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  #1  
Old 04-08-2009, 02:22 PM
$ongWriter $ongWriter is offline
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Unhappy FRUSTRATED....with all this electric crap!!

As you can tell by my sig that I have alot of guitars to choose from. I love most of them but lately I'm frustrated when playing out. I played at the Bluebird cafe last night. I used my Martin and Taylor GC each with a LR baggs element pickup. I run them to a tuner (so i can mute them when I tune) and then thru a Fishman Aura pedal...(one of the 1st one's)..I love the sound I get but I'm sick of fooling with the sounds, the tuner (because the fishman doesn't mute when you use it's tuner) and getting the eq set correctly. There was a songwriter in my round that had a Takamine "Steve Wariner" edition. I liked the way my $4000 Martin sounded but it wasn't that much better than the Takamine..and after the show she stood up, put her guitar in the case and she could leave...I had to pack up chords, boxes, etc. etc....I'm think I'm ready to take all the pickups out of my guitars, buy a Takamine and forget it.....does anyone else feel this way.....
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  #2  
Old 04-08-2009, 02:43 PM
Rollie Rollie is offline
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I'd ditch the Aura and get a simpler preamp or direct box .
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  #3  
Old 04-08-2009, 02:44 PM
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trpullen trpullen is offline
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I don't personally buy into the whole Aura thing. I don't want my piezo pickup to have all the high end scraped off. There are some really decent active piezo systems for inside a guitar, with no holes other than the endpin jack.
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Old 04-08-2009, 02:46 PM
Acoustic Rick Acoustic Rick is offline
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Hey man I feel your pain. My entire settup is nothing more than a small 35 watt amp with a little delay and my guitar. That's it and it takes two minutes to settup or take down.
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Old 04-08-2009, 03:02 PM
carl3469 carl3469 is offline
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After years of carry all this stuff around Martins Preamps cords tuners etc. I have settled on a Fishman Solo Amp and a Blueridge CE183 had the Fishman plus taken out and put in a Fishman Premium that the one with the goose neck mic in the guitar that's it don't need nothing else plenty of power and tone built in EQ, tuner.
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  #6  
Old 04-08-2009, 03:36 PM
Kabalan Kabalan is offline
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hi
that is real, a 5k or a yamaha 500 dollars, with a pickup sounds similar.
the only way to get the wood sound is with a mic(hard to control).
i dont carry too much: a tc electronic g natural; sounds interesting. i would not
say 100 % natural, but it is nice, warm sound(k&k mini pure western)
Eblen
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Old 04-08-2009, 03:41 PM
Foss38 Foss38 is offline
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I tried the Aura with my Yammie Jumbo and it sounded like crap. I now use a Radial PZ Pre (DI/pre amp) and it sounds great ! Perfectly natural and sounds like MY guitar.The Radial has lots of gain and has two inputs also ( I plug my Godin Grand Concert SA in also). In fairness to Fishman I do use an Aura with the classical as it does actually improve the sound dramatically.
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Old 04-08-2009, 03:43 PM
D. Dubya D. Dubya is offline
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I sat and listened to a really good local guy at an upscale pizza joint for a couple of hours last night. He just had a 10 or 12 year old 615ce and a mic plugged into an SWR amp. His mic was going through one of those harmonist processor things, but the guitar was straight in. He had a tuner clipped on his headstock, which he checked a couple of times, but he didn't spend any time fiddling with knobs and junk, he just played. His tone was good, but nothing mind blowing or out of the ordinary. The lesson I took from it was that he didn't worry about it, or obsess over it like I do. He just played, sang, smiled and connected with his audience. And we all ate it up. This guy played some original tunes, some old tunes, several requests (two from me) and just made it look stupid easy. He had the cooks singin' along, elderly people dancin' (there wasn't even a dance floor!), kids clappin' and everybody smilin'. My wife and I even ordered a dessert that we were entirely too full to eat, just to have an excuse to stick around.
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  #9  
Old 04-08-2009, 03:55 PM
Boneyard75 Boneyard75 is offline
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I have found my sound & it is fairly simple...I love the way my guitar sounds through my Crate CA112D....I could not get that sound no matter what I did when playing through a PA...Now, I mic the amp...I also mic the guitar & run that to a separate channel....This gives me a very big full sound with plenty of punch...I can set up fairly quickly too....PA channel strips just do not give you enough EQ for an acoustic guitar & the preamps helped, but I like this set-up better... The mic on the acoustic amplifier is way good!
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  #10  
Old 04-08-2009, 04:06 PM
chicago12string chicago12string is offline
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Get a mic.
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  #11  
Old 04-08-2009, 04:45 PM
guitaniac guitaniac is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chicago12string View Post
Get a mic.
Most of us acoustic players were still chained to a guitar mic when I was living in Nashville and playing the Bluebird back in '83, '84. I'm very grateful that pickup technology has advanced enough to give me excellent amplified sound with more freedom of movement and sufficient feedback-free gain to enable bare-fingered playing styles in noisier settings.


$ongwriter,

If you like the Aura and want the convenience of an onboard tuner which mutes, Fishman is finally coming out with an aftermarket onboard Aura system with tuneable mid EQ (as opposed to the fixed mid EQ of the current factory installed onboard Aura system) and the necessary accessories to download (hopefully) compatable sound images from their sound image library. This press release is from January:
http://www.fishman.com/news/press-releases.asp?id=79

Gary

PS Oh yes, this retrofit onboard Aura is a "barn door" system, but that's exactly what you'd have with a Tak. Granted, some of those Nashville series Taks (with the wider string spacing and the cool tube electronics) might be worth looking into.

Last edited by guitaniac; 04-08-2009 at 06:02 PM.
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  #12  
Old 04-08-2009, 05:34 PM
Ed422 Ed422 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chicago12string View Post
Get a mic.
Nah... get a K&K. If you want to get fancy, get their preamp to go with it.

Regardless of what pickup/preamp/etc. you have, once you are relying on more than wood and air to transmit the sound, it's all "compromise".

And I'll preface this comment with the fact that no guitar made will make me sound great, I have heard great players sound great on crap guitars.

Ed
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  #13  
Old 04-08-2009, 05:44 PM
playhardandloud playhardandloud is offline
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buy a cole clark and be done with it. they blow the takamines away and its not close. they are also better than anything ive ever heard plugged in at any cost. jack johnson uses the stock cole clark in front of 20k. no preamps no nothing(radial direct box) i have gotten many of his and ben harpers guitars. they are under 2k and i will be putting one up in the classifieds tomorrow. i traded my last one to a forum member for a taylor 814 with the fishman system. no comparison. i traded him with a 100 percent refund if he didnt think it was the best guitar he had ever heard plugged in. you can see his review he posted today on the forum. they are incredible. you can also you tube davis wheeler. there is a guy named lloyd spiegel playing all of the different models. amazing.
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  #14  
Old 04-08-2009, 05:59 PM
Kabookie Kabookie is offline
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PLUG in....
PICK often....
PLAY on....
POINT your compass homeward....

Done. Simple needs. Simple pleasures.

Keep on keepin' on.......Kabookster
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  #15  
Old 04-08-2009, 06:17 PM
guitaniac guitaniac is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by D. Dubya View Post
I sat and listened to a really good local guy at an upscale pizza joint for a couple of hours last night. He just had a 10 or 12 year old 615ce and a mic plugged into an SWR amp. His mic was going through one of those harmonist processor things, but the guitar was straight in. He had a tuner clipped on his headstock, which he checked a couple of times, but he didn't spend any time fiddling with knobs and junk, he just played. His tone was good, but nothing mind blowing or out of the ordinary. The lesson I took from it was that he didn't worry about it, or obsess over it like I do. He just played, sang, smiled and connected with his audience. And we all ate it up. This guy played some original tunes, some old tunes, several requests (two from me) and just made it look stupid easy. He had the cooks singin' along, elderly people dancin' (there wasn't even a dance floor!), kids clappin' and everybody smilin'. My wife and I even ordered a dessert that we were entirely too full to eat, just to have an excuse to stick around.
I've been following a local blues guy with similarly excellent people skills and amazing chops on an old humbucker-equipped archtop. His seemless fretboard mastery has inspired me enough to start on the "Blues You Can Use" book (scale practice and all), but I'd never wish to emulate his intentionally midrange heavy mag tone.

LOL, perhaps I'll develop a taste for that "snarky" sound if I ever manage to acquire the chops to go with it.

Gary

Last edited by guitaniac; 04-08-2009 at 08:29 PM.
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