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L.R. Baggs Anthem


Jim Wilson

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They sound excellent but it’s a lot of hardware to put in a guitar...I’d rather have a relatively minimal onboard system and do the processing outboard, personally speaking,

 

I’ve had great results with the Fishman Matrix Infinity, sounds great and jives very well with my Aura 16 pre and/or my Boss AD10. I have them in several guitars, I remove the soundhole volume and tone wheel and run them au naturel.

 

Having said that, I have a K&K in my J45 and Hummingbird 12 string, which are great pickups. My AJ doesn’t like undersaddles and is too lightly built for an SBT without feedback hell, so very much looking forward to installing a Sunrise soundhole mag that is currently on the way from another forum member...the quest never ends!

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Thanks, Jinder. So it is just the added weight that you don't care for about the Anthem?

 

It’s more about the sheer volume of “stuff” that the Anthem adds to the top of the guitar-the Element UST, the Lyric mic, the soundhole blending module etc...it’s all relatively lightweight, but it just seems like a lot of kit in a lot of places under the hood, so to speak. Potential for rattles or component resonance would be a concern for me.

 

I do like Baggs gear though, I had a Martin 00DB Jeff Tweedy with a Lyric in it a couple of years ago that sounded lovely plugged in. VERY top sensitive but just the right side of feedback prone. I still miss that guitar!

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An Anthem came with my J100 Walnut when I bought it new. Sounded fine, but after about 8-9 months I started getting knocking noises whenever the guitar was plugged in and there was any kind of movement from the cable. It wasn't a bad cable. Sometimes the noises were pretty loud. At times I couldn't move the guitar any amount without getting some kind of noise. Other times, it took a lot of moving to get any noises. Impossible to use it at a gig....Anyway, I pulled it out and replaced it with a K & K Pure Mini. Real satisfied with it.........Wish the Anthem had survived, but the K & K is just fine.

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I had one in my 2016 SJ200

 

It did sound very good, the mic/element blend was very versatile. BUT... Mine turned into a rattle trap within about a year. in fact from day 1, there would always be some sort of unwanted "sound" that I heard when certain notes were played. Annoying is an understatement. As the controls wore in it got exponentially worse, until it reached the point of nearly driving me insane. I removed it, and installed a fishman Infinity. (which is what I have in 2 other acoustics, so I know those work.) That solved the problem entirely. My J200 has never made another sound beyond the notes I'm playing. My advice to you is, don't do it. I don't believe what I had was an isolated issue.

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An Anthem came with my J100 Walnut when I bought it new. Sounded fine, but after about 8-9 months I started getting knocking noises whenever the guitar was plugged in and there was any kind of movement from the cable. It wasn't a bad cable. Sometimes the noises were pretty loud. At times I couldn't move the guitar any amount without getting some kind of noise. Other times, it took a lot of moving to get any noises. Impossible to use it at a gig....Anyway, I pulled it out and replaced it with a K & K Pure Mini. Real satisfied with it.........Wish the Anthem had survived, but the K & K is just fine.

 

 

Have made the same Observation with an Anthem in a quite new SJ200 I have bought some months ago. Besides the fact that the glue which should hold the volume/tone unit at the soundhole was not working and I had ro re-fix it with some "heavy duty double side tape" the Anthem makes strange, not reproducable noise as "MissouriPicker" describes The pickup system works, the sound is very good (SJ200 -> Radial DI -> X32 Mixer -> PA), but the random noise limits the use to the rehearsal room - or the use of the microphone in front of the guitar instead of the pickup [unsure] which always sounds better but is not very practicable in reality . I have never had any problems with VTC systems. Has anyone an idea where the noise could come from? Contact problems, the microphone part of the Anthem? I would try to fix it it possible. Thank you for your answers!

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Have made the same Observation with an Anthem in a quite new SJ200 I have bought some months ago. Besides the fact that the glue which should hold the volume/tone unit at the soundhole was not working and I had ro re-fix it with some "heavy duty double side tape" the Anthem makes strange, not reproducable noise as "MissouriPicker" describes The pickup system works, the sound is very good (SJ200 -> Radial DI -> X32 Mixer -> PA), but the random noise limits the use to the rehearsal room - or the use of the microphone in front of the guitar instead of the pickup [unsure] which always sounds better but is not very practicable in reality . I have never had any problems with VTC systems. Has anyone an idea where the noise could come from? Contact problems, the microphone part of the Anthem? I would try to fix it it possible. Thank you for your answers!

 

Took my Anthem to the guitar tech at GC. He thought it might be the placement of the internal mic or a bad connection to the controls, but it wasn't. Did it with four different cables that he used. I don't know if he was capable of delving deeper into it or not. I was just fed-up with not being able to use my J100 at gigs. They offered to fix it through LR Baggs or replace it. Told them I didn't have the patience for any more bullshit and gave them a litany on all the money I've spent there over the years, so they gave me a gift card for $150 along with a K & K Pure Mini (I installed the mini). I'm satisfied with it. The K & K is pretty decent for a passive pickup. Has a considerably strong signal for being passive. Can always use a DI if I need it. ..........In contrast, I've had no issue with the other LR Baggs pickups I've had. Just recently put a Baggs M1A in another guitar. Anyway, I think Baggs typically makes good stuff.

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I had one installed in my bird when I got it. I did like the mic tone, but the piezo was unusable. I'm pretty sure it was either bad luck or faulty installation. There was a woofy thing going on even unplugged. Long story short and for an unrelated reason, I had to turn the guitar back in and am now on bird #2 and loving it. I am going two routes to record. External mic (Ear Trumpet Labs Myrtle coming in this week) most likely the Matrix Mic Blend version of the one Jinder was talking about.

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Took my Anthem to the guitar tech at GC. He thought it might be the placement of the internal mic or a bad connection to the controls, but it wasn't. Did it with four different cables that he used. I don't know if he was capable of delving deeper into it or not. I was just fed-up with not being able to use my J100 at gigs. They offered to fix it through LR Baggs or replace it. Told them I didn't have the patience for any more bullshit and gave them a litany on all the money I've spent there over the years, so they gave me a gift card for $150 along with a K & K Pure Mini (I installed the mini). I'm satisfied with it. The K & K is pretty decent for a passive pickup. Has a considerably strong signal for being passive. Can always use a DI if I need it. ..........In contrast, I've had no issue with the other LR Baggs pickups I've had. Just recently put a Baggs M1A in another guitar. Anyway, I think Baggs typically makes good stuff.

 

Thank you for the information! I will check the Anthem system again as I see no chance to get it fixed by any Gibson Service in Europe, do not want to send my nice SJ200 through the world. Maybe I find a loose connection or anything else. Or maybe L.R.Baggs offers more service, did not check this up to now. As you write - L.R.Baggs pickups normally work very reliable. The first one I had was in a Seagull S6 (with 2 9V blocks - heavy as a brick) which was doing the Job for > 15 years.

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I believe y'all got me convinced.....I'll go with the Fishman Infinity. Gracias!

 

You won’t regret it! Wonderful pickup and gives you loads of scope for outboard processing if you want to explore the Aura system Tonedexter etc. Sounds great straight into anything with minimal EQ too!

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You won’t regret it! Wonderful pickup and gives you loads of scope for outboard processing if you want to explore the Aura system Tonedexter etc. Sounds great straight into anything with minimal EQ too!

 

Jinder, Thomann has a "wide" and a "narrow" Version of the Infinity System. Which one is right? Does it fit to the drilled hole which has been made by Gibson for the Anthem pickup?

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Jinder, Thomann has a "wide" and a "narrow" Version of the Infinity System. Which one is right? Does it fit to the drilled hole which has been made by Gibson for the Anthem pickup?

 

it depends on your bridge saddle, the wide one if you have the wider one of course.

 

but at the end of the day it doesn't matter the thin one works with the wider bridge saddle

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Wide for any post-1988 Bozeman built Gibsons-the narrow version is for Martin style thin saddles.

 

The thin version will work in your guitar as KB noted (I used a thin one in my old SJ200 for years!) but the wide version offers the fullest band of contact between saddle>pickup>bridge, which is what I use in all my Matrix Infinity equipped Gibsons.

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And yep the piezo wire will fit the pre-drilled bridge slot hole already in the guitar-it’s a simple change. I remove the soundhole volume/tone module in all of mine-you just flip the two small dip switches on the endpin preamp PCB and remove the connector...even less weight etc in the guitar!

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Thanks, Jinder. My luthier said to get the wide one. Personally, I like having the on-board controls....but to each his ownself.

 

The onboard controls do work well and are useful-I totally understand why you’d want to keep them. I just like the plug’n’play aspect. Enjoy!

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