LR Baggs Duet II User Manual

L . R . B A G G S P R E A M P S

DUET II

U S E R ' S G U I D E

R E A D T H I S F I R S T

The Duet II comb ines class A circuitry with our proprietar y condenser microphone and either the Ribbo n Transducer or LB 6 pickup. Steel
(Duet II-RT ) or nylon (Duet II-RTN) strin g mod els are available with the Ribbon Tran sducer. Th ere is also a "classic seri es" (Duet II-CS)
model for th e LB6 picku p that is a re-crea tion of the o riginal Duet.

U S E R ' S G U I D E

A. On/off: The on and off switch functi on ha s bee n moved from

the strapjack to the control panel to allow stereo access without
the need for separate jacks. The Duet II has a soft start circuit that
slowly p ower s up the system ove r a 15 second period to avoid
turn-o n explosions in live inputs. You may notice a little distort ion
if you play dur ing th is power -up cy cle. Th is is normal a nd the
distor tion will d isappear when the voltage st abilizes.

D

C

B

A

B: Battery LED: The Duet II has a battery status LED that remains

on a t all t imes when the switch i s in th e "on " position. As the
ba tte ry wea ken s, the li ght will begin to di m. Wh en the l igh t
becomes di fficult to see, replace the battery.

C: 3-band grap hic equalize r: This EQ is sp eci fic all y tuned to
frequencie s (see specifications) that are most often need ed by the
acoustic guitar ist. The treble is used to a dd t ran spa ren cy a nd
presence to a dull PA, or wh en you need to cut through a band. It is
also useful in cut mode to mellow-out harsh HF horns, common in
PAs. The mi drang e con trol is used to remove ho nk from guita r
amps and PA speakers. We do not recommend b oosting the mid
control. The bass can be used to add extra warmth and foundation
to the tone, or to tame a n unruly subwoofer in cut mode, when too much b ass is encountered in the PA.

D: Phase invert: This switch changes th e polarity of the si gnal. Phase affect s the way the guitar top is pres surized by the low frequency
sound waves from the loudspeaker s. When the guitar top and loudspeaker are out of phase with each other, the sound waves from the
speake rs wi ll ac t to damp the gui tar top, lik e a shock absorber, and low-end feedba ck wi ll be minimi ze d. The re is no way to predic t whi ch
phase will be right in any situation. I t will be readily apparent which phase sounds best and is most feedback-resis tant when you f lip the
switch during sound check. Phase will also affect the way the guitar signal mixes live and on tape (especially when overdubbing) with
other in struments. Experimentation will produce the best results.

E

F

G

E. Pickup/mic: This rotar y knob is essentially a "pan" control that allows the micropho ne and pickup to be blended to ta ste. Turning this

kn ob counterclo ckwise will isolate the pickup; tu rning it c lockwise will is olate the micropho ne. Note: when in mix mode, there is always a
small pe rcen tage of picku p in the sign al, even in "full mic" p osition, to minimize t he risk of feedba ck.

F. Mix-pickup: When the swi tc h is towards the "mi x," the microp hone an d pic kup a re combined by our proprietary blending mixer. In t he
"picku p" position , the mic is turn ed off and the mixer is disabled. The pick up then operates at full ra nge with all oth er controls function al.
This setti ng is useful for extremely loud situations, in which c ut and presence o f the pickup alone are neede d.

G: Volume control: This controls the output volume. The Duet II 's output is hot e nough to ove rd rive some inputs and cause distortio n. If
this occ urs, simply turn the volum e down slightly.

M O N O O R S T E R E O O U T P U T

Mono: The mono mode is recommended for performe rs who want to plug in with a standard cord and play. All functions, in cluding the

mic/pick up blend and EQ co nt rols, are availa ble i n thi s m ode. To us e, simply set the on/off switch on the control panel to "on" and plug a
standard m ono male cord from a muted channel or amp into th e output jack .

Stereo: Th is mode prov ides pristine discrete class A buffered outputs for the mic and pick up, pre-mix and pre-EQ. It is useful for qu ality
recording and for achiev ing the ideal live sound. You ca n use individual ou tboard EQ and effects for both channels. For live work, this wi ll
allow you to send just the picku p to the feedba ck-prone stag e monitors an d use more mic in the main speakers for the per fect house mix.

To use, set the on/off switch to "o n" and plug in a stereo Y ca ble with the two l egs of the Y plugged into two muted channels of any sort
of outboard gear. Plug ging in a stereo cable automatically routes a live pickup signal to the top an d a live mic signal to the ring co ntacts
of the stereo strapjack while disabl ing all onboard controls. Any blending, contouri ng and controll ing of each output must now be done
outboard.

Note: The stereo sensing circuit may not wo rk properly if the mi c (ring) output of the Duet II is plugged into any outbo ard gear, such as
compressors or EQs, that have DC-coupled inputs and an input impedance lower tha n 47k. This type of inp ut is uncommon in musical
instrume nt and recording studio gear, but low Z, DC-couple d inputs do exist. The symptom of this con dition will be distor tion in the
pickup (tip) chann el. If you hear distort ion in the pick up ch annel, try unplugging the mic from its channel. If the distorti on on the pickup
channel disa ppear s, the mic is plug ged i nto a l ow Z, DC -coup led i nput. The reme dy fo r thi s is to not use t his p iece of ou tboar d
equipment.

S P E C I F I C A T I O N S

Size: 4.1" x 2.6"
Weigh t: 5 oz.
Batter y Type: Single 9V
Current Consumption: 4 mA
Batter y Life: 100+ hrs. (alkali ne)

EQ (Duet II-RT )
Low: +/- 10dB @ 80Hz
Mi drange: + /- 12dB @ 900 Hz
Treble : +/- 10dB @ 10kHz

EQ (Duet II-RTN)
Low: +/- 10dB @ 250Hz
Mi drange: + 5dB / -11dB @ 1.5kHz
Treble : + 1 dB / -15dB @ 1 0kHz

EQ (Duet II-CS)
Low: +/- 13dB @ 80Hz
Mi drange: + /- 8dB @ 950H z
Treble : +/- 14dB @ 10kHz

Low Cut Fil te r: Fixed, 12dB/oct. @ 35Hz

Input Im pedance
Pickup : 10 me gohms
Mi c: 22 k ohms

Signal-to- Noise: -90dB, unweig hted

Output I mpedance: 600 ohms