[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by drjgs200

I have been experimenting with acoustic amplification for only about 6 months now. With a good dose of Eq and a couple of efx foot pedals (Boss), I have been able to get some nice sound from Taylor ES system as well as from a Fishman Rare Earth Humbuckler and an M1. As an aside, I actually prefer the Fishman - it sounds more balanced and generates less extraneous sounds (with my agressive strumming).

The magnetic pickups sounded pretty good but I thought I would try to add a second non-mag source to really fill-in the sound. I was thinking of combining the Fishman with a K&K mini. For starters, I thought I would try this combo on my relatively inexpensive (but nice-sounding) Blueridge BR180. I took the guitar to a highly recommended acoustic repair shop on Music Row in Nashville. I explained what I wanted to do, but the proprietor, Greg, told me that the best pick-up would be a LR Baggs 'Dual Source'. He said he installs lots of them and that his clients love them. He sounded very confident and I was intrigued. I looked at a few reviews on the web and I found nothing very negative about the system. I found the usual positive comments, so I decided to take a chance and trust Greg's judgement and experience. I am now regretting my decision.

The 'Dual Source' system consits of an internal mic and an undersaddle ribbon transducer. The sound (with a little eq) sounds fairly acoustic. In this respect it is better than the magnetic pickups that I tried. However, even when I do some light fingerpicking, the initial string attack generates a very pronounced 'thump'. The only way to get rid of this 'thump' was to really cut the bass. However, I had to cut the bass so much, that it started sounding thin and scratchy. I even tried 'notching' the bass - no luck. In case you were wondering, the 'thump' has very little to do with my right hand position (hand sits on the saddle/bridge). I still get the 'thump' when the hand is off the bridge.

Has anyone else tried this pickup system? Can you suggest some adjustments that I might try? Would it be appropriate to ask Greg to take it out and get at least a partial refund?

I am thinking about trying something much less ambitious such as combining the Fishman Humbuckler with a simple PUTW sound-board transducer ribbon. Any thoughts?

thanks for your help,

James

Ps: my signal chain: blueridge acoustic (LR baggs DS)--> Boss pedal(slight chorus)--> Boss pedal (slight reverb)-->DTAR Equinox EQ -->Highlander Pro Acoustic Mix DI(more eq) --> Bose L1 (personal PA)

You could install the single-source Trance Audio Amulet M Dual Mono Acoustic Guitar System and be done with it. It sounds very mic-like without using a mic.

Trance Audio Amulet M Dual Mono Acoustic Guitar System