Music: Re: [oddmusic] Film Piezos (EMI vs PUTW)?

Starting last year my students and I in the Sound Dept. at SAIC have
been building our own preamps. Nicolas Collins and Robb Drinkwater
(Sound faculty at SAIC) developed the circuit. Made available as kits.
any student can purchase the amp kit for $5 from the Media Center
vending machine (along with batteries, CDRs, DV tapes, Arduino boards,
perf boards, and other useful items).

Once assembled, the amp will also drive a small 8 ohm speaker if needed.
Like the mint-box buffer they run on a 9-volt batt. and have a high/low
gain switch for the input. The circuit differs from the mint-box buffer,
using a 386 op amp IC instead of a 2N5457 FET.

The benefit of the preamp may not always be apparent as piezo materials
pick up high and mid-frequencies easily, but not in the low end. With my
Springboard, the sounds of bowed coil springs are nothing without the
very deep bass end of the frequency spectrum. Simply plugging it in to a
1/4-inch input jack and boosting the gain for mic level was always risky
depending on the character of the PA mixer, where the mis-matched
impedance could make itself audibly and noticeable, i.e. very
disappointing. So, I found a preamp indispensable. However, for the
Springboard, since the late-90s, I've relied on a little K&K preamp
designed for the impedance of piezo pickups. It was very low-noise, and
worth every penny of the $90 I paid. The particular model I use is no
longer available, but K&K Sound Systems is still in business, and have
newer versions available: http://www.kksound.com/

All the best,
Eric

On 12/18/10 4:20 PM, Rodrigo Constanzo wrote:
> On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 9:31 PM, Rodrigo Constanzo<
> rodrigo.constanzo@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Interesting. Those look like the same type of thing again, but with a
>> different protective "sleeve".
>>
>> Haas anyone made DIY preamps for their piezos?
>>
>> I've made one of these mint-box buffers:
>> http://www.scotthelmke.com/Mint-box-buffer.html
>>
>> But I have to say, I don't really hear much a difference with or without
>> it, so I don't know if the gain is not very hot on it or what.
>> I've also used a DIY version of a "Super Hard On" boost pedal, which has a
>> super high input impedance.
>>
>> Rodrigo
>> http://www.rodrigoconstanzo.com
>>
>> On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 8:20 PM, Simon Whetham<simon@simonwhetham.co.uk>wrote:
>>
>>> hi rodrigo
>>> what about these?? http://www.c-ducer.com/ great for the inside of boats
>>> in the amazon! ;-)
>>> simon
>>>
>>> *Simon Whetham *
>>> www.simonwhetham.co.uk
>>> www.myspace.com/simonwhetham
>>>
>>> www.activecrossover.co.uk
>>>
>>> *Latest news: Arts Council England to fund 'Active Crossover 2011'
>>> exhibition tour*
>>>
>>>
>>> out now:
>>> *'Grey Area'* with Paul Khimasia Morgan released by Con-V
>>> <http://con-v.org/cnvr22.html>*'The Clearing' *with Rebecca Joy Sharp
>>> released by Gruenrekorder<http://www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=2874>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>> To: oddmusic@yahoogroups.com
>>> From: rodrigo.constanzo@gmail.com
>>> Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2010 19:19:17 +0000
>>> Subject: [oddmusic] Film Piezos (EMI vs PUTW)?
>>>
>>>
>>> So I've been looking into buying some more Piezo Film pickups to use on
>>> different projects.
>>> I saw this improv trio recently, of which the guitarist had great tone,
>>> and
>>> SWORE by Pickup The World pickups.
>>>
>>> So I finally looked them up:
>>>
>>> http://www.pick-uptheworld.com/FAQ.html#one
>>>
>>> Now, from what I can tell from the pictures, it's Piezo film they're
>>> talking
>>> about.
>>> There's no big/clear pictures, but they mention an "outer wrap of Kevlar".
>>> So I'm guessing it's the standard Piezo Film strips that EMI also sells,
>>> but
>>> wrapped in a conductive/protective shield, then sold for a massive markup.
>>>
>>> Has anyone purchased one of these?
>>> Has anyone fully shielded their piezo film pickups?
>>>
>>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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Eric Leonardson

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