Gibson J100

[WarmingtonJohn]

What do people think of the L R Baggs iBeam p/u and the Fishman Rare Earth Humbucker active. - any tips ?

[Jinder]

Ibeam is good, but very feedback prone and placement specific. Not a practical choice in my opinion.

 

The Rare Earth Humbucker is much better, but there are a ton of better sounding soundhole pickups out there. My favourite is the Sunrise, but the Seymour Duncan MagMic is a very close second, and a lot less spendy. Great pickup and exceptionally versatile.

 

I love soundhole pickups, I have a Sunrise in my Maple AJ, a MagMic in my SJ100 and a Rare Earth Single Coil in my J180. Each is an excellent fit with their respective guitars, I'd absolutely recommend the MagMic to any SJ100 player.

[QuestionMark]

What do people think of the L R Baggs iBeam p/u and the Fishman Rare Earth Humbucker active. - any tips ?

 

I am a big fan of the Fishman Rare Earth Humbucker sound hole pick up. I own three and move them around to all of my many flat-top guitars, depending on which guitar I am gigging with. But, I should say that in my opinion, no guitar pickup actually captures an acoustic guitar’s tone. They all, in different forms, give an electric version of an acoustic guitar’s sound. So, with this perspective in mind, I choose to use the Rare Earth Humbucker because I like the sound it makes/creates on my acoustic guitars. A warm tone. Plenty of volume if I need it, too, since it’s a magnetic active pickup. To me, it seems more like a P-90 pickup like is on the acoustic/electric Gibson J-160E. Only, it’s not built in to the guitar. And, with leaving the cord dangle from the soundhole, no modification is needed on any of my acoustic guitars when I use it. Plus, it leaves no marks on my guitars when I remove it. And, if I choose to keep it on my guitar when I go to an acoustic jam, I just wrap the input part of the cord in foam taped around the cord and stick it inside the guitar, so it doesn’t knock around the guitar’s insides when playing it acoustic.

 

The Rare Earth Humbucker has been around awhile, but being around awhile doesn’t make it outdated or bad. As a matter of fact, to my ears it’s the most pleasant sounding acoustic pickup, so why change it? But, everyone’s acoustic pickup’s taste’s vary.

 

QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff