PK-0240-00 Ghost Acousti-Phonic Preamp Kit for Guitar - Advanced Review

Great system but noise floor introduced by onboard amplification

I have purchased and installed 2 of these systems. First on an epiphone les paul that I modified similar to another review (CTS DPDT pots, SD 59' and JB pickups, split coils, routed to a master vol, master tone to allow the 2 additional holes to be used for the switch and the graphtech acoustic vol pot). I also found all the wires and battery and control board to be more than… read more the control cavity so I routed a hole for a separate battery box. System worked flawless until I went into split coil mode and then added a distortion pedal. Unfortunately the amp onboard to amplify the piezo is not 100% independent of magnetic so you get a base noise that is boosted by the pedal. I used the graphtech dual output jack modification (requiring more drilling and making a custom jack plate) and issue solved. You have a dedicated jack that is not routed through the board so even without a battery, you have clean magnetic sound on one jack. Plugged into this, no noise to be amplified by distortion pedals. Plug into the other for acoustic or mixed when you aren't distorting. Second guitar was my Fender Strat. Even with moving the battery outside to a battery box, since I used CTS DPDT pots with the "Everything Axe" set of SD pickups (DPDT switches allowed splitting coils), I once again ran into issues with tight fit. I made it work with control board under the switches in the control cavity but super tight. I think if I were to open up my pickup area to a "bathtub" and then routed deeper to allow for the board to sit lower, this would have alleviated the fit. Same dual jack mod which required a custom plate to allow dual jacks but once done, silent and awesome. I did try the modification to have a single jack and use another switch to essentially use a cap and resistor to isolate the circuit. It worked as well but I hated having multiple toggles to deal with so I went the route of dual output jacks. Overall, great system. Just be willing to modify your guitar. If you can't imagine drilling and routing pockets into your precious baby, this may not be the system for you. If you don't mind being creative, you will end up with some ultimate "all in one" guitar solutions. I also use Graphtech nuts and other components. Great products. Have fun!

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Just WOW!

Installed this, and the Ghost saddles, on a Telecaster in an effort to make my version of THE most versital guitar...for me at least...so I now only need to lug around a single guitar! Anyway, the install was pretty straight forward with very little soldering involved. The sound is amazingly on point! Not 100% acoustic because to me the fullness is a bit lacking, but 99% accurate… read more acoustic simulation! (Actually, I think the tone is better than my Ibanez a/e) the ease of going between ghost, electric, or blending both is simple, just flip the toggle to the desired position and Bam! different guitar! NOW, with all that being said, I'll get to the bad part,,,,if this is going on a Tele-style guitar, be prepared to do some carving on the body! While the board is very small, there's simply not enough room to put it, the battery, and all the wires. I routed out under the pickguard, so no visual change in appearance there, also routed a hole on the back for battery access & I also drilled 2 holes in the control panel. 1 for the Quick Switch & 1 for the piezo volume. That is the ONLY downside to this system that I have found. Overall, this is a great alternative to having to have 2 guitars.

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Excellent product

Better plugged in acoustic sound then most acoustic electrics, especially with the EQ set to "dark". Installation was very straight forward, with minimal soldering needed (jack connections and ground). The manual is very detailed, and if you get overwhelmed there"s a wiring diagram at the end that sorts it all out

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Love my Ghost

I have a full Graphtech Ghost system in my rebuilt Epiphone Dot. It is now my ultimate guitar. I bought the dot a couple of years back with the intent of rebuilding it into a guitar I actually wanted not something I was forced to settle on. I started by gutting the Dot and replacing all of it's hardware. I put in all CTS pots and, put a coil tapped 59 in the neck and, a Pearly… read more Gates in the bridge. I merged the two tone pots to one overall tone pot to free up a hole for the Graphtech volume knob. I moved the input jack after replacing it with a Switchcraft jack, to the side of the guitar, in the same place a Les Paul would have it. I put the Ghost/magnetic/both pickup selector switch the hole where the input jack used to be. I also replaced the whole bridge and tailpiece assembly with Graphtech stuff. Caped it of with a Tusq nut and, had the frets crowned and leveled and, Hello Nurse! It's everything I wanted in a guitar. I send the acoustic sound to my acoustic rig and, the electric sound to my amp rig and, it's heaven. No more changing guitars for certain songs. No more of those awkward stands that hold the acoustic for you. Whole new possibilities in live play that could never be achieved before. I can run both at the same time I can flip a switch and play the acoustic on a verse and the electric on the bridge and, back to both for the chorus. It's awesome. It's a stunning sound that gets a lot of compliments and, more then a few people looking around trying to figure out where the acoustic is coming from. Other guitar players are always asking me what pickup system I'm using and, they all want my guitar. I tell em all, build your own you won't regret it.

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Amazingly good accoustic replication

I was curious about the claims of this product, so I took a chance and ordered one. As usual Sweetwater took good care of me, and it showed up the next day. I installed it in an import strat copy, Installation was pretty straight forward and in no time I was ready to try it out. I was blown away at how close it sounds to an acoustic. I ran it straight into the PA with no… read more eq and added a little reverb. I then did a back to back with my Martin dcpa5k You would be hard pressed to tell the difference.

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