Quote:
Originally Posted by dogdog49
If I knew the OEM's were generally overcharging I'd be right there with you. I'm just not sure that's true given I have no real idea of what their profit margins are after expenses, including putting large chunks back into R&D which companies like Baggs, who seem to come out with something that at least attempts to push the state of the art forward every year, must certainly do.
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I missed this last post, hence the delayed reply.
How sure are we that there's big R/D going on? It seems to me that the Baggs Anthem that I own and in one guitar sounds remarkably similar to the decades old Baggs Dual that I own in another guitar.
Second point again, I'm not buying these things new because they're too expensive new. I will be buying a Trance Amulet Mono new pretty soon but that's because the pickup is impossible to find used, in pristine shape. This dual source (or these, for my newest guitars) are going to be used and of no financial benefit to Baggs, Dtar or Fishman.
Lastly, in the last week I found a really good deal on an M80 and bought that and used the money I saved on a new one to buy the import B band XOM 2.2 and a cheap rosewood magmic pickup from a no name company called BQLZR (or something like that. $33 so low expectations). The BQLZR is in my Guild now and is actually far better than say, a Duncan Woody. It has hot B and high E strings and no real pole piece adjustability for that so I'm working on bush fixes for that. The mic signal is barely there but it does function. I'm surprised the the pickup is a humbucking dual coil, as promised and is quiet. Signal is hot and it has a warm, acoustic character.
It will be useful, at least as a backup and it's much better than it has any right to be. Good looking too. Until it proves itself reliable and I can fix the string balance acceptably, I'll reserve overall judgement but for now, I'd say $34 well spent.
It's no M80, but it's better than OK.