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  #31  
Old 05-15-2023, 03:59 AM
mondoslug mondoslug is offline
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I mean, it's hard to tell. This example just sounds a little like it being totally slammed, overdriven and you admit that your strumming the sh*t out of it here. Some of the examples on YT have been everywhere - thin, bright, muddy, distorted, nice. They're all over the place, just going to have to try it for yourselves, or myself anyway. YMMV!

I look forward to your fingerpicked sample just to hear how it compares to your super aggressive strumming clip you posted here. As always appreciate you posting these things!
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  #32  
Old 05-15-2023, 04:30 AM
SpruceTop SpruceTop is offline
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Originally Posted by Marshall View Post
Just for yucks, Srucetop, have you made a Hi-Fi recording with the tone at 75% or 100%? I have a Hi-Fi on order with a guitar ready for a trial installation. But what I hear in your (and everybody's) clips so far is not enough treble. So why would you keep the tone at 50% ? I'm sure I wouldn't.
Hi Marshall, I'll do some more recordings with the Tone Wheel at full treble to hear what happens. To try to rid the system of any distortion I need to anchor the lead wires as they may be vibrating when playing the guitar aggressively. This possible vibrational interference from vibrations in the transducer lead wires hasn't been a factor in my Dazzo and Trance installations. I feel the Dazzo and Trance (Amulets mounted with Henkel Loctite 6-Minute Epoxy) systems are what I term "No-Brainer Systems" in that if you locate the transducers in their recommended locations between their relative string pairs and straddling the saddle line you'll have great tone the first and only time you need to mount the transducers. More to come ...
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  #33  
Old 05-15-2023, 06:05 AM
guitaniac guitaniac is offline
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Ken,

Thanks for posting those Ibanez recordings again. As you observed, it’s too bad a rig like that with a wider fretboard isn’t available.

Regarding the HiFi, it would be interesting to learn what kind of “voicing” the Baggs folks are applying to the raw pickup signal. I suspect it’s just a matter of time until someone does that experiment. If an onboard preamp is absolutely needed to get a decent signal level out, perhaps a Shatten Design preamp could be substituted.
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  #34  
Old 05-15-2023, 09:51 AM
Marshall Marshall is offline
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Originally Posted by guitaniac View Post
Ken,

Thanks for posting those Ibanez recordings again. As you observed, it’s too bad a rig like that with a wider fretboard isn’t available.
The Ibanez PA300E is a slightly wider neck. 1.77" It's a longer scale too at 25.75. (I mistakenly thought it was 24.75 at first). It's got that same 3 pickup system.

So far my everyday pickup is a Mag/SBT/Mic combination; the Skysonic Pro-1. I do like the idea of combining a Mag with a SBT. Ken's Ibanez clip sounds very good.

I still have a H-Fi on order, and will try it out whenever it gets here.
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  #35  
Old 05-15-2023, 10:01 AM
Marshall Marshall is offline
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Originally Posted by SpruceTop View Post
Hi Marshall, I'll do some more recordings with the Tone Wheel at full treble to hear what happens.
Don't go out of your way just for me. Thanks. Like I said, I've got a Hi-Fi coming and I'll be trying out myself to find what works best if anything for me.

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  #36  
Old 05-15-2023, 10:14 AM
MaurysMusic MaurysMusic is offline
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Thanks so much for recording these. The jury's still out, from where I sit.
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  #37  
Old 05-15-2023, 01:01 PM
JackB1 JackB1 is offline
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Originally Posted by SpruceTop View Post
Another annoyance is that the Tone Control likes to be fully on the Treble end of its range to get a decent presence in the tone. In other words, the system sounds kind of distant and slightly muffled.
There's that word again...muffled. I don't understand why this pickup sounds so muffled on even direct recordings? Strange indeed.
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  #38  
Old 05-15-2023, 01:08 PM
JackB1 JackB1 is offline
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Originally Posted by SpruceTop View Post
In case you missed its addition to my OP, The First Demo has arrived:

Here's my heavy-handed rhythm guitar demo of the beginning of The Small Faces hit "Itchycoo Park" from 1967. I'm playing the song in the Key of G as opposed to the Key of A in the original as I wanted to bring more of the bass strings into play. The strings are moving in blurry 1/32nd-inch arcs on either side of zero (at rest). DIRECT-TO-COMPUTER, ALL FLAT EQ (LR Baggs HiFi Tone Wheel at its middle-position Detent), NO EFFECTS, NO MICROPHONES, NO SLEIGHT-Of-HAND ANYWHERE IN RECORDING! Your Comments Are Welcome!

Sorry but this doesn't sound great to me. Sounds kind of "piezo-y" and a little dull and muffled.
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  #39  
Old 05-15-2023, 01:40 PM
Brent Nelson Brent Nelson is online now
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Originally Posted by martingitdave View Post
Ummm…. Yes the Ibanez sounds better amplified. Wow…. What are we even doing putting $200 to $400 systems in expensive guitars?
I too feel that the Ibanez sounds significantly better than any of those others that were demo'd in this thread. I think the masses that gig Taks and Ovations have always felt cheaper guitars with superb electronics built in the way to go. I too have fancy shmancy guitars with high priced systems. But if I am being honest with myself, my Enya X4 Pro sounds as good or better than any of them. I let go of a Tak EF340-SBG that was better yet.

Still fun to experiment with new stuff regardless (thanks Spruce!). But for my money I still feel your Ibanez stomps the pants off your HiFi through my headphones anyway.
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  #40  
Old 05-15-2023, 02:19 PM
JackB1 JackB1 is offline
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Originally Posted by Brent Nelson View Post
Still fun to experiment with new stuff regardless (thanks Spruce!). But for my money I still feel your Ibanez stomps the pants off your HiFi through my headphones anyway.
Agree with that. The Ibanez in that demo sounded great. Too bad they only put that pickup system in those new huge dreads.
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  #41  
Old 05-15-2023, 02:23 PM
BillyH BillyH is online now
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Man I guess I'm just partial but the Trance samples sound the best to me. Especially with no EQ. Open and ready for some sweetening.

So far I have not heard anything better than Trance.

Billy
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  #42  
Old 05-15-2023, 02:55 PM
SpruceTop SpruceTop is offline
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Wow! Thanks for all the comments, Folks! What I'm going to do is go into the Larrivee and add a wire-guide standoff to the underside of the top for the transducer lead wires, change the current new battery to a new one from a freshly-bought Duracell 8-pack, and check the endpin screw-on preamp cover for any looseness. I'll make some new demos after doing so. The nice thing is, if things don't work out, I'll return the system to Sweetwater, and I'll have a refund that's over halfway to the cost of another Trance Amulet system, this time a battery-powered Trance Amulet M-VT Plus. This will give me the convenience of not needing phantom power like on my two Trance M-VT Phantom systems. Then guess what I'm going to do with the Amulets in the new system? That's right, Henkel Loctite 6-Minute Epoxy those little rascals into that Larrivee and play on with a smile.
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  #43  
Old 05-15-2023, 02:57 PM
Br1ck Br1ck is offline
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Originally Posted by Petty1818 View Post
I appreciate the work you put into installing and recording demos for us! I don't have anything particularly negative to say about the sound, it just doesn't really excite me in the way I had hoped. I will keep following the pickup, but who knows where it will go. Maybe in ten years it will be the new ibeam where there was so much promise but far too many issues. Or, it will become a classic!

All I have to add is that at the end of the day, despite the negativity some people have towards it, the K&K seems to be the most consistent SBT. By that I mean, you tend to know what you are getting. It's rare cases where people have issues. With regards to Dazzo, Trance, Schatten and maybe even the HiFi, it always seems to be a bit of a hit or miss installation.
What K&K has going for it is consistency, and it has sold more pre amps with multiple EQ band and filters than any other pickup. I don't care to mess with that. So Dazzos for me. If you don't like epoxy, buy a K&K and a Felix pre.
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  #44  
Old 05-15-2023, 03:04 PM
SpruceTop SpruceTop is offline
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Originally Posted by MaurysMusic View Post
Thanks so much for recording these. The jury's still out, from where I sit.
Maury, I'm going to revisit my LR Baggs HiFi installation so look for another demo this weekend. This system has got to sound better than what it currently sounds like. More to come ...
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  #45  
Old 05-15-2023, 03:08 PM
Cuki79 Cuki79 is offline
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Originally Posted by SpruceTop View Post
Maury, I'm going to revisit my LR Baggs HiFi installation so look for another demo this weekend. This system has got to sound better than what it currently sounds like. More to come ...
I bet Ken is going to glue the sensors with epoxy… just to find that the output is then two strong and overdrives the preamp that was designed for lower signal from taped sensors

If it happens, Ken, be sure to measure tha capacitance of the sensors to make a divider later on and save the day…

Ken the trance audio amulet has 18v dynamic range thanks to its internal voltage doubler and a gain pot if I remember well… Not sure the Baggs preamp will be as forgiving with the glue mod
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