What's more important Pickup or Preamp??

[SpruceTop]

It may seem kind of blasphemous for me to write this but if you're playing in a band with an electric bass and drums, perhaps the best thing for real loud gigs is to just use an electric guitar instead of an acoustic? A magnetic pickup may work okay, or not, on an acoustic guitar but a well-chosen electric guitar may be better for those loud gigs.

[emmsone]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

It may seem kind of blasphemous for me to write this but if you're playing in a band with an electric bass and drums, perhaps the best thing for real loud gigs is to just use an electric guitar instead of an acoustic? A magnetic pickup may work okay, or not, on an acoustic guitar but a well-chosen electric guitar may be better for those loud gigs.

Do you know what cuts through a band really REALLY well? UST piezo Quack. That thing we acoustic guitarists who want 'natural' tone all hate, but its mighty useful and effective in a band context, you have to wonder if that is by design and why it hasn't been eliminated completely from a lot of pickup designs.

[Schau_ins_Regal]

Originally Posted by Spook

My Goodall (a nice EIR Hawaiian GC) has a Sunrise sometimes.. Schertler AG6 w/mic other times. My Kinscherff, a brazilian High Noon that Jamie is quite proud of, also has a Sunrise off and on. I have many guitars and many pickups. As well as PA's, amps, and preamps which actually have as much bearing on the sound as the guitar. Doesn't mean I know anything. But it has helped to teach me that guitars and amplification are very, very subjective and in the end, a person's opinion is only fully applicable, and 'relevant', within a fairly narrow context of application, playing style, and individual predisposition. I play jazz, blues, and rock with a pick. Usually solo. My setup using a Sunrise, Grace Design Felix, and Schertler Jam 150 speakers sounds pretty good to me. If I played fingerstyle I would likely prefer a different type of pickup(s). If I wanted to play fingerstyle in a band, I would give up guitar and switch to banjo because it's simply too hard.

Thing is, magnetic pickups are much easier to control at high volumes. I don't think that's subjective. Getting a true high fidelity sound at band volumes is quite difficult and expensive well beyond the transducer choice.

You play the sunrise without another source? Do you have sound samples?

[Spook]

Originally Posted by Schau_ins_Regal

You play the sunrise without another source? Do you have sound samples?

Yes. On some nice expensive flat tops and on a couple of oval hole archtops. And no, I don't have sound samples but Doug Young does on his site.

If I were going to dual source I would add a mic, not a Trance or K&K. I often use a Schertler AG6 with the plug in electret mic. More often I don't want to take more than the Felix and I run my vocal mic through it which precludes more than a single source on guitar.

------------

Emmsone.. you are quite right about the piezo. But.. it's just somehow wrong to do that to a guitar.

[Schau_ins_Regal]

Originally Posted by Spook

Yes. On some nice expensive flat tops and on a couple of oval hole archtops. And no, I don't have sound samples but Doug Young does on his site.

If I were going to dual source I would add a mic, not a Trance or K&K. I often use a Schertler AG6 with the plug in electret mic. More often I don't want to take more than the Felix and I run my vocal mic through it which precludes more than a single source on guitar.

------------

Emmsone.. you are quite right about the piezo. But.. it's just somehow wrong to do that to a guitar.

Fine if that works for you. Maybe you have another playing style where the Sunrise works well. I felt that it works when picked but not strummed. Because I do strumming I won´t use it as a single source or recommend it for that...

[jipiboi]

Thanks a lot for all the amazing info and opinions you have given me, i know a lot more, but it's harder to choose now with more info hahaha !!

I think I'm between a Dazzo + preamp, Tranceaudio, or something simple like the seymour duncan mag mic (To make it easy). So still hard to choose but now i know a lot more

[varmonter]

So this is a process let me say.you wont be lucky enough
To find what is right for you or your guitar the
First time.you will buy it get it installed figure out
How to make whatever you choose sound decent
And you will say ...ahhh !! that sounds pretty good.
Over time you will start hearing things you dont
Like and you will repeat the process all over
Again. Silly i know....
i wish i could play nothing but small
Clubs where folks just listen.i would sell
All this crap and just use a km 184 mic.
But mics just dont cut it in most live
Situations. Any of the suggestions here will
Work fine for you.The general public wont
Know or care as long as your tone isnt fingernails
On a blackboard.

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by varmonter

So this is a process let me say.you wont be lucky enough
To find what is right for you or your guitar the
First time.you will buy it get it installed figure out
How to make whatever you choose sound decent
And you will say ...ahhh !! that sounds pretty good.
Over time you will start hearing things you dont
Like and you will repeat the process all over
Again. Silly i know....
i wish i could play nothing but small
Clubs where folks just listen.i would sell
All this crap and just use a km 184 mic.
But mics just dont cut it in most live
Situations. Any of the suggestions here will
Work fine for you.The general public wont
Know or care as long as your tone isnt fingernails
On a blackboard.

Amen.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[jipiboi]

Hey guys, anyone knows if a taylor 812 is compatible with the trance audio amulet M? i mean the space below, is enough??

I'll most likely get that one, but i haven't been able to know for sure if the amulet will fit ok.

Any help would be really appreciate it!

[stevecuss]

Originally Posted by jipiboi

Hey guys, anyone knows if a taylor 812 is compatible with the trance audio amulet M? i mean the space below, is enough??

I'll most likely get that one, but i haven't been able to know for sure if the amulet will fit ok.

Any help would be really appreciate it!

Its worth a call to Gary at Trance, but here's a recent ebay sale of a Taylor 712 with a trance installed, so I suspect you'd be fine.

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by Spook

Thing is, magnetic pickups are much easier to control at high volumes. I don't think that's subjective. Getting a true high fidelity sound at band volumes is quite difficult and expensive well beyond the transducer choice.

Totally agree here. I am a big fan of B-Band Systems, but when I have to play loud slide guitar in a solo or band context I use the Seymour Mag-Mic or a Dimarzio DP139 (which is discontinued). When the volume goes up, the top of the guitar especially in a band context just starts working like a microphone and those USTs and soundboard transducers get out of hand pretty quick.

[jipiboi]

Originally Posted by stevecuss

Its worth a call to Gary at Trance, but here's a recent ebay sale of a Taylor 712 with a trance installed, so I suspect you'd be fine.

Thanks a lot for the reply!! there's a video that tells you if you have the space necessary, but to measure you have to remove your strings i just changed them so i'm double checking if someone has first hand experience with the X12 taylor models, this looks pretty good, thanks!!

Anyone else?

[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by Wolfram Slides

It suspect that - from Taylor's point of view at least - it's just much more economical to keep the tooling and production of all their guitars as similar as possible.

A happy side-effect is that it's very straightforward to install an aftermarket pickup!

Cheers,
David

Good point, David. Something you and I know a little about.

As Thoreau said, "Simplify, simplify....."

scott memmer

[jipiboi]

anyone else ?