The Steel Guitar Forum

Well, I got my rack setup up and working with the Korg DTR-1 the other day and it works alright. But I was wondering;
Couild'nt I just split the signal coming straight from the steel ( or after my Matchbro ) and run a signal straight into the tuner? I thought by not running my steel thru the tuner, I might have a little more of the steel, a little less processor. I know with reg. guitar, the more you add, the more you alter the tone. Radio shack splitter, or something else? I also like the fact that the tuner is getting a full signal without having to use a volume pedal.
Or does using a device like a Goodrich or Hilton pretty much eliminate signal loss? Notice I said "pretty" much, not all. Thanks guys, and thanks Jack for taking the time to moderate all of our electronic madness. I know I appreciate (and need ) the help!....Brian

Brian:

I use a RadioShack splitter from the left side "out" of my ProfexII for my DTR-1, with no problems or loss of signal to the Power Amps.

For tunning on a live show or in the middle of a number where you don't do much playing, you need to plug directly into the DTR-1, to keep the odd soung from ringing out and sounding like a bad note. (been there,done that)

Hi Brian....found a band yet in the area....??? People need to hear the result of all of your "woodshedding"


Regards,

Tim

I bought a cheap splitter from Radio Shack. It is a little black thingy (technical term) with a male plug on one end and two female jacks on the other end. I plug this splitter into the output of my Keith Hilton Digital Sustain Unit. One out goes down to the volume pedal and out to the rack-o-equipment. The other out goes to the tuner. There is absolutely no audible difference in my tone when I do this; HOWEVER, there is a big difference when the splitter is used without the Keith Hilton Digital Sustain Unit. In that case, once the tuner is plugged into the splitter, good tone goes away. The technical guys tell me it's an impedance problem. All I know is, you have to have a buffer amp of some sort to keep the tone good.

(Now would be a good time for a technical person to step in and 'splain all this, again.)

Lee, from South Texas

I don't know if this will help but my rig was Steel-Processor-volume pedal- amp. When I used a rack mounted tuner I took a line out from the back of the processor to the input of the tuner. Tuner was on line all the time and no one heard me tuning with the volume pedal backed off. Since I wasn't running stereo I wasn't giving up anything and my sound was not effected. Just make sure you are sending signal (and no effects) to the output you choose to use. I never had to use a spliter since I wasn't running stereo.
Bob

I have two comments. The voulume pedal that I use has a extra jack to go directly to the tuner. The pedal is a more universal pedal than just for steel, but maybe the mfg. could add these. The Pedal is a Roland/Boss something or another. If anyone is interested I could get the model number.

Second comment: IN the studio we have several jacks Mult-ed together. They are wired as such. Tip to tip to tip each with a 600 ohm resister between them and then Ring to ring to ring also with a 600 ohm resister. And in the case of the studio, the sleeves are just wired directly to each other. This a comon practice with low imp. stuff. Maybe some one knows witch resister to use for standed hi imp gear.

Hello,

I am at the way low end of this discussion but, I use an Ernie Ball vol Pedal that has a tuner output on it. It passes a good signal to that port even with the volume pedal all the way off. I use a Korg CA-20 chromatic tuner, a small, battery operated device.

The only gotcha is that when the tuner is on - I get some serious distortion and not the good stuff. But turn off the tuner while playing and all is well.

Dayton

Another possibility could be to use an A/B box -- DOD makes a small one, Whirlwind and Morley make boxes that are slightly bigger but have an LED so you can see which cicuit is live. I use a Carvin, which is relatively inexpensive, and I haven't heard any ill effects on tone.

I have a nice setup I use for tuning. I'm not sure they make them anymore, but I have a Boss TU12P tuner that is 1/2 high, 1 inch wide and 5 1/2 in long. I have it stuck on my guitar on the back edge of the C neck in the middle of the guitar, with velcro. It has never come off or give me any problems whatever. It is easy on the battery and the only problem is my eyesight is not as good as it once was and it is not lit. If you have to tune during playing time, you just reach over and unplug from your effect if you have one, I use a matchbro, and plug it straight into the end of the tuner, with the volume off and no one even knows you are tuning, the sound goes straight from the pickups. I also have a korg tuner in my rack which I use at the beginning of the night because it is easy to see and the whole band can use it also.