Calling all Aura, Bodyrez, Boss AD2 etc etc users.

koss59 · July 2021

Just bought a great new J45 and have a lot of gigs with it, it has the fitted LR Baggs VTC which actually sounds pretty good but is still too Piezo for me.

What’s the best way to go, is a bodyrex enough to remove the quack or do I need to go aura? What others are good? Reverb might be nice, I’ve seen the NUX one gets good reviews but doesn’t have a blend which I think might be important.

Supportact · July 2021

No experience with the LRBaggs pickup you have, but I do use the aura spectrum pedal (with fishman matrix pickup) and I'm happy with it. One thing to note is it took me quite a while to get the right 'image' and get the settings right. There wasn't an image for the specific guitar I'm using so I had to go through them until I found one that sounded ok. There will be loads of J45 ones so maybe that will make it easier. Took me a lot of faffing, but after a bit of effort it sounds great. Other than that the built in eq and compressor work well and you can switch the imaging off and just use it as a normal preamp/eq if you want. Effects loop also very handy. Overall I feel like it's quality is worth the money and now I've got a decent acoustic sound I'm happy with without having to mic it up.

Supportact · July 2021

That said there are cheaper options which I'm sure would also work, might depend on what other pedals/amp/PA you want to use it with.

ICBM · July 2021

Before going further I would listen to @p90fool demo of the Zoom AC-3...

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/175640/ditching-your-onboard-preamp#latest

That's with just a plain piezo pickup, but even with a preamp in the guitar it should still sound like that.

I did have an Aura Spectrum, but I found it too fussy - when set right (the PA, as well as the unit) it sounded fantastic, but it was quite easy to get it sounding oddly horrible as well, so I eventually came to the conclusion it was almost as much of a liability as an asset when playing gigs when the PA was not under my control. And the onboard tuner is poor, if it matters.

I'm now using a Boss AD-8, which is probably not the best-sounding but is pretty versatile and copes well with unfamiliar amps and PA settings. I actually prefer it to the newer and apparently more comprehensive AD-10, which has just about everything you could ever imagine needing, but I also found a bit fussy to get set up right. And it has chorus, which instantly put me off it! (Perhaps unfairly, since you don't have to use it.)

Haven't tried the TC or the AD-2 yet.

koss59 · July 2021

Thanks for all the input so far.
After looking at nu nervous videos I’m now leaning towards changing the pickup to an anthem as that seems to sound the best so far.

bermudianbrit · July 2021

Hi

I used an Aura Spectrum DI, then I purchased a Martin with the Fishman Aura pickup in it. I do love the sound and when properly amplified you get some amazing tones live.
Since my acquiring the aura-equipped Martin though, the Aura Spectrum hasn't seen much use, so I'd sell it cheap if you'd like to try it. They resell well if you find it isn't for you.

Matt

koss59 · July 2021

Sent you a PM @bermudianbrit ;

crunchman · July 2021

There is a BodyRez in the classifieds at the moment. Not a lot of outlay and if you don't like it you can probably sell it on again and you would probably only lose the price of a pint of beer.

shufflebeat · July 2021

You may like to consider some of the IR options available. The cheapest useful system I've found is the Mooer Radar. An IR can be created using your guitar and a mic, then loaded into the Mooer to replace one of the existing presets.

I use IRs for three instruments of mine and mates' fiddles/mandolins and some of the factory presets for bass at various times.

The Radar can be run off an external pedal board PSU and provides balanced out if necessary, negating the need for a DI box.

danowens · August 2021

shufflebeat said:
I use IRs for three instruments of mine and mates' fiddles/mandolins and some of the factory presets for bass at various times.

The Radar can be run off an external pedal board PSU and provides balanced out if necessary, negating the need for a DI box.

What IRs are you using for mandolin? My player is fed up with gigging a DPA4099 and battling feedback. I'm trying to convince him to go mag but he's insisting on a piezo and IRs might be a good idea.

shufflebeat · August 2021

I make my own for the Mooer Radar using Cuki79's valuable resource:

http://acousticir.free.fr/

There's a thread on the AGF where AeroUS does an IR loader comparison which you might find very interesting:

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6786439#post6786439

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Calling all Aura, Bodyrez, Boss AD2 etc etc users.

Comments