Baggs Lyric
 

Just wanted to mention that I have a Lyric in the house. Not yet installed, and unfortunately, I probably won't get to it for a couple of days, at least, especially with the StageIt webcast with Tim Farrell Sunday afternoon coming up.

But I did a quick check on one thing people have speculated about, and the Lyric does indeed have support for a second source on the ring. As far as I can tell, it's a straight passthru, there seems to be a signal even with no battery installed. No evidence of anything to support powering (or power switching) another pickup, so I think it would have to be a passive pickup capable of a reasonable signal, like a magnetic, or one of the hotter USTs.

I actually think discussing 2nd sources is putting the cart before the horse. If the system sounds as nice as the demos, there's no need to start adding mods, but we'll see.

I'm not reviewing this for AG, the folks at Baggs were nice enough to send me a beta unit, and encouraged me to share, so I'll post what I can when I get time. Any suggestions for what you'd like to hear, let me know.

Great news, Doug, as I know of no one else who has the extensive testing experience that you have...

It would be good to hear the Lyric in different applications, musically; finger style, certainly, but strumming, single note lines, palm damping and muting, as well. Both light touch and a more aggressive attack strength, too!

Looking forward to hearing your take on this unit... although I am more than a bit chagrined if I hear it and want to switch from my Anthem SL's...

Thanks for the heads-up, Doug. Its good to know that the Lyric has an accommodation for adding a passive mag. (According to the iBeam manual {item 10.1: Adding Another Pickup}, adding a passive piezo pickup will be more problematic, as the piezo's higher impedance will invite crosstalk with a stereo cable. )

As far as "putting the cart before the horse", the Baggs folks have already stated that the Lyric is less feedback resistant than a UST. It seems logical that some of the players like myself, who play with bare finger pads in some pretty noisy settings, will want to add a passive mag.

Right, I was thinking more in terms of "does it need to be dual source to sound good". Having a backup pickup for feedback resistance is a whole different angle, and certainly understandable. Tho there are other ways to deal with that, too.

Thanks for the heads-up Doug!

Oh, the waiting is killing me! Are we there yet? Are we? Are we, huh?:D

Not yet, crazy busy week here.

Since the Lyric can still feedback at high volumes, I'm really curious about what a soundhole plug will do.
Although it can improve feedback resistance, it can easily make the sound of an internal mic boxy.

However the Lyric uses slightly different methods from traditional internal mics (search for PZM if you're interested), I suspect that the results will be quite encouraging. :up:

Not trying to pressure you, Doug! Just channeling my inner 12-year old!!

Lyric
 

I Doug,

Just waiting for your review of the new Lyric pickup and wanted your opinion of how it compares to the trance amulet stereo pickup, pros and cons. As always THANK YOU for all of your contributions that you share with everyone here on the acoustic guitar forum. You are a kind and giving person and I for one don't think people give you the thanks and appreciation you truly deserve. Again, THANK YOU!!

Kind regards,
Ron

Sorry guys, I've had zero free time this week. But I just got it installed in my Taylor tonight. Really trivial install, just stick it on the bridge plate with the double-sticky tape. I put it in while sitting on the couch watching TV, and the hardest part was restringing the guitar :-) I've been playing thru it a bit just direct into my studio monitors, and initial impressions are really good. It's very mic-like in how it responds, very lively, the whole guitar picks up tapping on the body and so on.

I need to mess with it some more, try it thru some amps and so on. I'll try to get some recordings posted by the weekend.

Can't wait to listen to the recordings! I agree with Ron, we really should be thankful for what you've done. :) Thanks so much, Doug!!

Hi Doug,

Are going to try your Pendulum single preamp jack with the new lyric. Also, how does this single Pendulum preamp jack compare sound wise compare to the rack mount stereo pre amp? I know the single jack has no parametric EQ and it just has a volumne control but if you just compare it flat how does it sound. Sound wise it better than the Baggs , Fishman ect.

Also, you mentioned you played the Lyric a little bit on your Taylor, how is this pick up different than the Trance Amulet stereo in as far as sound and technology? Thank you for sharing your time and knowledge.

Kind regards,
Ron

I'll experiment a bit, but I'll probably use something like the Venue. I don't want to demo with something unusual - better to use something a lot of people have.

As far as the SPS-1, that's a very high quality, very transparent preamp, it adds no sound of its own when the EQ is flat. So it doesn't change the sound at all. It just offers more routing options and EQ. Most good preamps don't have much effect on the sound, if they're set flat. If they "color" the sound in a way that's not adjustable, then they aren't a very clean, clear preamp. I know a lot of people claim this or that preamp somehow make things sound "better", but in my experience, most good acoustic guitar preamps have very little "sound", they're transparent and clean and allow the sound of the pickup to come thru unaltered, unless you want to alter them with EQ or other effects. With the SPS-1 being near the top of the heap in terms of quality, it has even less effect on the sound than some others.

I'd say the Lyric vs the Trance is apples and oranges based on my limited experience so far. The Trance is an SBT, and sounds like one, very similar to the K&K, Dazzo, and others. The Lyric sounds more like a mic. Again, based on 10 minutes of time with it so far.

The stereo Trance adds an interesting stereo effect - fun, but of very little use for real live performance. You could do something similar with any other multi-element SBT. I had some Dazzo's wired in stereo for a while, and have use the PUTW #54 in stereo (that one actually sounds more "realistic", like a stereo recording, as opposed to the bouncing back and forth effect of the trance. I should have examples of all these in my pickup samples.

Looking forward to your thoughts on the Lyric, Doug.