Thoughts On The LR Baggs HiFi's Tone

[Stringmaster]

Good video, but they don’t mention the Tonematch setting. In general if I used those settings on my S1 Pro with my Cole Clark it would be way too bright. A good follow up would be to re-EQ the amp for each pickup. It makes sense that if they originally EQ’d the Bose for the K&K (first pickup) that the other pickups would be brighter.

[AeroUSA]

Good comparison at the end. I still prefer the Anthem SL and it still rejects the most feedback for me. Having said that I just use the Cole Clark now and don’t really want to install anything at least until we get a dual source HiFi.

[SpruceTop]

The K&K sounds good but too boomy with the EQ as set on the Bose S1 Pro. The SL sounds good but is still kind of boomy. The HiFi only has two sensors and not three as stated by our host, and it too sounds good but crisper than the other two.

My Tonal Choice Of The Three Systems As Presented: The LR Baggs SL Anthem

[Marshall]

Originally Posted by jonfields45

https://youtu.be/zaWjhFu5Uk4



Through headphones, or speakers, the HiFi is quite impressive and at least for this example, the Anthem is not close.

My gripe about the video is they don't turn off the mic in the room when they play the 3 pickups, so you're always getting a mix of the pickup and the natural acoustic guitar. If you're going to compare pickups, I want to hear just the sound of the pickup in the amp.

[xjojox]

NOTE: EDITED AFTER SOME MORE EXPERIMENTATION

I dropped one into a Huss & Dalton Custom CM (thinner body like OM but CM shape). I did this because it seemed the least invasive and most reversible option and least likely to screw up doing it myself.

Install went OK…other than on the last drill bit enlarging the end pin hole some wood chunked out. Arrrgh…but thankfully covered by a slightly larger washer under the jack pin. Totally my fault.

It was originally a tad bright on top but nothing crazy, and a bit of EQ is all that was needed. And I felt like the high E and low E were not as prominent as the rest of the stings. So...after a few days I thought about playing with placement since I had extra adhesive pads. I recalled that there were some tiny rough spots on the bridge plate that I forgot to sand out, so I thought that might have something to do with it also. So I pulled the bass side one (not hard, "twist" it gently back and forth carefully and it comes loose). Got in there with some sandpaper, first medium then 400 grit and smoothed things out. Also put it about 1mm closer to the bass side, whoa, then the low E was dominant. So I put it back to where it originally was (but with a better-prepped bridge plate) and the low strings were even (follow instructions Duh). At that point I wondered if I could even out the high E the same way, and I did the same thing on the other side. Smoothed out the contact area up to 400 grit, re-applied, boom high E was fine. And it also lost some high-end sibilance that it originally had, around 6k or so, which I think also was the result of the prep of the area. It's not overly bright at all now, so I wonder if some of the reviews talking about how bright it is have something to do with placement/flush install? I run tone at the detente or maybe a little towards treble now. And it occurs to me....I wasn't anal about polishing off all the prior adhesive when I re-applied. I took a little sandpaper to it but I wonder if I should have used acetone or something? Maybe that mellowed it a bit...but I'm liking it so I'll probably leave it alone for now.

Take home message here: If you have a pro install it, will that person be patient enough and finicky enough to move things around if the balance isn't great? Will they nicely prep the underside? Use someone you trust. A boutique store will do this far better than a big-box store I would think. If someone says " this pickup is ok but the sting-to-string volume is quirky"... well, I thought so too until I experienced a bit. Which I could NOT have done with a K&K without a whole lot more work.


I play live thru a TC Helicon Play Acoustic (everything it does, something else does better; but I like the one-stop shopping for looper, harmonies, and FX), usually fed into an EV Evolve 30M or straight to the board if there’s house sound.

When using any guitar with a piezo (for patio gigs I use a 16-series Martin with a Fishman VT Enhance and sometimes a Godin Multiac Steel Ambience) I add a touch of “Body Rez” to give it character. I had to totally turn that off with the HiFi (which is a good thing). It sounds more or less like the guitar itself. This guitar is kind of busy in the low mids which works great when playing unplugged but I did pull just a tad out at about 200hz for live.

The H&D CM has an Englemann top and is mostly a fingerpicking guitar. It also handles delicate or even aggressive cross-picked arpeggios and single note lead lines like a champ. It is not great for heavy strumming. The HiFi is basically the same…not sure how much the weak spot in heavy strumming is inherent to the pickup versus the pickup just reflecting the guitar. But I don’t do much heavy strumming so it works for me. A troubadour with limited guitar skills (strummy strummy or boom-chick) might not like it but those folks would typically play a Taylor or a Tak or something else with factory electronics I would think. And once again, maybe it's just reflecting the guitar itself.

I have an Anthem in a vintage guitar which sounds easily as natural and perhaps more so but that’s a more involved install (close to $500 between the pickup and the install) so that was a chunk of change. An SL would be a bit less of course, but still more than a self installed Hi-Fi.

Considering the price and the self-install, a winner in my view. I’ve heard K&K’s but never used one so I can’t compare. But considering the reversibility and ease of self-install, the Hi-Fi is worth a try.

They did just announce a dual source Hi-Fi plus mic….color me intrigued.
Only issue with that is a much larger control unit. The bracing pattern of my H&D CM barely had room for the small V/T unit of the HiFi so that’s a consideration too.

[Brent Hahn]

My first look at this fairly old thread. OP says is distorts. Actually, it has more clean gain than some following gain stages (preamp, amp, PA etc) can handle when the HiFi is turned all the way up. I've run into it a couple times. If you encounter that, just back off the volume on the HiFi a little.

[zeeway]

Originally Posted by Groberts

The Hifi works great for my Live gigging. It sounds excellent. Here is a recording from my gig last night.

That was very mellow. Appreciated that you slipped a loop in there very casually, and then played the heck out of that guitar. Well done, sir.

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by zeeway

That was very mellow. Appreciated that you slipped a loop in there very casually, and then played the heck out of that guitar. Well done, sir.

Thanks Angie. I just had my guitar set up by my guitar tech and it's playing better than ever. I'll record a demo from home with the HiFi PU. It is very musical. I am however looking forward to the upcoming Duet version that includes a mic. I have a feeling it will reveal some of the detail and nuance that I crave. That said, I am very happy with the HiFi so far.

[fedexnman]

@Groberts sure sounded great .

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by fedexnman

@Groberts sure sounded great .

Sorry for the late reply. Thanks! I'm very pleased with the HiFi.