Re: Rép : EBow - active/passive humbuckers

[Charles Zwicky <cazwicky@earthlink.net>]

Title: Re: Rép : EBow - active/passive humbuckers

At 11:03 AM +0100 11/6/13, In Mobile wrote:

> Hi Charles
>
> I beg to differ.
>
> Pick up have a wild effect on E-bow
> operation, and I do use this effect.
> The closer you get to the magnetic field
> of the pick the higher the clipping gets, and you can bring in a kind
> of white noise.

Not true.  Correlation does not imply causation.  The ebow isn't changing it's response,  frequency response of the pickup changes as you go from off axis to on axis. The sound is much "brighter" when you're over the poles. You can prove this by rotating a pickup away from the string, the tone gets duller.  The ebow generates a lot of harmonics due to the clipping of the internal amplifier and the low inductance of the drive coil.

>
> This is besides the condition sine qua
> non for speed sweeping arpegios (Frank Gambale without the right hand)
> on all strings with the E-bow.
> You can't do arpeggios anywhere else than
> just more or less on the pole pieces (anyway I can't really, I doesn't
> really catch) , if you don't have prior distortion on the guitar (i.e.
> using a clean sound).

Also false.  The "sweep arpeggio bowing" effect simply relies on the internal distortion of the ebow amplifying the slight vibration of the string and the motion of the ebow over the poles (causing the same brightening effect mentioned above), the strings are not excited by the ebow in this case, but by tapping with the left hand.

>
> Bringing noise content by passing on the
> pole pieces of the pick up I use also to make kind of small percussive
> ryhthm to loop (well percussive is probably to much for describing it
> but you get the point).
>
> So the conclusion is, no matter the pup,
> the E-bow will indeed operate provided the strings have paramagnetic
> content.
> BUT the proper pup will open more
> possibilities.
>
> Now for the active pup.
> I got rid of all mine to be back to
> passive so I can offer nothing but mere thinking.
> I don't know for sure for magnets (weaker
> or not) but there is less inductance on active pup (i.e. weaker output
> sound) which requires onboard ('on pup') pre amp.
>
> My take is that it reduces the
> interactions with  the puck up. It will work perfectly with Ebow
> (or sustainers) BUT probably won't be able to make all the wild stuff
> I discussed above.
>
> My 2 cents though.
>
> Olivier
>
>
>
>
> De : Charles Zwicky <cazwicky@earthlink.net>
> Objet : Rép : EBow -
> active/passive humbuckers
> Date : 6 novembre 2013
> 00:07:05 HNEC
> À : Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> The pickups on the guitar have no effect on an ebow's
> operation, 
> once you understand how an ebow works you'll see why that
> is. 
> Inside an ebow there is a small coil of wire with a magnetic core
> and 
> a permanent magnet, in other words a single string pickup, which
> is 
> connected to a small amplifier which drives a second coil.
> The 
> principal is electromagnetic feedback.  This first coil picks up
> the 
> vibration of the string, amplifies it and the second coil creates
> and 
> electromagnetic field that excites the string.    The
> amplifier is 
> driven into clipping, and this clipping is clearly audible if
> you 
> position the driver coil over your guitar's pickup.   The
> pickup on 
> the guitar has no influence on the efficiency of the ebow
> circuit, 
> and  in fact it will even work on acoustic instruments, provided
> that 
> the strings are steel or nickel or any other magnetic material.
>
> -Chuck Zwicky

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