Soundhole pickups
First I am a FOH engineer not a player. My church has Saturday night services during the summer with some of our youth group kids playing guitar. We have some good young players but really uneven sound. The kid's guitars are all over in terms of quality and pickup systems. We switched to mics mid summer last year in hopes of improving things but some of the kids were really put off by not being able to move around. We tried some clip ons only to have them pulled off, dropped, etc. I was told this summer there will be no guitar mics, don't suggest it, not an option, plug in pickups only. We recently had a member donate all the soundhole pickups he collected over the years. My plan is to try to find the best matches for the kids who either don't have any pickup or have a truly awful onboard piezo. I am hoping you good people can help me characterize them so I have someplace to start besides trying all 17! in every guitar. The pickups are:
Dean Markley Promag DM Promag Plus DM Promag Grand DM Promag Gold Seymour Duncan Woody SA-3SC SD Woody SA-3HC SD Woody SA-3XL SD Acoustic tube SA-1 SD Performer Maverick LR Baggs M1 Fender ACP-1 Fishman Neo-D Fishman Black Stack Fishman Rare Earth Barcus Berry Maplebar Dimarzio Elemental Dimarzio Super Natural Insight on any of the above is much appreciated. Which are naturally bright? Which dark? Which are high output? Better for picking styles? Better for strumming? Better for 12 string? Better for acoustic bass? I am highly inclined to prefer the nine friction fit units from DM, SD, BB and Fender purely for the ease of use factor so input on them is of particular interest to me. |
Here is what I had from your list:
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(DISCLAIMER: None of my post is religious or political in nature) :D
First off, how many will you need? That number should be considered along with how many members/donaters your church has. If I went to a small church, I'd be a little annoyed that my money was buying 15 Rare Earth Blends for the kids who can't hold still in front of a mic. I'd say for your purpose, unless you only need 3 or 4, keep it under $75 a piece. |
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My favourite is the 'Rare Earth single coil'. Not to be confused with the 'Rare Earth Humbucker' or the 'Neo-D'
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I'd say your best bet is to just have one of the more experienced guitarists in your church try all of them. You can listen in too and draw your own conclusions. But the Baggs M1 is my favorite from that list. |
I'll rate the pickups I've had on a scale of 1-10.
1 being awful, 10 being great. Dean Markley ProMag 4-10. Seymour Duncan Acoustic Tube 6-10 Fishman Neo D 5-10 Fishman Rare Earth Humbucker 7.5-10 DiMarzio Elemental 5-10 Hope this helps, good luck. |
The sound of all the pickups (and some awful piezos) will be affected by the impedence of the preamp they are plugged into. Different DI boxes and different stomp boxes can change the tone. A magnetic pickup straight into the line in of a PA usually sounds way more thin and sissified than it will with a proper preamp.
They cost $120, but an E-H Hum debugger is my favorite preamp, plus it kills 60 cycle hum actively (Same principle as noise cancelling headphones.) |
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