your jack. (I would think a shorted wire would at least give you a hum when plugged in.)
The second would most likely point to a loose wire between the p/u and jack.
I find myself agreeing with Dave waaaay too much lately. :rolleyes: |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | lose wire |
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Location: md | ok..I get nothing..zip..nada out of it when I plug it in. My bud plugged it into his amp during a gig and it played fine. Although he did have to crank it up to get sound. Is there some kind of "thingy" that I can plug it into before the monitor that will boost the signal? |
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Location: south of munich, Germany | maybe a preamp?
a passive system just into a monitor? hmm.. where is the amplification? |
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Location: md | you tell me. The monitor has an amp.I am a newbie. |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | First thing is check your wires! They can jiggle around. Then you can start ruling things out. |
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Location: md | how do I do that? There isnt a removable cover on the back like the newer ones. |
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Location: south of munich, Germany | use a mirror to look inside |
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Location: md | ah..good idea..thanks |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Take the strings off. Gently lift up the pickup, maybe push up on the wires inside. examine your pickup. you can't make it worse. follow where the wires go. If you don't see anything there, unscrew the plug jack. look at the wires. This is a good exercise, because you'll learn how things work and won't need to pay a tech to do something you could do. Good luck. |
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Location: NJ | This monitor probably has too high of an impedance at the input to be taking a signal from a passive pickup - it's designed to be taking one from a PA or amp. You'd probably be better served getting a proper guitar amp - specifically one designed for an acoustic guitar . . . |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Funny, I assumed the guitar was plugged into a combo. Otherwise it's like saying a computer won't work, and you've not hooked up a monitor. |
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Location: closely held secret | Cliff's on the right track. You need to try it with an amp made for guitars with passive pickup systems. Take the guitar into a music store and tell them you want to see some "acoustic guitar amps". (You may have to repeat this several times, possibly raising your voice to be heard above the squealing EVH mockers. Make sure you emphasize ACOUSTIC).
Then come back and tell us how it sounds.
If it's better, but you don't want to invest in an amp, then grab yourself an active direct box or better still, a Paracoustic D.I. preamp . That should boost your output and improve the sound quality. |
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Location: md | good idea. I am taking it to guitarcenter tomorrow and plug it in there. Thanks for all your help. Now, can you help me play this thing? |
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Location: NJ | Tequila helps. |
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Location: md | I heard THAT!!!! |
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Location: SoCal | Tequila helps everything except trying to recover from too much tequila...... |
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Location: NJ | that's when the guitar-playing comes in . . . |
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Location: closely held secret |  |
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Location: Denmark | bobodean: Is it by any chance one of these:
cc68 http://www.ovationguitars.com/?fa=detail&mid=1015
cc67 http://www.ovationguitars.com/?fa=detail&mid=1017 |
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Location: md | looks like the cc68 |
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Location: Denmark | Looks nice. I have not personal experience with the passive pick-up's. I know that piezoelectric transducers are high capacitive impedance which is not compatible with all types of amplifiers. That is one of several reasons that many e/a guitars like most Ovations have integrated pre amplifier.
If you plug it in an amplifier where it does make sound, you could try to manipulate the wires and listen if that generates noises.
Sooner or later you will probably end up consulting a guitar tech in any case, so why not start there ? He/she will be able to diagnose in a few seconds if anything needs to be done to the guitar - and probably also be able to recommend a suitable (pre-)amplifier.
Edit: Oops - just realized that You already decided doing so. Tell what they said. |
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Location: md | Hi all...FINALLY got to get my guitar working. I never made it to Guitar Center...but I took the thing to church and fiddled with everything involved. Turns out it was a bad jack on the monitor. I jiggled it around and got sound. Not enough though..so I found an adapter and plugged it into a mic jack and got REAL sound. My old guitar going thru a big amp and 4 PA monitors. Sounds great! Thanks for all your help. |
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need help with plugging in