[sdiy] [AH] Custom ARP Avatar

[Mark G]

The Roland gk2,2a, and 3 pickup sections are just hex pickups that output on a seven conductor cable to the control box, that's where the additional circuitry is. You could just use pickup part if you can find one cheaply. One note: the non-working ones that I've come across have all been due to an issue with that seven conductor cable, either damaged conductors or solder connection issues. So buying a non-working one hoping for the pickup part to be good is a risk. But possibly an opportunity if it's cheap and you're good at soldering small wires in a tight space!
Mark
 
 
  On Thu, Mar 27, 2025 at 10:20 AM, rob at secret-secret.com<rob at secret-secret.com> wrote:   Hi Brian,
First I’m going off memory from the early eighties so I could be totally mistaken. My understanding of the Roland and Avatar systems is that they are vastly different. The Roland cable contains a number of control signals. And there are two or three Roland standards. 
The Avatar is much more like a traditional guitar cable, but with six lines. All the amplification is done in the synth. So to use a Roland pick up you just need to wire the pickups one each to the six lines, and use the shield for ground. The order is likely from the low E to the high E, but maybe from high to low. Very simple, and very straightforward.
I remember the connector being a screw in on the synths so that it wouldn’t fall out, and it was long, like 25 feet or so. Many of the Roland cables are long too. Now a Roland cable that had enough lines could be used, but it would have to be modified at both ends. It is likely that some of the Roland lines are the pickup signals, so you could probably just use those lines at the synth end, and just ground the other lines, or come up with a way to use them as control lines the way that Roland used them.
Also, you don’t need the whole Roland setup at the guitar, just the pickup. Now if you did get one of their later setups you might be able to hijack it a bit.
For instance if you got a GK-2 or a GK-3, those would have the pickup connected to a box with other interfacing. And you don’t need all of that. If you look at the photo on this page for a GT3, you’ll see how the pickup is a separate piece. Roland use to sell the pickup from the GR-700 system as a single part too. It was around $25. Again, I think Sam could be very helpful here as he can get Roland service parts, and he’s a very wise dude. 
https://www.musicstore.com/en_US/USD/Roland-GKKITGT3-/art-GIT0007925-000

I don’t have the docs, and my findings were all from using a multimeter. I didn’t have access to the internet back then.
A couple of years ago I picked up a Roland GR-1, without doing proper research on it. It turns out that they removed the hex distortion, and the internal synth is one of their Romplers. I found this very disappointing, but I’ll mess around with it at some point. I was very much looking forward to the hex sound again. But there are other ones. 
The very best sounding of the Rolands, which you can hear on King Crimson, and Police albums is the GR-300. It’s all analog, and has a seriously nice portamento. The next was a GR-700, which was a JX-3P. This didn’t do the nice portamento. But it’s a nice synth. Then they did the bass synth, something 77, which used the JX-8P, another nice synth, and it might be possible to control it with a guitar. After that they started using Romplers, and to my ear didn’t sound as good. 
There was one before the 300, but I don’t remember the name, and I think it was mono like the Avatar. Korg also did some stuff, as did Yamaha, but these didn’t sound as good as the Rolands. For me the Holy Grail is the 300, but because they are very old now I don’t think I’d mess with one. I’m much more likely to try and make a guitar synth since the tools/knowledge we have available today are insane. But I’d also be much more likely to get one of the Fishman units.
I know some of the pickup companies do custom windings. It might be possible to get them to do individual lines, but that would probably be too expensive. I think Fishman uses a hex pickup too, and it’s possible that the pickup from that system could be employed. But most likely getting a Roland hex pickup is the path of least resistance.
-Rob-



On Mar 27, 2025, at 12:19 AM, brianw <brianw at audiobanshee.com> wrote:
Is there a convenient documentation of the wiring for Avatar pickup?

What sort of connector is on the Avator for connecting the pickup?

A quick search for the AVATAR Owner's Manual suggests that it's a DIN-6 that must use the shield for ground. I didn't see anything that shows which string is on which pin.


The industry seems to have standardized on Roland's 13-pin connector, although you don't have to buy the Roland pickup and mount it yourself. Companies make (or made) guitars with the 13-pin connector built in. Godin Guitars had a line called SynthAccess (that you might find used - a really well-made guitar). The only challenge with the 13-pin is the +/-7V power supply needed. Roland synths like the GR-70 have the power, but do not allow external access to the guitar strings.

You could probably buy a Roland 13-pin cable at Guitar Center, cut off one end, and hand-solder a DIN-6 connector on the other end.

I suppose there could be an issue if the 13-pin electronics boost the signals too hot for the Avatar inputs.

I've designed a few circuit boards to provide the power to the 13-pin guitar and break out the individual strings as separate balanced signals (on DB-25 or a bunch of TRS jacks). Nothing as a finished product, though.

Brian


On Mar 23, 2025, at 3:50 PM, Rob Secret wrote:

Hi Ben,

It’s been quite a while, but the last I did research on this subject the Roland pickups can be made to work with the Avatars. Mostly it is just wiring them up—Arp didn’t do anything fancy between the pickup and the Avatar. And from what I remember Roland sells just the pickup as a service part too. It was pretty affordable at the time. Something like $25, but that’s probably changed a bit by now. Sam could probably get you one.

-Rob-

On Mar 23, 2025, at 8:49 AM, Ben Stuyts <ben at stuyts.nl> wrote:

Hi Rob,

I’d love to try it with the hex pickup, as you say for the hex fuzz. Unfortunately the pickup is missing from my Avatar. It still has the D and E boards inside, but one of them has the power cable disconnected. So there’s probably something broken there. I have a search on ebay and other sites for the pickup, just in case. Does anybody know of any other hex pickups that would work?

Ben

On 23 Mar 2025, at 07:17, Rob Secret wrote:

To me the coolest thing about the Avatar was its Hex Fuzz. Nothing sounds like that, well maybe the Rolands did, but that sound is really cool. You can play more than just 5ths with a very warm tone.






  
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