LPguitarman Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Hi guys & gals, Never posted in this forum before, always in the Les Paul forum. What would you recommend for an acoustic guitar pickup. Seymore Duncan? Dimarzio? Do sound hole pickups require a pre-amp, or do they plug directly into the guitar amplifier? Thanks for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Player Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Hey LP glad to have you check out the acoustic section.... As far as single source pickups go, my personal favorite is the K & K mini western pickup. It is a soundboard transducer style with 3 small pickups that are installed on the bridgeplate. From what I hear, the install is pretty straight forward and the cost is very reasonable. I know personally you can buy the pickup and have it installed all for under $200. I have two, one in my Gibson Advanced Jumbo and one in my LG1. Both make my guitars sound exactly like my guitars when unplugged, but only louder when plugged in. Another nice part is they are very non invasive... no holes need to be drilled unless your endpin hole needs to be bigger, no battery on the inside of the guitar as these are passive (but very hot) pickups. You may want to use an external preamp like a LR Baggs PARA DI. I have one but find mostly when running my guitars into my Genz Benz Shenendoah 200 Watt acoustic amp, I don't need the preamp connected. If you don't like soundboard transducer type pickups, there are many Under Saddle types like Highlander that are very good. I have a Highlander that was installed in my Taylor back in 1994. It is very nice but does have that "Quack" that UST's are known for. When it dies, I will be replacing it with a K & K unless something better is out there. Many people like a "Dual source" type pickup which could be a combination of a K & K mini and a small microphone in the soundhole. I have never tried one of those so I can't speak to how good they sound but those that use the dual source seem to really like them. Maybe if I played out more, I would look into that, but I only need one source for my type of playing..... (at home for the cat!) Here is a link to the K & K website: http://www.kksound.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 This question is an endless conundrum. I think the K&K is a brilliant concept, and bypasses all the undersaddle hassle of having to change out bone saddles for Tusq etc to get balance right, yadda yadda yadda. I currently have a Fishman Acoustic Matrix Natural II in my SJ200 (okay pickup, but nothing special...very sensitive to anything other than 100% positive playing with perfect fretting pressure, otherwise you get a "YOINKZZZZZZZ" sound as if a gigantic finger was descending over the stage accompanied by a booming voice announcing to the world that you have fret buzz due to a fingering error. My Hummingbird has an LR Baggs Element in it, factory fitted, which sounds surprisingly good-the best of all the UST pickups I've used in my 16yrs of playing. My Guild is currently completely acoustic and doesn't have a pickup in it, but I plan to put a K&K in it soon and see how I fare. I am confident I'll enjoy it, and I have heard they are very well suited to Rosewood OM sized guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drathbun Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 The K&K gets a lot of raves, but I have to put in a word for the LRBaggs Active iBeam SBT. This pickup is the most natural sounding acoustic pickup I've experience, including the K&K and the Taylor ES. I've put the iBeam in four different guitars all with great results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPguitarman Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 I saw some sound hole "Woody" pickups on Guitar Center.com. Can anyone answer my original question about those? Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drathbun Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 I saw some sound hole "Woody" pickups on Guitar Center.com. Can anyone answer my original question about those? Thanks again. The soundhole pickups you mention like the "woody" (Dean Markelay) are magnetic pickups. You get a very metallic, electric sound from them. If that's what you want, they are cheap and easy to install and remove. They don't require a pre-amp as they are very similar to the pickups in your electric guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Player Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Your plugged in sound will not be like your unplugged sound with a soundhole pickup like you mention. If all you want to do is be louder, but not necessarily great sounding, a soundhole woody will do that. A preamp might help the tone a bit as you can adjust the low, mid and high a bit, but really, they are pretty much a waste of $$$ if your looking for a great plugged in acoustic tone. Obviously a good amp helps all pickups, but I have played a guitar with a woody through my Genz Benz Shenendoah (which is a great acoustic amp) and it still sounded like poo..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drathbun Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 What IS the sound of two poo clapping? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPguitarman Posted June 11, 2009 Author Share Posted June 11, 2009 Thanks drathbun & Taylor Player. Those were the answers I was looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aceman199 Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 hey LP man, My two cents is no matter what you get, you're not going to get it to sound like an acoustic because basically if you buy a high quality pickup that does exactly what it is designed to do, you'll be getting one of three things: 1. An undersaddle transducer like a fishman matrix or baggs element that will reproduce what the saddle of your guitar hears. 2. A Sound board transducer (like the K&K or the Maton pickups (Tommy Emmanuel's guitars) or part of the Taylor Expression systems) which will reproduce exactly what your sound board or bridge plate hears. 3. A magnetic soundhole pickup like the Baggs M1, or those Duncan's that you were talking about. They will pick up the vibrations of the strings just like the coils on your les paul. Now, all of these sounds make up what we hear when we play acoustic, including the sound waves moving the air which a microphone picks up. You're not goign to get that sound unless you have a great microphone set up, but then it'll feed back. It is about having the right combination of all of the options with the right effects including processing like with the Fishman Aura, reverb, EQ and chorus, and possibly some mic blended in to get a good feedback resistant sound that is tolerable. It is really a lesser of the evils kinda thing. With that said, has anyone noticed that the gypsy jazz guys do not use pickups but use microphones instead? They are Audio technica clip on mics that they put in the soundhole. Call me crazy but I think they sound awfully good.... Here's a link.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoyt Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 I use a Dean Markley soundhole pickup at times, played through a Vox AC15. I think it sounds very good -- yes more electric than an undersaddle pickup, but good. I can even use fuzz, distortion, etc. with it, producing a convincing sound. My biggest problem is that I like to mic the quitar and I think the soundhole chunk of wood degrades the acoustic sound by getting in the way. But, it is still usable at time and can give the pure acoustic sound some guts. I've had the K&K in a couple of guitars, and have one in my Weber Mandola. They sound very natural to me and one day I will probably put one in my J45 VOS. You can pick them up cheaply off ebay. About all that can go wrong is a chord or plug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterGibs Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 I'll say only that: L.R. Baggs M1 Notning more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.