CA-X Acoustic Piezo amp

Figure 80. CA-X Acoustic Piezo.

In addition to the original 16 CA-X Amps FX Chain presets, SONAR now also includes the new CA-X Acoustic Piezo amp.

This new CA-X-series amp is designed specifically for acoustic guitars using piezo pickups, and includes several innovative functions that bring out the best in any acoustic.

The CA-X Acoustic Piezo amp compensates for the deficiencies of piezo pickups to bring out the true beauty of your acoustic guitar. While not intended for acoustic guitars with built-in EQ, if you can disable the EQ you’ll likely find CA-X Acoustic Piezo a much better alternative.

Although not optimized for electric guitar, CA-X Acoustic Piezo can be very useful for clean, defined electric guitar sounds, especially with neck humbucker pickups.

The CA-X Acoustic Piezo amp contains the following controls:

Compress. Adds gentle, unobtrusive, wideband compression.

Body Boom. Can either augment or diminish the low-end “boom” that’s characteristic of most acoustic guitars.

Vocal Mode. Introduces compression in the vocal singing range to create more space for vocals. However, it can also tighten up the guitar sound by giving an apparent increase to the low and high frequencies.

Mid Freq, Notch/Boost, and Q Lo/Hi.  Function as a semi-parametric EQ. This can help dramatically with reducing piezo “quack” or “honking.” The easiest way to do this is as follows:

1.	Set Notch/Boost clockwise for maximum boost.

2.	Sweep the Mid Freq control until you hear a massive peak.

3.	Rotate Notch/Boost counter-clockwise to “tune out” the quack. Try this with Q in the Lo and Hi positions and decide which sounds best.

Also note that even if the piezo doesn’t have any problematic resonances, this set of controls can alter the overall tone in useful ways.

Articulation. Accents frequencies that bring out the articulation when fingerpicking, and can also give more general definition.

Highs. Affects the highest frequencies. Turn clockwise for a glossy, bright sound or counter-clockwise to dull the sound somewhat.

Chorus. Adds a gentle chorus effect.

Extra Wide. Increases the stereo spread to widen the overall sound.

Reverb. Adds ambience to the sound, with the Room/Hall button choosing the reverb type.

 

See:

Using FX Chain presets

Effects chains

FX Chain module

New features