LR Baggs equipped Ibanez S2020X help needed

[aw_chris]

Hi,

This is my first post, so a quick introduction!
I have a modest collection of guitars, nothing too fancy but a wide variety that i have been building up along side a few recording projects I've been focusing on this year.

I've always been quite a fan of Ibanez guitars, and about 10 years ago had a cheeky play with one of their then top of the range LR Baggs Piezo equipped models. Being a poor broke student back then, there was no chance i could afford one. I've been looking for years, and a couple of weeks back managed to land myself a bit of a bargain - i am now happy as Larry to have added a 2001 Ibanez S2020X (AV) to my collection complete with those wonderful piezos.

Unfortunately, satisfaction has turned to frustration, and i am hoping that someone, somewhere may be able to help. The one feature i really liked on the guitar i played way back was the fact that i could blend the piezo and magnetic sounds together. It seems the S2020X that i have is not capable of this trick, which I am completely 'fed up' about. Must have been the later model - the S2120X that i played all those years back.

Anyway, having explored the ibanez support route (no comment..) i thought i would turn here as there seems to be a lot of very helpful and intelligent posting going on within these forums!

what im wondering is, maybe i can change the wiring inside the guitar to get the effect i am after? having looked at some wiring diagrams, i have a horrible feeling that the "limitation" on this model of guitar (so far as my desire to mix peizo and magnetic sounds is concerned anyway!) might be the internal L Baggs pre-amp board; in so much as it is only capable of outputting one 'source' at a time. What i really need is more info / any thoughts on what might be possible.. as i really am struggling to get any clear detail about this model from Ibanez.

I'm wondering, can anyone here suggest anything? If only i could get my hands on an equivalent pre-amp board to the updated on in the 2002 S2120X model, i think i could do the necessary re-wiring no problem!

Just to outline the situation in a bit more detail, my S2020X has the following controls, and i have no documentation stating for certain what they do:
1 x push button near bridge
1 x 2 position toggle switch
1 x magnetic / overall volume pot
1 x magnetic tone pot
1 x piezo pot (soldered directly to the preamp PCB)
2 outputs

from what i can tell, using one of the outputs allows me to use the toggle switch to switch between magnetic and piezo sounds, and depending on the state of the button using the other output either sends no sound, or the piezo sound. If only i could blend the two somehow, or at least output one though each output on the guitar - ive had both hooked up to my DAW and only one output is ever active at a time.

I've attached wiring diagrams I've managed to find for this model, and the one that came a year later (and does have the mix / blend feature) incase someone is more capable of following schematics than i am.
Perhaps i can add a 3 way toggle switch and rewire some things slightly - maybe adding in a blend pot too? - to get what I've always wanted? There is next to no chance of me managing to acquire the later model of guitar after buying this one, and they are pretty tough to sell

Sorry for such a long post - especially as it's my first here (i do intend to stick around and hopefully learn some things!) but i am really hoping someone can suggest something or help in some way, but i fear my chances are slim!

thanks all,

Chris

s2120x_2002.jpgs2020x_2001.jpg

[aw_chris]

Quick update - would this work?

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Onboard_electronics_and_preamps/L_R_Baggs_Control-X_Mixer_Preamp.html

A quick update on this, I found the above LR Baggs product last night and am wondering - could i just retro fit it into my guitar? It seems to be more akin to the version that would be in the 2002 S2120X that i dont own and stand no chance of getting hold of...

Essentially, has the size of the ctrl X board or location of the volume pot and button changed since 2001 so it would still fit / line up with the existing holes in the body of my S2020X?

Thoughts welcomed!

[Bryan McManus]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for inquiring about the Ibanez. The guitar in question does use a CTRL-X but I have heard there was one version supplied to Ibanez for a while that did not offer the option to blend both signals to mono. The 2-way mini-toggle is my first hint that yours is one of those. The standard CTRL-X has a 3-way mini-toggle that allows both signals to be on together and blended using the pot attached to the CTRL-X circuit board.

The CTRL-X used in that guitar is only a modified version of what is still available now. I can suggest a wiring for the output jacks that would allow you to have a blended output on one jack. Then, if you switched to STEREO output mode, you would need to access each signal on separate output jacks.

Please call 805-929-3545, ext. 111, to discuss this in some detail.

I just remembered an important factor: Carefully looking under each saddle and without lifting them up too far, can you say whether the wires from each sensor are the same color or do they alternate between black and white?

[aw_chris]

wow, thank you so much for the reply here! I really was not expecting to get very far with this, or at least not so quickly. Great to get some hard and fast information.. I've had quite a few blank looks or unhelpful replies from local guitar tech's and from Ibanez themselves.

I'm actually based in the UK, so it's pretty late here and i was about to call it a night - but saw this reply and just had to respond - i'm pretty excited about turning this guitar into what i've always wanted it to be I can probably give you a call after I get off work and get home tomorrow (6pm GMT or there abouts..) to discuss in more detail - which i would really appreciate.

I like the sound or a potential re-wiring solution (would swapping in a 3 position switch be a good starting point, or easy solution?), but am also swaying towards buying the updated ctrl-x board. If I were to go that route, it feels like a big ask, but would you be able to help in terms of suggesting what wiring would need to be changed still? Ideally i'd like to be able to output both signals simultaneously from each jack (recording purposes) or mix them to one jack for playing live.. which i think the current ctrl-x will all allow me to do, but i'd need some help with wiring up the two outputs on my guitar among other things.

I was hoping a replacement board / parts would be easier to come by over here in the UK, but cant find any stockists, so would have to pay over the odds on postage and wait a while (a week or more!) for it to arrive which is kind of frustrating. Be nice if Ibanez could just swap the board for the one that IMO should be on this model, especially as i can find zero literature on the 2-position switch 'limited' version that i've ended up with.

Anyway, thanks again - you have made my week, if not my month! Hopefully will speak with you tomorrow evening (our time!)

Chris

[Bryan McManus]

A co-worker here at LR Baggs has one of the guitars that you now have. I asked him about it, he brought it in and I just confirmed that the 2-way toggle does not allow a blend of magnetic and piezo signals. MONO mode offers either/or from one jack while STEREO mode gives each signal on its own jack.

There is a bit more of a difference between the CTRL-X in your guitar and the standard model. Not only is there a 2-way mini-toggle instead of the normal 3-way, one of the CTRL-X pot lugs is clipped which defeats the effect of that potentiometer. I noticed that pot did nothing in either mode when turned. If you were to acquire and install the standard CTRL-X, that pot would be a blend in MONO mode and the magnetic volume would be the master. I can advise in wiring the two jacks - one for blend in MONO which would become the magnetic output in STEREO mode. The second jack would be nothing in MONO but would become the piezo output in STEREO mode.