Under the Hood

[duluthdan]

Here are some pics of the JB with the Trance Audio Amulet installed. The first pic is of the stereo pre-amp, which allows you to split the signals at the break-out box and run treble side and bass side into seperate channels on the mixer / PA / amplifier, or what have you. It does give a bit of good control of the balance between highs and lows. The midrange seems to do just fine no matter what I do.

 

The 2nd pic is of the two Amulets, the acoustic "lens" pickups, which are glued with barge cement to the underside of the bridge. The company actually sends you a tube of barge cement along with all the electronics. The cement apparently ensures a good thin bond to the wood, for better sound transfer, and to avoid having these things bouncing around inside.

 

I would love it if other Jackson Browne guitar owners could sneak a peak at where their components were installed. Are your lenses in approximately the same location? This install was done by my luthier in Boulder, Colorado. How's the factory install look?

 

Sound: The jury in my head is still out. I have a Highlander under saddle pickup in a Martin that sounds as good as this, but through a small amp, and my Fishman SA220 (Fishstick) - but it has a lower threshold for feedback - I cross that line sooner. The Trance Audio is fine thru the smaller equipment, but unless I split the signals, and gain that extra control, I really can't see a spectacular difference, other than less propensity to feedback, and I supposse there is a wee bit less electronic frequency sound at playing volume if that makes sense. The Trance sounds pretty spectacular thru a high-end professional Mackie PA system at the listening room I got to play in once. Just once. Never had the Highlander plugged into that. The sound in the pro system was as luxurious as I could ever imagine. In a small venue, and a small amp, I dunno - like I say, jury is still out.

 

I'd love to video a demo of this thing, and some differences, but this Zoom Q3HD camera software has me baffled as far as any edit ability.

 

 

 

[62burst]

Sorry to see you haven't heard from anyone with photos/info on how the Amulet pickup looks or is installed on their

JB Model A. I guess there just aren't enough of them out in the hands of players/forum members. Yet.

 

Kudos to you, however, in documenting your installation with those interior photos. The scalloped adirondack braces &

top look good, as does the walnut. Also appreciated are your observations on the sound compared with the Highlander

UST in your Martin... helpful of you to call it like you hear it.

 

Since I'm more a fan of there being only wood and (moving)air inside of acoustic guitars, I was wondering if you'd seen this video by these (usually rockin', I take it) lads at Anderton's Music. Keep the intro music down low, then volume up. The most interesting part of the comparo is when Anderton points to when the guitar is run straight into the recording via the Trance system, or the stationary mic. This comparison occurs starting at time=13:13.

 

 

That Zoom you have is a highly-regarded device. Hope you get the video software sorted out soon. In the meantime, if you ever felt like recording a comparison, you could just use it's excellent onboard mics vs it's mic line-in jacks(?).

 

Enjoy that JB; they really are special guitars.

[duluthdan]

On the Anderton video the gain on the Trance is just a smidge too high - I have found that if the gain is pushed on the amulet, you start to hear the intrusive electronic sound. If the gain is down a bit, and instead the signal is boosted at the amplifier, it really does result in a much cleaner sound. Someday I'll figure out the Zoom thing, but my time is fairly limited, and to tell you the truth, I keep getting distracted by the guitars.