How balance volume of guitars with different impedance?

[ReverendBuck]

Hello all,

Who would know how I can balance the volume of guitars with different impedance?

I am using two different guitars for my new musical live project:
- An electrical Gretsch 6128
- An accoustic classical with piezo pickup
To Amp-2 is routed to my Tech21 Power Engine (60Watt)
The Balanced Outs go to the P.A.

To get a natural accoustical sound from my piezo classical guitar I have bypassed the Amp in my Rig.
For my Gretsch I programmed a Black Panel Duo Amp.
My issue: My classical guitar is too low on volume to blend in with the band during our rehearsels ...

It indeed is easy to balance rigs using the Rig Output
BUT as already said: To get a natural accoustic sound from my piezo classical guitar I have bypassed the Amp in my Rig. Implies I have no Amp Volumes to tweek. If I crank up any of my outputs, the sound gets distorted ...
My Gretsch via a Black Panel Duo e.g. gives me sufficient volume to compete with our drummer.
But my classical guitar with the software Amp bypassed doesn't produce enough volume to play along with my music friends.
If 11R would provide a gain on the input per patch, my issue would be solved.

I tried a pre-amp with a trimmer/gain between my classical guitar and the input of the 11R and this worked well. It allowed me to give my 2 guitars a balanced volume.
BUT: I don't want to use signal switchers like the LEHLE DUAL SGOS. They are very good and professional solutions. But I would require such a switcher + a pre-amp ...
I want my setup to be simple, only using a RockTron Midi Mate foot controller: Pres mute, select according patch, switch guitars, unmute and start to play.

Anybody some experience how I can solve my issue by using my R11 in an optimal way?

I appreciate your suggestions!

[derker]

If you have a preset dedicated to your classical which has the amp/cab disabled, you can still use another more neutral block that has a volume control such as an EQ or Dyn3. It's a workaround but it should work without issue.

Also make sure your Output to Amp levels are set appropriately. Every patch has its own levels for each output, it's entirely possible that your acoustic patch has the Output to Amp turned way down. Use SW1 to navigate to the levels and set accordingly.

[Top Jimmy]

It doesn't sound like you want this option but what I would do is add an active FET DI solely for the acoustic straight to the console.


Parroted on my iPad with Tapasquawk.

[ReverendBuck]

To Derker:
Thanks for having looked into my question.
I indeed use separate presets for my different guitars.
I already tried your advice: But unfortunately raising the volume of the EQ doesn't crank up the volume at all when I use my Yamaha CGX102 classical guitar ... I was very hopeful this feature would be the solution to my issue.

FYI: If I use the Fishman PRO-EQ PLATINUM PREAMP/EQ/D.I. (just flat) in my FX Loop then:
a) I have the required volume on my Power Engine
b) The volume of the EQ effect gives me also an additional noticeable difference in volume
So it looks as if my signal fed in to the EQ is too low, the EQ volume can't give added value.

I would be so happy if can keep my effects loop available for other effects than a pre-amp ... And again: If the volume of the 11R EQ effect would do the job I could keep a simple setup without additional HW added which is the reason of my post.

To Top Jimmy:
Yes for the live gigs your suggestion could be an option (and is probably the best solution). The only effect to be added would be a reverb, which the mixer easily could do.
But for our rehearsals, where we don't use a PA I am still stuck ... Also here I want to have a simple but functional setup.
Additional note: I believe that only giving one physical signal cable to the mixer is the most professional solution. On digital mixing desks the mixer can assign different channels per song depending the instrument I route to his desk. Since we will work with a fixed set lists this should work fine.

[ecalcagnino]

I use a similar setup to you with my Yamaha NTX and my flat tops with the Lyric installed. I add the compressor for VERY VERY slight compression as was mentioned earlier, but mostly for the volume boost it enables which is far more than adequate.

Eric