Myers pickups

[tdq]

Originally Posted by popthree

...additionally, the convenience of being able to move it to any other guitar is a real nice perk.

I've had my eye on these, having decided to push myself out into the world of open mics and such. I have a flatop, a reso, a weissenborn and an archtop that I like to play depending on what's going on. I just can't afford four sets of pickups, and for my stuff I like to keep the signal chain very simple - so this seems like a good option. Maybe not from song to song, but from gig to gig.

[popthree]

well, i ordered one so i'll give some feedback once i have tried it out.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by popthree

well, i ordered one so i'll give some feedback once i have tried it out.

Thanks for taking the plunge!

[Vancebo]

Not trying to hijack this thread, just giving options. There are these:

http://http://www.bartlettaudio.com/...tions/products

Bartlett Mics are people from Crown Mics fame I believe. A similar thing wrapped in a different package.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Vancebo

Not trying to hijack this thread, just giving options. There are these:

http://http://www.bartlettaudio.com/...tions/products

Bartlett Mics are people from Crown Mics fame I believe. A similar thing wrapped in a different package.

Thanks! Interesting, as you can order the mic with either phantom power or with battery power.

[tdq]

Newbie question for those using these kind of clip-on mics, especially for those wanting a faithful sound reproduction: is it usual to run these through a preamp/EQ pedal. e.g LR Baggs Venue or a Fishman platinum pro, etc? Or generally just deal with the EQ via the amp and/or PA?

[Vancebo]

Either way is fine. Nothing beats a good EQ stage to handle various environments. Some of the clip on Mics, if not most of them require Phantom power. That has to come from a DI or a mixing board or amp. It's up to you which way you go. Different strokes and all.

[popthree]

well i got it. preliminary testing is favorable. i'll know more after i've tested it outside my home. i'm hoping to do an open mic monday night so should have a good idea after that.

funny, all the pictures i've seen of people with these on their guitars, they usually have the mic all the way in the sound hole. i'm finding that that makes it way too boomy and bass heavy. it seems to sound much better above the fretboard around 12-14 fret or so.



https://goo.gl/photos/MGRJTKgHVQ2e6Ggu5

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by popthree

well i got it. preliminary testing is favorable. i'll know more after i've tested it outside my home. i'm hoping to do an open mic monday night so should have a good idea after that.

funny, all the pictures i've seen of people with these on their guitars, they usually have the mic all the way in the sound hole. i'm finding that that makes it way too boomy and bass heavy. it seems to sound much better above the fretboard around 12-14 fret or so.



https://goo.gl/photos/MGRJTKgHVQ2e6Ggu5

Thanks for your update and looking forward to more feedback (pun not intended)! How does the mic look? Is it sturdy and of decent quality construction?

[popthree]

The box is plastic but seems reasonably sturdy. The mic flexes a lot, and can take any bend you want to put on it. The volume pot seems fine. I don't see any workmanship concerns.

Played with it some more. Moved my amp, an old kustom acoustic, out of my tiny studio to the front room so I could get far away from it and hear better. Overall it sounds really good to me.

When I put the mic above the fretboard and play and sing, it picks up my voice quite a bit. Not sure how this will factor in a live club setting. Put the mic in the sound hole and turn the pre vol down quite a bit to control feedback, and it doesn't pick up my voice...so may have to use it this way if I need to isolate the vox from the guitar. Aforementioned boominess not noticeable in this setting.

I wanted to post a couple of pics but the admin here have not approved me to do that for some reason. Maybe I will set up a Flickr.

[popthree]

ok, so i field tested the myers pickup at a small venue last night. it is an open mic at a sort of 'famous' hole in the wall joint once owned by leon russell. neat little place, and the guy that runs the show there is pretty handy with the sound system.

small stage with a couple of floor monitors and mains of course. the guy before me played a little guild with a k&k pure direct to the mixing board. his guitar sounded pretty dang good.

so i got up there with the myers and the guy running sound was immediately intrigued. we plugged it directly into the mixer using a regular old 1/4" guitar cord. he asked right away if i could give him any more signal so i cranked the volume on the preamp.. he still wanted more.

had some feedback issues during setup and in the first minute of my first number. he got it mostly sorted out, but after the first song he wanted to adjust the mic position a bit.

we tinkered with the position of the mic a bit ending up with it at about 14th fret and pointed at a 45 back toward the sound hole. we started with it at about 12th fret pointed directly at fb.

feedback issue resolved, i played 2 more tunes, and got the request to play a couple more. afterward i got a lot of good words from people on the guitars sound. from where i was sitting, it sounded pretty dang good.

so overall, guitar sounded great, but we did have some struggles. i'm afraid that with a full band this thing would not be do-able..but i think i knew that going in.

due to the feedback struggles i was disappointed, even though we got it sorted. i really want something i can plug in and go, and sound amazing.. haha.

i emailed the myers folks... been swapping a lot of emails with i think, the owner, Gregg. i told him about my experience and that i was thinking i might want to return the mic and go another direction (thinking possibly k&k in the back of my mind)... anyway, he wants me to try something before i pull the plug. he suggested i try using a xlr mail to 1/4 female adapter to the mixer next go round. he says that his mic is low impedance and that i will have a ton more gain if i match impedance to the mixer. so i ordered an adapter, only $5.00 on amazon. he says that this thing will resolve both my gain issue and my feedback issue. i hope it does because the little mic sounded really good.

[popthree]

deleting due to double post

[SpruceTop]

Thanks for relating your experience with the Myers! It sounds like it's a pretty good system and not any more prone to feedback issues than other guitar-mounted, external mics. I'm looking forward to your experience when using the adapter to increase the gain at the mixer.

[popthree]

so, i purchased a 1/4" to XLR adapter and ran into an issue when plugged into my acoustic amp on the microphone input side. whenever i move the volume pot on the myers pickup, it makes a great deal of noise, amplified, through my amp. very strange. i emailed the company about this issue, and Gregg said that the adapter i bought was stereo and that he believed that to be the problem. he ordered an adapter for me from a parts warehouse and had it shipped to my home. (really nice guy who is going above and beyond to get this mic to work for me). anyway, i tried out the adapter he sent me, another 1/4" to XLR, presumably mono this time, and have the same issue. any time i touch the volume control on the mic the sweep from the pot can be heard very loudly in my amp. i will also add, that i cannot tell that there is any improved volume, and still struggling feedback when i try and get the volume to an acceptable level (again, this is on the mic input side of my acoustic amplifier)

at this point i'm discouraged and just want to return the mic. Gregg agrees to this so i prepared the box for shipping. however, he calls me yesterday, before i have gotten a chance to go by fedex, and says he's refunding my $ but wants me to keep the mic for awhile and continue to work with it. he believes that if i will be patient and try the mic using the adapter he provided to me, that i am going to find that it meets my needs. so last night sure enough i got an email advising that my purchase $ has been refunded, and i'm feeling kind of like a heel for holding onto this mic. but i will try it again at a venue plugging directly into the pa, but i don't know how it is going to be different than plugging into the mic side of my amp. wondering if anyone has a thought into what might cause the volume pot sweep to be heard so loudly through my amp? any ideas?

whether this ends up working out for me or not, i can only give high praise to Gregg @ Myers Pickups for going way above and beyond to try and satisfy a customer... and i'm nobody special, just a complete unknown hobbyist songwriter who found his product on craigslist.

[Vancebo]

Not an expert here but isn't an issue of a dirty volume control?