Distorting acoustic

lincolnblue

I was playing my Breedlove acoustic at church today and when strumming it was really distorting. I turned the volume on the preamp right down but it was still the same. Any ideas? The only pedal I used was a Hardwire reverb and I've never had any issues on my other acoustic. 

Whitecat

Problem somewhere else on the gainstage I'd guess? Amp or PA set too high or on the wrong impedance or a pad failed to be engaged that should have been?

AliGorie

just an option LB, and for anyone else with onboard electrics - something to bare in mind.
From a post on another forum.
"bit of a tale with my Solo C350/SRe-12.
It developed a strong dissonance ((distortion) on a couple of notes - F# and A played on the lower (E A D) strings and particularly ‘up the fingerboard’.
Normally I’d fix it myself but the guitar was sold to me as new with full warranty, all be it that it was a 2013 model - so NOS.
I noticed on trying it ‘plugged in’ in the store the jack was hard to pull outa the jack socket, like real tight.
On having it for a few weeks and plugging it in at home and out at my ‘open mic / jam’ night I noticed it getting worse so did some fault finding.
My initial thoughts when hearing these loud distortions were - Oh no - it’s ’structural’ - a loose brace or truss rod ‘rattle’ and the like - not a good feeling.

Turned out to be the jack sock / battery holder at the tail end had come loose - due to the excessive force needed to extract the jack, the 3 little retaining wood screws holding the plastic housing had been loosened (stripped the thread in the end block) allowing it to vibrate. The distortion ceased when I held the jack / battery holder, the screws are to short / small to securely hold the unit in place - with the socket being that tight on the jack.

I took it back to the store which has an in house ’Tech’, now this is where it gets entertaining (for myself) dealing with store assistants / technical staff.
I outlined the issues described above to the Tech and I was told - “oh no - it won’t be that, it’s usually the ‘wires’ touching something inside”, dissing my observations, like - your a customer - (and a senior citizen) what would you know.

Sorry to ramble on but just to warn folks to this issue (on any guitar) with this kinda setup, as it’s something I’ve never come across before.

Got it back ’n the tech said he’d checked the wiring and found a wiring tie stuck to one of the braces - that was the problem !! - somehow I don’t think so. He also said he’d tighten the screws in the jack / battery holder but didn't splay / open the overly tight jack connectors to reduce the ‘grip’ on the jack.
All in all I can see myself replacing the wood screws and opening the connectors."

Bridgehouse

Most times I've had distortion on an acoustic it's been because the battery was on the way out

ICBM

If reducing the volume on the guitar didn't fix it, it almost certainly is in the guitar and not the pedal or the PA.
 
Change the battery first as Bridgehouse said, even if it isn't showing as flat (assuming it has an indicator).

lincolnblue

The battery was brand new and the PA was fine as other acoustics worked fine - I went into the same DI box I usually use with my other acoustic.

Sassafras

Maybe God only likes heavy metal.

bluechargeboy

When this happened to me (on a Takamine) it was an intermittent fault on the preamp circuit board. I have also had issues with cable from pickup to preamp (the RCA plug), and intermittent contact on the EQ sliders. Good times.

You will not find me gigging without a backup soundhole pickup now, which has been deployed twice so far, and bloody grateful I was both times!

ICBM

If the battery was definitely *good* - and not just new, I've come across faulty batteries before now, which really confuses things - then it does sound like a preamp fault of some kind.

This is why I don't like onboard preamps. Although they don't often fail, when they do it's usually a major pain to fix them or replace them… especially for anything that's out of production. (Hopefully this isn't.)

Electro-acoustics - the work of Satan . Put the pickup in the guitar and keep the electronics off-board… much better.

bluechargeboy

ICBM said:

Electro-acoustics - the work of Satan . Put the pickup in the guitar and keep the electronics off-board… much better.

@ICBM I was waiting for that! I may be slowly coming around to your way of thinking...