It was an interesting experiment, I may post clips later. For some reason the pickup on my Ovation sounds pretty good live thru phones or thru an amplifier. But when it gets recorded and played back, it just falls flat on its face, it sounds like crap on tape.
I did a M-S setup with two C414's and the DI pickup. The stereo image of the
acoustic guitar was very natural and realistic sounding when I played the mid and side tracks together. It was almost like I could hear the room and the environment along with the guitar. It was alive!
But when I muted the mid track and turned on the DI pickup track with the side tracks, it did not sound any where near as natural or as realistic. It sounded boxy, less wide and less spread, more directional to the center. The DI pickup sound would either not be heard or it would dominate the sound completely, I could not find a middle ground volume setting for it where it blended well at all with the side tracks. (Yes, the side tracks were set for opposite phase from each other) I also added a delay to the DI track, in 3ms increments, and it made no difference at all in how it blended. No matter what I did to it, the stereo image was dull and lifeless.
When I switched back to the mid track and mute the DI track, it sounded natural and real and spread out again. That M-S setup really is deceptively amazing!
So I'm reminded why I decided to quit using the DI pickup and use only mics...... it was not a bad decision. - SC
