Which onboard dual source combo?

[hann]

Just an opinion piece.

Never been quite satisfied with single source cos I think most of us play in a variety of venues/environments.

What’ve you found most versatile, if not realistic?

[Methos1979]

I agree that single source always comes up short. Dual is much better and pretty much anything will be decent. I voted SBT & mic (K&K Trinity being an example) although a UST and mic (LR Baggs Anthem) can be very good as well especially if you add the onboard StagePro preamp and controls. SBT and mag is a particular good combo in certain situations like the K&K Pure Mini with K&K Double Helix mag with external K&K dual source preamp for maximum tone shaping. But in all honesty, nothing comes close to proprietary 3-way (source) pickup combos of UST, SBT and internal mic such as the Cole Clark system. Systems built from the ground up as the focal point always sound terrific with Maton AP5 and Takamine Palathetic systems being two great examples.

[Mandobart]

Actually for most of my playing out/gigs a single SBT piezo pickup works fine. I only have dual pickups on one instrument, my Eastman archtop. JJB SBT and a Kent Armstrong floating neck magnetic pickup. I wire them both to a TRS jack, then run the output to a Baggs MixPro preamp with a short TRS cable.

[Petty1818]

I tend to like either a UST + Mic set up or a Mag + SBT set up. For me, sometimes even a single source can be a dual source though. I tend to think of a UST/Aura set up for example as a dual source. It's not technically one but it's doing the same thing as a mic/UST, but with a much easier set up.

[hann]

Wow UST mic more than SBT/mic.

That’s surprising.

[Cuki79]

Originally Posted by hann

Wow UST mic more than SBT/mic.

That’s surprising.

It is just 4 votes against 3.

SBT have the advantage to be usually passive.
UST are more predictable which make them really easy to combine in a dual source setup I guess.

[BluesKing777]

The poll had no place to vote for Matons with Maton AP5-Pro onboard pickup system...absolute killer......technically a UST with mic but the ust has six individual piezos, the mic has a swing arm boom attached to the preamp on the side of the guitar so you can move the mic in an arc across the strings to get more of the treble strings, etc, or move the mic behind the bridge.....the nboard pre has bass, treble, mid sweep, sep volumes for ust and mic, master vol.....plug direct to a PA and go!

Anyway, I have never played another system so good and I have a huge bag of the famous stuff.

But after buying my first Maton 808 (deep body 00 size) a few years ago, wow...I now have four with different wood combos. Again, killer!


BluesKing777.

[hann]

Yeah cos that’s buying a whole new guitar haha

[stevecuss]

I voted, but it is definitely a 'it depends' situation.

For best tone? SBT plus mic or SBT plus IR.

For best feedback resistance? Mag or UST must be in the mix.

As to a previous poster's point: Mason, Takamine etc still lead the pack in the most versatile factory pickup system.

But as a general rule for me, playing with live drums, but all sound through in ears, I'm going SBT every time.

[guitarman68]

SBT + mic for me any day. SBT + IR would be my next choice. In really loud environments sound hole mag is my solution. Happy to not play any super loud environments anymore.

[varmonter]

Pretty close poll. I voted sbt and mag.
I use a sunrise exclusivly in a band where the volume is too much for an sbt pickup alone.
In small intimate settings i can use just the sbt
Or both mag and sbt...my choice by using
A custom cable.. or using my felix a trs into
Ch 2 will send the sbt to ch 1 and mag to ch 2 and i can eq seperatly and/or blend together..
Works pretty good.. but to be honest i normally just use the sunrise..