B-band sbt vs. PUTW sbt?

[chrisc]

Anyone with experience with both of these? How would you rate each on a 0-10 scale and what are the strengths, weaknesses of each and how do they sound different? I spoke with David from PUTW and he related the bridgeplate of Taylors needed to be cleaned with rubbing alcohol in order to provide maximum adhesiveness sticking. Has anyone found this to be your experience?

[GordonHLau]

I've had the PUTW #27 SBT in my 714CE and I'm going to purchase the B-Band AST in a couple of weeks so I'll let you know the results. I wasn't totally satisfied with the PUTW #27 so I ended up returning it. PUTW has the best customer satisfaction money back guarantee in the pickup business so there's no risk in trying out the pickup for yourself. From what I've heard over at rmmga, the B-Band AST is much less sensitive to pickup placement than the PUTW SBTs. I could never find a spot with the PUTW on my guitar that didn't produce a hollow phasey boxy sound. However, I have heard their pickups sound wonderful in the guitars they had at their booth at NAMM. The B-Band AST sounded terrific in a Larrivee that they had at their NAMM booth. On thing I like about B-Band is if you already have their preamps, you can upgrade just the pickup section for under $50 (either UST or AST).

Both companies are also extremely helpful. Even though I haven't kept anything I bought from PUTW, David Enke has been the most helpful person to me in regards to acoustic guitar amplification.

GL

[joe white]

I just installed the b-band ust in my 355 and I am so happy!!!!! I went round and round with an ibeam until finally giving up on it. Yes, I would reccommend cleaning the bridge support inside the guitar as there may be some buffing residues present and these would make it impossible to get good adhesion. I had to do this with the ibeam after ruining two of the stickers that came with it. I would also consider the b-band ust, it is so realistic sounding, especially with an LR Baggs paracoustic di.

[Mike G]

GL:

Please keep us posted on your results or the b-Band. I was all set to buy the PUTW #27 based on numerous favorable reviews, however, I'm not one to be making constance adjustments etc. I like simplicity, if the sound is equal of course. I have a 714 and would be very interested to hear you impressions....thanks.

Has anyone tried the new PUTW Aircore UST?

Are these pickups superior to the factory installed fishmans? Is it just a "personal preference" thing? I have factory electrics in mine, but I'm for anything that will give me a better acoustic sound. Just wondering.

[GordonHLau]

Mike,

I have also tried the PUTW Aircore. Less quacky with a fuller bass than the Matrix. I think I still preferred the tone of the B-Band UST over the Aircore but the Aircore had much better string balance than the B-Band UST. I wanted to replace the Matrix in my Fishman OBB with the Aircore but the Aircore's output wasn't hot enough to work properly with the Fishman OBB (lower output meant more noise). I think the Aircore will work much better with one of PUTW's preamps.

GL

[Mike G]

Thanks GL...

I guess it is worth trying the Aircore as I can return it if not satisfied. Please keep us posted on the b-Band AST. How do you think it will Work with a Baggs PADI?

Best,

[PaulLePine]

Pure conjecture here, but there's a guy at 13thfret.com who posted several rave reviews for a combination of the Air Core with another xducer (forget which one), through a Baggs Dual Source (onboard) preamp. Essentially replacing the Baggs ribbon and mic with the PUTW xducers.

[GordonHLau]

Mike,

The Aircores along with the other PUTW transducers work well with the PADI (both internal and external) since they have more than enough voltage gain (+27 dB) to boost the pickup signal. In contrast, the onboard Fishman preamps only have a measely 8 dB of voltage gain. The lower output will mean additional hiss (white noise). The lack of gain is not a problem with the Matrix since it has a very hot passive output which is probably why Fishman decided to cut costs and build a preamp with such a low voltage gain. I'll keep you up to date on the B-Band AST (I've been doing some interesting experiments with my exisiting B-Band preamp that I think will interest a few people).


Paul,

The 2nd pickup in question was a PUTW #27 SBT in the mic channel of the Baggs Dual Source. However, another preamp has to be in the chain since the mic channel of the Dual Source doesn't have a high enough input impedance to accomadate pickups (high impedance source into a low impedance input means a very thin sound). David Enke made a mod using a preamp inline to solve this problem. There is another 'mod' that I've been experimenting with that will allow you to use both PUTW pickups without using the inline preamp mod (no soldering just plug right into the internal preamp). I have to talk to David first before I disclose it.

GL

[joe white]

Guys I can assure you that the b-band ust is awesome. I am SO finnicky about tone and I tried the natural II with all sorts of external pre-amps and blah!! I tried the ibeam active and non active with all the same stuff and ick! The b-band ust sounded good direct into my amp (Genz Benz) and then when I threw the padi on it ,,,WOAH!!!!! It is so nice I could sit and play for hours plugged in! I am thinking about adding the ast with my ust or the mic they offer to take this thing to the next level. Or I may just enjoy it the way it is. It really, really does sound good. Anyone live close to me? Your welcome to come over and check it out!

[GordonHLau]

getgo,

Did you get the A2, A4 or A5 preamp? Only those three allow you to use B-Band UST and AST together. I too think their UST is the best sounding UST on the market (I have one myself). BUT, I want to try out their AST. At NAMM, the AST definitely sounded more natural than the UST in the Larrivee at their booth. Several endorsing B-Band artists that have both the UST and AST in their guitars don't even use the UST and rely soley on the AST while perfoming. They say it's that good. I guess I won't know for sure until I get one myself. I know, I know - I keep posting about getting one. It's time for me to stop talking about it and go ahead and get it.

GL

[joe white]

GL, I honestly don't know which pre-amp is in it. It is the core-99 pre but that doesn't tell you anything does it?

[GordonHLau]

getgo,

That tells me alot. The core-99 can only except either the UST or AST, NOT both. You can add a mic to this preamp. For 2002, B-Band replaced the core-99 with the A1 and A2 endpin preamps. The A-1 is for a single transducer while the A2 is for two transducers. The neat thing about the A2 is you can add just about any type of transducer on the 2nd channel - soundboard, magnetic, mic, etc. It's extremely flexible and I'm considering getting one even though I might not use the 2nd channel (nice to have just in case). As far as sound quality goes, there's no difference between the core-99 and the A series preamps although the A series do have a bit more voltage gain (most people will barely hear a difference so it's not a big deal).

I'm also curious which generation UST did you get, 3rd (white color) or 4th (red color)? The 4th generation UST have 4 dB more output over the 3rd and have better string balance. I have the 3rd generation and have had string balance problems when changing tunings. In standard tuning, the string balance was fine but once I switched to open G or DADGAD, the plain strings and the low E would get much louder than the other strings. Do you have this problem?

GL

[joe white]

GL, The ust itself was white, so I guess I have the 3rd gen. I put it in my 355 12 string and I seem to have great string balance. I don't change tuning on my 355 unless I tune down. So far this pup has worked flawlessly.

[chrisc]

Hey Gordon, did you get the b-band yet?