Is it the mahogany? The auditorium dimensions?

[bufflehead]

I played a set at an outdoor festival today, and breezy conditions were forecast. Not wanting to rely on an external stand microphone to capture the sound during a strong blow, I decided to pick up a Fishman Neo-D Humbucking soundhole pickup, hooking it up to my new 000-15m. It was the first time I've performed that guitar.

I was amazed at the quality of the sound. I've used a soundhole pickup on various dreadnoughts in the past with disappointing results. But on this all-hog auditorium guitar, the tone coming through the amp was spectacular. I received numerous comments on this after the set, and a few of the other performers couldn't believe I'd gotten that sort of quality out of such a primitive setup.

So, while I'm willing to give Fishman all due credit, I'm wondering whether there was some magic in pairing this particular guitar with the Humbucking Neo-D. Was it an all-hog thing? Was it something about the 000 size? Is this more of the wizardry of the Martin 15 series?

Please speculate as to why this combo might have worked so well.

[moccaguitar]

Hi,

Which amp you've used ? Or straight to the PA?
I 've no experience with the fishman, but i use a seymour duncan woody xl in my 000-15m via an aer compact 60 and it sounds fine (when i play fine!! :-))

I think the 000-shape has less tendency to make the sound boomy and the mahagony brings more fundamentals and not too much overtones in the spektrum.
Have you used a preamp ?

[bluesfreek]

I have used a NeoD soundhole pickup for years in a few different guitars and for what it does it works fine. I also used to run it through an inexpensive DI/preamp box with volume bass and treble controls which helped boost the signal.

Here's a video of me from 2007 using it with a $125 Epiphone AJ-100 just straight to a DI box.

[Pitar]

Originally Posted by bufflehead

I played a set at an outdoor festival today, and breezy conditions were forecast. Not wanting to rely on an external stand microphone to capture the sound during a strong blow, I decided to pick up a Fishman Neo-D Humbucking soundhole pickup, hooking it up to my new 000-15m. It was the first time I've performed that guitar.

I was amazed at the quality of the sound. I've used a soundhole pickup on various dreadnoughts in the past with disappointing results. But on this all-hog auditorium guitar, the tone coming through the amp was spectacular. I received numerous comments on this after the set, and a few of the other performers couldn't believe I'd gotten that sort of quality out of such a primitive setup.

So, while I'm willing to give Fishman all due credit, I'm wondering whether there was some magic in pairing this particular guitar with the Humbucking Neo-D. Was it an all-hog thing? Was it something about the 000 size? Is this more of the wizardry of the Martin 15 series?

Please speculate as to why this combo might have worked so well.

The Neo-D does not pick up the color of the guitar, only the moving strings as they cut across the magnetic lines of flux from the pick-up. You are not hearing the acoustic signature of your guitar, just it's strings in motion. Mag p'ups do not hear wood.

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by Pitar

The Neo-D does not pick up the color of the guitar, only the moving strings as they cut across the magnetic lines of flux from the pick-up. You are not hearing the acoustic signature of your guitar, just it's strings in motion. Mag p'ups do not hear wood.

I understand this in theory, and this was my initial expectation. I bought the pickup simply to get through a challenging gig with minimal carnage. However, my experience was contrary to expectations. For whatever reason, this guitar worked exceptionally well with this pickup. And I was getting a highly acoustic tone out of the mix.

Tried the combo at home with a Fishman Loudbox Mini--same results.