Quote:
Originally Posted by guitaniac
I've had the same experience with the Aura Spectrum in that it works much better with the Fishman pickup. That's because almost all of the stock sound images were created with Fishman Matrix-equipped guitars. If you had shipped your Element-equipped guitar in to have custom sound images made, your Element rig would work very well with the Aura Spectrum and those particular custom sound images. (Its interesting to note that James Taylor had custom sound images made for his Baggs LB6-equipped Olson.)
A sound image is a set of computer instructions which tells the Aura processor how to process the pickup signal, from a specific guitar/pickup rig, in order to make it similar to the signal which one would obtain from studio miking that guitar at the same time. When using stock sound images, its very helpful when the pickup in your guitar is as similar as possible to the pickup used in creating the stock sound image.
And of course, it also helps when your guitar is as similar as possible to the guitar used in creating the stock sound image. Its possible to sometimes get lucky with mixing and matching guitar body types, but I personally only got "lucky" with a Fishman pickup in the guitar.
What's so extraordinary about the soon-to-be-released ToneDexter processor is that it enables the user to create his/her own computer instructions (called WaveMaps with ToneDexter) for his/her own specific guitar/pickup rig. You simply plug both the pickup and a good mic (set up at a proper distance) into ToneDexter and play for a minute or two while the WaveMap is created. There's no sending your rig away to some company and paying $300 to get processor instructions which will work best with your specific guitar/pickup rig.
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From what I've read, Fishman created images specifically for JT and he switched out the LB6s in his Olsons for the Matrix UST. However, he wasn't pleased with the Matrix and went back to the LB6 but still uses the Aura. It'd be interesting to know if they created the images using the Matrix or his LB6. Personally, I like the LB6 better than the Matrix (I seem to always be evangelizing the LB6...) but am curious how the LB series would work with the Aura (besides it apparently working for JT). Part of me would like to drop the dual source setup I have and just run a passive LB6 into something that models like the Aura or Mama Bear and just simplify my life. I have dreams of one days just plugging a single, passive, pickup directly into one preamp/DI and being happy with my sound.
*sigh*