MiSi pick-up question

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RafterGirl

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I have owned 4 ukuleles with MiSi pick-ups. I played a Loprinzi concert weekly at church, plugged into the PA system. No problem. I currently play my aNueNue Moon Bird plugged in. No problem. I recently had a MiSi pick-up installed in my KoAloha concert. I plugged it into my Blackstar Fly amp at home with no problem. I took it to church today to see how it sounds, and it's as if it's not amplified. I can't hear any amplified sound coming from the monitor. I switch back to my Moon Bird and no problem. Back to the KoAloha ......same problem. Back home, I plug into my amp and it's fine. Hmmmm. Whats up? I only plugged in the KoAloha for a few minutes & the sound guy wasn't there yet. But I wouldn't think it would go from zero amplified sound from one ukulele to just fine with the other. MiSi is an active pick-up, and it is properly charged. I've never used a DI or pre-amp with either the Loprinzi or Moon Bird for the past year of playing at church.

Am I missing something simple? I didn't get a chance to ask the sound guy about it after church.
 
Hmm, same cable? If so, I got nothin
 
Same cable. Just switching back & forth between the two ukes. Same cable I use at home with the Blackstar Fly amp which is a 6w practice amp. When I picked up the uke from the acoustic guitar/ukulele shop on Tuesday, I plugged into their Fishman amp & it sounded great.

We arrive a hour before the church service & run through our songs. I plugged in the KoAloha first and couldn't hear it. I made sure I had my tuner pedal in the on position. Nothing. Switched back to the Moon Bird .....great sound. Set the KoAloha aside while we ran through our songs. After we were done, I tried the KoAloha again. It was relatively quiet in the sanctuary and I stuck my ear up to the monitor to listen. Zip. Just the unplugged sound. I always bring my MiSi charger with me just in case. Gave it a 60 second charge and tried again. Zip. Back at home I got out the practice amp and plugged in (same cable as church), and it sounded great. The KoAloha is definitely brighter & louder than the Moon Bird, and way louder than my Loprinzi that I used plugged in with the same set-up at church for the last year. Weird.
 
Last edited:
Kimosabe said:
You’ve charged your pickup?
Click to expand...
Yes. It’s a MiSi pick-up. Active pick-up/pre-amp with rechargable capacitor. A 60 second charge gives you up to 16 hours of power. I recharge every other month for weekly plugged in play.
 
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Wait, you said it just got installed. Something has to have gone wrong with the install. A missing ground, a loose connection, something. You've ruled out pretty much everything else.
 
The Fish Amp @ the shop and the Blackstar Amp @ ur house produce sound for your Koaloha when using your cable. The Church's sound system does not. Try plug the cable into the input socket of the church's sound system, and put your thumb on the jack tip end that goes into your Koaloha. You should hear a buzzing sound. If not, bring it to the attention of the Church's sound man, or try another cable?
 
Jim Hanks said:
Wait, you said it just got installed. Something has to have gone wrong with the install. A missing ground, a loose connection, something. You've ruled out pretty much everything else.
Click to expand...
I thought about an installation problem, but why would it work fine when plugged into two different amps? I will take it back to the shop & talk to the technician about it.
 
When you were switching between the Moon Bird and the KoAloha (running them into the Church P.A.), were you using the same channel?

Just wondering if maybe there's a "bad channel", or maybe a "mute" button was inadvertently pushed?
 
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You might try it for another week at home, first, then if okay always, at church. It may be so simple as running the battery down at home and not having enough to power it at church. If it misbehaves at home, then you will have more info for the shop to figure it out.
 
Bill Sheehan said:
When you were switching between the Moon Bird and the KoAloha (running them into the Church P.A.), were you using the same channel?

Just wondering if maybe there's a "bad channel", or maybe a "mute" button was inadvertently pushed?
Click to expand...

Same cable, same channel, same tuner pedal (not muted).

I did have another uke with a MiSi pick-up that needed the volume or gain (or both, I can't remember) turned up to produce the same level of sound from my amp that my other ukes had. Maybe it just needs more volume than my Moon Bird. If that's the case, I don't want to drive the sound guy at church crazy by switching ukes from week to week. Or I could add a DI box to adjust my own sound and volume? I also thought about the Boss TU-3 tuner pedal that I use. Maybe I need to change the battery? You would think that would affect the sound of the Moon Bird as well.
 
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Sorry if this has already been covered, but could you consider running the KoAloha straight into the PA channel, leaving the tuner pedal out of the chain, and see if that makes a difference?
 
RafterGirl said:
I thought about an installation problem, but why would it work fine when plugged into two different amps? I will take it back to the shop & talk to the technician about it.
Click to expand...

I think you have to bring church amp as well as Koaloha to the technician.
 
RafterGirl said:
Yes. It’s a MiSi pick-up. Active pick-up/pre-amp with rechargable capacitor. A 60 second charge gives you up to 16 hours of power. I recharge every other month for weekly plugged in play.
Click to expand...

According to Japanese site, super capacitor has natural discharge, we need to recharge if you play next day.
 
I think it is a problem with the ground, if the ground connection is poor, or it isn't connected at all, the amp may fail to turn on or not work very well.
 
I really want to hear what the problem is in this matter. It’s quite intriguing. Considering that you have A/B tested the new install successfully on two separate amps, this mystery seems to disprove the Euclidean proposition that if A=B and B=C then A=C. I think we have entered the Twilight Zone.
 
Kekani said:
Can you show a pic of the cable in the Jack? Sometimes the cable connector doesn't ground well, which may cause a temporary open circuit. It's an easy adjustment if this is it. And I've seen this a few times. As Hollis stated, interesting.
Click to expand...

Kekani, I'll preface this by admitting that I know very little about these things, but if that were the problem, wouldn't it also manifest itself when she plugs into the small amp at home?
 
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