Some Pickup Test Trax

[BluesKing777]

I recorded some test tracks of various pickup combinations on my Gibson J45. All eq run flat. No reverbs etc.

(All tracks recorded diect to mixer.computer while the guy next door sounds like he is drilling and cutting his house in half for hours so far. Mic no good with him there!)

 

 

 

https://soundcloud.com/bk7-3/j45-pickups7a

 

 

 

Track info:

 

 

1. Element that came with the J45 (2010 approx).

 

 

2. Element run through Fishman Aura Spectrum DI with J45 image at 50%.

 

 

3. Element run through Fishman Aura Spectrum DI with J45 image at 100%.

 

 

I installed my Fishman Rare Earth Blend pickup in the soundhole of the J45

 

 

4. Pickup set with just the condenser mic on the internal boom.

 

 

5. Pickup set with just the Magnetic pickup

 

 

6. Pickup set with 70% mic and 30% mag pickup.

 

 

7. Mag pickup only but through Aura.

 

 

8. Mag pickup only. (Aura blend turned off, but unit still on).

 

 

Edit: I did a track with my Maton SRS808 direct to my mixer, touch of reverb, all eq flat this is fabulous, not perfect, but phew, the Maton AP5-Pro pickup system comes with just about every new Maton they make now, from te budget to the CustomShop and Tommy Emmanuel's guitar! Just a winner and everyone here in Aust is plinking away plugged straight in as I speak:

 

 

https://soundcloud.com/bk7-3/maton-pickup7c

 

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

[flatbaroque]

Nice test Old Man!

The only one that grated was the standard baggs element.....which i have haha.

 

The fishman aura is a good gadget,

[BluesKing777]

Nice test Old Man!

The only one that grated was the standard baggs element.....which i have haha.

 

The fishman aura is a good gadget,

 

 

Standard Baggs Element straight to amp should be outlawed, but if I went to see an acoustic guitarist/singer at any of the thousands of gigs this very same afternoon, what do you think they would be using? As soon as I hear it, I yell something like:”Play the Doors” and head for the doors...

(Except the smarties here in Aust with new version Maton pickup or Cole Clark pickups!) I don’t suppose there will be any pickup research and development cash for new pickups at Gibby if they are going down the shute?

 

 

BluesKing777.

[blindboygrunt]

Cool test Bk

 

Best for me being the 100% j45 aura setting

 

Al the others had a mixture of good and bad things , some might be better for certain folk playing style some might be worse . But sounded ‘plugged in’

The 100% aura is the only one that comes close to fooling anyone

 

 

What sticks out most is the factory fitted baggs pickup which sounds pants . My j45 predates the baggs partnership and had a fishman but it sounded the same.

Just awful and cheap sounding

 

 

 

The Maton, considering it’s off the shelf plug and play is pretty good , but not so great that I’d be chasing one of them for purchase

[BluesKing777]

Yes, the Element gives you electricity and then you can add gadgetry like Aura or Tonedexters, but on it’s own....phew...awful, but I have sat at a friend’s gig and yep, here it comes, Element straight to PA, even worse than amp! And I was right near the speaker and he kept smiling at me and I...had to move....and later tell him....and he still doesn’t want to speak to me. So, you know....Element Rules, Bro! Etc.

 

I prefer the systems with the internal mic now, like the Maton - it feels more ‘real’ as you are actually playing where the ‘processed’ sounds may have a milisecond of ‘latency’ (very short delay before the sound comes out after you played it).

 

 

But there is always a catch.....feedback if you get too close to a monitor or amp. With the Maton, I can use a soundhole plug...the others I can’t because controls are in the way....

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

[Murph]

Awesome.

 

Thanks for putting in the effort.

[BluesKing777]

Awesome.

 

Thanks for putting in the effort.

 

 

 

Thanks Murph!

 

 

No effort, really.

 

 

 

Hey, not much to do with this, but I had a strange kind of experience in music sounds tonight! I often put the dog in the car and take a walk at this picnic sort of area on a riverbank. It is good at night because it has lights. The better half didn’t want to get out of the car, so dog and I go along the riverbank a ways. As I got out of the car, I could hear music across the river, quite loud and after a few bars, it was obviously a live band playing at a party. And they sounded really, really good! Bass, Drums, Guitar, Vocal..that’s it. I couldn’t see them, or tell which house - a few houses were lit up along there and it is weird for me to hear a band but not see anything at all! So my guess, the guitar was a very clean sound, not the usual distorted thingo, and possibly a semi avoustic archtop type, could be wrong.

 

And if this band weren’t pros, they soon will be, not a mistake in the few songs I heard...one famous one being Freefalling, nothing much like the original but sounded great! When dog and I looked further along the river, there was a group of people with blankets, coolers, drinks...sitting on my side of the river on the grass getting a nice, free concert!

 

I have never heard a note of music anywhere near the place on previous walks....

 

 

BluesKing777.

[Murph]

Man, they must have been freezing..................

 

[Jinder]

Great test, thanks BK!

 

I’m a fan of the Aura (I use the Aura 16 with my Matrix Infinities) but for me it didn’t jive well with the Element in my Dove. I just don’t like the Element I think. It’s a very guitar specific pickup, and sounds harsh and plasticky in any Maple guitar I’ve tried it in. The MI on the other hand sounds great in my SJ200 and Dove.

 

Weirdly, ten years or so ago I had a Hummingbird with an Element in it that sounded great, and sound engineers were always cock-a-hoop about it, telling me it was the best sounding acoustic they’d heard plugged in etc, just run straight into the PA through a Radial DI. I’ve never liked it in any other guitar though. Very odd.