Acoustic Electrics

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T

TractorTed

New member
Hey -

So I'm wondering, are acoustic electrics necessarily bad to record with? I want to buy a new acoustic and I like to play live as well as record... and I know you can still play live with a non-electric of course, but wanted to hear thoughts about recording...

thanks
T
 
My Taylor 514ce sounds great recorded with a mic, and it sounds great plugged in on stage. The point to make here is buy the guitar for the guitar first, and the electronics second. You can always always change the electronics later if you want. Now, these guitars out there that are acoustic sounding when plugged in that are basically electrics with piezo pickups on them...they sound like crap recorded..unless that is you like the honky scrape sound of a piezo pickup recorded...but i don't.

H2H
 
IMHO acoustic electrics are designed to make life easier for performing. I haven't heard one yet with a recordable sound. You can get by with them when you are playing live, but there is no comparison between the sound of a decent acoustic and what comes out of the jack.
 
i like them. now i dont record or anything, but ive found the sound (with the right amp) to be quite pleasing.


i enjoy the epiphone el capitan acoustic/electric bass. if i had the cash, id get me one.

my friend has a 12 string that she put one of those...pickups...i cant think of what they are called, but, she put one in, and it sounds great. thats just me though.



freak
 
lpdeluxe said:
IMHO acoustic electrics are designed to make life easier for performing. I haven't heard one yet with a recordable sound.
Click to expand...

You are saying a recordable sound from the pickup, right? Cause electronics have little affect on the acoustic tone of a good guitar. If you don't think that, I'd like you to find and play an Olson SJ with a baggs pickup and tell me it sounds bad recorded:).

H2H
 
I don't like the boinginess of the piezo bridge pickups used in most acoustic-electrics. It's tolerable live, because of convenience, and it's awful recorded. I put a Fishman Rare Earth Pro-Rep-102 Humbucking Soundhole Pickup in my Alvarez. I recorded the acoustic part in the song in my signature line with it, but it's kinda buried in the mix. I think it sounds better than a piezo live, too.

As said before, an acoustic-electric will still be as good an acoustic is it would be without the electronics.
 
Hard2Hear, yes, that's what I meant. Of course, at one time, when the only acoustic-electrics were Ovations, you COULD reasonably say that the acoustic sound was not very good.
 
Don't like them

Haven't heard a built in Acoustic PU that I like yet. I would prefer to spend money on a nicer acoustic minus the electronics and record w/ a 57.
 
The only time I use a pickup to record is to get a scratch guitar track, so I don't have to worry about background noise and I can sing along. I use that to build the rest of the song. Every once in a while that will stay in final mix, but usually only for texture. I use a Sunrise for live acoustic work. I've played just about every king of acoustic pickup and IMO the Sunrise is the best.
 
Imo?

You said you thought "IMO the Sunrise" is the best acoustic pickup... who makes that? - can't find a listing.

Thanks for all the ideas - any other folks have fondness with a particular acoustic pickup?

thanks
T
 
TractorTed said:
You said you thought "IMO the Sunrise" is the best acoustic pickup... who makes that? - can't find a listing.

Thanks for all the ideas - any other folks have fondness with a particular acoustic pickup?

thanks
T
Click to expand...

In My Opinion

www.sunrisepickups.com

I bought mine at Elderly and had it installed locally. These suckers are not cheap, but well worth the bucks if you play out a lot. To really make the system sound the best, you also need to buy the preamp box. I also have a fishman piezo under the saddle of my main guitar, and the 2 pickups wired in
stereo (Sunrise tip/Piezo ring). The combo works great for solo acoustic gigs.
 
why?

gvarko said:
Haven't heard a built in Acoustic PU that I like yet. I would prefer to spend money on a nicer acoustic minus the electronics and record w/ a 57.
Click to expand...

Correct, don't get a guitar with a piezo pickup in it. I've got a Fishman Rareearth pickup (the cheapest one $120ish) in my Taylor 314 and it sounds fantastic.

However, why are you recording acoustic guitar with an SM-57? You should definitely get a condenser for an acoustic instrument.
 
A properly installed pickup, what ever type, will not effect the tone of the guitar.

This thread will tell you a bit more about pickups. Check it out, it should help.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
What about Taylor guitars? Is the ES pickup system good for recording? I want to own a Taylor in my life time - they're about the finest acoustic-electric guitar plugged-in I've ever played.
 
EddieRay said:
I want to own a Taylor in my life time - they're about the finest acoustic-electric guitar plugged-in I've ever played.
Click to expand...


Well, that is an opinion, and one which many people do not share. Their workmanship is very good, but I just do not like their sound.

As far as the ES pickups, I am decidedly unimpressed. They just don't sound that good, to my ear. I prefer the Fishman Matrix pickups, and I like the D-TAR Timbreline even more.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Phyl said:
http://www.seagullguitars.com/electronics.htm

The LR Baggs i Beam Duet is the best system I've heard. It's not perfect but it's a hell of a lot better than the piezo crap out there.

I've got this system on my Godin Grand Concert and I use it to record direct to the DAW.
Click to expand...

Anything made by LR Baggs is outstanding. I got to meet Lloyd a few months ago, and he let me try out his newest soundhole pickup. It sounded INCREDIBLE. I have a Taylor 814ce, and I thought my Fishman Blender system was pretty good until I heard the LR Baggs stuff. I will soon be getting one of the LR Baggs blender systems that drops right in the same space on the Taylors.

As for recording with acoustic-electrics, it's almost always going to be better to mic the guitar. However, I only have one mic, so I've used a direct signal from my Taylor with the mic and the pickup on the Fishman blended about 50/50, into the guitar pre on my aardvark q10. It's pretty natural sounding, and I use it if I need to cut through the mix.
 
elixir

Perhaps you don't like the sound of Taylors in the store because they come stock with Elixir strings. I think I like the Elixir strings (they're more expensive) but they definitely make the guitar sound different.
 
Light said:
Well, that is an opinion, and one which many people do not share. Their workmanship is very good, but I just do not like their sound.
Click to expand...

Really? There's people out there who don't agree with me? What the hell's wrong with them!!

Actually, my question was a bit sloppy. I'm smitten by their pickup system - to me a plugged-in Taylor sounds so much like an unpugged Taylor only louder. I'm wondering how a Taylor recorded direct-in, using its own ES system, compares to one 'mic'ed up.
 
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