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Big Blue


Buc McMaster

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With the J-45 in the rear view mirror, the big blue Hummingbird is the one and only acoustic...........just a terrific example of a Gibson 6-string.  Plays perfectly, warm and airy, strong and punchy when necessary............I made the right choice.  Playing open mic stages again and am reminded that sound systems at such events are a crap shoot.........good, bad, ugly and some totally intolerable.  The K&K transducer pickup does not do well in such situations and to remedy this I have once again installed a Sunrise, the big momma of sound hole pickups.  Totally predictable sound that will deliver in pretty much any circumstance, and while I still am not a huge fan of magnetics, nothing else is as reliable across varying sound systems.  Back in the saddle again......!

g2cWanB.jpg

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12 minutes ago, Buc McMaster said:

With the J-45 in the rear view mirror, the big blue Hummingbird is the one and only acoustic...........just a terrific example of a Gibson 6-string.  Plays perfectly, warm and airy, strong and punchy when necessary............I made the right choice.  Playing open mic stages again and am reminded that sound systems at such events are a crap shoot.........good, bad, ugly and some totally intolerable.  The K&K transducer pickup does not do well in such situations and to remedy this I have once again installed a Sunrise, the big momma of sound hole pickups.  Totally predictable sound that will deliver in pretty much any circumstance, and while I still am not a huge fan of magnetics, nothing else is as reliable across varying sound systems.  Back in the saddle again......!

g2cWanB.jpg

That's a sweet guitar..... too bad the strings are on backwards!

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I have never really thought about buying a blue guitar.  I always figured me owning something like that would be like putting silk undies on a goat.  

I have lived on a steady diet of soundhole pickups though since the 1960s when about the only game in town was the Dearmonds.  I still have a couple laying around having only had to change out the cables.  I do like the Sunrsie pickups though.  Probably the best that is in current production.  But the title of "Big Momma" of the breed remains the Dimarzio DP-139 Acoustic Reference.  Hands down the  best  pickup to ever be slapped across a soundhole.   But as always seems to happen, me liking something tends to be the kiss of death as it was discontinued.  The only way to score one these days is to find one used and that ain't easy as nobody seems to be wanting to part with one.

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10 minutes ago, zombywoof said:

I have never really thought about buying a blue guitar.  I always figured me owning something like that would be like putting silk undies on a goat.  

 

"...silk undies on a goat."   Why does that sound like you're ready to fly an airplane into a building?

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11 hours ago, Buc McMaster said:

Well that's a cute little guitar, Anne..........yours?

Yep, it’s a Rainsong Parlor that does what it’s supposed to, which is to render the weather forecast meaningless, to let me forget about it when left in a cold or hot vehicle, to leave on a stand in winter, etc and so forth…

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44 minutes ago, AnneS said:

Yep, it’s a Rainsong Parlor that does what it’s supposed to, which is to render the weather forecast meaningless, to let me forget about it when left in a cold or hot vehicle, to leave on a stand in winter, etc and so forth…

I always found it ironic that Rainsong guitars are made in "Woodenville" Washington!

(Kinda like the shaver company named "Harry's")

Still, I like it.... maybe one day I'll get to play it!

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Buc, you know how much I love Big Blue-such a beautiful guitar. And you also know how much I love Sunrise pickups since you introduced me to them! 
 

The Sunrise can’t be beat, for my style and ears at least. The unit you passed on to me has done hundreds of shows now and I’ve never even thought about any other pickups since putting it in. Great choice for Big Blue methinks!

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Good to hear the Sunrise is doing the job for you still!  It's one of those "no-brainer" pickups that has stood the test.  Certainly there are more acoustically accurate choices out there, but for a get-the-job-done-anywhere pickup they are top shelf.

(Do you use any kind of preamp with yours?  Running a Red Eye with mine, the treble control and boost functions being quite handy.  A fancy preamp with tons of tone control just doesn't make sense when plugging into widely varying house systems that often defeat anything done outboard.)

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20 hours ago, Buc McMaster said:

Good to hear the Sunrise is doing the job for you still!  It's one of those "no-brainer" pickups that has stood the test.  Certainly there are more acoustically accurate choices out there, but for a get-the-job-done-anywhere pickup they are top shelf.

(Do you use any kind of preamp with yours?  Running a Red Eye with mine, the treble control and boost functions being quite handy.  A fancy preamp with tons of tone control just doesn't make sense when plugging into widely varying house systems that often defeat anything done outboard.)

I run mine into the pre that has been my touring “Swiss Army Knife” for the last few years, a Boss AD10. I run from there into my AER Compact 60 Mk4, which does double duty for vocals too if I’m playing a small/medium sized venue, and for anything over 200 capacity I go into the house rig. I sometimes use the house system for smaller venues but if I can get it done with the AER alone I’d always rather go that way as I know how I want it all to sound, and the amp is set up for exactly that. The dispersion and projection on those little amps are incredible, and they are so consistent from room to room. 
 

I’ve run through a borrowed Red Eye before and really loved it with my K&K equipped ‘67 J45. I’ll have to try one with the Sunrise, I’m always keen to try different stuff. Having said that, the AD10 is hard to beat-a real corker of a pre!

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8 hours ago, rbpicker said:

Wondering if the big footprint of the Sunrise pickup negatively impacts the unplugged sound (or volume).  I’d like to try one, but don’t play out often enough to justify the price.

thanks,

rb

Hey RB, I have Sunrises in my SJ200 and Maple AJ as permanent installs, I’ve not noticed any detrimental effect to the unplugged tone or volume of either guitar and have recorded extensively with both guitars since installing the pickups a few years ago. Both sound great under a mic, and indistinguishable from how they sounded without the pickups installed. 
 

The “ears” of the mounting clamps of the Sunrise are flexible in a specific way, so the top is never vice-clamped or overtorqued by the pickup mounting. They snug up just enough to keep the pickup locked in place. 
 

Oddly, for a relatively heavy pickup with a large footprint, I find the Sunrise has less detrimental effect on unplugged tone/volume than the Takamine Tri-Ax (basically an M1A in black) that I owned a few years back. I’m not sure why that is, but I’m happy about it!
 

The Sunrise is considerably better sounding than the Tri-Ax/M1A in my opinion. For my style of playing, I’ve never found a pickup that I like better than the Sunrise. It’s just “right” to me, I can’t describe it in any other way. It needs a decent pre and some EQ to get the very best from it, but that “very best” is outstanding.

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