Zoom A3 vs Fishman Aura Spectrum DI

[bluegrasserk]

The fishman products are fantastic for pure sound, but for stage i would say A3. True, its not user friendly for tweaking on the fly, but its not meant to be, its more like a patch system. If you are looking for more than 3 distinct sounds i would look elsewhere, but for 3 set it and forget it choices its great. For me the biggest difference is the boost function, for solos and fingerpicking it is one easy stomp as i have a huge volume difference when i strum vs single note.

[Flyingbird]

I use Fishman Aura Spectrum DI.

zoom guitar effects pedals -- useless.

thanks.

[billder99]

Originally Posted by Doubleneck

Impossible to use hands free is a little harsh...
The Fishman Spectrum and the Strymon Flint are taking you well beyond $500, so a comparison to the A3 becomes moot really. I am curious as to the Strymon Flint which seems more electric guitar oriented by simulating old reverbs and tremolos of the 60s 70s and 80s that were on electric guitar amps at the time?

You are right, I shouldn't comment on gear I have never used, only reading reviews... sounds like you are happy with the A3. The Strymon Flint is because I am playing around with adding some instrumental surf pieces to my song list... everyone loves a bit of surf to get the dancin' revved up. I am going to try surf with acoustic and see what I think, but I may end up with a Tele on stage as well.

[Sacco]

I've got an A3 today.

I also own a G5 and a MS-100BT

I spent quite some time experimenting and I have to say I like the unit quite a lot. These guys from Zoom are nailing the head big time, their units sound good without any compromise compared to very expensive hardware. This was a major factor for me, as I know these units are very well thought through and through.

The A3 really makes my Gitane DG-300 sound much better than with the plain piezo pickups (Shadow dual piezo system) which is very good but I just cannot stand how piezos sound. That "quack" kills it for me besides the sound is flat and uninteresting.

It really helps giving a body to it's sound. Having also a mic input is an outstanding touch (I tried and it shines) besides the fact you can output in stereo.

I tested things carefully, trying also to play the same exact thing while A/B comparing and also putting the guitar away from me to hear the A3 with the least direct sound from the guitar.

I bought it for live use mainly, for me nothing beats recording with two mics in a stereo config but in a live situation the A3 is IMHO the perfect solution.

To summarize:

- It gave my guitar a body, as if it was being recorded with a mic. You need to test with headphones at loud volume and put your guitar away to hear the difference, which is def there.
- It killed the quack and how ****ty piezo sounds.
- It effectively killed the annoying 20hz "boom" while palm muting and also plucking doesn't give low freq pulses while it maintains the tone of the guitar (no lack of low freqs on the lower strings) (this without touching the EQ bands)
- Mic input+modelling+FX+stereo output makes it an all round unit. You need this and nothing else in a live situation.

I didn't try the Aura units so I cannot tell...but the cheapest is more expensive than the A3 and doesn't have as much features.

[Irish Pennant]

I've never used the Aura but I do own a Zoom A3. It took a little while but I've grown to like the Zoom A3. I've had the PADI and a bunch of pedals, they are now collecting dust. My go to quick setup is now the Zoom and a Ditto 2x with batteries for live or plugged into a power brick at home.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by jimmy bookout

As far as other UST's not working well with the Aura Spectrum, I have not found that to be the case. I have MiSi's (Baggs Element pickup with battery-less preamp) in all of my gig guitars and it works great.
Jimmy

+1! I've gotten great results feeding an Aura with the output of an LR Baggs Element Active or a Fishman Matrix as part of a Fishman Prefix+T.