MagMic SA6 and Origin Effects Revival Trem

[rockabilly69]

Recently, I ran into some problems with my older B-Band systems (noise and balance) in two guitars, so I replaced the pickups with what I thought would be a temporary fix.

I had some Seymour Duncan SA6 Mag mics that I had removed from guitars years ago. Well funny enough, in my current stage guitars, they are working so good that I've decided to stay with them permanently. Even though they are magnetic pickups, the microphone side lets the individual character of each guitar shine through. That was something I wasn't expecting.

What I like about the SA6 is that it is ridiculously feedback resistant, and the tone, when dialed in is actually very good. It seems with my UST/soundboard pickups, when the volume comes up, I was always fighting some sort of low-end - low mid resonance. With the SA-6 I get a much more consistent tone.

The trick is setting the EQ with the mic balance rolled all the way to the mic side then rolling back towards the magnetic side. I roll in just enough mic to hear the character of the guitars.









Another huge benefit is that, when I play dirtier blues music, the magnetic side of the SA6 works great with my Origin Effects "Revival Trem" in getting electric guitar like sounds. I can get sounds like a ES335 through a wound up Fender amp! The Revival Trem is based on early brown Fender Deluxe. The early brown Fender Deluxe amp had a fabulous bias tremolo, which the Revival Trem nails, and I love that sound on older soul style songs and swampy blues, but a bigger benefit of the is the Revival Trem preamp is that it really couples well with the SA6 pickup for clean tones. When set totally clean, it adds a richness to the signal that makes the tone more harmonically rich. So much so, that I'm using it as an always on clean pedal. This combo works even for the cleanest of acoustic instrumental songs.

I must add before my signal hits the Revival Trem it is EQ'ed by my Grace Alix that way I'm feeding the Revival Trem with an ideal signal. And even when I turn the Revival Trem off the my clean tone is still very good.

Tomorrow when my girl is at work I will try and make a demo so you can hear what I'm talking about.

[YamahaGuy]

I had a Magmic in an Eastman E1OM and it checked a lot of boxes for me. A bandmate now owns the guitar. It sounds very good plugged in. Good sounding guitar unplugged too. He runs it through my Trace Elliot Transit A preamp.

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by YamahaGuy

....Good sounding guitar unplugged too.

Funny that you mention that, because I recorded my guitars with the pickup in and out and I couldn't hear a difference. I was worried that the SA6 would dampen my acoustic sound, but it really hasn't.

Also, I had used the SA6 before, and I liked it, not as much as other pickups/systems, but I didn't own my Grace Alix at the time, and I think the Alix is very good at bringing the best sound out of the SA6.