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  #1  
Old 01-26-2015, 07:14 PM
Jenneane Jenneane is offline
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Question setting on fisherman aura for my 514ce?

Dear New Friends,
I have a 2012 Taylor 514ce with a cedar top and mahogany sides. I just bought the Fishman aura spectrum DI. It doesn't have any settings for my guitar, even with the disk that came with it. I contacted Fishman but they were of no help whatsoever. So I come to you, friends. What setting would you suggest?
Thank you so much!
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  #2  
Old 01-26-2015, 08:59 PM
guitaniac guitaniac is offline
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The Fishman folks can't help you because the Aura system is designed to be used with an undersaddle pickup, most specifically a Fishman film UST (as found in their Matrix and Prefix systems, and their factory installed onboard Aura systems). The Expression System in your Taylor incorporates a soundboard pickup and is a significantly "different animal" than the Fishman UST. (UST stands for undersaddle transducer.)

Its within the realm of possibility that you can experiment and find an Aura sound image which works decently well with your ES-equipped Taylor. You'd be most likely to find a good match in the OM (body style) guitar sound images, and you'll probably have more success with the amount of sound image in the blend being on the low side (30% or less).


Perhaps I should mention that Taylor and Fishman have a bit of a history. Taylor guitars were equipped with Fishman electronics up until Taylor switched over to their own Expression pickup system in 2003. At the time, Bob Taylor boldly declared that "the duck is dead" (a reference to the piezo quack which is an annoying side-effect of most undersaddle pickups) and that the undersaddle piezo pickup was obsolete technology. Fishman proved him wrong with the commercial success of their Aura system, but its safe to say that there isn't much love lost between the two companies. On the plus side, the competition between the two companies has certainly benefited consumers. The Aura system has been quite popular with the plug-n-play folks, and Taylor's latest Expression System (ES2) has been getting rave reviews on this forum.

Last edited by guitaniac; 01-27-2015 at 11:12 AM.
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  #3  
Old 01-28-2015, 01:39 AM
pipedwho pipedwho is offline
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I'm not sure how the expression system works, but if it's possible then turn off (or turn down) all pickups _except_ for any UST (under saddle piezo transducer).

Once you've done that, start experimenting with different images. One thing worth noting is that you should do this with a looper pedal (or some sort of recording interface) so the acoustic path between the guitar and your ear doesn't give you a false impression. It's also easier to let the loop play over and over while you tweak settings on the Aura (and especially if you're trying out images that you've downloaded with the Aura software).

I'm sorry I can't be of more help as I don't have a Taylor. But when I was trying to get something to work with my Crowdster, I found the Gibson J45 and Hummingbird images worked the best. ie. completely different brand and style of guitar than the Crowdster. So when you're looking you might want to try a few unexpected combinations to see if that gets you closer to where you want to be.

Fishman support isn't too helpful unless there is a direct match in their library. And the library only contains images made with Fishman USTs.
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Old 01-28-2015, 05:34 AM
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dhodgeh dhodgeh is offline
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There are some Taylor 314 images in the Aura Gallery software. I'm using these with a 214CE and they sound very good.

Give them a try. With a bit of tweaking they may work out well for you.

D
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Old 01-28-2015, 06:15 AM
guitaniac guitaniac is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dhodgeh View Post
There are some Taylor 314 images in the Aura Gallery software. I'm using these with a 214CE and they sound very good.

Give them a try. With a bit of tweaking they may work out well for you.

D
Its likely that the 314 is equipped with an aftermarket UST system, possibly a Fishman pickup. It should also be noted that Taylor's 314ce (the cutaway with electronics) came equipped with a Fishman Prefix system prior to 2003. I actually had a 2000 314ce with the Prefix system in it

Regarding the Taylor 214ce model, that relatively new 200 series model actually has a piezo undersaddle pickup system in it (of Taylor's own design, called ES-T). That's why its decently compatible with the Aura technology. The 514ce would have some version of the Expression System which combines a magnetic pickup in the neck with one or more soundboard pickups. (The original ES system had two soundboard pickups, but later incarnations use one soundboard pickup.) Fortunately, the ES system in a 2012 model would have a more focused amplified sound than some of the early ES-equipped guitars which sounded rather hollow and in-the-cave. A more solid and focused sound would be more likely to be compatible with the Aura system.

Its interesting to note that New Englander Harvey Reid, the first Winfield fingerstyle guitar champ, played Fishman-equipped Taylors at one time and was one of the original Aura beta testers when Fishman was developing the Aura system. I believe that Harvey also had something to do with Fishman's blender systems as well, as he was an early experimenter (in the '80s) with blending a UST signal and an onboard mic signal.

Last edited by guitaniac; 01-28-2015 at 06:36 AM.
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Old 01-29-2015, 10:41 AM
AVTaylor83 AVTaylor83 is offline
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I haven't checked recently but I believe there are some mahogany options in the gallery...just not from Taylor (hard to believe they don't have one for the 514 since it's such a common Taylor). There might even be cedar/mahogany options.

I have a GA7 (cedar/rosewood) and found the image that best worked with mine was an Olson cedar/rosewood image.

I would suggest trying as many of the Taylor images or images close to your wood combination as possible and going with the one that sounds best to you. It doesn't have to be a perfect fit.

Also, the Spectrum DI has a 'global eq' option (if you haven't found it already) that allows you to adjust the eq of the Aura image itself along with your regular eq. Dialing down the mids on the Aura would probably help any of the images sound better.

Of course, if you have the ES system, the Aura imaging is probably not going to mix very well. It's designed for ust pickups. But I hope you find what you're looking for!
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Old 01-29-2015, 11:00 AM
Petty1818 Petty1818 is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jenneane View Post
Dear New Friends,
I have a 2012 Taylor 514ce with a cedar top and mahogany sides. I just bought the Fishman aura spectrum DI. It doesn't have any settings for my guitar, even with the disk that came with it. I contacted Fishman but they were of no help whatsoever. So I come to you, friends. What setting would you suggest?
Thank you so much!
Unfortunately, as others have pointed out, you are really going to have a hard time matching your ES equipped Taylor to any of the Aura images. I think the problem is that a lot of people buy into the Aura concept but don't really understand its intended purpose, which is to make a UST sound more mic-like. Personally I would return or sell the Aura and get the Fishman Platinum Pro Eq since it has the same options (with an included boost) but doesn't have the aura imaging which you don't really need.

On a side note, I have found Fishman to have some of the best customer service. I am surprised that you were unable to get any help from them.
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Old 01-29-2015, 11:17 AM
RoosterX RoosterX is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jenneane View Post
Dear New Friends,
I have a 2012 Taylor 514ce with a cedar top and mahogany sides. I just bought the Fishman aura spectrum DI. It doesn't have any settings for my guitar, even with the disk that came with it. I contacted Fishman but they were of no help whatsoever. So I come to you, friends. What setting would you suggest?
Thank you so much!
Fishman's Image Gallery has lots of Taylor x14 models, but not the 514. I'm sure one of these will sound fine. You should download the Image Gallery software and play around with different ones. You may find a non-Taylor image that sounds great for your guitar.

I love, love, love Taylor guitars, but ES is subpar compared with anything from Fishman. My guess is ANY Aura image you use will sound better than stock ES.
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  #9  
Old 01-29-2015, 11:35 AM
Petty1818 Petty1818 is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RoosterX View Post
Fishman's Image Gallery has lots of Taylor x14 models, but not the 514. I'm sure one of these will sound fine. You should download the Image Gallery software and play around with different ones. You may find a non-Taylor image that sounds great for your guitar.

I love, love, love Taylor guitars, but ES is subpar compared with anything from Fishman. My guess is ANY Aura image you use will sound better than stock ES.
As mentioned, this actually will probably not be the case. The Aura was designed for use with UST pickups, specifically the Fishman Matrix. The ES system is a combination of a magnetic with SBT's. However, it's more so a magnetic sounding pickup. Anyway, the Aura does not really work well with anything other than the Fishman Matrix. I have the Spectrum and I have tried it for fun with my old ES equipped Taylor, the K&K pure mini and the Baggs M1 and none of them sounded remotely good.

I personally think that the OP will be wasting a lot of time trying to find an image to match their ES equipped guitar. Also, I actually find that needing the exact image of your guitar is not really necessary. I have had great results with my Aura spectrum and Fishman Matrix on a variety of different guitar settings that have different woods than my guitar.
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  #10  
Old 01-29-2015, 12:22 PM
RoosterX RoosterX is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Petty1818 View Post
As mentioned, this actually will probably not be the case. The Aura was designed for use with UST pickups, specifically the Fishman Matrix.
Thanks, Petty! I didn't realize that based on some threads I read here over the summer about some pros having success using the Fishman Matrix with ES.
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  #11  
Old 01-29-2015, 12:23 PM
guitaniac guitaniac is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Petty1818 View Post

I personally think that the OP will be wasting a lot of time trying to find an image to match their ES equipped guitar. Also, I actually find that needing the exact image of your guitar is not really necessary. I have had great results with my Aura spectrum and Fishman Matrix on a variety of different guitar settings that have different woods than my guitar.
I also believe the Platinum would be a better choice than the Spectrum, if only because the EQ section is more versatile. If there's a 30 day return on the Spectrum, however, I would at least use the time experimenting with the Spectrum's various factory installed sound images. I actually found a fairly compatible sound image (in the jumbo section, oddly enough) for my solid-bodied Wendler electroCoustic, a guitar whose pickup is similar to the ES system in that it combines a mag pickup and a soundboard pickup. (ES designer David Hosler has admitted getting some of his ES ideas from luthier and pickup designer Dave Wendler.)

In any event, its not outside the realm of possibility that one could find a sound image that's decently compatible with an ES-equipped Taylor. Its worth a try.
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