Thoughts on Taylor GA8 // acoustic Pickups

[tkirgiss]

I have always been a martin guy, and used to "despise" the sound or thought of a taylor... now I can admit I was just being a snob, because Taylor makes fantastic guitars. The first one I owned was a 414ce, and I think thats when I decided I did not like them, because it had a very thin, tinny sound. I sold it and got a Martin GPCPA3 (which I later sold and got a breedlove. GAS issues )

Anyways, I own a GS7e, which is great. It was really the guitar that changed my mind about Taylors, and made me appreciate their sound...

I am now looking for a slightly smaller, GA sized guitar. I love the cedar top on the GS7, and love the warmth of it... But I have also come to realize that it's softness lends to small nicks and cracks much easier than sitka. So I am looking to get a GA8 with sitka.

To anyone who has played/owned a GA8 (or an 814 I suppose), is there a significant reduction in low end from a cedar or GS style? I realize there will be some loss, but is it going to bring back my past disappointments of the 414? I realize ovangkol does not have as much bass as EIR, so maybe that will help?

ALSO--I plan on getting a GA8 without the expression system. I enjoy it on the GS7e, but I don't think it is worth the 300 price tag... I believe there's other between the 100-150 range that may be better. ** So what pickups have you tried in taylors that give them a quality sound plugged in? I lead worship at a church and travel to play gigs from coffeehouse to auditorium sized venues.

I have heard good things about the K&K western mini, and some L.R. Baggs, but never specific to a taylor vs. martin vs. gibson... So what works best with a taylor?

(I also plan on getting the GA8 in tobacco sunburst, with gotoh 510 tuners )

[RP]

Here is the exact guitar you've described...http://www.ebay.com/itm/Taylor-GA-8-...item3a7c95d111 It was previously listed at a higher price, didn't sell, and was recently relisted at a somewhat lower price. I've owned a bunch of guitars over the last couple years, and my GA8 is the best of the lot. I'm not great at describing tone, but this Taylor has a wonderful blend of full, melodic, and complex qualities...

[tkirgiss]

Originally Posted by jrporter

Here is the exact guitar you've described...http://www.ebay.com/itm/Taylor-GA-8-...item3a7c95d111 It was previously listed at a higher price, didn't sell, and was recently relisted at a somewhat lower price. I've owned a bunch of guitars over the last couple years, and my GA8 is the best of the lot. I'm not great at describing tone, but this Taylor has a wonderful blend of full, melodic, and complex qualities...

Thanks jrporter! That guitar looks to be pretty new. Maybe I'll look into that. And its good to hear your GA8 made it out on top! THat makes me a little more comfortable with the decision to buy one

[rolleiguy54]

I own a ga8 with an adirondack top and Lr Baggs Anthem. Recently I conducted a guitar and pickup shoot out at Heid Music in Appleton Wi.

We tested the Taylor ga, Taylor gs with es, Yamaha a series, Petros grand concert with Infinity Matrix, redline j45 type with the matrix, Both infinity pu's run through the Aura pedal, and lastly themartin om28 retro.

My recommendation would be to put an infinity matrix in the Taylor and run it into the Aura pedal.

The Anthem sounded good for finger style.

[edward993]

I love the LRBaggs wares and company ...their stuff that sounds great, folks are super supportive of their gear, and I've always had all-around superb CS from them. The IBeam is nice, but I think is maybe getting a bit long in tooth, but still sounds very good and installation is the easiest. If you're not running a loud stage, then little issue with feedback, as these can be prone to feeding. The Dual Source gets superb reviews, but I perspnally stay clear of UST, just my preference.

I have the K&K and sounds good but only with a good preamp, IMHO. If you don't, it plain sounds horrid, IMHO. But with my Baggs Venue, it sounds very nice, and still leaves lots on the table to EQ at the console/PA. The K&K's price attracts many but IMHO you must figure in a good preamp to get good acoustic tone from this system. But once dialed in, it's nice and fairly feedback resistant.

I can't speak for what tends to sound good with which guitar (if there is such a thing), but can tell you that these that I have tried work great. And I to my ear, I do not care for sole-UST types (which is why I think the Dual Source is a nice unit).

BTW, I know you mentioned you were looking at a tobacco burst, but I have a pristine GA8 that is, um, pristine and maybe looking to put on the blocks. PM me if interested.

Edward

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by tkirgiss

ALSO--I plan on getting a GA8 without the expression system. I enjoy it on the GS7e, but I don't think it is worth the 300 price tag... I believe there's other between the 100-150 range that may be better. ** So what pickups have you tried in taylors that give them a quality sound plugged in? I lead worship at a church and travel to play gigs from coffeehouse to auditorium sized venues.

Try a Trance Audio Amulet M Dual Mono system in your prospective GA8. I just put one in my new Martin D-18 and immediately ordered another one for my new Larrivee D-04. I've only had the Expression System in the dozen or so Taylors I've owned since 2006 and it leaves much to be desired--It's that dang electric-guitar-tone that irks me when playing moderately to aggressively hard!

http://www.tranceaudio.com/

Regards,

SpruceTop

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by rolleiguy54

My recommendation would be to put an infinity matrix in the Taylor and run it into the Aura pedal.

The Anthem sounded good for finger style.

Two good prospective system choices to add to a short-list along with the Trance Audio Amulet Dual Mono M system!

Regards,

SpruceTop

[tkirgiss]

Originally Posted by edward993

BTW, I know you mentioned you were looking at a tobacco burst, but I have a pristine GA8 that is, um, pristine and maybe looking to put on the blocks. PM me if interested.

Edward

Hey Edward, thanks for the input!! I am pretty new to the acoustic guitar forum, and assume PM means private message.. but I am not sure how to do that. I would love to talk though!

[tkirgiss]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Try a Trance Audio Amulet M Dual Mono system in your prospective GA8. I just put one in my new Martin D-18 and immediately ordered another one for my new Larrivee D-04. I've only had the Expression System in the dozen or so Taylors I've owned since 2006 and it leaves much to be desired--It's that dang electric-guitar-tone that irks me when playing moderately to aggressively hard!

http://www.tranceaudio.com/

Hey SpruceTop, thanks for this suggestion. I had never heard of trance audio before. One of the appealing things about this is that it seems to be pretty easy to install---and I plan on installing whatever pickup I get myself (hence the K&K)

Is it worth the higher price tag though? 279 is a bit more than I was looking to pay, but if it is that much nicer I may consider it as a christmas gift to myself... Do you know of any sound samples or youtube videos demonstrating it?

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by tkirgiss

Hey SpruceTop, thanks for this suggestion. I had never heard of trance audio before. One of the appealing things about this is that it seems to be pretty easy to install---and I plan on installing whatever pickup I get myself (hence the K&K)

Is it worth the higher price tag though? 279 is a bit more than I was looking to pay, but if it is that much nicer I may consider it as a christmas gift to myself... Do you know of any sound samples or youtube videos demonstrating it?

I think the Trance Audio Amulet M Dual Mono system is worth it. I went for the full-monty with the volume and tone control for $320 plus $20 shipping. It's a fairly easy installation especially if you already have the end-pin enlarged to a 1/2" diameter hole, which I think Taylor does standard on their acoustic-only guitars. Like Larrivee, I believe Taylor puts a nifty end-pin-adapter assembly in the factory-drilled hole which is easily removable. Martin doesn't do this for their acoustic-only guitars and I ordered a Stewart-MacDonald end-pin/reamer/drill tool to enlarge the end-pin hole on my Martin D-18.

There are some samples of the Trance Audio Amulet sytems on YouTube. Maury's Music, an AGF dealer-listed sponsor, has begun posting some videos of the Trance Audio Amulet M Dual Mono as played through his Bose L1 PA system. Below, are links to his initial recording-studio Trance Audio Amulet M videos. The first video compares an unplugged (mic'ed) Martin OM-28V recording versus a Trance Audio Amulet M direct recording of that guitar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URodwB6y7MY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUOpoYnKUX0

Someday soon, I'll get my own audio samples posted of the Trance Audio Amulet M Dual Mono system for both my Martin D-18 and Larrivee D-04.

Regards,

SpruceTop

[lmacmil]

Originally Posted by tkirgiss

I had never heard of trance audio before.

Is it worth the higher price tag though? 279 is a bit more than I was looking to pay...

The answer to your question is totally subjective and just because the answer is "yes" for someone else, doesn't mean it will be "yes" for you.

Here's my take. Are you adding a pickup just for fun or do you play out? If just for you, then spend whatever you can afford. If you play out, I can guarantee that your typical listening audience won't notice the difference or care whether it's a $90 dollar pickup or a $300 pickup. IMO, it's hard to beat the K&K for value and pretty hard to beat it for sound too. (I have two K&K equipped guitars.)

[tkirgiss]

Originally Posted by lmacmil

The answer to your question is totally subjective and just because the answer is "yes" for someone else, doesn't mean it will be "yes" for you.

Here's my take. Are you adding a pickup just for fun or do you play out? If just for you, then spend whatever you can afford. If you play out, I can guarantee that your typical listening audience won't notice the difference or care whether it's a $90 dollar pickup or a $300 pickup. IMO, it's hard to beat the K&K for value and pretty hard to beat it for sound too. (I have two K&K equipped guitars.)

I understand that a "yes" is subjective from person to person, but I also have found that gathering as many opinions as possible is a valuable tool!

And-- I play on a weekly basis, and lead worship at a church. So I definitely not something nice. It's not so much a matter of if the audience will notice a difference....but I will notice a difference. If I'm not comfortable with the sound of my guitar, it affects my playing, performance, singing... etc. You know how a good monitor mix makes playing more fun because you can just play and not worry about it (or notice it)? For me, having a good amplified acoustic tone is like that. So I just want what sounds best and everyones opinion is valid to me!!

[SpruceTop]

I forgot to mention that my experiences with my newly-installed Trance Audio Amulet M Dual Mono system in my Martin D-18 were evaluated through my Bose L1 Model II system with all Bose T1 Mixer EQ set flat. My only EQ'ing was done by rotating the sound-hole rotary tone-control to where everything sounded nice. The Trance system can get quite loud before feeding back which was a pleasant surprise.

Please be informed that the Trance Audio Amulet M system includes an on-board, high-quality dual-channel, mono end-pin-jack preamp, which means you'll not have to buy an outboard preamp. If you have any technical questions, please call Gary Hull at Trance Audio. I talked to him for about 40-minutes on Friday night and I could tell this man and the company lives-and-breathes acoustic-guitar-amplified tone!

Regards,

SpruceTop

[cedarkoa599]

You will get more treble with the GA body vs GS as you will with Sitka vs cedar.
Cedar has more bass and warmth.

If you can ever find a GA redwood top/ cocobolo try it I think you will just love it!
Your best bet would be cedar if not try a Engelmann top that will also warm things up.

So far I have had Fishman pick ups and then one sound hole one with a mic and that I did not like then a 2009 and 2012 ES system so far I really like the reg Fishman pick ups and the 2012 ES system. I like that I can adjust the levels.

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by lmacmil

The answer to your question is totally subjective and just because the answer is "yes" for someone else, doesn't mean it will be "yes" for you.

Here's my take. Are you adding a pickup just for fun or do you play out? If just for you, then spend whatever you can afford. If you play out, I can guarantee that your typical listening audience won't notice the difference or care whether it's a $90 dollar pickup or a $300 pickup. IMO, it's hard to beat the K&K for value and pretty hard to beat it for sound too. (I have two K&K equipped guitars.)

Another K&K fan.

Had another guitar fitted with a K&K last week and the luthier told me the K&K is the best bang for the buck you can get while he showed me the far more expensive options. He then reminded me that friends don't let friends put batteries or anything that requires batteries in their accoustic guitars.

Bwana

Bwana