$125 for a pickup. Which do you all think?
 

I'm putting a pickup in my Guild and I'm trying to cover all of my options. I'd like to keep the expense below $125. Used is fine, new is better. I'd really like a dual source as I have experience with a number of, mostly dual source, pickups:

Baggs Dual Source (element & mic)
Baggs Anthem
Baggs M80
Fishman Ellipse VT with PUTW quackbuster inline with UST.
Fishman Ellipse VT with JJB dual disk inline with ust

I enjoy all of the above systems, barely preferring the Baggs M80 and thinking of trying the quakbuster or other thin film sbt as the intriguing option of the movie ment.

Problem Is that these are all out of my budget at the moment. What I did find was a Dtar multi source (mic&ust) $125 new or a B-band X2.2 (dual source sbt & ust) $69 new for on China. Also found a Duncan SA6 used for $135.

Looked at the Schertler Magnetico but it's more $ and I'm not sure what to expect for on it.

Any ideas?

TIA

The DTar looks an option. I'd avoid China.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What is the general use you have in mind? In a band? By yourself as a solo act?
Consider the Baggs I-Beam as well. Excellent pickup. Very Natural sounding and a new one can be had for $150, maybe a little less.
I was pleasantly surprised by the I-Beam. My other three guitars have the Anthem SL, which I like a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32q3a5S1lx0

For $125, you can probably get an Anthem SL used. Solid choice.

DTar Multisouce is a really good pickup. If you're comfortable with USTs, it's the way to go on a budget, or otherwise. I think they ship with the Baggs element as the pickup. I paired it with a K&K with good results.

Do not buy B-Bands from China, they are many times forgeries, and any B-Band bought from Chinese sellers on ebay and others are not covered by B-Bands warranty. Check with B-Band for info. I was burned by a Chinese B-Band seller and so was forum member Midwinter. B-Band XOM systems are great pickups so buy the real deal from a licensed seller if your interested in one.

I have had the exact opposite experience with the iBeam. It came installed in a new Martin custom D18. I struggled trying to get a decent sound out of it and finally gave up and replaced it with a JJB 330. They say that you have to get the placement just right with the iBeam ... perhaps that was the issue.

I would go with the K&K pure mini or the JJB 330 as half of your solution. I know nothing about the microphone side of things.

Could be the case... I don't know. I have mine in a Eastman E 10 00 and it sounds really good. The guy who installed it for me has installed many I-Beams. Maybe he knows something

I appreciate the warning. When you say 'burned' can you tell me more exactly what happened? Is your Chinese pickup of much poorer quality than an official one? These things seem to be of suspect quality all around, I didn't realise that fake pickups were an actual problem.

I'm looking at an XOM 2.2 which has the feather pickup in addition to the ust. It's $69 from a seller on eBay.

Kaos, I'm solo into a Fishman Loudbox Mini. I fingerpick with bare fingertips, strum a little too but with my fingernails. I don't typically drive the pre with hot hitting on the guitar. I'm a more sensitive , quiet guitar player.

Stay away from pretty much every pickup direct from China. They are mostly cheap knock-out. I've seen Fishman pre-amps which look like someone has never seen a pick-up before.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I just went down to my music room and played my 00 with the I-beam in it for about 30 minutes. Yep, still sounds great!

I got burned by a Chinese knockoff and so did a friend of mine. Try to track down this: http://www.lsmsound.com/en/product_view.aspx?id=408 . They sound amazing! I put one in my J35.

That's interesting. Seems to be a 'dead to rights' copy of a Baggs Anthem SL from China. So are these Chinese copies serviceably good pickups or are they not? Seems to me that they could be and I'm supposing that I can count your review of this LSI as a 'yes, it's good'?

Anyone else care to comment? We're the black market B-band pickups any good, or a total rip? I've seen a fake Baggs Anthem copy (full version) and a Schertler Magnetico w/Mic clone, both on eBay for cheap. Anyone try anything like these?

They are always available on eBay for @$69.00. Just search for LSM 220 pickup. Two great reasons not to buy one: It just doesn't seem fair to the folks at Baggs who did all the R&D, and if you go to YouTube and listen to a sample it sounds like someone shoved an ice pick in your ears.