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Posts: 51
Location: Hot Springs, Arkansas | Since the conversation seems to have drifted to PU's, I thought I'd open that as a topic. I read recently that James Taylor uses LR Baggs pickups in his Olson guitars. I don't know much about them, are they piezo crystal or magnetic (I would guess crystals). Does anyone know how the Baggs sound and can they be installed in Ovations? (It was interesting, too, that the same article said that JT prefers Adamas Phos. Bronze Light strings for his sound!) |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | I believe that the Baggs pickup is affixed to the UNDERSIDE of the guitar top under the saddle. I had once thought of possibly putting one on my SlotHead, but it would be virtually impossible to get in there to install it. |
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Posts: 15678
Location: SoCal | Cliff, does that mean there's no access panel in the back of your slothead's body? I wonder how Ovation thought repairs could be done? |
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Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Apparantly Baggs designed his I-Beam transducer for James Taylor. It attaches to the bridge-plate, so as Cliff said, will not work with Ovation's Quintad/A bracing, regardless of lack of access. Baggs claim that the I-beam is neither piezo nor magnetic, but is based on an ultra-sonic principle. The blurb makes some comparison to car alarms. I think Baggs makes great gear, I'm a big fan of the Para-acoustic DI & the LB6 pickup, so I was looking forward to trying the I-Beam. I was very disapointed. Although the I-Beam almost sounds like a good condenser mike, it feeds back way too early. Unless you can afford James Taylor's enginneer & sound system, or you play at very low levels, leave well alone. The LB6 is very similar to the Thinline pickup used in some Ovation models & the Baggs Ribbon transducer is excellent. Both of these would work in an Ovation
[ June 11, 2002: Message edited by: Paul Templeman ] |
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Location: NJ | No Paul, there is no access panel.
That's why I'm having such a dilemma trying to see if there maybe some kind of number on the bottom side of the top or on the braces.
I had also thought about the possibility of a Highlander, which would go in through the hole for the endpin, but the wooden endpin on my SlotHead is GLUED in place.
I guess at that time when the Connecticut Yankees were riding on their carbon euphoria, they felt cocksure that repairs would be out of the question.
"...access panel?...we don' need no stinkin' access panel!!...." |
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Location: Scotland | Cliff, I'd forget about an endpin jack, you wouldn't be able to tighten it properly without access inside, now that I think about it the highlander pre-amp endpin has threads designed to cut ibto the endblock wood, so it wouldn't work. It would be possible to install a standard jack by using the old wire technique. I've had to do this a few times working on ES335-style guitars. Drill a hole for the jack in the bowl, install the pickup & bring the wire through one of the bigger soundholes and solder it to the jack socket. Then pass a long piece of stiff-ish wire into the guitar from the new jack hole & out through the soundhole. Thread the jack-socket onto the wire, put a kink in the wire behind the socket & pull it imto the new hole, have the washer & nut ready, remove the pulling wire & away you go. It's a pain in the ass but it will work.
Paul
[ June 12, 2002: Message edited by: Paul Templeman ] |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Of course if you do all that you loose the lovely turned walnut endpin.
That was the pita with the Adamas slot acoustics and why I couldn't find the number in mine either. The slots with electrics had a door on the lower bout, where it rests on your knee. From there you could get inside and the battery was mounted on the back of the door.
Now if there is anyone who needs a replacement door, I have an extra one.
Back to the Pickup point, we're at the ice cream question again. Fishman, Baggs, Sunrise, Highlander and all this generation of aftermarket items. It is pretty clear that there are two (if not more) levels here. The first level, The old stick on transducers, like the BB and others that aren't very good, and then the next generation that I mentioned before. These are much better in reproducing tone, you just need to pick your flavor. |
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June 2002
Posts: 123
Location: Pensacola,FL | Not having been here long, I don't know if anyone has mentioned this or not. Has anyone ever tried a "Mini-Flex" in their Ovation and what were the results if you have?
www.acousticon.com/donnell.htm
[ June 12, 2002: Message edited by: OGL1 ] :)
[ June 12, 2002: Message edited by: OGL1 ] |
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Location: NJ | It'll stay acoustic.
That IS what they make microphones for anyway,
isn't it? |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | I personally hate internal mikes. The feedback threshold is way too low, the difference between an OK sound & a terrible one can be a couple of mm in any direction, so placement is crucial. With any instrument, not just guitar, the sound "develops" several feet away. Close miking can sound unnatural, internal miking exagerates it even further. THe Ovation Collector's edition which had a mini-mike mounted on the bridge outside the guitar was a good compromise. That was a cool idea, I'm surprised it didn't go further. The one I tried worked really well.
Paul
[ June 12, 2002: Message edited by: Paul Templeman ] |
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June 2002
Posts: 123
Location: Pensacola,FL | I agree Paul. While a condensor mike is a better choice over a "bubblegum" stick on transducer they
are extremely touchy and very difficult to place "just right" (and then if a case gets dropped/kicked/bumped the possibility of an unhappy camper with a "bad sounding" instrument arises). By playing "acoustic" into a mic the problem becomes one of adjustment at the soundboard rather than internal tweeking. |
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Acoustic Pickups
