Magnetic pick-ups for acoustic guitars

highvibrational · #1 08-08-2018, 08:22 AM

I will soon be doing shows and need to purchase a magnetic or interchangeable pick-up so I can use any of my acoustics. Does anyone have any suggestions?

ParisStarlight · #2 08-08-2018, 08:35 AM

I have an older Bill Lawrence I picked up used on reverb and it works well for everything I’ve needed! Before that I used the Seymour Duncan Woody. Not as good, but still worked for the four years I did a cover band.

Brent Hahn · #3 08-08-2018, 08:39 AM

I have two. An old Bill Lawrence passive magnetic, and a new Baggs M-80. The Baggs sounds more "acoustic" and it's active, so the quality of the DI it's plugged into doesn't matter a lot. But it's very big depthwise; you can't quickly swap it between guitars. The Lawrence has more of an electric jazzbox sound, and it cares more about the DI it's plugged into, but you can move it between guitars very quickly.

Oldguy64 · #4 08-08-2018, 08:41 AM

I ran a Dean Markley pickup for about a decade and a half.
Worked well for me.

stephenT · #5 08-08-2018, 08:52 AM

Best sounding this side of a Sunrise (to my ear) is the Dimarzio The Angel, very easy to install and remove.

zombywoof · #6 08-08-2018, 09:00 AM

My favorite magnetic pickup hands down remains the Dimarzio DSP 139 Acoustic Reference. Problem is they do not make them any longer and they are hard to come by these days. Other than that I have stuck with the same Dearmonds I started using in the 1960s. I plug into a Standel which is a freaking clean sounding tube amp. It works real well for me because I really like that Elmore James/Lightning Hopkins vibe. Not sure how they would go over with somebody with a more modern ear. If I was going to buy something a bit more up to date though I would go with a Sunrise.

dcopper · #7 08-10-2018, 08:54 PM

The best in my experience is the Sunrise and I agree with StephenT that the Dimarzio Angel is a more affordable and excellent choice. I also have an M80 but it is not as easily swapped out as the Angel. I ave a Fishman Rare Earth humbucker that I keep as a backup in my kit.
The Baggs M1 is also another option.
My friend has a Lace acoustic and that works pretty well - passive pickup and gets the job done.
davidc

highvibrational · #8 08-11-2018, 09:48 AM

I appreciate your input.

rockabilly69 · #9 08-11-2018, 10:04 AM

The Seymour Duncan Mag Mic is a very good magnetic, and I've owned all of the magnetics listed here. I actually put one in my David Webber Roundbody and just finished up a 4 gig run with it. With a little eq it's a pretty natural sounding pickup especially if you EQ it with a bunch of the mic side dialed in and then roll it back towards the magnetic side. I was using a Grace Alix and it was a good combo. Another good option is the Schertler SA6 with the microphone add-on.

63telemaster · #10 08-11-2018, 10:25 AM

I've used the M1A and the M80 from Baggs as well as the Shadow SH145 and the DiMarzio Black Angel. All of them will do the job with slight tonal differences and features which make them better suited to various applications, for instance whether you play solo or in a band with a drummer.

Cutting to the chase, the DiMarzio Black Angel is a clear winner for me as it is just has the edge on dynamics and to my ears sounds the best of the bunch out of the box.

Scootch · #11 08-11-2018, 10:30 AM

I like my Fishman humbucker. A single click bright but it takes very little EQ to fix that.

I’m going to have mounted permanently in a Alvarez AJ80.

Marshall · #12 08-11-2018, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 63telemaster

I've used the M1A and the M80 from Baggs as well as the Shadow SH145 and the DiMarzio Black Angel. All of them will do the job with slight tonal differences and features which make them better suited to various applications, for instance whether you play solo or in a band with a drummer.

Cutting to the chase, the DiMarzio Black Angel is a clear winner for me as it is just has the edge on dynamics and to my ears sounds the best of the bunch out of the box.

I've tried both the Baggs M1A & M80 and like them. (Though the Tonedexter has supplanted them). Never tried a Black Angel. But I do have a Fishman Rare Earth humbucker that was edging out the Baggs units for me, until I found the TDex.

Ed-in-Ohio · #13 08-12-2018, 04:57 AM

Another vote for DiMarzio. I have the Passive Angel (DP230) in my 000-15 and I love it. In my opinion it performs just as well as the Sunrise at a fraction of the cost. Oh, and I've tried a lot of preamps with it, and my favorite (by a pretty wide margin) is the BBE Acoustimax.