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I have got a Taylor 312ce 12-fret. Since I could not find any acoustic multi-effect processor which has no pre-amp integrated in it (which is also something I do not get), I now got a Trace Elliot Transit a. The problem however is that it amplifies the quite low noise of the guitar itself such that it results in a constant, quite high, noise level. You can find an amplified sound example here. First part is without pre-amp, second part is with pre-amp. All equalizers are set to flat. You may ignore the hum, this is another issue (tackled in a separate question).

Edit: Setting the external pre-amp's treble control to -15db nearly eliminates the hiss. Turning the treble control on the guitar's preamp to a maximum however does not reintroduce it. Any ideas? Is this normal preamp noise?

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    The Taylor website says the pickup works like a microphone. I did not find any details on its design. The red and white wiring in the picture suggests a balanced output in a shielded cable between the electronics and some sort of socket I cannot see. I wonder if it needs a microphone pre-amp perhaps with balanced input and 1/4" output between the guitar and the Trace Elliot Transit a. It might kill the hum too. May be a trip to a music store where they sell stage equipment is in order. – Emma Dec 19 '18 at 22:29
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Ignoring the hum, the hiss is most likely radio frequency interference. It's all around us, always, so this is probably due to bad shielding somewhere. Possibly in your guitar since there will be signal carrying cables after the guitar preamp. So, assuming you have nothing else in the signal path the bad shielding is either in your guitar, lead or in your pre-amp. First place to check is your lead. Swap this out. If the problem persists there may be a problem with your pre-amp. If it's brand new that's unlikely. Test the guitar by moving it around. Does the sound change? If yes it's poor shielding in the guitar. But... check this article out about gain structure: http://livesoundadvice.com/circuit-theory/sound-advice-pa-performance/

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  • Could be right Emma, thinking about it, the most common place for problems is where you get mechanical contact, such as a jack lead socket in the body of the guitar. Could be the ground is not making good contact. However if it`s a balanced out and a mono jack is being used this could also point to the source. Might be worth trying a stereo jack lead. Even if this then goes down to mono at the pre-amp stage it might cure it. – velvetcave Dec 20 '18 at 14:51

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