YouTube Enya X3 Pro Demo

[Marshall]

I've been playing around with the Enya pickup in my amp at home, and it sounds very good. I loaded the Enya Music App on my phone. And was able to play with EQing the signal a little. I have no interest in their other FX. (at least for now). But the cute little thing seems to have a pretty high functioning internal pickup/preamp. I'll have to try it out somewhere in the next few days and see how it performs in the wild. But this just might be good enough that I won't mess around with my other pickup.

Cool !

[Per Burström]

Thanks for all the updates Marshall.

I received my own X3 Pro Mini a week ago, and I'm still trying to figure out what I think about it. But it's comfortable to play, and I think it sounds good. As you have me earlier it is on the heavy side, and it is. Not sure if it's a good fit as my "summer guitar" which I carry with me wherever I go. But compared to me dreadnoughts it has a more convenient size for that purpose.

At the moment I rank my Nova Go SP1 higher than the X3 Pro Mini, but mostly because it's the perfect guitar playing in the couch.

Per

[Marshall]

Good, Per.

I played the Enya plugged in at an open mic and it did pretty well. The pickup sounded a little bit edgy. But overall pretty good. I had download the App and was able to do some EQ on the amped sound on the fly. Pretty cool, actually.

There's a rechargeable battery inside the guitar and a preamp. I imagine that's what adds the extra weight. (WHich makes me wonder if traveling by air with a lithium ion battery in a guitar would be an issue).

[Per Burström]

Marshall,
do you get noise when plugging in your X3 Pro Mini? I noticed that my Enya Nova Go SP1 is when I plug it in to my small Blackstar Fly 3 a long time ago, but you don't really hear it when you play. However, today I tried to plug-in both the Nova Go and the X3 Pro Mini to my TCH Perform-VG and listening with headphones, and the are both really noisy.

I have several magnetic soundhole pickups, but unfortunately they are too large to fit in the small soundhole of the X3 Pro Mini. I have a Shadow Nanomag though, and that pickup attach to the end of the neck, and despite the curved end of the neck by the soundhole I think I could attach it. But then the problem is that the bracing of the guitars top mean I probably won't be able to mount the pre-amp. So that's not an option I think. The pre-amp is this one: https://shadowelectronics.com/collec...s/sh-sonic-nmg

Despite the drawbacks of the Mini (including the weight) I'm pretty convinced I will keep it. It's kind of growing to me after playing it a lot the last few days. It's really comfortable to play and it sounds good. And the built-in effects when not plugged-in is a nice extra thats I use to some extent.

Per

[Marshall]

So far no noise I recall. The guitar is out of circulation at the moment, because I’m messing around inside. (More on that later).

But, about adding a Mag; I was able to do that with the smaller diameter Soundhole, by trimming one of the inside clips on the pickup so I could fit it in the Soundhole. Worked like a charm, and the pickup clip would still be functional in a standard size Soundhole.

[Per Burström]

Originally Posted by Marshall

But, about adding a Mag; I was able to do that with the smaller diameter Soundhole, by trimming one of the inside clips on the pickup so I could fit it in the Soundhole. Worked like a charm, and the pickup clip would still be functional in a standard size Soundhole.

I went back in this thread and saw that a Skysonic soundhole pickup worked for you, so I actually just ordered a Skysonic A-810 (magnetic only). Hopefully it will fit.

I really like the player facing sound port of the Nova Go, and kind of miss it on the X3, so have had some "crazy thoughts" about cutting one in the X3 as well. The sides of the guitar feel really robust, so I would think it would work... but I'll have no experience cutting holes neither in wood or carbon guitars. Do you have any views on that?

Thanks!
Pet

[Marshall]

The Skysonic won’t fit as it comes. But if you’re willing to trim one of the plastic feet that goes on the inside, you can make it fit.

That’s what I had to do.

[Marshall]

This probably should go under amplification, but I'm invested over here, so I'll finish it off.

As I mentioned earlier, my favorite pickup of the moment is a Skysonic Pro1 with a Mag/Mic/SBT combination. And when I installed it in the Enya, the SBT didn't work well because there's a perforated hexagonal bridgeplate inside the guitar and the SBT wasn't making good contact.



So I endeavored to fill the hex perforations with a epoxy/wood filler. No easy task fingering inside a little guitar. And of course I over-filled on purpose. And then I sanded down the filler until I got a reasonable surface for the SBT. No easy task. The sanding took hours.



And then I mounted the SBT.



And I just plugged it into my amp and got a VERY good signal from the pickup. I'm as pleased with the result as I could be so far. Sometime in the near future I will listen to the amp-out through headphones and mess around with the NUX pedal in the signal chain and try to decide what is the best setup for this guitar. But I'm very happy so far.

As a side note; there are now 2 pickups in the guitar. There's the Enya UST and amp still in there. And now the Skysonic combo pickup. There are 2 output jacks. So I can play around with either pickup system and see what works best for me. The Enya system is pretty good. A little edgy (as all USTs are). But it has some nice (and crazy) FX options to play with. The Skysonic is quite good as is, but needs outboard FX if you want to shape the sound.

Fun and games.

[Per Burström]

Thanks again Marshall, I enjoy following your endeavor!

Have you tried to run the built-in AcousticPlus with effects, for example delay, when having the Skysonic connected to an amp (without effects)? The effects induced in the body by the AcousticPlus actuator *should* also be heard through the Skysonic mic and SBT.

I had an idea about doing that with my LAG HyVibe and my Harley Benton soundhole pickup with microphone a few years ago, but I ran into the problem with the HyVibe system adding a lot of noise/hum in the soundhole pickup.

/Per

[Marshall]

No not yet. Mostly when I play out, at an open mic or a gig, there's a stage and a sound system. And the house adds FX. So, I don't use much of my own except acoustic modeling and/or EQ. I leave reverb, chorus, delay stuff to the guy at controls. Plus I only like a light amount of that stuff anyway.

I have toyed with the built-in EQ, and I like it. Not the others yet. Doesn't mean they aren't great. Just low on my priority list at the moment.

[Per Burström]

As I mentioned earlier I ordered a Skysonic A-810 magnetic pickup with the plan to put it in my X3 Pro Mini. However, the order is stuck in China, but I had another order for an Artec MSP-50 that I had planned to use in another guitar. But with some slight modifications to the MSP-50 to be able to mount one of the clamps after putting the pickup in the small soundhole of the X3 Pro Mini it was really a perfect fit. And as it's really small it doesn't cover much of the soundhole either.

I mounted it permanently by drilling a hole for the jack between the strap button and the SP1 unit instead of replacing the strap button as I don't trust endpin jacks for mounting the strap.

The Artec MSP-50 is a passive single coil pickup, but during my first tests going into my Focusrite I don't have any problems with noise. And I like these adjustable pole pieces. It sounds really good using a stock acoustic strip in Logic. I look forward to test it with my Blackstar Fly 3 or Katana Mini... that's the real purpose I want a magnetic pickup.

Next project is to open a 35 mm sound port in the X3.

/Per

[Sarah1F]

BEWARE - PROBLEM WITH THE X3 PRO MINI - Just wanted to chime in for a minute about a problem with this guitar…
My husband ordered one less than a month ago, liked it, but the electronics already failed. The power button was stuck in the on position and wouldn’t cycle through its onboard effects. He tried all of the recommended fixes to no avail. Good thing he was still within his one month to return to Amazon, because the Enya company was not a big help at all. They wanted him to disconnect and reconnect wires inside the guitar!!! Good thing he had me there with very small hands, or it would have been impossible for him to do. I can’t believe they had an owner do that (it didn’t work anyway). They just didn’t seem enthused to take responsibility. It is back in the hands of Amazon right now.

[kurth]

Originally Posted by Sarah1F

BEWARE - PROBLEM WITH THE X3 PRO MINI - Just wanted to chime in for a minute about a problem with this guitar…
My husband ordered one less than a month ago, liked it, but the electronics already failed. The power button was stuck in the on position and wouldn’t cycle through its onboard effects. He tried all of the recommended fixes to no avail. Good thing he was still within his one month to return to Amazon, because the Enya company was not a big help at all. They wanted him to disconnect and reconnect wires inside the guitar!!! Good thing he had me there with very small hands, or it would have been impossible for him to do. I can’t believe they had an owner do that (it didn’t work anyway). They just didn’t seem enthused to take responsibility. It is back in the hands of Amazon right now.

that's bad news but at least it has a centered soundhole to access the guitar. truth is any electronics can fail, esp one so complex. and while this sp1 pickup apparently works well for most, at least it's possible to add something different. did you replace the guitar? if so please report back on the replacement. thanks for your warning.

[Sarah1F]

Originally Posted by kurth

that's bad news but at least it has a centered soundhole to access the guitar. truth is any electronics can fail, esp one so complex. and while this sp1 pickup apparently works well for most, at least it's possible to add something different. did you replace the guitar? if so please report back on the replacement. thanks for your warning.

Hey Kurth... My husband has sent it back to Amazon and is waiting for his credit. He actually wants to order another one. I wouldn’t. Electronics shouldn’t fail in 3 weeks.

I will update.

[Sarah1F]

Update: My husband decided against chancing another Enya. He bought a Blue Lava instead and loves it. (And no, he is not a beginner guitarist. We both play and between us have Martins, Taylors, RainSongs, and many more)!