kebob

I bought a Breedlove Oregon-made limited run 25th anniversary model of their CE model couple years ago -- great small-bodied OM guitar, especially for finger picking. Myrtlewood back/sides and cedar top. I have martins, Gibsons, Larrivees and it holds its own in the stable. Craftsmanship is flawless.

Can you remove the trace amulet system without damaging the guitar?

Let me know if you get around to removing the Aura. I'm curious if it's an easy job. Given the horrid battery life, I'd opt for something else if the unit didn't come installed.

Alright -- messed with the trim pot. Frankly, I'm not sure if I fixed anything or if I just messed with the settings enough, but I am getting some better tone. What a pain the rear the trim pot is -- My eyes are shot, so when trying to adjust a recessed screw with a jeweler's screwdriver inside a soundhole, it's a chore. Making matters worse is the screw is white, I couldn't even tell what kind of screwdriver I needed (flathead or phillips). I THINK I turned the screw. The battery light was blinking constantly before adjustment. A good turn (I think) and the light went off. The tone seemed less bassy/honky if that makes sense. Fussed with the EQ and I'm satisfied now. The trim pot adjustment could be made a tad more user friendly, Fishman. Thanks for all the input, fellas.

I've read about many guitarists raving about the K&K. I had two of them installed in two different Martin guitars and was highly dissatisfied with both results -- way too mid-rangy honky for me. I tried the K&K preamp to go with them -- no better results. I sold one of the guitars and took the K&K out of the other. I know I'm in the minority regarding the K&K as most guitarists have good experiences with them.

Reading up on the input trim pot -- it seems this pot is for maximizing input signal strength, not tonal shaping. Haven't adjusted it yet, but will this afternoon and see what happens.

Thanks for the insight MOP, I'm heading in that direction.

I have an Ellipse Blend on a small bodied Martin and I like that pickup much better than this Aura. Blending the Aura images on this pickup sounds terrible to me. Anything more than 10-15 percent is particularly bad.

Interesting. I see where it's located. I'll look into this further.

Not that I know of -- the Aura has tons of bells and whistles on it -- actually, too many for my liking. I like simplicity with my pickups and I can EQ on an external preamp/board if needed.

I have no doubt the Trance system is excellent, but I have no one in the area with in experience in installing it, so that's a deal breaker for me. Good to know about the weight -- wonder how much the Aura system adds to it.

I love my J200 but have been frustrated with the Fishman Ellipse Aura pickup that came factory installed. It's a fairly high-end pickup, but I cannot dial in a good tone from it. I have futzed around with it for a year now and just am not happy with it. On the other hand, the Baggs Element that came with my Hummingbird I'm very satisfied with and it has much less bells and whistles. One other thing: I don't like the weight the Aura pickup adds to the J200. My J200 is feels significantly heavier than my Hummingbird -- is this typical? Thought maple was a lightweight wood like mahogany... Anyway, has anyone every uninstalled an aura pickup -- and how is easy is it? I'm thinking seriously about going simpler and putting in an element. Your thoughts...

Great job Steve -- nice flatpicking. Enjoyed that tune and the J-45 suits that tune very well.

Thanks Jimi -- and steal away! I use harp on quite a few tunes -- typically where a guitar solo would be. Tends to go pretty well. Unfortunately, I forgot to hit "record" for much of the night and failed to get our best stuff -- another time, I guess. Since we're just starting out, I wanted a few demo clips up for prospective gigs. Play on brotha :)

How cool is that? Playing music with your son -- and a great job to boot!

Here's a link to my acoustic duo playing a sampling of tunes. Using my J-200 through a Fishman Soloamp...

As you wish.

Kevin. I play and she sings. I play in a full band and this is a side project of mine. Always wanted to do an acoustic thing. We're just startin' out.

Ah, I wondered about those recorders -- Tascam sells a similar unit as well. We use a small Yamaha board -- I may have to pick one of those up at some point. The sound quality is quite good. Thanks for the info.

Thanks JImi -- yours is a nice rendition of Bruce. What do you use to record to soundcloud? I'm new to recording myself. Would like to improve the quality a little.

Goofing around with my acoustic duo partner at practice tonight... our take on a Springsteen tune -- playing my J-100xtra and harmonica flat into my ipad. https://soundcloud.com/natasha-and-kevin/atlantic-city

Each brand has overrated models, but not sure one can honestly say an entire brand is overrated. I owned a Taylor 814ce tobacco burst. It was gorgeous and it sounded phenomenal unplugged. I traded it because I was dissatisfied with it's built-in electronics (Expression System). An underrated model in the Martin line up for me is the SWOMGT (smartwood OM gloss top). One can find them used for around $800 and they are killer deals. Epiphone does provide good value for the money, both electric and acoustic. My philosophy in buying guitars has mostly been to buy quality guitars without over-the-top bling (such as D-28 or J-45 models). With bling comes higher prices, then you may be getting into territory where the cost/benefit doesn't add up for me. Then again -- I bought a SJ-200 .

Are you certain? -- I was thinking Elmer's glue would do the trick.

Are you near a guitar tech? That's where I would take it. I'm sure it's just a matter of squeezing some adhesive under there to make it re-bond to the top. But I would take it to a tech and have them do it.