[clue-tech] Sound problems w/ Jack

[Matt Gushee]

Roy J. Tellason wrote:

> You don't mention any sort of a preamp in there,  between the sound card and 
> the preamp input.

Actually, I mentioned that I *don't* have a preamp ... but that I could 
nonetheless obtain a fairly clean (though low-volume) recording using 
arecord, which interfaces directly with the alsa drivers. But that's not 
the main thing I want to do right now.

> What kind of pickup is it?  A magnetic pickup of the sort 
> that's used on the typical electric guitar

As I said, it's an *acoustic guitar* pickup. Specifically, it's a Dean 
Markley Artist Transducer model--a basic piezoelectric pickup that 
sticks (with a putty-like adhesive) to the top of the guitar near the 
bridge.

> impedance of whatever you have it plugged into,  so you want a preamp in 
> there with a fairly high input impedance.  You also want to be able to match 
> up "normal" levels,  the output of a pickup being significantly lower than 
> the "line level" that the sound card input is optimized for.

Yes, I realize that ... and if and when I get to the point of trying to 
produce something even semi-professional, I'll need a bunch of new 
stuff--new computer, new sound card, maybe a new guitar too--and I need 
to get my musical skills back at least to where they were 20 years ago. 
But for now, I'm just experimenting on a very limited budget. And based 
on various observations I strongly suspect that there's a problem with 
my current installation of Jack (or perhaps the way I'm trying to use it).

> It wouldn't take much of a preamp,  a transistor or two and a 9V battery 
> should take care of it.

Hmm, okay ... can you describe more specifically what you mean? If it 
can be bought or assembled for 20-30 bucks I'll do it. Anything more 
pricey than that will have to wait a while.

-- 
Matt Gushee
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