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  #16  
Old 05-10-2002, 08:23 AM
alchu alchu is offline
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I don't believe he has. I was going to get mine installed this weekend, but unfortunately the place I bought the bband from shipped it to my home address rather than my office. There isn't anyone at home to take delivery so I'll have to get it from the post office tomorrow morning.. which shouldn't be a big deal except for it is. (too long to explain ) I'll have to get it installed next week or something. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Allan
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  #17  
Old 05-10-2002, 09:21 AM
GordonHLau GordonHLau is offline
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Chris,

Nope, I know I keep talking about it but I had to spend the extra money I had on a fret topping (my 714CE needed one badly) and decided to get a bone nut on top of it. It was well worth the money since my 714CE plays fantastic now.

GL
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  #18  
Old 05-10-2002, 09:25 AM
alchu alchu is offline
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Gordon did you replace the saddle as well?
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  #19  
Old 05-10-2002, 08:16 PM
GordonHLau GordonHLau is offline
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Allan,

I already have a bone saddle that was installed last year so no replacement was needed. I got a bone nut since I was told it doesn't wear down as fast as tusq. I didn't get it to improve the tone. I switch tunings often and do a lot of bending above the nut that seemed to cause me problems with the tusq nut even with pencil lead in the nut grooves. Bone also looks purtier than tusq.

Back to B-band,

I visited the N. Hollywood B-Band office today to check out their pickups in a more quieter environment than at NAMM. I'm sold on them more than ever. Pekka Rintala (prez of B-Band USA) had a couple of guitars with both the UST and AST in them. The AST sounds incredible. With NO EQ and NO notch filter, using the AST, I got an extremely natural sound from a Larrivee D-05 and a Guild dreadnought (it was Goo-Goo Dolls Johnny Resnick's guitar) into a Ultrasound amp. It sounded very close to the unplugged sound of the guitars. I was also able to crank the amp to full sitting about 7 ft away from it and I didn't have any feedback problems. It did feedback when I got close to the amp but then again my Fishman Matrix does the same thing. I'm sure if you use notch filters you can get quite a bit louder before feedback. I liked the AST a little better than the UST in the Larrivee, however, I liked the AST a LOT better than the UST in the Guild. The UST didn't sound so good in the Guild. Pekka also showed me how easy it is to install the AST. It comes with a cardboard template similar to the iBeam jig that allows you to easily mount the pickup. In my Taylor, Pekka said he could install it in under 5 minutes (including endpin jack).

I'm definitely going to get the AST. Since I already have the UST, I still might get the dual AST/UST preamp as a safety net just in case of feedback but it may turn out to be a waste of money.

GL
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  #20  
Old 05-11-2002, 07:19 PM
Mike G Mike G is offline
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GL:

One of the things that steared me away from the IBeam was the fact that it is hyper sensitive to percussion playing, i.e. palm thumping, muting and a general aggressive, rigorous style.

Did you find that the B-band is too sensitive for an aggressive right hand attack?

Thanks,
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  #21  
Old 05-11-2002, 11:08 PM
GordonHLau GordonHLau is offline
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Mike,

You brought up a very important point that I failed to address in my earlier posts. Because of the mounting location, SBTs will pickup up more bumps, taps, scrapes, etc. than a UST or soundhole pickup. I tested how much the AST picked up soundboard taps by tapping the soundboard on J. Resnik's Guild (if per chance he's reading this, it wasn't me that put the ding on the top ). I also laid into some Chet stuff and a surf guitar medley I do. I didn't find the AST to be as sensitive as either the iBeam and PUTW #27 (I actually could hear my left hand sliding up the back of the neck with these two). The AST didn't pickup anything I didn't want it to. I have an aggressive right hand attack too but I held back a little since these weren't my guitars. Of course, you could play it safe and get the UST/AST combo to get the best of both worlds.

GL
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  #22  
Old 05-12-2002, 12:04 AM
Tayloresque
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GL, have you tried the PUTW #27/Air Core Combo, with or without the stereo Power Plug? David advised me just to go with the PUTW #27/Power Plug -- that's all he uses. Just curious if you have tried it, or what you would specualte it might be like.

Tom
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  #23  
Old 05-12-2002, 02:07 AM
GordonHLau GordonHLau is offline
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Tom,

Yes I have tried the PUTW #27/Aircore combo in my 714CE. I did a little experimentation for David to see how his pickups would mate with the Fishman Onboard Blender. The OBB is not a good preamp to use with the PUTW pickups.

First, the UST preamp on the OBB only has 8 dB of gain which is not nearly enough for the PUTW pickups (they need about 18 dB or more). The Fishman Matrix is hotter pickup than the Aircore so it doesn't need as much gain which is probably why Fishman went with a low gain preamp. As far as sound, the Aircore is a definite improvement over the Matrix, IMHO. Less quacky and better bass. It had no balance problems either. It is thicker than most of the other USTs on the market so you have to shave off more of the saddle when installing. I'm sure this pickup would work great with the Power Plug and this combo along with the B-Band UST/A1 preamp would be my top two choices for UST only systems.

Secondly, the mic channel doesn't work well with the PUTW mod that allows the PUTW #27 to replace the internal mic in dual source systems. It works great in the LR Baggs Dual source but noisy in the Fishman OBB. I could never get PUTW #27 to sound good enough in my guitar to get rid of the Fishman Matrix. However, I have heard the #27/Aircore combo sound exceptional in a Taylor at NAMM (PUTW's booth) using a Baggs Dual source preamp. I think if I used a better preamp than the OBB, I would have gotten better results.

GL
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  #24  
Old 05-12-2002, 06:46 AM
Mike G Mike G is offline
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Thanks GL:

I'm encouraged that I don't have to "tame" my right hand. Looks like B-band is the one for me. Keep you posted when I get it.
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  #25  
Old 05-13-2002, 02:17 PM
GordonHLau GordonHLau is offline
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I just put my order in for the AST from Shoreline. I have a New Frontier single source B-Band preamp in my Baby Taylor that I will pull out and put in my 714CE to test out the AST. I figured I'll test it out to see if I like the AST by itself or with the UST in my 714CE before I decide on the which B-Band preamp to buy for the 714CE. I'll let you guys know the results.

GL
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