Anybody know anything about the Quack Buster?

Bob-Dubery

http://www.pick-uptheworld.com/quackbuster.htm

Sounds interesting.

guitarboy2828

Buy one Bob, i'm keen to see if it works! ?

Keira-WitherKay

i would just say avoid UST pickups in the 1st place..

no matter what the make from cheapy to top end...... they all give unrealistic "natural" acoustic sound...since the sound comes direct from the saddle not the soundboard and yes dual systems help this prob and systems like ibeams eliminate it totally ,

so i never understand why acoustic users don't swear off UST as an outdated system ........

cos yes UST effectively amplifiers your acoustic but at the cost of the natural tone......

but don't take my word for it.... just record yourself with a mic in front of soundhole....... and thats how your pickup should sound........

but sure they all compromises ...... but there are options these days thanks to technology

PeteM

Hey that looks great Bob - do you know whether they are available in SA - maybe you should let Andy know about it if he doesn't already know. I imagine it's the kind of thing he would be interested in fitting - he could make a small killing there.

PeteM

Keira WitherKay wrote i would just say avoid UST pickups in the 1st place..

no matter what the make from cheapy to top end...... they all give unrealistic "natural" acoustic sound...since the sound comes direct from the saddle not the soundboard and yes dual systems help this prob and systems like ibeams eliminate it totally ,

True, but there are plenty of guitars out there with the UST systems and it looks to me that this piece of gear would be a suitable mod for many - me included. I'm not looking for a perfect acoustic sound like you are and I reckon I get a great sound from mine - or rather the sound fits my style of playing/music. It's just the odd quack that I get when I hit the instrument to hard that I would like to eliminate.

Bob-Dubery

Keira WitherKay wrote i would just say avoid UST pickups in the 1st place..

so i never understand why acoustic users don't swear off UST as an outdated system ........

The QuackBuster is NOT a complete system. It's an add-on to an existing UST system.

A lot of people have got guitars with UST systems already installed. If this product does what is claimed then it might be a better proposition, financially and in terms of work and the scars left on the guitar, than stripping out whatever is in place and replacing it with whatever seems like a good idea.

It may also work for people who are getting NEARLY what they want with a UST and want to just tweak it a little.

I'd be interested to hear what this can do, but that probably means buying one and being the guinea pig.

Sean

X-rated Bob wrote
I'd be interested to hear what this can do, but that probably means buying one and being the guinea pig.

:applause: :applause: :applause:

Bob-Dubery

And y'all can pay to get the verdict. Just think of it as your contribution to advancing the art of amplified acoustic guitar sound.

guitarboy2828

I'll chip in R100 towards you getting it Bob! ?

Warren

I'd sure be interested in this too!

Sean

Warren wrote I'd sure be interested in this too!

Yeah, I wonder if Bob has ordered it yet ?

MoJo-JoJoe

My Yamaha APX-10A has a UST and a soundboard transducer ribbon as standard. The electronics allow you to blend them in and the guitar sounds pretty good with that setup. Alan played it when he last visited, but I'm not sure if he liked it or had an opinion since we were actually demoing a small PA not the guitars, but I'll let him comment if he has an opinion (good or bad - I'm cool with either - I'd still like it)

Bob-Dubery

I was thinking it would be good to get one of these when I'm in the UK next month. However the shop that the web site shows as being the distributors closed a couple of years ago.

So I mailed the company that makes the Quack Buster to ask them where I could find their products in the UK. No reply.

So now it gets annoying and difficult. Shoreline music advertise that they stock PUTW products but not specifically the Quack Buster. Minimum shipping charge to SA is $30.

Grumble grumble

AlanRatcliffe

Hmm... It looks like it's just a second, top mounted contact pickup. Any dual system will do the same... Probably very high impedance, which in turn probably means piezo - so it doesn't drop the impedance too much when connected in parallel with the existing pickup). That also explains why it won't work with the B-band and Schertler Bluestick pickups, which are both lowZ models.

@ MoJo JoJoe - it is a nice guitar. I think I mentioned in passing that I've always liked the APX dual systems. The only problem I've ever encountered with them is if the preamp dies, it's a case of replace the whole preamp rather than repair - but that's true of most SMD systems these days.

Bob-Dubery

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Hmm... It looks like it's just a second, top mounted contact pickup. Any dual system will do the same... Probably very high impedance, which in turn probably means piezo - so it doesn't drop the impedance too much when connected in parallel with the existing pickup).

You think?

At one point I had a thought in my head that it was one of their existing products being re-marketed under a different name. But it's 1/2 the price so I eliminated that thought.

Would a common or garden surface mount pickup have the capacitance to absorb the voltage spikes from the UST? Surely it would be generating it's own spikes anyway? Would the two pickups in parallel be absorbing each other's spikes?

It's tempting to try whacking a surface mount pickup in parallel with an active element to see what happens, but where would one get such a beast in SA? Baggs, who are distributed here, don't make anything appropriate - unless you buy the entire i-Mix system (which I don't want to do).

AlanRatcliffe

I don't know for sure, but that's my guess.

The sensor will be partly out of phase with the UST, because it's picking up from a different place on the guitar. My EE knowledge isn't extensive enough to know all the ramifications, but if a transducer can generate signal, it can absorb one too (although it should turn most of it into vibration again, aside from losses).

You could try using a cheap piezo speaker from an electronic store. Otherwise, any piezo contact pickup from Schaller, KK, Schertler, etc. would work.