Acoustic Pickups

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

I'm in the market to get me an acoustic pickup, and have found three that I cant decide on. LR baggs M1 and M1A pickups and the seymour duncan SA-6 with mic.
I'm not sure what the sound difference is between an active and a passive acoustic pickup, and although I have heard and played through the LR baggs M1, i'm not sure how it would compare with the seymour duncan. Every experience i've had with seymour duncan have been ''wow these pickups sound nice'', but have that niggling 'Mass Produced' sound, although that could be just me...

Cheers  :icon_thumright:

 

[OzziePete]

I'm in the market to get me an acoustic pickup, and have found three that I cant decide on. LR baggs M1 and M1A pickups and the seymour duncan SA-6 with mic.
I'm not sure what the sound difference is between an active and a passive acoustic pickup, and although I have heard and played through the LR baggs M1, i'm not sure how it would compare with the seymour duncan. Every experience i've had with seymour duncan have been ''wow these pickups sound nice'', but have that niggling 'Mass Produced' sound, although that could be just me...

Cheers  :icon_thumright:

Hey Wana

Have you been able to check out the Maton acoustic electric pickups? I have an APMic system in that Custom Acoustic, but a lot of Aussie pros work very well with the Maton AP4 system too. The APMic is magical sounding but live it might present a feedback problem because the Mic goes into the soundhole area and you can't use one of those soundhole plugs to minimise feedback.
http://www.maton.com.au/accessories/ap-pickup-system.html

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

That Maton system is a bit of a conundrum as i'm not looking to crack open a huge square in the side, the most im prepared to do is ream out the strap pin on the body for a jack.

As much as i'd like to support Maton, that might prove a problem.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

I have always played acoustics with an active preamp.  My Current favorite is the one in my Yairi Alvarez, 600T.  It resembles a bass preamp, but has a couple of more in's on it, so you can mix piezo and mic's if you want.  Then there is the feedback notching capability and so on.  You might want to look at acoustic pickup preamps as well.  They make some that go on the floor like a pedal.
Patrick

 

[Justinginn]

http://www.dougyoungguitar.com/pickuptests/

Great resource.

I'm liking what I've heard about the Anthemn, though it didn't sound amazing on these tests. I'll probably be grabbing one for my own acoustic in a few months. Other than that, I liked some of the B-band sound clips.

 

[Firebird211]

Heck yeah, I was just about to say that.  I researched the LR Baggs Anthem to upgrade my Ibanez AW-300.  The original Anthem is a little big for how the cross supports are in that guitar so I have the Anthem SL instead.  That seems to be the most nonavasive unit to install because you can put the volume control out of sight within the sound hole.  A pickup is even less trouble than that, but at least the Anthem is a more natural system similar to the onboard ones in new acoustics.  When I get it installed I could give you a little review on how it sounds.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

Now i'm kinda torn, the anthem looks great but the M1A (kinda gave up on the seymour duncan idea) sounds really nice, although I played the M1 not the active version. I think the Anthem would be more appropriate for what I want to play (includes percussive stuff) because it also looks like it has a piezo system.

 

[Firebird211]

The Anthem has a piezo strip for the bridge and a mic to go inside under the bridge, and there is a blend on both the regular and SL between the two.  I wanted to show you this crazy guy J Mascis, which it looks like he fused regular electric pickups into an acoustic.  He has his own signature Fender Jazzmaster guitar, so he is a legend, just not well known.  If you can get past his voice his guitar playing is amazing.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUgoU3J-nHo[/youtube]

 

[swarfrat]

Anyone tried the Taylor ES system?

 

[dNA]

Anyone tried the Taylor ES system?

i think it's all hype. sounds OK to me. in the context of a mix, it might work better. but for just the acoustic sound itself it underwhelmed me.

i think a big part of the question for what kind of pickup you want is the context you're using it in. Piezo's generally sound harsh and unnatural to me- but in the context of a full band mix they cut through really well where magnetic pickups that sound warm and full can get buried. I haven't got any acoustic pickup that i use in any of my current guitars, but I'm probably gonna get the M1A for my Martin. From the research I've done, the most natural and full sound is achieved by blending two or more different pickup types - magnetic+piezo sounds really good. Andy McKee uses such a setup for his solo playing.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

Anyone tried the Taylor ES system?

i think it's all hype. sounds OK to me. in the context of a mix, it might work better. but for just the acoustic sound itself it underwhelmed me.

i think a big part of the question for what kind of pickup you want is the context you're using it in. Piezo's generally sound harsh and unnatural to me- but in the context of a full band mix they cut through really well where magnetic pickups that sound warm and full can get buried. I haven't got any acoustic pickup that i use in any of my current guitars, but I'm probably gonna get the M1A for my Martin. From the research I've done, the most natural and full sound is achieved by blending two or more different pickup types - magnetic+piezo sounds really good. Andy McKee uses such a setup for his solo playing.

...which is strangely exactly what i'm trying to achieve. Drifting to be exact.

 

[dNA]

...which is strangely exactly what i'm trying to achieve. Drifting to be exact.

yup. K&K transducer I believe. I've seen him using a few different magnetic pickups in different guitars on different videos. so i think you can safely assume that the basic combo of transducer + magnetic will do you justice. What exact models to use i think is both your preference and your guitar. Just make sure you get both passive and run them into a good preamp for blending. It'll be a bit of an investment, but it'll be worthwhile and will probably stay with you the rest of your life.

 

[mayfly]

 I wanted to show you this crazy guy J Mascis, which it looks like he fused regular electric pickups into an acoustic.  He has his own signature Fender Jazzmaster guitar, so he is a legend, just not well known.  

There are people out there who don't know who J Mascis is????

He's one of my early guitar heros!

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XBIfOFtmmM[/youtube]

:headbang:

 

[Firebird211]

I wanted to show you this crazy guy J Mascis, which it looks like he fused regular electric pickups into an acoustic.  He has his own signature Fender Jazzmaster guitar, so he is a legend, just not well known. 

There are people out there who don't know who J Mascis is????

He's one of my early guitar heros!


:headbang:

I would hope so Mayfly. I would hope so. :laughing7:  He is one modest guitar hero.

 

[Firebird211]

I just got done installing the Anthem SL, so now I can give you a little info on it.  It's fairly easy to install, didn't take long at all.  You have to get the instructions from LR Baggs online, since they sorta discourage self-installations.  Check that out first before you decide it's something you want to do to your guitar. I think anyone here that can put a guitar together can handle installing it just fine.  I'm in between upgrading the nut and the saddle to a graphtech, so the sound of the guitar, acoustic and plugged in, may improve.  I did notice that adding the 1/32" piezo wire under the saddle added some metallic brightness to unplugged sound.  The guitar has engelmann spruce top, bubinga back and sides, mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard, so a little bit of brightness was welcome.  Basically the Anthem does what it says it will do, provide very natural sound.  The small screw adjuster for the piezo and mic definitely needs to be adjusted at first, or else you get massive feedback, but it adjusts right out.  So look into it further if you want.  Happy pickup hunting.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

Well, I think i've decided on the anthem, but unfortunately it's $100 bucks more then I can afford, so the anthem SL will have to do me. I guess I can cope with not being able to have individual controls for both piezo and mic.

 

[Firebird211]

Cool, that was the conclusion I came to as well.  One hundred dollars cheaper, same thing, just low profile.  The small screw adjustment is the mic / piezo adjuster on the SL and if you go too far to the bright side...SCREEETCH.  I'm not sure I would want to be able to adjust it on accident.  It's kind of like a set it and forget it feature.  I still didn't take enough off the saddle to compensate for the height of the piezo yet,  I am being very careful not to take too much.  If you have any questions about it, just ask.  Update: I finally got the graphtech saddle sanded down to the perfect height with the help of digital calipers, and it sounds much better unplugged than with the original saddle.  Intonation is finally spot on, that will be your biggest consern other than drilling through the bridge without disturbing the floor the saddle sits on.  Also allow the piezo to settle under the pressure of the strings for about a day before sanding too much.  You can count on 1/32" or 0.70mm, but take a little less than that off the saddle.