BBand A5 Volume Problem

[tomcat5]

Hey guys,

I think I have a problem with the volume of my pickup on my LV-03RE but I'm not sure if it's my imagination or if it's actually alright. The system is a B-Band A5 UST.

I've tried plugging into acoustic amps, electric amps and PA systems via a mixer. The output of the pickup seems pretty low. The volume slider on the A5 is always maxed out for me get any decent volume. I have also recently added an LR Baggs Para DI to act as a booster. Volume is maxed out and gain is set to about 2 o'clock. It does help but the noise is being amplified as well. This suggests that the signal to noise ratio is quite poor on my pickup.

Can I check if anyone has a similar experience on their USTs and that this is normal or there is something wrong with my setup (e.g. problem with the pre-amp, saddle not flat, UST faulty/not installed properly, etc.).

Other than low volume, everything else seems fine (sound reproduction, balance across strings, etc.).

Any help is much appreciated!

[Tycho]

I had this same problem with my D-03RE, and there's a thread about it around here somewhere.  In my case, I had what seemed to be exactly the same pickups in my D-03RE and in my D-03-12, but the output in the 12-string was much higher, which led me to believe there was something wrong with the first one. 

The upshot was that Larrivee said some of those pickups were just made with lower output.  It was intentional, so it wasn't a warranty issue.  End of story.

I thought about replacing it with one of the newer B-bands, so that it wouldn't require any changes to the onboard controls, but haven't done anything about that yet.

[melanie]

try emailing B-Band direct and explain the low output. They have re-designed the UST recently to give a higher oputput. I did this last year and they sent me a replacement free of charge. I have to say i have had more than one dealing with B-Band, and i cant fault their after sales support :)
hth
Mel

[Tycho]

Good tip, thanks!

[tomcat5]

Thanks for the tip melanie! I emailed them and they replied on the same day, offering to send me a replacement UST free of charge. Wow...5 stars for after sales. Very classy. :)

[RoundLakeDT]

Hey - coming late to the thread, but I had the same problem with the BBand UST on my OMV-03 after a saddle-height adjustment from my local guitar tech.  Very low volume.

Turned out the saddle wasn't perfectly flat on the bottom, not making good contact to the UST.  Once I took it out and flattened it (sandpaper on a flat surface), it quadrupled the volume -- really brought the pickup to life.  Might be worth taking a look at the saddle just in case

Dave

[tomcat5]

Thanks for the tip Dave. I have since received the new UST from BBand and installed it. Whoa! Volume quadrupled. So in my case, it was a weak UST.

p.s. I did the test where I tapped on the UST with my finger to see if it was working. The old UST was very loud when I did that. So, this may not be a very reliable test because even though it was picking up my finger taps with no problem, it didn't pick up string vibrations well.

[melanie]

p.s. I did the test where I tapped on the UST with my finger to see if it was working. The old UST was very loud when I did that. So, this may not be a very reliable test because even though it was picking up my finger taps with no problem, it didn't pick up string vibrations well.

Same here, i think the old USTs would compress after a few months and thats why they lost volume.
Mel