Adding Boss AD-2 Preamp to Fishman Sonitone?

[duganderson]

I read a couple posts online about folks adding a AD-2 Acoustic Preamp to a Fishman Sonitone and said it made a huge difference in the quality of the sound.

What are your experiences with the AD-2 Acoustic Pre-amp?

If you were buying a guitar that had the Fishman Sonitone as an option for $100 more, would you buy it and add the AD-2 OR do you feel like it would be a better value to save the $100 and add a different pickup without the AD-2. Which pickup would you select?

[jricc]

Personally, I would save the $100 and put my own pickup in. The Sonitone is just not very good. I've seen Sonitones being sold for as little as $20 on ebay.
I had the Boss AD2, and for me it was just ok, it helped the piezo some, but for me, was very limited in tone shaping.
Regarding choice of pickup, it depends on what kind you want.
For a soundboard transducer, the K&K or JJB pickups are good sounding and very popular. The Dazzo has great reviews, though I've never heard one.
LR Baggs M1 and M80 are good sounding soundhole pickups, as are the Mojotone and Dimarzio Black Angel.
LR Baggs Element is a better undersaddle pickup than the Sonitone, and the Anthem combines the Element and a mic.
So it really does depend on what type of pickup you want.
Hope this helps.

[mcmars]

Originally Posted by jricc

Personally, I would save the $100 and put my own pickup in. The Sonitone is just not very good. I've seen Sonitones being sold for as little as $20 on ebay.
I had the Boss AD2, and for me it was just ok, it helped the piezo some, but for me, was very limited in tone shaping.
Regarding choice of pickup, it depends on what kind you want.
For a soundboard transducer, the K&K or JJB pickups are good sounding and very popular. The Dazzo has great reviews, though I've never heard one.
LR Baggs M1 and M80 are good sounding soundhole pickups, as are the Mojotone and Dimarzio Black Angel.
LR Baggs Element is a better undersaddle pickup than the Sonitone, and the Anthem combines the Element and a mic.
So it really does depend on what type of pickup you want.
Hope this helps.

Yep, I agree. I have had several guitars that came with the sonitone and I could not use it regardless of a preamp. I have the AD-2 and it is nice for my k&K to add some resonance and depth, but only thing to make a sonitone sound OK might be expensive IR type device. If you like the guitar, then buy it without the sonitone and then install what you like.

I like the K&K's for easy install and no quacky tone and use a LR baggs para DI to tweak it and cut the feedback easily. I also like Anthem SL and the mojotone NC-1 for a clean sounding magnetic PU that does not sound "electric" like most mag pickups. But there are many really nice PU to choose from, but sonitone is a cheaper PU that is found in many low and mid priced guitars and I suspect it is dirt cheap to make and helps their profit margin.

[Chriscom]

I gripe a lot about the Sonitone and bought the AD-2 to make it a little less painful on my gigging Martins. Using its "Acoustic Resonance" knob helped some, but not to my satisfaction, and when I have actual gigs rather than open mics I plug into the Tonedexter IR. I'm not an expert on all the pickup options but if you can find one you think you'll be happy with, I'd recommend going that route instead of the AD-2 band-aid.

I will say the Sonitone doesn't sound half bad, for what it is, with graceful strumming, but I attack the strings a bit and the piezo really blossoms.

[meb]

I have a D-10e with the M-XT that sounds wonderful unplugged. I am
able to get reasonable sound from the M-XT running it thru a Redeye Twin which has a
warmish character. I am told the M-XT is basically a Sonitone + tuner.
The AD-2 sounds like a reasonable alternative to try for those of us who don't want to
rip the whole innards out of the guitar.

But this is not my main gigging guitar, and I am less picky with its plugged in sound.