First impressions of Baggs "Lyric" Pickup.

[smurph1]

Fantastic! Very natural and organic sounding. I see why people say to not put it in a lower quality guitar. It really doesn't "color" the tone of the instrument very much, it just makes your guitar louder. It's very accurate. It picks up string squeaks etc. But for me that's something I can live with. My 000-17SM is lightly built and quite resonant so I need to be careful of feedback, but I can get a useable volume out of it without too much problem. All in all I really like it!

[Tico]

I love my Lyric!

A few months ago I put one in my 1976 Guild D-55.
It sounds like a fine condenser mic. ... probably because that's what it is.

Many people dislike the Lyric saying, "it lacks bass".
It doesn't.
It's just that nearly every other PU has the artificial bass boost that everyone has become accustomed to.

Clearly many like artificially-boosted bass.
I prefer accuracy.
To each their own.

I'm considering putting a Lyric in my 1977 Guild F-212XL.

I put ta Lyric in my LG2 American Eagle, and it's a great match. It's so nice to hear my guitar through a microphone instead of a piezoelectric crystal.

[llew]

I have Lyric's in several guitars. For active pickups they are my favorite. Congrats!

[jaymarsch]

I have a Lyric in an all-mahogany Alvarez 00 (Actually, the MPA66SHB - billed as a parlor but really closer to a 00 in size) and I also like it in this guitar.

Best,
Jayne

[Judson]

+1 ... I have the "Lyric" in both of my Eastman acoustics and I wish I had put it in my Taylor and Martin instead of the Fishman Matrix Infinity. For solo instrumental, or singer accompaniment it provides superb natural acoustic tone. I would probably not choose it for a situation where my guitar was competing with other instruments, however.

[Petty1818]

The Lyric definitely is a great pickup if you are a solo performer or if you are in intimate settings. It actually can work in a very loud band setting but it just lacks bass. I think it's a great option for some but it's definitely not the most versatile pickup out there.

[martingitdave]

I purchased and installed the Lyric this week. I won't be keeping it. While it is a good mic system, I don't think it is a good fit for my guitar. The electronics in the preamp put some serious compression on the low frequencies, which provides good feedback protection. But, it does mute the bass response one might expect to hear. I think there is some truth to the argument that the amplified tone matches the actual tone. My guitar is naturally bassy, but the mid range was all I could hear from the Lyric. I think in a different guitar, or for someone with different tastes, it can be a great option. Unfortunately, I play a lot of open mics, where I need to plug and go. So, I like to make sure that my pickups sound good (useable) using a flat reference PA setting on my Line 6. This one did not. If I were only playing through my own equipment, I would not have hesitated to keep it and EQ it where I expected it to be.

[SpruceTop]

I've had a Lyric in two guitars, a 2012 Martin D-18 and a 2013 Taylor 528 First Edition, and I didn't like its thin bass and prevalent midrange tone. I bought an L.R. Baggs Venue DI to try to tame the beast but, although it helped some, it still left that very noticeable midrange hollow brashness. The Lyric is long gone and I'll take a well-setup SBT-based system over the Lyric any day of the week! Perhaps, the Lyric fares better in smaller guitars (maybe, don't know)? If and when a Lyric Version 2 is released, I may try it as long as I can return it if it doesn't sound good.

[Vancebo]

Be glad that it is doing well for you. Very natural acoustic time. I finally decided to remove mine however because it took too much EQ mastery to deal with the excessive lower mids. I wish it did work for me. Consider yourself one of the fortunate ones.