F1 Aura vs. F1 Analog
 

I haven't had enough experience between the two to actually make fair judgements between them. Does anyone mind shedding some light on this topic and show the pros and cons between the two? Thanks!

It's my understanding that the Analog is a standard Fishman UST and analog preamp, albeit with the F1 interface (which seems fairly powerful and elegantly understated). The Aura adds the Fishman Aura technology, which can greatly improve the plugged in sound of a UST-equipped guitar.

The Fishman F1 Aura is just an F1 (the understated, taylor-esque preamp) with Aura technology. The F1 Analog is a great unit with decent control and is pretty to look at. You could go out and buy an Aura Sixteen Pedal and then basically have an F1 Aura, there's just something more in your signal chain.

Just to flesh-out your response, let me add that the Aura Sixteen Pedal doesn't have the EQ, compression, built-in tuner, and mixing capabilities that the F1 Aura has. The F1 Aura takes all the adjustable parameter features of the original, large-format Aura Acoustic Imaging Blender Pedal and mates these features with updated electronic and Aura technology. All this in an onboard preamp! Even the Aura Spectrum DI Pedal can't do all the things that the F1 Aura Preamp can do. The F1 Aura is a sleek and unobtrusive (Taylor-esque, as you say, but with a tuner) preamp addition to the Martin Performing Artist Series upper-end guitar models.

Regards,

SpruceTop

Well I do believe I've just been educated! Had no idea it was THAT feature-filled, my goodness.

If you plug in F1 and F1 Aura to an amp, can you tell the difference? My question is if you just wanted clean sound from the guitar, do you necessary need F1 Aura?

you will hear the difference - the modeled mic's in the Aura system, combined with a little built-in compression, when blended into the pickup sound is truly an astounding tone sculpting tool - whether you go into an acoustic amp or direct to FOH. You'll also hear very different tone results as you change from one modeled mic to another of the mic models available (Neumann U87 large diaphragm vs. Neumann KM84 small diaphragm vs. Soundelux E47 Large diaphragm, even a Sure SM57 and 5 others). The Aura system is a very real guitar tone shaping tool. The Analog system is very good but not as comprehensive as the Aura with it's digital power behind it.