The Chetboard

I played my John Buscarino Cabaret guitar with the new Barbera pickup at Waterfall Country Club at Easter. The amp in the background is a 200 watt Acoustic Image Coda R made here in North Carolina. It has three speakers: a down-firing 10" woofer, a forward-firing 5" mid and small piezo tweeter. The height of the semi-round AI cabinet above a solid surface determines the amount of bass that is heard. I made a 24" stand from a fold-up stool by removing the wooden seat and replacing it with a small open grill from Lowes. At that height the sound is well balanced. The amp has a mic/instrument channel, and another dedicated channel for instrument. Both have a 4 band eq, individual Alesis reverb switch, a tweeter switch, send & return effects for both channels, feedback filter, and the mic channel has a 48 volt phantom power supply. It weighs 27 lbs. and replaced the 50 lb. SWR California Blonde I had been using. The sound is even better and the amp is easier to transport in a special design soft case with strap for over the shoulder.

For extra coverage and volume John Buscarino has designed a special Chameleon extension speaker that mounts on a speaker stand or can sit on a table that mates very good to this type amp, but so far I have not needed an extension cabinet. I tried out the speaker at his shop and it sounds great!

Ronnie, your setup is pretty close to mine. I've got the Barbera pickup in my KIrk Sand. I'm using the Acoustic Image Clarus head with John Buscarino's Chameleon speakers. I started with one speaker and added a second a few months back. The second speaker and the stands really make a difference. I like the EQ controls on the Acoustic Image. John

John,
I am pleased that we are on the same track with our guitar setups. I use a Pendulum plug-in preamp with John's Implant pickup, but the Barbera doesn't require it so I plug in direct. I still have the Implant wired to the stereo endpin jack; however, the two signals cannot be mixed together due to the phasing of every other individual pickup of the Barbera. Apparently the phasing is some of the Barber pickup's success.

I also recently got a thin model mahogany Sand guitar with an LR Baggs pickup and Doyle Dykes design preamp. I am considering having either Kirk or John installing a Barbera. I don't how well it will work with the current preamp. Do you have any update on the preamp you and your son were working on a few months ago?
Thanks -Ronnie