Cannot get decent signal from acoustic electric

Want to talk about music hardware or software that doesn't include Reason?
Post Reply
grimestain
Posts: 7
Joined: 26 May 2018

01 Jul 2018

Hi everyone,

I'm new to home recording and have an issue that's filling me with dread.
I'm trying to record and acoustic electric guitar in reason and I cannot for the life of me get it to work.
I've tried everything I could think of.

Here's the set up:
I have the guitar (batteries are good) plugged into a Behringer Ulta-DI 600P and a balanced XLR out to input #2 of a Steinberg UR22mkII.
I create an audio track set the input to Steinberg Input#2 and I get nothing...I tried every imaginable combination of trouble shooting:
Tested input#2 of Steinberg (it works).
Plugged the 1/4 that's plugged into the acoustic guitar into an electric guitar & it works! I'm able to record in reason no problem.
This tells me that the DI box and all the cables and the interfaces pre-amp are all good, right?
Tried 3 different acoustic electric guitars (none of them will give a signal to reason)
Tried every combination of flipping switches on bothe the DI box and the interfaces Hi-Z
Tried plugging the acoustic directly into the interface and achieved a barely audible signal when I turned both the guitars volume and the pre-amp gain all the way up (not a signal loud enough to record but a signal none-the-less)

Before I give up and simply record the acoustic with a mic (defeats the purpose of an electric acoustic)
& before I drop a hundred bucks on one of them cloud lifter pre-amp boxes (which I'm not even sure will help) I'd like to know if this is normal?
How am I supposed to set this up? I've watched Youtibe videos and people seem to just plug the guitar in and record away.
I must be doing something wrong. That or the universe is conspiring against me in some devious ways.
Employing Occam's razor I'll assume (or not assume ;)) That the universe is not conspiring against me but that I am indeed doing something wrong.
I'm beyond frustrated with this. Please help me.

Thank you

User avatar
aeox
Competition Winner
Posts: 3222
Joined: 23 Feb 2017
Location: Oregon

01 Jul 2018

Try a TS 1/4" instead of TRS

User avatar
QVprod
Moderator
Posts: 3488
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Contact:

02 Jul 2018

Looking at the UR22mkii you don't necessarily need a DI actually. Plugging into input 2 with the HI-Z button engaged should be all that's needed. However, given that your electric works just fine, I would assume the pickups of your acoustic electrics aren't providing much signal for some reason.

That aside. Acoustic electric pickups are not meant for recording. Convenient for performing live but a mic will always sound better.

grimestain
Posts: 7
Joined: 26 May 2018

02 Jul 2018

aeox wrote:
01 Jul 2018
Try a TS 1/4" instead of TRS
You're a superstar!! I never even mentioned that I was using a balanced cable from the instrument to the DI but I was and that was the problem! What a relief.

Thanks!

grimestain
Posts: 7
Joined: 26 May 2018

02 Jul 2018

QVprod wrote:
02 Jul 2018
That aside. Acoustic electric pickups are not meant for recording. Convenient for performing live but a mic will always sound better.
Thanks for that advice. I did find it curious why there were so few Youtube videos of people plugging their acoustics directly into their hardware. Anyway turns out the issue was that I was using a balanced cable from the instrument. Switched to a proper instrument cable and everything is fine.

Thanks for your help!

User avatar
selig
RE Developer
Posts: 11685
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: The NorthWoods, CT, USA

02 Jul 2018

grimestain wrote:
aeox wrote:
01 Jul 2018
Try a TS 1/4" instead of TRS
You're a superstar!! I never even mentioned that I was using a balanced cable from the instrument to the DI but I was and that was the problem! What a relief.

Thanks!
Weird that the same cable worked on your electrics, right?

BTW, I would take QV’s advice and use the instrument input (#2 with the hi Z button) and skip the extra boxes/connectors/transformers etc..


Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk
Selig Audio, LLC

User avatar
MrFigg
Competition Winner
Posts: 9124
Joined: 20 Apr 2018

02 Jul 2018

grimestain wrote:
02 Jul 2018
QVprod wrote:
02 Jul 2018
That aside. Acoustic electric pickups are not meant for recording. Convenient for performing live but a mic will always sound better.
Thanks for that advice. I did find it curious why there were so few Youtube videos of people plugging their acoustics directly into their hardware. Anyway turns out the issue was that I was using a balanced cable from the instrument. Switched to a proper instrument cable and everything is fine.

Thanks for your help!
Agree with the above. Mic ‘em. Lined acoustics sound horrible IMO.
🗲 2ॐ ᛉ

grimestain
Posts: 7
Joined: 26 May 2018

02 Jul 2018

selig wrote:
02 Jul 2018
grimestain wrote:
You're a superstar!! I never even mentioned that I was using a balanced cable from the instrument to the DI but I was and that was the problem! What a relief.

Thanks!
Weird that the same cable worked on your electrics, right?

BTW, I would take QV’s advice and use the instrument input (#2 with the hi Z button) and skip the extra boxes/connectors/transformers etc..


Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk
Yup, It's weird. It's really what caused me to not be able to wrap my head around it. My neighbor kept saying to me "Are you sure it's not the cable?" I said it couldn't be for the this reason. Here's where gets even weirder though. He lent me a small fender amp and a cable and I plugged his cable into my acoustic and it worked. I plugged into the amp with my balanced cable and it didn't. So I plugged the balanced cable into the electric and that didn't work either!! So the balance cable from the electric to the interface worked but NOT from the electric to the amp? Then I plugged the acoustic into my studio hardware using his TS cable and everything was fine. For a minute I thought maybe the electric has balanced output and the acoustic doesn't? But then why wouldn't the electric work when plugged into an amp? Weirdness. I'm just glad the solution turned out to be so simple and inexpensive.

User avatar
normen
Posts: 3431
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

02 Jul 2018

The thing is that the acoustic guitar probably uses a TRS socket so that when a TS cable is plugged in the R and S get shorted and are used to "turn on" the battery supply for the preamp. If you put a TRS cable in the guitar then R and S won't be connected unless on the other side of the cable R and S get shorted - which depends on where it's plugged in. Probably solves the riddle ;)

User avatar
selig
RE Developer
Posts: 11685
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: The NorthWoods, CT, USA

02 Jul 2018

normen wrote:The thing is that the acoustic guitar probably uses a TRS socket so that when a TS cable is plugged in the R and S get shorted and are used to "turn on" the battery supply for the preamp. If you put a TRS cable in the guitar then R and S won't be connected unless on the other side of the cable R and S get shorted - which depends on where it's plugged in. Probably solves the riddle ;)
Makes sense - I figured one or the other (the acoustic or the electric) had a TRS jack, thinking the electric may have been hacked. Forgot these acoustic electrics often have TRS for power or when they have both a pickup and a mic. I’d say you solved the mystery here!


Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk
Selig Audio, LLC

grimestain
Posts: 7
Joined: 26 May 2018

02 Jul 2018

Thanks everyone for your input on this.

User avatar
ejanuska
Posts: 680
Joined: 27 May 2016
Location: USA

05 Jul 2018

MrFigg wrote:
02 Jul 2018
grimestain wrote:
02 Jul 2018


Thanks for that advice. I did find it curious why there were so few Youtube videos of people plugging their acoustics directly into their hardware. Anyway turns out the issue was that I was using a balanced cable from the instrument. Switched to a proper instrument cable and everything is fine.

Thanks for your help!
Agree with the above. Mic ‘em. Lined acoustics sound horrible IMO.
This is assuming the guitar has good acoustic sound. If it's a thin body or wood that doesn't resonate well you may be better off plugging in direct.

User avatar
MrFigg
Competition Winner
Posts: 9124
Joined: 20 Apr 2018

05 Jul 2018

ejanuska wrote:
05 Jul 2018
MrFigg wrote:
02 Jul 2018


Agree with the above. Mic ‘em. Lined acoustics sound horrible IMO.
This is assuming the guitar has good acoustic sound. If it's a thin body or wood that doesn't resonate well you may be better off plugging in direct.
Absolutely. But it’ll still sound horrible. Lined acoustics sound horrible. Ech. In my opinion of course ha ha :).
🗲 2ॐ ᛉ

Post Reply
  • Information
  • Who is online

    Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests