Takamine CPT-3 preamp

[Cunamara]

I have a Takamine EC-132C classical, which I have had for quite a few years. It's a very nice playing guitar but the amplified sound has always left a lot to be desired. Piezo quack, sort of a clunky tone. I've tried many different EQs, amps, etc., and I've never been able to be happy with its amplified sound. So I took a flyer on ordering their "Cool Tube" preamp off of eBay from a seller in Japan, 100 bucks less than buying it from American sellers; it arrived in about five days via FedEx. Heck, I can't get stuff shipped to me from Illinois in five days and that's only a few hundred miles.

Swapping the existing preamp out was easy. There is a plastic ring in the side of the guitar; the old preamp snapped out, the new preamp snapped in after plugging the output and input jacks in. Took about three minutes. The CPT-3 has several extra controls including a notch filter, sweepable midrange and the bass/mid/treble controls have +/- 12 dB instead of the 5 dB of the old preamp. There is also a tube control to dial in or out signal through the 12AU7 tube. The effect is very noticeable at warming up the tone. Between that and the notch filter and sweepable mids, I was able to dial in the most acceptable amplified nylon string tone I have managed with this guitar. Might be able to tweak it to be better still.

My Rick Turner RN-6 is still a bit better, but has no usable acoustic sound.

[jorgemg1984]

It doesn't work for nylons, but for folk acoustics the TC Body Rez works wonders to make piezos sound good.

I've heard using impulse responses works great with nylons, but I never tried it. Your solution seems great!

[Cunamara]

I'm much happier with the sound using the CPT-3 than the original CT4B-ii. Most of that is probably the much more flexible EQ and some is the tube circuit, which does add fatness, warmth and body.

Amplifying nylon string is really a challenge. With all acoustic guitars, I think the best results tend to be with a good microphone being operated by somebody who understands how to capture the sound. Unfortunately, that's not always available. I think under-saddle pickups are always going to suffer due to capturing the signal at the bridge, much like a bridge versus neck pickup on electric guitar. Top-mounted transducers, internal mics, etc., still aren't the acoustic sound heard from the listener's position and have their own weird effects.

Years ago I had a Fishman Aura pedal, which I think was an attempt to use IRs to enhance the tone. I didn't find it all that successful, although it was probably fairly crude compared to current technology. Rick Turner and Seymour Duncan tried to address these issues by using a coaxial piezo pickup element and then their "Mama Bear" preamp device; I have never used one of those, but it seems like it's a very similar idea to the Aura.

My Turner RN-6 actually sounds pretty good through a wide variety of amps, but it is of semi-hollow construction and that removes some of the odd coupling effects of a vibrating hollow body under the piezo. Feedback is almost eliminated unless the amp is turned up very loud. The RN-6 also uses an 18v preamp which has more headroom; apparently piezo pickups have a large transient voltage spike on the attack which drives many preamps into distortion, complicating the quack effect even more. But I like playing an instrument with a natural acoustic sound and size/shape.

[yebdox]

I have a Takamine EC-132C classical, which I have had for quite a few years. It's a very nice playing guitar but the amplified sound has always left a lot to be desired. Piezo quack, sort of a clunky tone. I've tried many different EQs, amps, etc., and I've never been able to be happy with its amplified sound. So I took a flyer on ordering their "Cool Tube" preamp off of eBay from a seller in Japan, 100 bucks less than buying it from American sellers; it arrived in about five days via FedEx. Heck, I can't get stuff shipped to me from Illinois in five days and that's only a few hundred miles.

Swapping the existing preamp out was easy. There is a plastic ring in the side of the guitar; the old preamp snapped out, the new preamp snapped in after plugging the output and input jacks in. Took about three minutes. The CPT-3 has several extra controls including a notch filter, sweepable midrange and the bass/mid/treble controls have +/- 12 dB instead of the 5 dB of the old preamp. There is also a tube control to dial in or out signal through the 12AU7 tube. The effect is very noticeable at warming up the tone. Between that and the notch filter and sweepable mids, I was able to dial in the most acceptable amplified nylon string tone I have managed with this guitar. Might be able to tweak it to be better still.

My Rick Turner RN-6 is still a bit better, but has no usable acoustic sound.

Great to read about this, as I have been considering the exact same swap for a couple of years... I have a CD132SC, never really that happy with the tone of the stock preamp and found out that the swap was an exact replacement, but never pulled the trigger.... This gives me incentive!

For nylon, I mostly play my Godin Multiac SA, which has such a great sound, with the 3 band eq on board. Also have a Yamaha SLG 200 - the preamp is slightly better than the earlier model (which I also had) but not great, takes a bunch of eq to sound decent, while the Godin sounds good through almost anything.

Thanks for sharing, I was going to pull the trigger on the cool tube a few times, but seemed spendy last I looked (like >$200? - might be wrong about that.)

Edit: Was it this dealer on eBay? NEW TAKAMINE CTP-3 TDP preamplifier | eBay

[Cunamara]

This seller:

TAKAMINE CTP-3 TDP preamplifier | eBay