Acoustic pickup experience?

bermudianbrit · October 2016

Hi all,

I'm looking for a reputable acoustic pickup which can be swapped in and out of guitars. I'd like to keep it in when the guitars get traded or moved on. I do some percussive, some fingerstyle and a bit of everything else.
I have a Taylor, so have used the Taylor expression system...meh, its a bit lifeless to be honest.
I know there is a lot of love for the L R Bags M80 but the youtube vid demo didn't impress me. Anyone able to suggest something that will make my good guitars sound like they're a cut above the 200 quid bangers people plug into every PA system they've ever used? I play instrumentals, so expression and warmpth and tone that connects with listeners is important.

Thanks

Lewy · October 2016

Hmmm....if your criteria is that you want to be able to swap it between guitars then I think that basically leaves you with either magnetic soundhole pickups or clip-on mics of some type, doesn't it?

My experience of soundhole pickups is that they do pretty much drag all guitars to the same level tonally regardless of the quality of the guitars themselves. I haven't tried the M80 but that is my experience with the M1a and also the Fishman Rare Earth range. If you think the Expression system isn't up to snuff I don't see you finding much to inspire you in the world of soundhole pickups.....

Clip on mics such as the DPA4099G are just the ticket for the faithful reproduction of your guitars sound, but manufacturers' claims about feedback rejection are vastly overstated in my experience and the only thing they offer over using an external mic is the ability to move around. Pretty pricey too.

Of the pickup systems that have to be installed (and by and large I mean they are wired to an endpin jack), but are easy enough to un-install and re-install in another guitar without damaging them, then the LR Baggs Lyric is good. That might suit the scenario where you're selling a guitar but want to keep the pickup system. But obviously not an option for regularly swapping between guitars.

ICBM · October 2016

A decent mic and stand.

Lewy · October 2016

ICBM said:

A decent mic and stand.

Always best if circumstances allow. Even a crappy mic on a cheap guitar sounds better than the best pickup on a high end guitar imo

ICBM · October 2016

Lewy said:

Even a crappy mic on a cheap guitar sounds better than the best pickup on a high end guitar imo

I wont bore you again, but you probably remember my story about the girl with the old Seagull guitar and an SM58 vs a room full of high-end electro-acoustics, including my Taylor...

thomasross20 · October 2016

I remember that story!

Lewy · October 2016

Although my gig last night was a timely reminder that plugging in has its place. It was a nice venue, monthly country/bluegrass night. I've played it before and it's a good listening room so decided I'd mic up - and took a guitar that doesn't have a pickup.

I was was the main act playing solo and it turned out the support act was a full band. So by the time I got on stage the audience was tuned in to higher volume more happening in the bass and I had to totally over play for everything to not just feel like a drop in energy. I'd totally have traded some tone in for some artifically strong bass and the ability to not have to cane it all night.

Time to get a K&K in that guitar too....!

As Tommy Emmanuel says, if you wanna get a big crowd, you gotta make a big noise.

thomasross20 · October 2016

K&K 4eva

ICBM · October 2016

Lewy said:

Although my gig last night was a timely reminder that plugging in has its place. It was a nice venue, monthly country/bluegrass night. I've played it before and it's a good listening room so decided I'd mic up - and took a guitar that doesn't have a pickup.

I was was the main act playing solo and it turned out the support act was a full band. So by the time I got on stage the audience was tuned in to higher volume more happening in the bass and I had to totally over play for everything to not just feel like a drop in energy. I'd totally have traded some tone in for some artifically strong bass and the ability to not have to cane it all night.

Totally agree - all my acoustics (apart from my resonator) do have pickups too, even though I regard them as Satan's work

. (Actually not quite - it's onboard preamp systems which are truly evil incarnate.) Most of the time if you're playing live with a full band a pickup is the only sensible way to get enough volume and freedom of movement.

Lewy said:

Time to get a K&K in that guitar too....!

I'm fast beginning to think they're so good that I'm even contemplating taking the Fishman USTs out of my guitars and fitting K&Ks. They're the best passive-pickup compromise between natural acoustic tone and reasonable output, and they don't suffer from the string balance and reliability problems that USTs occasionally can.

bermudianbrit · October 2016

which k&K? something I should look at?

Lewy · October 2016

bermudianbrit said:

which k&K? something I should look at?

The Pure Mini is the best value and combo of sound and simplicity. They have other models that add internal mics and stuff but the Pure Mini really gets it done.

MikeDearing · November 2016

Fishman rare earth active all the way.. not the most natural sounding system.. but it doesn't breakdown, and has immense headroom before squealing.. and it EQs fabulously well, and takes compressors well.

ICBM · November 2016

MikeDearing said:

Fishman rare earth active all the way.. not the most natural sounding system.. but it doesn't breakdown

I have two dead ones in my box of scrap parts that say otherwise...

Edit - thanks for posting that, since I'd forgotten I had these. I dug them out yesterday. By dismantling both and swapping the various parts it was easier to find out what was wrong. It turns out one had a cable fault rather than the preamp, so that's fixed. The other one at least appears to have a working pickup coil, so I'll see if that can be made into a passive one.

I probably should have done this earlier, I think I was given both of them as "not worth repairing" by customers after the initial estimate and never went any further.

Winny_Pooh · November 2016

I've played rare earths without any problems and currently have a seymour duncan magmic which sounds really good with some mic blended in. I've played mic'd but feedback is always an issue.

A gearslut buddy of mine reckons the sunrise is the best but its a PITA with the external preamp etc.

ICBM · November 2016

Winny_Pooh said:

A gearslut buddy of mine reckons the sunrise is the best but its a PITA with the external preamp etc.

It should be fantastic if you've seen the price of them! They are also very large, blocking most of the soundhole and (possibly shallow, but you know it does matter

) exceptionally ugly even by soundhole pickup standards.

I don't mind an external preamp, I always think that's the best way of doing it anyway.

mgaw · November 2016

The Sunrise is very expensive, ihave had 2 and far prefer the K&K mini, Sunrise was great for slide though

Lozboy · March 2017

Lewy said:

ICBM said:

A decent mic and stand.

Always best if circumstances allow. Even a crappy mic on a cheap guitar sounds better than the best pickup on a high end guitar imo

Theres alot of truth in that.

Stuckfast · March 2017

I have a Sunrise. Not sure why the external preamp is considered a pain -- it's just a small box like a DI -- and has an aux output on it so you can run a tuner pedal without putting that in the signal path, if you want. If you have a decent DI box to hand then the preamp box isn't really necessary.

It doesn't sound particularly natural, but as unnatural acoustic guitar sounds go, it's one of the best. Built like a brick shithouse, too.

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