Familiar with the Sunrise soundhole pup? Fill me in, please!

[RGB]

I recently saw Leo Kottke on Trio and he had what looked like a Sunrise soundhole pickup on his 12'er. He sounded great...as usual...and I wondered if this is what it was and if anyone knows how he's using it. In conjunction with other electronics, or as a stand alone unit?

Since the recent unfortunate failure of my ES system at a gig, I've been looking into backup options and was wondering if anyone has used this pickup and what are their opinions of it? I'd be interested in the temporary model with the cable that exits the soundhole, so I could use or remove it easily.

[sirflyguy2000]

I think Phil Keaggy uses one in his Olson in conjunction with an internal mic. It sounds great to me, but, then again, he always sounds great!

[troubleman]

I have one. I use it as a backup in case my ES fails...

Pros:

- A pretty decent sound can be derived from it.

- It is completely passive

- It can be installed quickly

- Great fingerstyle pickup

- In combination with a SBT or UST it can produce a hugh sound.

- You can leave its leads trailing outta the soundhole and plug in in that way

- Good cutomer support from the company


Cons:
- It is a lead brick - heavy has heck. I wonder if it actually deadens the soundboard

- I'd STRONGLY recommend removing it before putting your guitar back in its case. Bumps and vibrations of traveling could easily dislodge it from its mounting. If it comes loose it WILL do serious damage bouncing around inside your guitar.

- It works best with a Sunrise preamp (optimized for it). They range from about $125 for the transistor (no adjustments on it) version to about $800 for the tube version. The awesome sound you hear from Richard Thompson and Leo Kottke is thanks to the Sunrise tube preamp in combination with the pickup

- It has very whimpy output - you MUST use a preamp or DI

- It ain't cheap

- Availability is sketchy

I use mine with an ART Tube Mic Preamp (which acts as a DI) and an outboard EQ. Between that and my amp settings (either an SWR CaliBlonde or an Ultrasound) I can get a pretty decent sound, especially for fingerstyle. I EMPLORE YOU NOT TO LEAVE IT IN THE SOUNDHOLE OF YOUR INSTRUMENT WHILE IT IS BEING TRANSPORTED !!!!

[RGB]

Thanks for the thorough review! Very helpful.