Acoustic Pickup DEATHMATCH!

TheGuitarMan

TheGuitarMan

New member
I recently purchased a new acoustic but the dern thing aint got no pickup in it! Now, I don't want to cut a big frigging hole in my guitar for a pre-amp but I will be installing a jack.

In your opinion, which acoustic pickup (magnetic/mic) gives the most natural sound reproduction for live performances?
 
I recently went through a similar pain. What I found was the only way to get that 'natural' sound was to mic the guitar. I have 3 different acoustics and each one's pickup sounds different from micing the guitar. What I would suggest is to go try out some different setups at shops and pick what is right for you (the sound you want to achieve). But do compare them to direct micing as well.

In my case, I chose to mic the acoustic.
 
Yeah, can't do that. There are pretty much only 3 different kinds of magnetic soundhole pickups in the music stores around here.
 
From what I remember, those nice fishman Matrix mic and tranducers stereo mix pickup system thingy-ma-jigs can be purchased with a serperate pre amp to plug into. So basically you have a pickup jack for your strap button and then run a stereo 1/4" to a rack mounted preamp of theirs. I would have to say that those Taylors that are standard with those in the body have the best sound. If you have a guitar without a big ass hole in it running into the same pre it should sound even better.
 
Take this advice for what it's worth, because I own acoustic guitars with both Fishman and L.R. Baggs pickup/preamp systems.

The Fishman system on my Yamaha FG-335 sounds great, but it still lacks a totally natural acoustic sound, as do all of the systems.... or so I thought.

The L.R. Baggs system in my Epiphone Jumbo is amazing.
I have the Micro EQ system installed in it and it sounds as close to "natural" as any system I'd ever heard.... until I heard the iBeam.

WOW!!!! :eek:

The iBeam is amazing.

It's the first time I've ever heard an un-mic'd acoustic guitar sound so REAL and natural!
While no system will ever be a "perfect" reproduction of natural acoustic tone, this is as close as it gets. I heard the iBEAM on a pricey Taylor (I don't remember which model) and I was VERY impressed.

The "iBeam Active" installs without cutting up your guitar and sounds phenomenal for a very reasonable price.

Go here to check it out, and make sure to listen to the samples by Phil Keaggy on the "iBEAM Challenge."

http://www.lrbaggs.com/html/products/pickups_ibeam.html

I've heard most of the systems made by L.R. Baggs and I highly recommend them. They cost about 25% less (on average) than the Fishman systems, too! ;)
 
i personally suspect i'm just going to get a cheapo, stick-on-the-body transducer-i'm going to mostly use mics for actual recording (though i'll probably mix the transducer in to get a couple of aural perspectives in a take), and all i want out of pickups is to be able to plug-up and make enough sound to hear it. that said, i'm pretty poor, and if i weren't, i'd be looking possibly toward the ibeam. whlie i enjoy the sound of the integrated electronics on my epiphone pr-7e (nice to be able to pop up the bass on the eq to provide some balance with my usually high-end vocals), i've run into about 89759859 instances where wires inside caused vibration troubles, jacks being flaky, etc. last year i tore the whole damn thing down, tied down the wires, put rubber cement on rattling surfaces, etc. helped quite a bit, but it's still a little less vibration-controlled than my cheapo alvarez (which is now my primary guitar-that says a lot, seeing as how the pr-7e is a beautiful cutaway that is easy to play). that's why i feel the way i feel, mostly. i'm sure my opinion will change when i'm filthy rich and throw a nice, active ibeam or similar setup in a huss and dalton 12-fret dreadnaught cutaway :D
 
Sound samples, eh?

I have a basic dual source setup, B-band, installed in a Taylor jumbo on my kitchen table. There's an electret undersaddle pickup (NOT a piezo - completely different design) and an internal condenser on a small gooseneck mounted on a clip (read "strong clip") to an x-brace. Both circuits plug into a Core 99 preamp installed as part of a twin line endplug jack. The unit is powered by a 9 v battery housed in an aluminum clip velcroed to a patch on the side of the neckblock where I can get to it by loosening the strings. Wiring clips are installed on the top kerfing at regular intervals.

The only invasion to the guitar was drilling out the endpin and replacing it with the endpin jack (if you do this yourself use a drill press or at the very least, a brad point drill bit, very, very sharp, and hold or clamp a wooden block tight to the inside surface of the endblock to eliminate the possibility of splitting) and drilling a small hole through the top underneath the bass side of the saddle to allow the ribbon transducer to go into the guitar. Don't allow anything (wires and such) to touch the ribbon transducer or you will get booms - the entire thing is a real mic.

B-band has improved the line since I bought mine, but they're still pretty inexpensive for what you get. You can easily set the unit up to run on phantom power now, for instance. B-band also has a hell of a nice external preamp that replaces the internal circuitry.

I realize this isn't the mp.3 forum, but you did ask. Here are a couple of tunes I did (please excuse the newbie production quality - I was exploring things like "echo") with just the guitar plugged directly into a Mackie CFX mixer (the preamps are not as good as the VLZ series), two channels, one for each signal, and running tape outs (R & L) to the line in of my Soundblaster card, into n-track. EQ is basically flat with a bass roll off. Pretty newbie setup.

Walking in Jerusalem has the least junk done to the guitar signal. Pretty clean; Reverb is a little intense.

Sitting On Top Of The World has just a bit of reverb on the guitar.

Red Haired Boy was overdubbed with a second part, and I experimented with all manner of plug-ins. Too much pepper in the sauce, I'm afraid. Gonna have to do that over again.

www.nowhereradio.com/treeline Go to "Discography."

Since these were done, I've scored a Presonus AcoustiQ preamp, so the sound can now be EQ'd relatively easily on the fly.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top