Acoustic pickup recommendation

thomasw88 · April 2023

LR Baggs M80 is great. been using one for years and it gives the best sound I've had in a band situation.

crunchman · April 2023

I'd agree with @ICBM about a simple passive undersaddle and an outboard box.

You don't even have to have a specialist outboard box any more. I know I can load external IRs of acoustic guitars onto my Quad Cortex. I'm pretty sure that Helix and all the others allow you to do the same. The Aura and the other boxes are essentially just doing the same thing as an IR.

ICBM · April 2023

crunchman said:

You don't even have to have a specialist outboard box any more. I know I can load external IRs of acoustic guitars onto my Quad Cortex. I'm pretty sure that Helix and all the others allow you to do the same. The Aura and the other boxes are essentially just doing the same thing as an IR.

I do find it slightly ironic that the most natural (in my opinion) amplified sound you can get from an acoustic guitar is the *least* natural in terms of how it works - the most horrible-sounding pickup type driving a total ‘virtual’ sound, basically - it has next to nothing to do with the actual sound of the guitar itself. And yet that’s what it sounds like to me.

Yes, the Aura is basically just a hardware IR box.

maltingsaudio · April 2023

ICBM said:

crunchman said:

You don't even have to have a specialist outboard box any more. I know I can load external IRs of acoustic guitars onto my Quad Cortex. I'm pretty sure that Helix and all the others allow you to do the same. The Aura and the other boxes are essentially just doing the same thing as an IR.

I do find it slightly ironic that the most natural (in my opinion) amplified sound you can get from an acoustic guitar is the *least* natural in terms of how it works - the most horrible-sounding pickup type driving a total ‘virtual’ sound, basically - it has next to nothing to do with the actual sound of the guitar itself. And yet that’s what it sounds like to me.

Yes, the Aura is basically just a hardware IR box.

I remember a conversation I had with the late Eric Roche , he said unplugged my arse!

FWIW the only pickup I use and would fit in any acoustic is the Headway snake

Jetfire · April 2023

I've got an LR Baggs anthem in my Faith Naked acoustic at the moment and I'll be honest, it doesn't float my boat at all. It's only still in due to the cost of having it installed in the first place Vs having something else to put in. I've also watched a solo artist with one and I wasn't impressed at all. So much so, I'm thinking of getting a new guitar with a decent system in place already. You could say it's the Acoustic itself but I'm not sure it's just that.

The previous Shadow system was just vomit inducing so I'd never refit that ever.

ICBM · April 2023

Jetfire said:

I've got an LR Baggs anthem in my Faith Naked acoustic at the moment and I'll be honest, it doesn't float my boat at all. It's only still in due to the cost of having it installed in the first place Vs having something else to put in. I've also watched a solo artist with one and I wasn't impressed at all. So much so, I'm thinking of getting a new guitar with a decent system in place already. You could say it's the Acoustic itself but I'm not sure it's just that.

The previous Shadow system was just vomit inducing so I'd never refit that ever.

The way to solve this is to give up on the idea of getting the final sound out of the guitar itself. You don't want 'a decent system in place' because there is no such thing - and even if there is, it won't be in ten years.

The solution is the bare minimum pickup which produces a string signal, and *do all the rest with outboard modelling*.

Once you do that, and fit a simple passive piezo undersaddle transducer and an endpin jack, that's it - for ever. The guitar never needs to be altered again. The only thing you need to do after that is change the outboard modelling technology as it improves.

TheBigDipper · May 2023

I've got three guitars with K&K Pure Mini passive pickups fitted (no controls, no preamp on the instruments, no batteries). I plug into either a K&K XLR Preamp or a Fly Rig acoustic - either of them loads the pickups properly and gets a nice natural sound - but as has been previously said, any modeller or IR loader would also work and deliver decent results.

GramP · May 2023

A Trance Audio Amulet is about the best pup you can buy,,, and they are not stupidly expensive.... the Crafter DS2 platform is also very very good, dual source mic and UST.. both need batteries and both have soundhole controls

Jetfire · May 2023

ICBM said:

Jetfire said:

I've got an LR Baggs anthem in my Faith Naked acoustic at the moment and I'll be honest, it doesn't float my boat at all. It's only still in due to the cost of having it installed in the first place Vs having something else to put in. I've also watched a solo artist with one and I wasn't impressed at all. So much so, I'm thinking of getting a new guitar with a decent system in place already. You could say it's the Acoustic itself but I'm not sure it's just that.

The previous Shadow system was just vomit inducing so I'd never refit that ever.

The way to solve this is to give up on the idea of getting the final sound out of the guitar itself. You don't want 'a decent system in place' because there is no such thing - and even if there is, it won't be in ten years.

The solution is the bare minimum pickup which produces a string signal, and *do all the rest with outboard modelling*.

Once you do that, and fit a simple passive piezo undersaddle transducer and an endpin jack, that's it - for ever. The guitar never needs to be altered again. The only thing you need to do after that is change the outboard modelling technology as it improves.

Does this go back to the recommendation you have given before for the Zoom AC pedal? Or have we moved on since that?

ICBM · May 2023

Jetfire said:

Does this go back to the recommendation you have given before for the Zoom AC pedal? Or have we moved on since that?

The Zoom is actually pretty good, but the Fishman Aura Spectrum is probably the best-sounding overall. I found it quite fussy to set up through an unfamiliar PA though - it could sound either great or a bit odd - so I’m now using a Boss AD-8, which doesn’t sound quite as good even at its best, but is much less fussy and works well enough.

Funkfingers · May 2023

Jetfire said:

I've got an LR Baggs Anthem in my Faith Naked acoustic at the moment and, I'll be honest, it doesn't float my boat at all.

I briefly had the Anthem SL "economy" model. My objection to it was the absence of a proper balance control to crossfade between the Element UST and Lyric microphone.

I detest all UST devices.

I sold the Element SL and replaced it with a Lyric internal mic. Obviously, this lacks the sonic purity of a valve-powered ribbon microphone on a shock-proof stand but it gets my racket into the DAW.

•

My musical collaborator has one of the expensive Taylor electro-acoustic guitars with their Expression system. Plug in. Sounds like an acoustic guitar. It is easy to understand why a lot of stage performers like them.

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I take ICBM's point about IR modelling but you might as well trigger that from an electric guitar with a Fishman Powerbridge.

Funkfingers · May 2023

ICBM said:
External mics are great. Internal ones just cause feedback problems and sound odd because they're picking up a sound you never normally hear from outside the guitar.

Distinction should be made between the condenser-mic-on-a-gooseneck efforts found on, say, the Fishman Rare Earth Blend soundhole pickup and the PZM-like L. R. Baggs Lyric.

Tommy Emmanuel uses a combination of UST with a strong dash of internal condenser mic. He manages to make that combination sound good without resorting to IR jiggerypokery.

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Acoustic pickup recommendation

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