The PiezoBarrel pickups are cheap, effects pedals are inexpensive unless you really want to get the latest and greatest, and the pickup can be fitted easily to off-the-shelf instruments. With a PiezoBarrel pickup, the dreams of the Selmer Varitone of the late 60's can finally be realized. The lack of feedback and spill make pickups ideal for creating the clean sounds needed to trigger effects without the 'glitches' normally present with microphones.įinally, wind instruments can work alongside guitars, keyboards and synths as equal partners. The instrument sound can be converted to MIDI control messages to drive digitized or synthetic sounds, or used as input to a DAW. Mutes on a trumpet change the sound of the trumpet and the sound from a PiezoBarrel pickup on the trumpet mouthpiece shank also pick up the difference in the sound.Ī pickup opens up the world of analogue and digital effects which can provide simple enhancements to the natural sound or a variety of other modern effects that produce harmonies, chorus effects, phase shifting or manipulate the pitch of echoes to enhance a reverb. For example, a bassoon can be played by sucking on the reed instead of blowing, this sound is faithfully reproduced by the pickup as are percussive effects made with the reed. Anything that creates a sound from the instrument also affects the air column inside the instrument. This has the benefit of allowing the instrument to be amplified without feedback or interference from other sounds outside the instrument. I have always been aware that it has a Piezo pickup under the bridge, I’ve just never really paid it any attention.

PiezoBarrel pickups are designed to be attached to wind and brass instruments to pick up the relatively high pressure standing wave inside the instrument near the mouthpiece end. I’ve been playing my Fender 12 String acoustic since I got it, but now as I’m getting my clean amplification sorted out, I thought I’d try it amplified. The term comes from the electric guitar where pickups were initially based on a magnet and coil of wire that generated an electrical signal from the motion of a steel guitar string within the magnetic field of the pickup so the instrument did not need to generate an audible sound - just an electrical signal that could be amplified. When an electric guitar is equipped with a piezo pickup, usually it’s placed inside or under the bridge. In addition to being a surface-mount guitar pickup, UP-2 can be used for harp, drums, and percussion. The difference between a pickup and a regular microphoneĪ pickup is a type of microphone that is directly attached to the instrument so that it converts the air vibrations in the instrument to electricity at the source.

Piezo picup