Ibeam issue

[tonykor]

Hello all. New to the forum. My name is Tony. I was looking for some info and found this forum.
I am hoping I can get some help.
I use a Charis acoustic. It is a beautiful sounding, fine instrument. It is a cedar top and rosewood sides & back. I also use an AER Alpha amp.
When it was built Bill installed an IBeam active ( he only uses Baggs)
The pickup sounds great but I have such a feedback problem I am forced to use a sound hole cover when playing live, which of course covers the volume wheel. Of course it happens through my amp or monitors. The mains never bounce back.
I've done a lot of testing and found I can talk into the sound hole and it picks it up.
Is this a common problem and is there a solution as I'd hate to go with a different pickup. Is this a common problem? Would eliminating the preamp help?

Here is my guitar recorded direct into my recording setup.

http://www1.indiemusicworks.com/KOR/?song=800

You can hear how good it sounds with this pickup.

Thanks for any help I get.
Tony

[Bryan McManus]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for your inquiry. Charis are fine acoustic guitars.

The iBeam, because it is a resonance-sensitive pickup, will be prone to boominess and feedback at a certain volume or higher. Much finer acoustic guitars with thinner, more responsive tops and/or lighter bracing will be more prone to this than overbuilt guitars.

Last Summer we introduced the newest and best-sounding system we've every developed. It pairs our Element undersaddle pickup with a new application of mini-mic, preamped and mixed using a custom-tuned crossover circuit. We feel the Anthem system is more natural-sounding than the iBeam and more accurate in its response to percussive contact with the body. The Anthem is also much more feedback resistant than the iBeam.

[tonykor]

Thanks so much. I will look into this because I have to do something. Although I have done my own guitar work for years I would have this one done by Bill, who built the guitar. I'm not willing to take any chances.

[smalls]

Ok, I get that you guys want to push the Anthem (and I'm seriously considering it for my next guitar) but what are some work arounds for those of us with the iBeam? I have a very similar setup (AER Alpha, Ibeam active) and had crazy low frequency feedback at very low volume levels today.

[Bryan McManus]

Getting back to how to achieve greater stability with the iBeam, a good notch filter is one great way to limit the potential for feedback. A good notch filter, such as the Garrett Null filter we put into our Feedback Master and Venue DI products, is highly effective at cutting the resonant frequency of the guitar's soundboard. Properly set, a good notch filter can help you achieve significantly higher volumes without feedback.

The fact that you can hear your voice in the iBeam signal is a testament to how responsive the guitar's soundboard is.

[MikeW]

I have a Martin OM-18V and I am using the I-Beam passive and a Para DI with good results. The only feedback issues are I leave the guitar on the stand and the sound person forgets to mute it.