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RinconMtnErnie - Posted - 01/30/2021: 14:39:38
This post is partly in response to two other posts, but I think it's useful for people to know what the Yamaha Silvent Violins can sound like with a good setup. The SV-120 is no longer made, but the basics of the pickup system are used in newer instruments.
What I really really like about the SV-120 is the fact that it uses a normal violin bridge. Mine has an Aubert with a flatter, fiddle-style curve. By contrast, I do not like the bridge on my YEV-104, which is a heavy thing with a large internal piezoelectric transducer. This makes it difficult to modify the bridge, so I have never changed it (flattened the curve). And I don't think the bulk helps the tone any. So I think the SV-120 actually sounds better than the YEV-104. I'm seriously considering removing the bridge from the YEV-104 and replacing it with a more normal LR Baggs or Fishman bridge with a pickup.
I've attached a recording of myself playing two times through Little Betty Brown in D, which is a tune I'm currently working on. I chose high-bass tuning ADAE. I am using a Fishman Aura preamp. Hopefully you'll agree that this sounds like a pretty normal fiddle and not like some weird electric thing.
This old model has a 1/8" jack, which I connected to a standard 1/4" jack with an adapter. Mechanically the 1/8" jack is not very stable. When I got up from my chair after recording, the adapter popped out. If I felt like spending money now, I would replace the SV-120 with a new SV-200, because it has the same pickup system letting you use a normal bridge and it has a much better 1/4" line-out jack.
RinconMtnErnie - Posted - 01/31/2021: 18:58:30
I plugged some headphones into the SV-120 and played it with the built-in electronics only. It does NOT sound as good without the pre-amp. I thought I might make a recording, but just take my word for it that the pre-amp was critical to getting a natural sound.
So to get a decent sound, I strongly recommend using either the Spectrum Aura (which I own) or the ToneDexter (which I do not own but has on-line recordings).
farmerjones - Posted - 02/01/2021: 05:44:38
This is the preamp I use:
artproaudio.com/product/tube-mp-studio/
From an L.R.Baggs pickup.
I keep the in & out theoretically at unity/passive. I wouldn't bother but it definitely improves the sound. I kinda wish it didn't. I'm a big fan of simplicity.
Your sample sounds pretty good. I wish it was something a bit slower, to hear the instrument, hear the timbre and sustain. Don't think you'd have an issue with sustain, with a solid body instrument.
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