Fishman Aura VT Enhance Unplugged tone

[occimoron]

I've recently acquired a Martin OMC-35e with the Aura VT Enhance pickup system. I like the plugged in tone of the system, but I wonder how much the unplugged (acoustic) volume and tone are affected by the UST, the "Enhance" bridge plate pickup, and the sound hole mounted preamp. Has anyone A/B'ed this system (with and without the various elements installed)? Looking to get another Martin to mainly play acoustically and wondering if I should avoid the pickup, or maybe just go with the Piezo UST with outboard Aura pedal.

Thanks!

[AeroUSA]

Originally Posted by occimoron

I've recently acquired a Martin OMC-35e with the Aura VT Enhance pickup system. I like the plugged in tone of the system, but I wonder how much the unplugged (acoustic) volume and tone are affected by the UST, the "Enhance" bridge plate pickup, and the sound hole mounted preamp. Has anyone A/B'ed this system (with and without the various elements installed)? Looking to get another Martin to mainly play acoustically and wondering if I should avoid the pickup, or maybe just go with the Piezo UST with outboard Aura pedal.

Thanks!

It doesn’t affect it at all.

[occimoron]

Originally Posted by AeroUSA

It doesn’t affect it at all.

Thanks for the response. Is that based on your experience? I've seen a few posts about the L.R. Baggs Anthem affecting tone and volume.

Thanks.

[AeroUSA]

Originally Posted by occimoron

Thanks for the response. Is that based on your experience? I've seen a few posts about the L.R. Baggs Anthem affecting tone and volume.

Thanks.

Yeah I’ve owned a guitar with that system. It’s different to the Anthem.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by occimoron

I've recently acquired a Martin OMC-35e with the Aura VT Enhance pickup system. I like the plugged in tone of the system, but I wonder how much the unplugged (acoustic) volume and tone are affected by the UST, the "Enhance" bridge plate pickup, and the sound hole mounted preamp. Has anyone A/B'ed this system (with and without the various elements installed)? Looking to get another Martin to mainly play acoustically and wondering if I should avoid the pickup, or maybe just go with the Piezo UST with outboard Aura pedal.

Thanks!

Although there's a lot going on under the hood with the Aura VT Enhance, and based on the long sustain of the Martin GPC-18E that I had, I would say it doesn't seem to affect the acoustic tone much. Although it's not really necessary to do, when I had my Martin GPC-18E I made sure to arrange the wiring away from the top so there were minimal contact points for any dampening to occur.

[JackB1]

That pickup system is probably the best you can get at the moment in a current Martin guitar, so enjoy it! It shouldn't be affecting the unplugged tone much at all. Not like the full anthem, with that huge piece of plastic on the inside body and the soft Element piezo unit. Most believe its that soft piezo wire that kills the sound. I believe Fishman uses a harder material in their piezo pickups that doesn't deaden the sound as much.

Originally Posted by occimoron

I've recently acquired a Martin OMC-35e with the Aura VT Enhance pickup system. I like the plugged in tone of the system, but I wonder how much the unplugged (acoustic) volume and tone are affected by the UST, the "Enhance" bridge plate pickup, and the sound hole mounted preamp. Has anyone A/B'ed this system (with and without the various elements installed)? Looking to get another Martin to mainly play acoustically and wondering if I should avoid the pickup, or maybe just go with the Piezo UST with outboard Aura pedal.

Thanks!

[martingitdave]

I have experience with that system too. It's a relatively lightweight system when compared with the Anthem. The heaviest part of the system is connected to the tail block. Conversely, the heaviest part of the Anthem system is attached to the soundboard. The enhance sensor is actually very lightweight. The plastic shield on top of the enhance sensor is just a hollow cap. It looks large and like it might dampen sound, but that wasn't my experience when I worked on it. The rest of the controls are fairly simple and light. My experience is that any under saddle transducer will change the tone of the guitar, but the Fishman Matrix is one of the least impactful under saddle choices. If you need the feedback resistant plug and play tone, then it's a good choice of systems.

[Zandit75]

Watch out for the Placebo effect.
You may have already convinced yourself that it will sound better without the pickup installed.
Take your guitar to a shop that you can A&B against the model you want.
If possible, get someone to do a blind mans test on you. Have them play the guitars while you have your back turned, or eyes closed etc. Switch up the guitars, make it seem like they are switching guitars, but play the same one back to back.