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  #1  
Old 08-17-2017, 06:08 AM
jonfields45 jonfields45 is offline
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Default Back-up Sound Hole Pickup

I'm looking to buy a pickup I can leave in a bag as a spare to allow me to use my not electrified guitars and possibly install on-the-fly if one of our instruments' electronics die at a gig (this has happened to me a few times mostly with Taylor factory electronics and was not always a bad battery). Over the years I've played three venues where single coil pickups were unusable. I have a credit at Musicians Friend which tilts the choice a bit towards their inventory.

Possible attributes:
  1. Sounds reasonably good given what it is.
  2. Does not require permanent install.
  3. Small for easy install.
  4. No too tough on the guitar's sound hole (the DiMarzio Black Angel seems to have a smallish pads for inside the guitar).
  5. Does not require special strings to sound good (by that I mean anything other than my Elixir Polyweb squeak busters).
  6. Hum cancelling

What say you guys? I am using a Mi-Si Trio in my main gigging instrument so I'm no cork sniffer :~).

Has anyone tried a Lace California Acoustic?

Thanks!
Jon
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  #2  
Old 08-17-2017, 07:28 AM
guitaniac guitaniac is offline
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I've used the Lace California for a bit. Definitely one of the better bargain mag pickups, and pretty quiet.

The Mi-Si Acoustic Duo was pretty good too, although I had one that needed a re-charge after about three hours. (It was fully charged before the four hour gig.) I presume the new MagPie (sp?) is even better.
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Old 08-17-2017, 11:15 AM
robj61 robj61 is offline
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I've been pretty happy with my Schertler M-AG6 plus the S-MIC-M microphone. A little Eq and I was extremely satisfied.
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Old 08-17-2017, 11:43 AM
rockabilly69 rockabilly69 is offline
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Seymour Duncan mag mic is actually a pretty good pickup, along with the DiMarzio Angel and neither one of these needs a great preamp to sound good.
I haven't tried the Lace.
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Old 08-17-2017, 01:55 PM
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Al Acuff Al Acuff is offline
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The DiMarzio Black Angel is a good choice because it's easy to mount and includes a 10 or 12 foot cord that plugs into the pickup and runs out the sound hole. It's respected and well liked by folks around here. One of the better sounding mag pickups.
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Old 08-17-2017, 02:10 PM
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I have, for that reason alone, a Fishman Neo-D Humbucker I got for $80 from Sweetwater. It sits in my equipment bag as a last resort if I have a catastrophic p/u failure. It sounds OK, very electricy but the B string is hot. There is no pole piece to adjust, so it is what it is, and it exists solely as a get-this-gig-over-and-get-me-out-of-here device.

But it meets your criteria of being small, self contained and easy to install with an attached 10 ft cord to a 1/4" plug.
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Old 08-19-2017, 06:53 AM
jonfields45 jonfields45 is offline
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I chickened out and decided to stock up on Mi-Si Trios (inbound from Blue Star Music today). Maybe not the best sounding PUP straight to the mixer, but one I'm familiar with taming.
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Old 08-21-2017, 01:06 PM
TRW1 TRW1 is offline
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I've carried a backup Fishman Rare Earth Humbucker in my gig bag for quite some time. I used to play out with a couple of K&K equipped guitars and if the room led itself to feedback issues I would just run the Fishman. Thin enough to fit most sound holes quickly and easily and can sound pretty decent with minimal EQ. Mine has the little volume wheel, which is also handy. I just watch for them on Ebay and as I recall paid around $90 or so for my current pickup.

I actually had to use it recently when the battery on my ES2-equipped guitar died suddenly. I lost signal output and didn't have time to figure out what was going on, so I just popped in the Fishman and tightened it down. Didn't figure out it was only the battery in the ES2 until I got home that night.
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