Duotone acoustic sound

[ron work]

Any suggestions on how to make the duotone acoustic sound to be more acoustic?

[HamerCustomEr]

On 10/16/2020 at 9:34 AM, ron work said:

Any suggestions on how to make the duotone acoustic sound to be more acoustic?

Don't plug it in? 

Seriously, the TC Bodyrez is an economical way to really improve the sound of piezo pickups.

[django49]

D-TAR Mama Bear. Collaboration between S Duncan and R Turner. These are great, but few have ever even heard of them.

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/duncan-turner-acoustic-research-mama-bear-preamp-1

[tomteriffic]

+1 for the Mama Bear but good luck finding one.

Boy, I futzed with this for years...  You didn't mention if your Duotone was a three-holer or a Custom (different pickup on the custom) but here's some stuff to try.

Use an amp (if you're using one) that sounds good with your other, more conventional acoustic guitars.  Without that, you're shooting pool with a clothesline.

Use a string set with a wound third.  Hamer recommended D'Addario EXL 110Ws.  That's what I used for the most part and it cut waaay down on piezo "quack" and also made shifting gears from acoustic-y to electric-y in the same song much easier.

That EQ thingy on the back.... Use it.  Tweak it, live with it for a while, tweak it some more.  When you quit tweaking, you have it right.  Mine settled down when it had fewer highs and more mids than I had initially expected.

Consider an acoustic  preamp, Boss AD-something or similar, one with two inputs.  My go-to was the Boss AD-8 (I think). It had inputs (with the correct impedances) for both piezo and magnetic pickups and a scad of stuff like body resonance controls, chorus, reverb and an electric dog polisher.  Keep in mind that whatever you do there will affect both the piezo and magnetic sides so a light touch is recommended.  I mostly used it for level matching and the 4 band EQ.  It was also a convenient way to blend the signals into one output if so desired.

Finally, roll in a bit of the neck magnetic pickup.   If you're solo or in a group, try setting the whole affair up and get out away from it to check it out.  Stuff sounds quite different depending on whether your on top of an amp or 30 feet away.  Good luck.

[HamerCustomEr]

4 hours ago, tomteriffic said:

+1 for the Mama Bear but good luck finding one.

On Reverb right now:

https://reverb.com/ca/item/23094063-d-tar-mama-bear-acoustic-preamp-120v

[tomteriffic]

Well, I'll be dipped.