Just ordered the LR Baggs Lyric for my D-18
 

Just ordered the LR Baggs Lyric for my D-18. I read a bunch of reviews and it seemed to have what I need, plus it seems simple to install.

Called MF and got a much better deal than I could have just by clicking "buy" on their website.

Be prepare to miss some low end.

Here is a sample of my D-18.

1) is an external DPA 4099G microphone
2) is the Lyric alone (standard position)

Note that you can have more low end using Baggs position 3 but I've discovered that getting more low end would also limit the dynamic.

Lyric is very hard to EQ with traditional parametric, 3 bands EQ or graphic.

Cuki

I have a used one that'd be an even better deal if you want to cancel that thing and try for less money...

Did you use it? Did you like it? How much do you want for it?

I used it for three years, and before that a Lyric in another guitar, and before that an Anthem SL in another guitar.

I think they can be very good, but they can be a little challenging without a steady hand on the EQ - you will want to push lows and pull mids. If you are going through an amp where you control levels right there, you shouldn't have any troubles. If you are going through various PAs, you will want to just know what to tell the sound guy to get you 'there' more quickly (see above). They certainly can sound much more natural than other pickups with the right EQ.

I have a FS thread in the marketplace, but I'll PM you a price.

Been there, done that with a new-model D-18, and with an LR Baggs Venue in the mix to try to get some pleasing tone. Send the Lyric back for a refund! Get a Trance Amulet M Dual Mono. 'Nuff said.

Thanks for the tips and the clips. I'm not listening through headphones right now, but to my ears the Lyric sounds great. Hopefully it will work for my purposes--solo acoustic at resort pool parties, bars, restaurants, street festivals, church, and the occasional gig with my country/rock band.

If I was ChrisE I'd pay attention to what SpruceTop and people like Vancebo had written about the lyric. In my case, the only reason I bought it is that I knew I could make my own IR DIY pedal thing... So be prepared to invest in something like Tonedexter (the only thing available on the market that can properly Balance the Lyric tone). To be honest, I can't stand the Lyric sound without the IR convolution pedal... (But I can't stand ust pickups either...)

If you want to keep it simple, Trance audio Amulet or Dazzo pickups are serious candidates. (I did not include k&k because from my point of view, they are a bit bass heavy and still need preamp+EQ)

My 2 cents
Cuki

My experience with the Lyric and ToneDexter was that it was very much not a good match.

Clips here: https://soundcloud.com/bob-lefevre-98950322

If we can generalize that then if he buys the Lyric, my IR process would be his only hope.

IR convolution can do much better than what you got with your Lyric. Remember Tonedexter is just a blackbox that you can not tweak. You only have access to the mic position... I have not such limitation. From my experience there is no reason Tonedexter would not work with Lyric, except that the "recipe" in Tonedexter firmware is made for ust and still linear transducers. Lyric, because of its preamp involving multi band compression is not really linear... And Tonedexter expect linearity from the pickup... It does not mean the principle can't be applied... But it may need some tweaking.

Of course what I write is pure speculation based on reading the patent since Tonedexter is not available in Europe. I was hoping AeroUSA would give me some feedback by comparing his experience with few IRs I made for him but I have no news since.

To come back to the original OP, lookerbob and I agree on one thing: regular sbt pickups like (amulet, Dazzo or k&k) should be considered

Thanks for all the tips and advice from everyone. My plan was that hopefully I wouldn't need any other boxes, pre-amps, etc. with this.

I'd heard samples of it liked the way it sounded. I even liked the way it sounded in the clips in an earlier post that was supposed to show the Lyric's shortcomings.

Hopefully I can just plug it right into my little mini-PA or into the church system and it will sound good enough for me.

I'll let you know how it works out.

I would only purchase from a retailer that accepts returns. I went down the same road as SpruceTop. There are many enticing things about the Lyric. Size, ease of installation, quality of product, LR Baggs reputation.

But, understand that in order to make a bridge plate mic work, and not feedback like crazy, they have to cut most of the bass out, and it can sound mid range heavy. When you record, you don't want a lot of extra bass. That's why the recordings and demo videos sound so good.

When you play solo guitar live you need much more bass than you think. The lyric can't deliver in that situation.

Sadly, we continue to deny that an internal microphone is probably not the best solution for amplifying a guitar. Despite the advances in this technology (which is substantial) you will still find the Anthem or some other dual source system to be more flexible and, as a result, superior tonally in a live setting.

To date, I don't think there's a more tried and true combination of a dependable string sensor (UST or Mag) with something microphonic (SBT or internal Mic). If we stop chasing the unicorn that is "exact studio tone" when onstage, we can learn to be pretty happy with a sound that is "good" or "great" and not necessarily "exact." Live sound and studio sound will always be different and personally, I enjoy that.

Just ordered the LR Baggs Lyric for my D-18
 

Misunderstood your comment. My comment deleted.


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Yeah, the best sounding one I've tried so far was the Fishman Rare Earth Blend - I liked the mic in that much better than Lyric... but everything is a compromise.

TD + K&K is great so far.