Just how "good" are Sunrise pickups?

[BluesKing777]

Originally Posted by MrErikJ

The Baggs Lyric and K&K Meridian are solid options to add to any other source. I think the best internal mics I’ve heard are Mini-Flex which are a little obscure and expensive but undeniably great.

As an experiment, I put my Sunrise in my Maton SRS808.....you just wouldn’t normally do this, just go with the great Maton system.....but it has seperate vol controls for the pickup and the mic, so....

First, I had to take the clamps off the Sunrise as the Maton 808 soundholes are quite small, and I gafffa taped the pickup in place. I ran the lead out to the preamp box and to a channel of my mixer. I also ran a lead from the Maton pickup plug to the mixer, and turned off the undersaddle volume control while turning up the mic control 30%...got a mix on the mixer. Voila! Fabulous! Sunrise pickup plus internal mic!

3 guitar leads though...Sunrise>Sunrise pre>mixer......Maton>mixer.

The other problem...with the Maton you always use the soundhole plug if using the mic, works great....but the Sunrise will be in the way.

And....I couldn’t get the pickup out of the guitar when I went to pack up....had to loosen the strings right off.


BluesKing777.

[Willie_D]

[nweekes]

I ordered the Sunrise, should arrive tomorrow, to be installed in the Leo Kottke signature 12-string. It currently has the Fishman Matrix and I use it with the Fishman Aura Spectrum. The Sunrise was going to replace it but now I'm torn if I should use two pickups. If I keep the Fishman and also install the Sunrise, can I use to Sunrise independently? Seems like I would have to drill a second hole to have the option of pickup independence. I'm not sure if I want to have two w/o the ability to use them separately. Seems like I'm not trusting the Sunrise in that regard.

Nathan

[dcopper]

You can simply run the Sunrise cable out of your sound hole and have two separate sources. I would try the Sunrise with the 12 string before I started ripping out the other pickup. In fact, I would leave the Matrix in. I believe the Matrix has a stereo output jack so you can wire the Sunrise to the ring and keep the Matrix on the tip. You would use a TRS stereo jack output from your guitar to a dual mono cable and then you can have your dual sources. When you don’t want to use the Sunrise you can simply use a TS guitar cable and it will only access your Matrix.
Keep us posted.

[nweekes]

I installed the Sunrise in my Kottke 12 several weeks ago and I am most pleased. It has a very clear, warm and rich sound. For me and my style, it is the best pickup I have ever used. My only disappointment is that I waited so long to buy one. I purchased a second for my 6. By the way, I am playing through an AER Compact 60/3. Many thanks to the comments and recommendations.

[Charmed Life Picks]

Thanks for this long-running thread. I still haven't decided, but the Sunrise is at least on my horizon now.

Take Care,
Scott Memmer

[cheer tunes]

I've acquired a little collection of pups over the years. I love the Sunrise by itself. I really like my M1A and M80. You can get great results with each as long as you spend the time doing EQ.

[varmonter]

I have both the sunrise and m80. both are great.
if you do any percussive stuff the m80 will pick
that up where the sunrise wont.

[Charmed Life Picks]

Appreciate the info here. Definitely leaning towards trying one of these Sunrise units down the road.

thanks,
scott