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Location: 6 String Ranch | Anyone have experience with one of these? I got another Merrill today, a C-18 and Jim Merrill recommended putting this in it. I was leaning toward a Fishman something.
All comments welcome. |
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Location: Scotland | Bill, everyone I know who has installed an I-Beam has ended up ripping it out. They sound great, totally different to an undersaddle and approaching the sound of a good microphone. But, the feedback threshold for live performance is ridiculously low. Great for coffee-house volume levels, but forget it if you need to crank it or are competeing with other instruments. |
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Location: closely held secret | I've heard the Sunrise are very good. But their 2007 run of 1000 has been sold out. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Thanks Paul
Waskel, this sunrise, is that the one that hangs in the sound hole? I had one of those but they kill the acoustic sound. That's why I was looking for something light that would amplify but not compromise the acousticness of the guitar |
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Location: closely held secret | Well, lately Phil Keaggy's been using the L. R. Baggs Micro Duet (Baggs under-saddle piezo transducer with onboard preamp and internal condenser mic) in his Langejans and his Olson for his concerts. He's pretty picky about sound quality. |
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Location: ms | I`ve been using BAGGS for over 15 years and to me the R T System 11 is the best. The IBeams are all but useless. They just have too much top and body noise. A lot of people love the new Element Active they seem to have too many mids for me. I use a M1 nonactive soundhole a lot and i think there a lot more acoustic than the sunrise but you need a DI for sure. |
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Location: East Tennessee | I put a K & K pure western mini in my 000 Martin. I love the sound but can have some feedback issues.
I am thinking of putting a Fishman Neo D Sound Hole Pickup in another acoustic. Not sure I would like the sound so I might take my guitar to the store and try it before I buy it. I may just get another K & K and buy a feedback buster. |
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Location: Scotland | I've been a big fan of the Sunrise for many years, especially for Weissenborn, but it's an old design and it's starting to show it's age compared to the best of the newer magnetics. If you want to go down the magnetic route the Seymour Duncan MagMic combines a soundhole pickup with an onboard mini condenser mike, each with it's own volume. The other good one is the Baggs M1. Both are smaller than the Sunrise and sound excellent, much better than you'd expect from this type of pickup. Like any magnetic pickup they work best with nickel strings.
GGG, a feedback buster may not be a great deal of help with K&K pickups. The point of a feedback buster is to raise the resonant frequency of the body cavity. Feedback issues with soundboard contact pickups are often made even worse by the other main feedback source, which is top resonance. The only way to deal with that is to turn down, or notch it out with a parametric EQ. |
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Location: Scotland | |
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Location: Warren,Pa. | I just love to sit at your feet and listen to you, Temp. :) |
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Location: NJ | as long as he keeps his shoes on . . . |
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Location: closely held secret | ...and doesn't pitch forward suddenly. |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | 3'7" is the normal maximum range for projectile vomit, but you have to factor in body length from ass to mouth and add that for total safety. |
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Location: Nashville TN. | I have Fishman Acoustic matrix in my Martin and my Guild. I had no problems. Sounds good no feedback. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | I'd use the Fishman Matrix but it's a through saddle and that installation will be very tricky. I also don't want to hang anything in the sound hole, that kills the sound acoustically. It seems to be between the I Beam and K&K western mini.
Paul, you got an opinion on the K&K?
It really seems to come down to the undersaddle is the best sound electrically and doesn't compromise the acoustic sound. Decisions, decisions..... |
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Location: Scotland | Through saddle? Bummer. Very tricky pickup installation and still have it look good.
Any soundboard contact pickup (I-Beam, K&K, Schatten etc) will by it's nature have a significantly lower feedback threshold than an undersaddle or a magnetic. That's the only real disdvantage, so it depends on how loud you need to be. They can sound really good if your're careful and know what your're doing, but personally I'm not prepared to deal with the payoff of much lower usable headroom before feedback. That's why I always come back to the Ovation pickup.
I wouldn't dimiss a good soundhole pickup. Darren has a Baggs M1 belonging to me up at the factory. Feel free to try it out. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | "Fishman RareEarth Blend" soundhole pups are very good.
They have either single coil or H'buckers and a condenser. They have a very narrow profile as well. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Thanks guys. I have one of the Tak (Baggs) soundhole pickups that gets used in conjunction with the cool tube preamp. It sounded good but when I put it on the guitar is just about cut the tone in half. What I really want is this nice acoustic guitar that I can plug in at the Florida house, read about 5% ot the playing time. I'll look at the beam and K&K. I got a couple of others gitters I could try them out on first to see how they work.
Paul, I agree with you, if this was a more full time thing and playing on real stages I'd use the 84, or one of the Adamaii or a Tak. |
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Location: NJ | What's the opinion on Highlander's??? |
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Location: Scotland | The Highlander undersaddle pickup is coaxial piezo cable. Very similar to the Baggs Element. Personally I prefer cable pickups to the Fishman type, not only in terms of tone, but they seem to be less problematic with string-to-string balance. Maybe they're more tolerant of imprecise instalation. The Highlander preamps are good too. The Highlander Magnaphonic is about the only pickup worth considering for a Tri-Cone. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | I've used them on my tricones and they work well. I solved the problem by ordering an I beam, a K&K, and a Fishbreath for a different Collings. Sort it all out later..... |
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| I love the Baggs I- Mix.. Ive found if that Ibeam isnt in the right place you have issues.. Just make sure who puts it in knows what they are doing.. |
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Location: East Tennessee | Anyone tried the Fishman Rare Earth Single Coil?
Magnetic that mounts in the soundhole. Can this type of pickup deliver a decent acoustic tone? |
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Location: Scotland | The Fishman Rare Earth is not actualy a Fishman design. They licensed it from a Scottish luthier called Mike Vanden when it was originally called "Mimesis". I used a Mimesis single coil for many years on one of my slide guitars and it did a good job at the time. The Mimesis/Rare Earth design has been around for over a decade and there are arguably better soundhole pickups available now. I've replaced mine with the Baggs M1. The Baggs is passive and to my ear out-performs the active Rare Earth. Also, the lack of adjustable pole-pieces on the Rare Earth became a major problem to me. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Originally posted by Paul Templeman:
the lack of adjustable pole-pieces on the Rare Earth became a major problem to me. Interesting. |
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Location: East Tennessee | Paul,
Thanks for your insight. I will look at the Baggs M1. I just picked up an old 1114 Folklore and thought I would put another K & K mini in it like I did my Martin 000. But after seeing how much more boomier the Folklore is than the Martin I decided I would either put an under saddle or magnetic in it. |
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OT: Baggs I beam pickup