Did B-Band Blow It Or Did We Blow It?

[SpruceTop]

Hey, Folks, for the last several minutes I've been playing my Martin Dreadnought Junior with an installed B-Band A1.2N 1470 through my LR Baggs Synapse for the first time. Adding a bit of Bass EQ and cutting the Mid-range and Treble EQ just a bit, yields a very full and smooth tone with no harshness. This B-Band/Martin combo has also sounded great through my Line 6 L2t and VOX AG150. This B-Band system is comprised of just the gas-bag strip that is affixed to the bridge plate under the line of the saddle, and it has the added soundhole Volume control. Referencing the title of this thread, if guitar players had bought more B-Band systems, maybe they'd still be in business and we'd still be able to purchase more of their systems? Maybe, too, someone will buy B-Band and resurrect it? With the nice results I've achieved in my Martin D Junior, I'd love to hear this same B-Band system in a full-sized Martin dreadnought. Does anyone know where to still purchase bona fide B-Band systems? Thanks!

[mischultz]

Agreed that the 1470 was an exceptional pickup. There are still odds and ends on Reverb if you want to grab a rainy day spare. I have a dual source UST/AST system in my new Avian that sounds quite good. As to what happened or whether it could've gone otherwise, who knows? I'm glad my guitar was already equipped because I'm honestly not thrilled with any of the current crop. It saves me from agonizing over a losing decision.

[GuitarLuva]

I always liked b-band, it's too bad they disappeared. I wonder if they were still around what kind of systems they would have compared to what's currently out there.

[varmonter]

coulda shoulda woulda. Obviously if folks bought
more stuff from them perhaps they woulda stayed in buisness??. I dont knowhat happened to bband?! Does anyone have specifics? Its really none of my business . But it could have been bad management. Poor marketing,unable to keep pace with growth.
I dont know.. But water under the bridge. I thought archangel preamps were
the cats meow., gone.. tout fini !

[guitaniac]

I went nuts with B-Band pickups at one time. I especially liked the fact that you could purchase various components separately when something went bad (as the USTs tended to do after a few years). Ultimately, though, I found two USTs (the DTAR Wavelength system and the PUTW I/O UST) which I liked better than the B-Band UST.

I also tried the B-Band AST in a couple guitars, but found it too feedback prone for my needs. To my regret, however, I never experimented with the A2 blending system. By the time the A2 was introduced, I was thinking of the B-Band UST a secondary UST choice. The pickup's rubbery composition had a kind of "boingy" attack response which I didn't much care for.

[TNO]

Probably a combination of players moving away from under saddle pickups and Chinese fakes cutting into their sales.

[Cuki79]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Does anyone know where to still purchase bona fide B-Band systems? Thanks!

They are plenty left in Europe...

Main online dealer in europe
Thomann link

Here is a link to their USA web page
Thomann USA link

Some big dealers in France
Link Paris shop

Link to other shop

[Cuki79]

Heikki Räisänen was the CEO of B-Band is still CEO of EMFIT.

https://www.emfit.com/about-us

This company uses the same technology to put sensor in your bed... It seems that it was a better market than pickups. There were always 2 companies...

He hold the patents of both B-band and EMFIT.
link to patents

The AST is a "permanently charged, biaxially oriented foamed, usually homogenous film layer containing flat lens like, shredded or cavitated gas bubbles".

I guess a charged foam which is electricaly neutral at rest. When the foam is compressed/strained, the gas bubbles are compressed/strained, and the charge distribution is probably altered creating a local polarization (think condenser mic).


SEM image of the bubbles in the film (Guess where the B-band name came from). Like a million condenser mics in a film.

My 2 cents,
Cuki

[Cuki79]

Intesting comparison between PVDF (Pick-up the world 27 or 54) and EMFi (B-band AST)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...77705810007927

The EMFi material is sensitive to dynamic forces exerted normal to its surface, and the sensitivity in that direction ((58.7±16.5) mV/N) was found to be about five-fold when compared to the corresponding value of the PVDF material ((12.6±0.8) mV/N). The PVDF material also detects the forces related to its length and width while the EMFi material has very low sensitivity to these force components.

[Petty1818]

I think their biggest downfall was that they targeted the lower budget/affordable guitar brands. As a result, they kind of gained a reputation for being a cheaper pickup. That’s my take at least. The other issue is that earlier models seemed to be very noisy. I know the newer ones are quieter but from what I have read, they still have a bit of hiss. I have a brand new a2.2xom and I think it’s time I install it. I just hate how the ast is basically a one time install and then it’s garbage.

[Cuki79]

Here is a link to the EMFIT sensors

Link

[Cuki79]

Originally Posted by Petty1818

The other issue is that earlier models seemed to be very noisy. I know the newer ones are quieter but from what I have read, they still have a bit of hiss. I have a brand new a2.2xom and I think it’s time I install it. I just hate how the ast is basically a one time install and then it’s garbage.

The AST did not seemed to have a shielded wire compared to PUTW#27 for example... It might have explained the noise.

As far as "one shot install", that's indeed scary!

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Cuki79

As far as "one shot install", that's indeed scary!

If the AST band is installed per the instructions, it'll likely be in as good a position as possible and likely the signal wouldn't benefit from a slightly altered location as do some pickups. Of course, you only get one shot to get the AST in the recommended position as any peeling away of the AST from the bridge plate will ruin the adhesive and may rip the AST's surface.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Cuki79

They are plenty left in Europe...

Main online dealer in europe
Thomann link

Here is a link to their USA web page
Thomann USA link

Some big dealers in France
Link Paris shop

Link to other shop

Cuki, Thanks for this information and for your technical research on B-Band!

[guitaniac]

Originally Posted by Petty1818

I think their biggest downfall was that they targeted the lower budget/affordable guitar brands. As a result, they kind of gained a reputation for being a cheaper pickup. That’s my take at least. The other issue is that earlier models seemed to be very noisy. I know the newer ones are quieter but from what I have read, they still have a bit of hiss. I have a brand new a2.2xom and I think it’s time I install it. I just hate how the ast is basically a one time install and then it’s garbage.

I'd forgotten about that high frequency hiss which one could hear at high gain levels. It was a bit annoying when I boosted the gain for bare-fingered picking.

For the folks who didn't want electronics in their guitars, there was also the fact that you couldn't use the B-Band pickups passively with a typical outboard preamp. The B-Band preamps had an input impedance of 50 Mohms to accommodate the pickup's unique technology.