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Old 05-30-2012, 11:01 AM
Dynamic Dynamic is offline
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 2
Default 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.
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