perceive said:
Thanks for that!
I am still wondering though if/what different pick ups have different tones.
Light has done a fantastic job in explaining the different types which is great, but also I would love to know if certain pick ups are better for a certain tone, or make of guitar. For instance what might sound good on the D18 may not sound good on a Taylor 714 or something?
similar designs are, for the most part, pretty similar sounding. The one big exception to that is the magnetics, where you have three basic tiers. You have the cheap ones that sound like shit (Dean Markley, etc.); the high end ones that are OK (Fishman Rare Earth,
L.R. Baggs M1); and then you have the Sunrise, which is only a little more expensive than the Fishman and Baggs, but sounds MUCH better.
The best thing for MOST people is an undersaddle pickup, such as the Fishman Matrix, the Highlander, or the D-TAR stuff. With any acoustic system, you are looking at a set of compromises, but for most people the undersaddle stuff is the best set. The give good volume before feedback, and they sound pretty good (if they are handled right). The ones I'm talking about here require that you get the end pin hole enlarged, and they have one small hole in the saddle slot through to the body of the guitar. These are NOT, IN ANY WAY, a structural concern. Your guitar will be at least as strong as it was before you put them in. These systems also will NOT change the way your guitar sounds acoustically. They will not effect the value of any but the most valuable guitars (but then, if you are thinking of having a pickup of any kind put in a 1930's Martin drednaught, you have other issues, and should probably just check yourself into a mental facility as soon as humanly possible).
We are also seeing a BIG trend towards the Fishman Ellipse systems, which are basically the same as the Matrix, but they have controls inside the soundhole (which are attached to the top of the guitar with a couple of neodymium magnets). There are three models of the Ellipse: the VT, which gives you a volume and tone control, and a "phase" switch (it's really a polarity switch, of course); the Ellipse Blend, which adds a microphone, a volume control, a blend control, and a "phase" switch; and the Ellipse Aura (I'm not sure if these are even shipping yet, as I have no plan on carrying them), which - if they sound anything like the other Aura stuff - make your guitar sound like it's going through a bad 4-bit AD/DA converter (well, I think the Aura we have in the shop sounds better in Stand-by mode, at any rate).
The other nice thing about the Ellipse stuff is that you have the option between the Natural I and Natural II versions of their preamp. The Natural I is a flatter version which, I think, is appropriate in 95% of situations, but the Natural II has a dip in the mid range which helps to control feed back and to gets a guitar to fit in a mix a little better. The Natural II is really only useful in band situations, but they can be nice if you need it. The Ellipse VT is only slightly more expensive than the Matrix (I sell them for about $45 more), and the installation is comparable (You don't have to solder as much, but you do need to mount the controls and preamp, which is a bit tricky if you want them to stick).
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
