Nanomag acoustic pickup.

[rednefceleb]

I have a question regarding the "Nanomag" acoustic pickup being used by Epiphone on their Les Paul using Probucker pickups. Does anyone have a live opinion on how it sounds? Does it resemble an acoustic guitar somewhat...or a lot? Thank you very much.

[Gordy01]

I own an Ultra 2, with the Nanomag in it. The kind of sound you get from it really depends a lot on what kind of amp you play it through.

Into a PA system, which is pretty bland as far as settings go, it sounds kinda like a cross between a Tele and an acoustic.

 

The controls on the rear of the guitar are a treble, bass, and gain control. The Nanaomag is also controlled by the Master Tone on the front of the guitar. There is quite a bit of variance in the tones you can get from them.

[rednefceleb]

Thanks you guys for the info. Pete R. for the live sound demo. I heard that the Nanomag was having 'problems'. I cannot hear them. I (was) going to buy a Les Paul Tribute Plus but this will also give me an acoustic guitar as well. For a few dollars more it's highly worth it. I will need another amp (or two). I love things to give me reasons to buy more amps.

[antwhi2001]

If you're in the market for another amp check out the Fender Acoustaconic 150 combo. Amazingly small and light for a 2x75 watt amp. You get 2 channels. Put the nano output through the one with a range of filters designed for acoustic guitar sounds. The other is only a basic solid state amp channel, but if you put the humbucker output through there you can add an FX loop (I use Boss ME70 with built in digital amp models).

 

The other option, if you don't like a solid state option for your humbucker signal, is to take the nano output to an acoustic simulator stompbox and then on to the PA. The stompbox helps tweak the tone to something very very close to a real acoustic with a piezo.

 

Either way, not only can you switch effortlessly between acoustic and electric, you can blend the 2 when playing chords, so you can get a crunchy humbucker chord sound with a subtle acoustic sound in the background. This is a great option for live work. Having opened my Ultra 339 up, I can see why the technology is still expensive, there's a lot of complicated and delicate wiring involved.

[antwhi2001]

It's an acoustic sound from a semi-acoustic guitar, and it doesn't quite have the warmth and subtlety of tone a real acoustic guitar has.

 

A pedal like the Boss/Behringer acoustic simulator has a range of digital filters which get it closer. In particular: Four simulation modes: Standard, Jumbo, Enhanced, and Piezo-equipped, and Top and Body knobs for fine-tuning the virtual-body resonance. Similar functionality is built into Fender Acoustasonic amps too.

 

By using one or the other I get a sound that people agree passes for a "real" acoustic. If you're using an Epi nano-equipped guitar for acoustic sounds at gigs, the Behringer pedal is dead cheap and will give you a better sound going through a P.A.