Pick-up suggestions

[View From Afar]

Hi,

I've just had a lovely guitar made for me by David Worthy (Melbourne, Australia). It's Tasmanian Blackwood back and sides with Lucky Strike Redwood on top.
I'm looking to get a pick up installed so that I can add some effects (mainly reverb). I play fingerstyle and it is for home use.
It has been a while since I did any extensive research on pick-ups so I thought I ask you AGF members for recommendations of pick-ups that would complement the tone / playing style.
Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

[SalFromChatham]

What will you plug into? Do you have a preamp?

I like K&K SBTs.they are inexpensive, less invasive, and with the right preamp or buffer, they sound very natural. Best to play through a K&k preamp, a Red Eye preamp, or passed through A Boss TU3-w or similar pedal with the impedance match.os there is a nice k&k preamp listed in classifieds for $59.

Alternatively, I also love my Baggs M1 passive. It’s not as “hot”, but adjusting the individual string poles allows you to dial in real well for your particular style and touch. These are very warm sounding.

Finally, a good UST is the Baggs Element VTC. I like the others mentioned above more, but the Element is a a real decent UST.

A good EQ pedal, or the controls on your amp, will help you get a nice tone at home.

[Jinder]

I generally use Sunrise pickups live, but for home use for fingerstyle I'd use a Baggs Lyric without a shadow of a doubt. I had one in a Martin 00DB which sounded magical. A bit feedback prone at times live, but terrific for quieter gigs.

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by View From Afar

Hi,

I've just had a lovely guitar made for me by David Worthy (Melbourne, Australia). It's Tasmanian Blackwood back and sides with Lucky Strike Redwood on top.
I'm looking to get a pick up installed so that I can add some effects (mainly reverb). I play fingerstyle and it is for home use.
It has been a while since I did any extensive research on pick-ups so I thought I ask you AGF members for recommendations of pick-ups that would complement the tone / playing style.
Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

If you are only going to play amplified at home, I would suggest skipping the pickup and simply use a decent microphone. What that microphone (or pickup) is plugged into is the next question.

[krisls]

Should be a lovely guitar. Perhaps ask David Worthy if he has a recommendation.

I have a Gerard Gilet 000 that's 22 years old now, Blackwood w' sitka. Beautiful. After about 20 years I relented and asked re pickups. Suggestion from Gerard at the time, Anthem or K&K. I went K and have not regretted it.

But that was a few years ago now and now I might consider the new Schattens that have been raved about here in recent months. Plenty of options around. I love mine for when I plug it in. I have an 'impression' that K&K work better in smaller guitars like OM's or 000's rather than larger more boomy/bassy guitars. I'm sure I'll get arguments on that one though. Do a search on recent threads and poke about here. Happy pickin'

Kris

[View From Afar]

Hi guys,
Thanks for the replies, appreciate it.
I've asked David Worthy buy he's not familiar with many pick-ups. I have a K&K pure mini at home that I think I'll have installed. I just wanted to check to see if a pick-up with an internal mic might be a better option.
I think that I might either go into an Apple Mac (somehow) and out to some PC monitors (via garage band) or to a small amp. I've also got a tonewood amp that I am keen to try out. I just want to make sure that the sound quality is good!
Thanks again.

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by View From Afar

Hi guys,
Thanks for the replies, appreciate it.
I've asked David Worthy buy he's not familiar with many pick-ups. I have a K&K pure mini at home that I think I'll have installed. I just wanted to check to see if a pick-up with an internal mic might be a better option.
I think that I might either go into an Apple Mac (somehow) and out to some PC monitors (via garage band) or to a small amp. I've also got a tonewood amp that I am keen to try out. I just want to make sure that the sound quality is good!
Thanks again.

I was going to suggest, if you're just playing at home for yourself and are looking for just some reverb then the Tonewood 'amp' might work nicely for you. I had one of the early models and it was a neat little piece of kit that gave some decent reverb. The down side was it ate batteries pretty quick. I'm not sure if that's changed. I pulled it out since I actually needed to amplify for gigs. The K&K works well with the Tonewood. That's what I had in mine back then.

[View From Afar]

Thanks! I really like the tonewood but completely agree with the battery situation (9 hours I think)..that's why I'd like to go through something else like an amp or PC.

[Marshall]

Here's the obligatory ToneDexter recommendation. As to a pickup, a K&K or similar would be nice. But all pickups have an unnatural sound. The ToneDexter pedal/DI does a magnificent job of modeling the pickup sound to sound just like your acoustic guitar. You could run that signal through an amp, or through an effects loop. You could also play with headphones and forgo the amp. But a nice amp would be the finishing touch.

[GuitarLuva]

Originally Posted by sdelsolray

If you are only going to play amplified at home, I would suggest skipping the pickup and simply use a decent microphone. What that microphone (or pickup) is plugged into is the next question.

+1 to this. If you're only playing at home a mic should work just fine unless you're like me and can't stay still! If you must have a pickup a Schatten HFN passive doesn't require superglue like a K&K and sounds more natural IMO.

[View From Afar]

Thanks guys.

@Marshall, wow that ToneDexter could be the answer to the problem as I've decided to go with the K&K that I have at home. Looks like an awesome product and you can really hear the difference.

So just to ask...

Do you go out from the guitar pick-up > tonedexter > reverb pedal (or similar) > headphones / speakers / PC?