1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 RADIAL TONEBONE PZ-PRE

Part Number: 000165

RADIAL TONEBONE PZ-PRE - Part Number 000165
Tonebone PZ-Pre Combination PZ booster and preamp Two inputs: two instruments or blend/mix Parametric EQ and notch filter Four outputs: amp, tuner and two DI outs Works with any instrument! The Radial Tonebone PZ-Pre™ is the most powerful acoustic preamplifier ever to be put inside a pedal. And when we say acoustic, we do not just mean acoustic guitar; we mean ANY acoustic instrument including banjo, violin, cello, mandolin, contrabass, bouzouki or lute. The magic of the PZ-Pre lies in the combination of high performance 100% discrete class-A piezo boosters, an ultra-quiet preamp circuitry that will adapt to any pickup system and a host of connectivity options that put you in control of any situation. The PZ-Pre features two inputs for quick instrument changes on stage, a powerful yet warm sounding semi-parametric EQ to tailor your sound, plus a host of feedback eliminating controls including: a dual-Q notch filter to surgically remove feedback points, a high-pass filter to cut low frequency resonance and a phase reverse switch to optimize the acoustic environment on stage. The PZ-Pre is equipped with three separate outputs: a ¼" on-stage instrument amp out, a balanced XLR pre-EQ direct out for the house mix and a balanced XLR post EQ out for stage monitors or in-ears. A dedicated tuner out with mute switch is provided for quiet on-stage tuning as well as an effects loop and power booster to add sizzle and dynamics to the performance! Compact and easy to use, the Radial PZ-Pre packs in all of the features you need to take your acoustic instrument from home to studio and club to concert. It all starts with great tone! As with all Radial products, all efforts have been made to ensure the very best and natural transfer of the instrument’s tone is maintained. The PZ-Pre features 100% discreet class-A piezo boost circuitry (PZB) to provide the most musical transfer plus a high efficiency preamp designed reduce distortion and noise while maximizing headroom. Inputs: There are two inputs on the PZ-Pre. Each of these may be used independently for two instruments or combined using the blend (mix) function. These can be used with instruments equipped with a built-in preamp such as an acoustic-electric guitar or using an external buffer from a piezo type source. Input select: The instrument select footswitch lets you chose which instrument is active by selecting the input channel. Adjusting the level controls lets you control the level for each instrument or pickup and balance the tone as needed. PZB boosters: Each input is also equipped with a piezo booster (PZB) that allows a low output pickup such as a piezo electric element to be connected without the use of an external preamp. The ultra-high fidelity of the class-A piezo booster coupled with the high 10 meg ohm input impedance assures you get the best signal transfer without distortion or degradation. Blend: The blend allows you to accept two sources and mix the two channels together. This is a welcome addition for instruments that may have two pickups built-in or when combining two sound sources. You can even have two guitarists connected at the same time for a jam! High-pass filter: Acoustic instruments are notorious for on-stage feedback and runaway resonance. A three position high-pass filter (which means that it reduces the low frequencies) is extremely effective at getting rid of runaway resonance which often causes harmonics to feedback. This also serves to get rid of low end rumble that can cause a mix to sound muddy. Notch filter: The size of the instrument determines its tone and resonance, which in turn can cause feedback. This is addressed by providing a variable notch filter with two different Q's or notch depths that lets you dial in the offending frequency and eliminate run-away feedback. Semi-parametric EQ: Once again, since all instruments are different, the PZ-Pre’s tone shaping has been designed to address the various characters with a 3-nand EQ and semi-parametric mid range control. This simple yet highly effective EQ is lets you dial in the sweet-spot for the most natural and dynamic tone. 180º Phase reverse: Technically speaking, this is actually a polarity reverse switch that lets you control the internal polarity of the signal path before it reaches your on-stage amp. It is used to help reduce feedback on stage when the physical location of the performer, the monitors and the stage amp coincide to cause a feedback hot-spot. Power Booster: This foot switch lets you activate the power booster for soloing or add-in effects using the inserts send & receive jacks. For instance, you could add a chorus and slight boost for a passage. The power booster assign switch lets you assign the boost footswitch to activate the power booster, the effects loop or both. Adjust the power boost level to suit! Mute and tuner out: A mute switch lets you easily silence all of the outputs except the tuner out for quiet tuning on stage. The tuner output is separately buffered so that it does not load the pickup or allow tuner clocking circuit to cause noise. Instrument out: This is a buffered output that is designed to drive an on-stage amplifier. Balanced DI outputs: The PZ-Pre is equipped with two direct boxes: one is pre-effect, pre-EQ that sends the unprocessed instrument signal to the PA system to allow the house engineer to set the tone for the room. The second is post-effect, post-EQ for on-stage wedge monitors or in-ears. This is used when you want to send ‘your’ sound to the PA system. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specifications Circuit type: Proprietary active circuit Standard input impedance: 16.8k Ohm at input jack ('PZB' switch out) Piezo input impedance: 10meg Ohm at input jack ('PZB' switch in) Output impendence: 1k Ohm PZB Booster level: 10dB Low cut roll-off: Position 1: 75Hz Position 2:220Hz Notch Freq. range: 56Hz to 330Hz Notch Q: Setting 1: -8dB Setting 2: -15dB EQ: LOW MID HIGH Shelving +/- 12dB @ 75Hz Parametric +/- 12dB @ 82Hz to 5.6kHz Shelving +/- 12dB @ 7.5kHz Boost level: 12dB Effects send & receive: -10dB FX loop impedance: Send: 1k Ohm Receive: 15k Ohm Polarity: 180° switch (absolute phase reversal) Connections: Input-1: ¼" unbalanced Input-2: ¼" unbalanced Insert Send/Receive: ¼" unbalanced Amp output: ¼"unbalanced, Hi-Z, 1k Ohm Tuner output: ¼"unbalanced, Hi-Z, 6.8k Ohm Pre-EQ output: XLR balanced mic level 600 Ohms Post-EQ output: XLR balanced mic level 600 Ohms Footswitches: Three: Mute, Boost, Toggle 1-2 Heavy-duty high-cycle switches LED indicators: Large 3mm OD ultra-bright LED indicators for: mute, boost, Ch-1 & Ch-2 toggle status Construction: 14 gauge steel, baked enamel finish Size: 8"w x 4 ¼"d x 2"h (205 x 110 x 51mm) Weight: 2.7lbs (1.2kg) Warranty Radial 3-year limited warranty PZ-Pre Development When we set out to build the world’s best acoustic instrument preamp pedal, we knew that we would be faced with many challenges. If it were easy, there already would be one available. But as you will see, the road to building the PZ-Pre was filled with challenges… Capturing the most natural tone Since the first PA systems began to amplify acoustic instruments, audio engineers have tried to find options that would enable them to increase audio levels to the point where the crowd could hear the instrument without constantly having to battle feedback. Early innovators such as Barcus-Berry set the path with contact pickups (also known as piezo electric elements) that would transmit the vibration from the instrument to the PA as sound. Oddly enough, it is the very vibration that the contact pickup is trying to capture that is in fact causing the feedback we are so desperately trying to eliminate. So we had to build a device that could at once capture and amplify the good vibrations while allowing us to remove the bad vibrations. Easier sung than done! Piezo pickups inherently produce a very low output and require a very high input impedance to produce a well balanced tone. Over the past 30 years, these have evolved whereby most acoustic guitars have built-in active electronics to buffer the signal while providing the player with control over tone, level and sometimes feedback. But even these wonderful devices are limited by compromise. For instance, batteries work fine, but when subjected to a serious, non-stop task, they quickly run low and discharge. Ask any audiophile and they will tell you: ‘class-A circuitry sound best’. Unfortunately, class-A circuits are inefficient which means that they cannot functionally be used with batteries. So guitar pickup manufacturers are left with little choice but to build their piezo preamps using more efficient class-AB circuit topologies and the tone purest suffers the result. The up-side to class-AB designs is that they can provide greater headroom with less current. It seemed clear: the only way to achieve great sound would be to develop a proprietary class-A circuit for the PZ-Pre front end and then employ class-AB for the preamp stage. This way, the PZ-Pre could at once handle off-the shelf instruments and be able to provide the needed boost for the piezo systems to run properly. Another interesting phenomenon is the advent of the collector guitar: 25 years ago, professional musicians thought nothing about cutting a whole in their guitar to fit a pickup or internal preamp as this was the only way to get the job done. Today, this is paramount to sacrilege! No one would dare cut a hole in a 1968 Martin for fear of eroding the instrument’s value. This same applies to vintage violins, hand crafted cellos or on old Kentucky mandolin. The good news is the wealth of low-cost yet good sounding ‘affordable’ instruments means that musicians can now put their favourite instruments away behind glass cases, and never, ever use them for fear of… wait a minute! Isn’t playing your great instrument the whole point of owning one? This seemed to point to a new reality: great players want to use their favourite instruments on stage. This meant that the PZ-Pre had to be able to both handle typical active acoustic guitars and be equipped replace the internal instrument preamp if need be. The instrument channels Most performers, whether they play acoustic guitar or mandolin, tend to have two instruments on stage. The second instrument is often for backup should a string break; in some cases it may be tuned differently; maybe it is has a completely different output level; or it may even be a completely different instrument! The PZ-Pre is equipped with two inputs to address these needs and each input features a separate volume control to match the levels. Today, most acoustic guitars used on stage have preamps (buffers) built in that can send a strong signal to a guitar amp or direct box. For instruments that do not have a built in buffer, a separate piezo booster may be engaged on each channel that both alters the impedance and increases the level to properly interface with these types of pickups. The flexible design means that a bluegrass player can switch between a guitar and mandolin by simply stomping on a footswitch. More importantly, for those that like to perform using their favourite vintage instrument, they do not have to cut a hole into the body to fit the preamp as they can use a contact pickup and PZ-Pre to achieve the same effect. In fact, during listening tests we found that a great contact pickup used in tandem with the high performance preamps stages in the PZ-Pre completely outperformed the preamps in most acoustic guitars. Feedback Control Acoustic instruments, whether a guitar, mandolin or contrabass, all resonate at different frequencies that can cause feedback. Anyone who has played live knows that when you turn the volume up, acoustic instruments are prone to howling, whistling and runaway low frequency resonance. This is generally caused by the on-stage monitors or personal guitar amp causing the body or top of the instrument to start vibrating, creating a resonant feedback loop. To address the problem, we introduced several tone shaping and resonance eliminating controls that work in tandem to help tame the feedback beast. The first is a low cut control – technically called a high-pass filter (lets the highs pass while cutting the lows). Odd as it may sound, the high-pass filter is in fact one of the most powerful and functional controls on the PZ-Pre to eliminate feedback. It is well known that if you can control the fundamental frequency, the upper cascade of harmonics will often follow suit. Next is the notch filter. This is an ultra narrow-band ‘cut only’ EQ that is used to find an offending feedback or resonance and surgically remove it without affecting the instrument’s natural tone. This is accomplished with a choice of two narrow V notch filters and variable center frequency control. These narrow band filters enable the user to dial in the precise resonating feedback point and apply minor or major ‘feedback eliminating’ surgery! Finally, as you move around on stage, you can often find a position where all of a sudden everything sounds amazing! Then, you move a few feet over and it seems like you are overwhelmed with feedback! This ‘positional’ effect is caused by the various speakers such as the PA, monitors and instrument amp and the room acoustics working together or at odds creating reinforcing nodes. To help control this effect, a 180º polarity reverse switch has been included. Adjusting the instrument’s tone Every instrument has its own distinct tone. This meant that the PZ-Pre had to have an EQ on board that would allow enough control to adapt to various instruments while remaining very musical. Full parametric EQ's are very powerful but are both difficult to use and more often than not, end up sounding bad. The best sounding and easiest EQ's to use are standard shelving type used on most high-end professional mixing consoles. These are quick to set up and highly effective. Add a semi-parametric midrange control and you can easily dial-in the sweet spot to make any instrument sound warm and natural. But don’t be fooled by the simple 3 band design; the PZ-Pre’s on-board EQ is extremely powerful! Small changes produce dramatic effects. We follow the ‘least us best’ rule whereby minimal EQ settings will generally produce the best results. The mid-range is particularly important as more often than not, the tonal character of the instrument is most defined in the mid range or the ‘body’ of the instrument, so restraint is definitely the imperative here. Adding flavour to the mix! Once the tone and levels have been dialed-in, you can bet that every self-respecting bouzouki player will want to add effects and boost his signal for a solo. A power booster was a definite must. Then of course an effects loop that could be engaged using a footswitch. To conserve space, we combined these. The boost footswitch is equipped with a 3 position switch that can be assigned to turn on the effects loop, the power booster or both. The effects loop send and return jacks are designed to be used with standard guitar effects pedals such as reverb, chorus or delay. This can be combined with the power booster to create dynamic passages or avant-garde effects. How many outputs are needed? Good question… let’s see: the musician often uses an amp on stage so a regular guitar level output would be needed. Then there is the on-stage monitoring system. Today, this can be anything from a wedge monitor to a personal in-ear system. Then of course there is the PA System. And don’t forget the tuner out… This is just about the precise moment that the engineering department tosses up the drawings in the air and exclaims: ‘There is no room!” But why so many different outputs? Well, each output actually addresses a different requirement. In fact, you really have to think of the outputs in terms of 3 zones. There is the musician’s personal sound where one would create a comfort zone on stage. Then the stage monitors: this is the sound that all of the musicians on stage will share and finally, the house sound or the sound in the venue being produced by the PA system. Most folks do not realize that these are all very different. For example, you may want reverb on stage but if you are playing in a hockey arena, the last thing you need is more reverb in the house mix! This led us to incorporate two balanced DI outputs: one for the stage that would be wet or contain the tone changes, effects and so on while the other would be dry or be pre-EQ and pre effects. This would allow the front of house engineer to adjust the tone as needed and introduce the effects where and when required. We then thought about tuning and this meant we had to provide some form of mute switch plus a tuner out that when engaged would shut off all of the outputs and allow the musician to quietly tune on stage. Physical construction Finally, we hade to decide how big the PZ-Pre should be: During its development, we consulted with a wide variety of musicians and time and time again, folks ask us to make it small! This refrain was echoed loudest by contrabass players that carry 6 foot tall instruments… go figure. What they were saying is that today, corporate gigs can be across town on across the continent. They want solutions that can fly in a gig bag. The PZ-Pre had to be compact. And trying to get all of the features that we wanted into the PZ-Pre ended up being a real challenge. But after months of trial, tests, errors and revisions, we finally got it right. The PZ-Pre, a powerful tool designed to make music easy and fun! NOTE: THIS UNIT SHIPS WITH A 115 VAC 60HZ POWER SUPPLY FOR USE IN NORTH AMERICA AS WELL AS ANY OTHER COUNTRY WITH 115-120 VOLT SERVICE.
Combination PZ booster and preamp 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985

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