Bags Anthem - Low Output?

[DavidE]

I bought a guitar with the anthem pickup installed. I'm pretty impressed with the sound of the microphone. Even the ust sounds better to me than usual. However, the overall output volume is lower than my other pickup systems. Not an issue unless I'm changing guitars during a gig. But for those using an Anthem live, are you using a preamp or something else to boost volume?

Thanks

[pmarino]

Yes, my output with the Venue is a little low. I typically play through a Baggs Session DI, and sometimes with the Session paired with a Fishman Platinum EQ.

[jseth]

I agree that the output of the Anthem is not as hot as other pickups I have used, but I like the tone of it well enough to keep them in both my two Mark Angus "stage" guitars, a 6 string and a 12 string.

I just set the input gain to a proper level on either my Bose T1 mixer/tone generator or the inputs of my AER Compact... with correct gain staging, I have never had an issue with the pickup's output, not at all.

Either of the three available Anthem versions ALL have pre-amps in them; couple that with the fact that a mixer's input is actually a pre-amp (same for an acoustic amp's input) and adding yet another pre-amp to the signal chain is not only redundant, but, as is commonly known, EVERY piece of equipment added to a signal chain will degrade that signal slightly... always best to have as little in the signal chain as possible!

Could be problematic if you are using various pickups in various guitars and switching back and forth using the same channel or input... to deal with that, I have (quite successfully!) used the Bose T1 mixer gizmo with my little AER amp so as to have separate EQ, gain and volume settings for each guitar and my vocal microphone.

Perhaps a small good quality mixer would solve the problem? Like one of those tiny 3 or 4 channel Mackies or some such... I heartily recommend the Bose T1, but it's a pricey bit of kit for most folks...

Be sure you take the time to adjust all the parameters of the Anthem system, ESPECIALLY the balance between the True-Mic and the Element (UST)... with careful adjustment, one can get very good sound from that pickup...