Emerald pickup advice - Ghost vs Baggs Element?

[jzucker]

Looking at one of the in-stock X10 or X20 guitars.

A lot of them have the ghost pickup with the fender strat-style bridge. While I appreciate the ability to easily adjust the action and intonation, my experience with ghost saddles from about 10 years ago is that they sounded metallic and quacky. I have a fishman matrix infinity installed on a tacoma and it sounded much better than the ghost pickup (at the time).

I'm assuming (maybe incorrectly) that the baggs element will be in the same ballpark as the fishman and hopefully better since it's a newer design.

But maybe ghost has improved too? What I want to avoid is the godin syndrome where the pick sounds thwacky and I felt it was not useable playing with bare fingers. (At various times, I use a pick, bare fingers and fingerpicks)...

[jzucker]

anyone?

i know there are people here with expertise.

[zeeway]

My experience with the Baggs Element is about four years old…so take my comments with that in mind. In my X20, I could never get the Baggs Element to sound good. I tried several preamps, etc., but it still was still a boomy bass mess. So I ripped that sucker out. YMMV.

[jzucker]

Originally Posted by zeeway

My experience with the Baggs Element is about four years old…so take my comments with that in mind. In my X20, I could never get the Baggs Element to sound good. I tried several preamps, etc., but it still was still a boomy bass mess. So I ripped that sucker out. YMMV.

thanks for the feedback. I ended up ordering an emerald with the baggs element. I run my guitars through a helix so hopefully it can cleanup the bassy/boomy mess.

What preamp did you end up with?

[Captain Jim]

I have the Baggs Element VTC in my X20, and I get a nice plugged in sound - running it into a Bose T4S mixer, then into an L1C. I don't expect it to sound like "the guitar only louder," but it is fast, easy, and good with that set-up.

[zeeway]

Originally Posted by jzucker

thanks for the feedback. I ended up ordering an emerald with the baggs element. I run my guitars through a helix so hopefully it can cleanup the bassy/boomy mess.

What preamp did you end up with?

…HFN Schatten pickup through a Tonedexter…which can fix almost anything…

[BlueStarfish]

I've tried a bunch of pickups in my x20. My top suggestions would be either LR Baggs Anthem or Lyric LR Baggs Lyric. They both sound very good in my X20. The Anthem is plug-and-play stage ready, and probably the better choice if you are playing out a lot. The Lyric has a little bit more natural bass, it's the classic "my guitar but louder," but it needs a notch filter even at living room volumes and I am guessing it might not work well on a loud gig. I've got the Lyric in my X20 at the moment (as I have another guitar that sounds great with the Anthem, but not the Lyric). But they are both good in the X20 depending on your needs.

My X20 came with the Baggs Element, and I've also tried the Schatten UST, but wasn't happy with either of those on their own. Either was OK for fingerpicking but I mostly play with a flatpick and neither one sounds great with a flatpick. I also tried fixing it all with a ToneDexter, but in the end wasn't happy with that either. So for me the Anthem and Lyric are a good balance between "sounds good with a flatpick" and "mostly to completely plug and play."

It looks like you already ordered with the Baggs Element. That's good, it gives you flexibility if you find you don't love it. If you had ordered the Ghost instead, you wouldn't be able to install something like the Anthem. You could also ask Emerald if they are willing to put an Anthem in instead of the Element for you -- it actually used to be an OEM option so maybe they will do it if you ask nice.

[ZebraKing]

I have the Ghost + K&K in my X20. The K&K sounds much better overall. I typically set the K&K all the way up and then the Ghost at about 20% to add a bit of definition.