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Old 07-20-2020, 09:34 AM
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Brushwood Brushwood is offline
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Default Soundhole pickup suggestions?

I'm currently a big fan of the K&K Pure Mini, but wondering if there may be a comparable sound hole pickup as far as that natural sound. I have an acoustic guitar from the late 1990's that has a factory installed LR Baggs Duet 2 (under saddle/mic combo) and it just doesn't seem to come close to doing justice to the unplugged sound of the guitar. Right now I don't want to do a more permanent "experiment" like gluing in a K&K, so I thought a soundhole pickup might be a good option. I'm a little intrigued after watching some online videos today on the Seymour Duncan Mag Mic, but don't know much about it. Any suggestions and any thoughts on the Duet 2 as I can't really find much info about it? Thank you in advance for your thoughts.
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Last edited by Brushwood; 07-20-2020 at 04:20 PM.
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Old 07-20-2020, 09:49 AM
pieterh pieterh is offline
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I am not a big fan of sound hole pickups. They usually work on magnetic principles and as such can sound a bit “electric”. That said, the technology has come a long way in recent years and there are some great pups out there.

I would suggest looking at the pickups that have a microphone as well as the magnetic part: Fishman’s Rare Earth Blend is one and I’m sure the Baggs sound hole pickups have versions with a mic as well as the magnetic sensor. In fact, I seem to remember a Baggs sound hole pickup that also picked up top vibrations; that might give you a sound similar to or even better than the Pure Mini (which is my pickup of choice these days).
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Old 07-20-2020, 09:50 AM
Aspiring Aspiring is offline
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It's not a pickup but I have picked up a dpa core clip on guitar mic and think it has some pretty amazing tone compared to my lr Baggs mic/ undersaddle blend.

It does also feedback a little more readily. Nice thing is it works on almost all my guitars.
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Old 07-20-2020, 10:01 AM
Goat Mick Goat Mick is offline
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I'm a big fan of the Baggs M1 (passive) soundhole pickup. Very natural sounding and in addition to picking up the strings magnetically, it is also designed to pick up vibrations from the guitar's top. This gives it a very natural and "airy" sound.
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Old 07-20-2020, 11:50 AM
Nick84 Nick84 is offline
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I really like the Rare Earth Blend. I also like the Baggs M1. I have both in dreadnought guitars and I’ve been really happy with the tone I get (I run both through a Baggs session DI).

Also look at the Baggs M80 - it picks up even more body than the M1 but I found I had an issue with making the pickup distort with a clicking sound when I caught it with a pick. This is 100% my technique though and nothing to do with the pickup.
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Old 07-20-2020, 01:37 PM
varmonter varmonter is offline
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I too am a fan of the m80. Highly recommend..
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Old 07-20-2020, 04:37 PM
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I was in the same boat, big K&K Pure Mini fan and had a new custom guitar I really didn't want to muck up with an intrusive install so I started looking into soundhole pickups. I'd used them before but generally didn't warm to their slightly 'electric' sound which others have mentioned. But I gave a bunch a try anyway including the M80, Schertler AG6 with S-MIC, and Dimarzio Black Angel. All great pickups but all came up short for me. They all had that slightly electric sound and annoyingly hard to tame B and high E string plinkiness.

Then I tried the relatively new and seemingly unheard of K&K Double Helix Solo. Blown away. Passive, great warm tone, smallish footprint, easy install, built to couple with a K&K Pure Mini (if you want - great all by itself) and great K&K name and quality plus a decent price. I did an in-depth review and included an great demo video from the manufacturer. I'm planning on posting my own video review in a few days. Keep an eye out for it. Here's a link to my review and the process that went to getting there:

NSHPD: K&K Double Helix Solo review - long and detailed
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Old 07-20-2020, 05:20 PM
YamahaGuy YamahaGuy is offline
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I have the SD Magmic. It's not bad. Doesn't sound as natural as I'd like, but it's not piezo quacky, so I guess it's better than an under saddle piezo setup.
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Old 07-20-2020, 06:54 PM
gr81dorn gr81dorn is offline
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If you like K&K, I think their soundhole pickup is exceptional. It’s called the Helix and it’s passive, dynamic and has a tiny bit of usable tweakability that is a nice touch. Not a lot of them out there, but I’ve been impressed when compared to Baggs M1, Schertler magneto and the dearmond, which is actually pretty great for being the cheapest by far.
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Old 07-20-2020, 07:34 PM
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Methos1979 Methos1979 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gr81dorn View Post
If you like K&K, I think their soundhole pickup is exceptional. It’s called the Helix and it’s passive, dynamic and has a tiny bit of usable tweakability that is a nice touch. Not a lot of them out there, but I’ve been impressed when compared to Baggs M1, Schertler magneto and the dearmond, which is actually pretty great for being the cheapest by far.
Finally! Someone else using the K&K Double Helix Solo. I was beginning to think I was the only one!!
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Old 07-20-2020, 07:58 PM
GCWaters GCWaters is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Methos1979 View Post
Finally! Someone else using the K&K Double Helix Solo. I was beginning to think I was the only one!!

Do you know if this will fit smaller sound holes?
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Old 07-20-2020, 08:22 PM
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Methos1979 Methos1979 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GCWaters View Post
Do you know if this will fit smaller sound holes?
I guess it depends on just how small is 'small'. It's not a big pickup and sits up quite high in my average Martin sized sound hole so unless yours is extremely undersized I would guess yes, it would fit.
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Old 07-20-2020, 09:02 PM
GCWaters GCWaters is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Methos1979 View Post
I guess it depends on just how small is 'small'. It's not a big pickup and sits up quite high in my average Martin sized sound hole so unless yours is extremely undersized I would guess yes, it would fit.

Thanks!!!!!
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Old 07-21-2020, 04:35 AM
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My 3 favorite soundhole pickups are the Sunrise, BlackStack, and Rare Earth
Blend. The Blackstack is a more user-friendly version of the Sunrise.
The Rare Earth Blend puts out a very nice tone, but is a little less dynamic
than the Blackstack. Both are nice.
Don't let the Blackstack slide under the radar.
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Old 07-21-2020, 09:58 AM
j3ffr0 j3ffr0 is offline
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I get a really good sound from the Rare Earth Blend. I like it much better than K&K, or any under saddle piezo, or any Taylor ES.
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