Dazzos!!!

[stevecuss]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

Now everything is clear. Really in an electric band with a drummer, no sound board transducer is going to be the right tool, especially with a lively top like your Louden.

Anthems or the like with a undersaddle pickup, can't believe I typed that, would be better, or a magnetic soundhole pickup.

I've been shocked that the Schatten, Lyric and Trance have all worked just fine.

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by stevecuss

I've been shocked that the Schatten, Lyric and Trance have all worked just fine.

Same. I think it really depends on how boomy the guitar is though.

[Vancebo]

Originally Posted by jseth

Vance -

I've been thinking about posting of my experience with you and Teddy on Tuesday, doing the installs on both of my Mark Angus guitars... and you beat me to it!

I KNOW it's the day after your birthday, and I hate to rain on your parade, BUT the guitar we used the 80 hz. high pass filter with was my Goodall Concert Jumbo, the install that was done last week (2 weeks?). We didn't need it for either of the Angus guitars... matter of fact, when that high-pass filter was left on, inadvertently, we were all surprised by the final sound of that 12 string... until I turned it off and went back to a flat setting... and then the guitar sounded glorious!

Seemed that the Dazzos got moved slightly after we had them set the way we wanted them. As a result, they had far more bass response than when we first set them. (And Teddy called me this morning, offering to "re-do" the Dazzos on my Goodall for me!)

It was great to have Teddy do the installs on those Angus guitars... the 12 string sounded SO GOOD! He certainly moved those transducers around a bunch before going with the epoxy, and his attention to the tone was evident in the final result!

Again, both guitars sounded marvelous through my Bose T1 Tonematch mixer into my Bose L1 Model II... they sounded even better using one of the Sunnaudio preamps that Teddy had... the overall tone was just... smoother and more even, somehow. I love them with the T1, but I can see why folks rave about those Sunnaudio preamps! They are terrific little units!

Also, I was shocked to hear the difference that taping the wires to the soundboard made with the tone... started out very good and got a LOT better! The Dazzos really do sound very "mic-like"...

It was an honor to spend the afternoon with both you and Teddy, and on your birthday, no less! I so appreciate the time spent at your wonderful home... of course, if we didn't have such a good time, talking and playing a bit, the whole thing would have gone much faster... but it was a gas to hear both you and Teddy play a bit... you are a very good player, Vancebo; Teddy is something else altogether!!!

And a BIG "shout out" to Teddy Randazzo! The man has such a heart; his generosity is allowing me to make a young Vet very happy with my trusty old Angus 6 string - now with a nice set of Dazzo 70's!!!

I can't say enough about the Dazzo pickups... yes, they can take some time to "dial in"... but once you get them where they sound the way you want, that's it... no more messing around, absolutely clean installation with ZERO IMPACT on the unplugged sound of the instrument.

They are just REALLY GOOD pickups to capture the acoustic tone of a guitar with incredible accuracy...

Thanks for the kind words John. Teddy’s installs make mine seem like trash. 😄

You almost ruined my guitar nerd birthday by wanting to cancel on us. But you pulled through. I am completely dumbfuddled by two things. How all three guitars of yours sounded so nice then after Teddy taught us the wire taping trick, that sweetened up the sound even more. Good information for other Dazzo users BTW, Teddy never shared this secret with me. Take the loose wire and secure them to the guitar top with a piece of tape. It allows it to emphasize the mic like quality of the pickup. I was playing with mine the last couple of days and still could hear the difference so I know it’s not in my imagination. The other thing That surprised me was that 12 string of yours. I figured that might be a nightmare to get a good sound out of but that probably might be the best of the bunch. We had your Bose pretty loud too.

The next day, Teddy gave me the whole history of his association with Arne Lazarus of FRAP, Sonny of Sunnaudio, Gary Hull of Trance Audio fame, a guy named Wayne and himself. There was another Arne Lazarus from New York involved too. Imagine that. There was even another pickup called the GFP (I think). It was very interesting for a guitar geek like me.

[Br1ck]

Have Teddy tell you about living in a trailer on the coast and making and rejecting, making and rejecting, making and rejecting hundreds of pickups. He started by trying to improve on the FRAP, but ended up starting fresh.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by stevecuss

I've been shocked that the Schatten, Lyric and Trance have all worked just fine.

I've never had a bad Trance installation even when I've been a little off the recommended locations when doing my first installations when I just reached in and stuck the Amulets to an eyeball estimation through the bridge pin holes of where they should be. I'd like to try a set of Dazzos but the installation using epoxy still scares me a bit.

[stevecuss]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

I've never had a bad Trance installation even when I've been a little off the recommended locations when doing my first installations when I just reached in and stuck the Amulets to an eyeball estimation through the bridge pin holes of where they should be. I'd like to try a set of Dazzos but the installation using epoxy still scares me a bit.

Trance is just fantastic. It was my first foray away from UST quack world.

[Vancebo]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

Have Teddy tell you about living in a trailer on the coast and making and rejecting, making and rejecting, making and rejecting hundreds of pickups. He started by trying to improve on the FRAP, but ended up starting fresh.

He did. It was awhile ago. You have to respect that kind of methodology.

[Vancebo]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

I've never had a bad Trance installation even when I've been a little off the recommended locations when doing my first installations when I just reached in and stuck the Amulets to an eyeball estimation through the bridge pin holes of where they should be. I'd like to try a set of Dazzos but the installation using epoxy still scares me a bit.

I find it funny that people are not afraid to use the super glue on K&K without question but balk at the epoxy. The epoxy remove very easily in my experience. Can't even see a trace when I am done with it.

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by Vancebo

I find it funny that people are not afraid to use the super glue on K&K without question but balk at the epoxy. The epoxy remove very easily in my experience. Can't even see a trace when I am done with it.

I think it has more to do with glue and epoxy not being ideal. I haven’t heard many people say they would install a K&K and not a Dazzo due to Dazzo’s needing epoxy.

[jseth]

Well, I'm hoping that the epoxy comes off well... the Dazzos in my Goodall got moved, slightly, by a mishap at the end of our installation, and Teddy graciously offered to take them out and re-install them, if I can get together with him again before he leaves for the Bay Area...

I knew that Teddy was a part of the FRAP company, and I was pleased to be able to give him my old FRAP Model T from the 70's... it had been MIA for a couple decades, until the friend to whom I loaned it finally returned it to me last year...

Of course, Teddy had to put batteries in it and try it out! Amazingly, it still worked, without any sort of electronic insubordination from that old preamp... actually sounded pretty good on the bridge of my guitar; NOT as good as the Dazzos, however.

When I told Teddy that I still had that Model T, on a phone call a while ago, he immediately said, "Why aren't you using that?!"... the he proceeded to tell me how the FRAP was his benchmark when he built the Dazzos, that he had to make something BETTER than that...

In any event, it was nice to get that old FRAP back to one of it's "creators"...

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

Have Teddy tell you about living in a trailer on the coast and making and rejecting, making and rejecting, making and rejecting hundreds of pickups. He started by trying to improve on the FRAP, but ended up starting fresh.

The first time I visited Teddy's shop, it was a chicken coop - literally. There were chickens running around outside... He'd taken over the chicken coop and converted it into a workshop. It had a kind of cool vibe.

[stevecuss]

Originally Posted by Vancebo

I find it funny that people are not afraid to use the super glue on K&K without question but balk at the epoxy. The epoxy remove very easily in my experience. Can't even see a trace when I am done with it.

Using any glue is my last preference, but I also recognize that the number of us now down to the 'putty or tape with IR' to solve our pickup desires are pretty low.

So for me, it isn't glue vs epoxy, it is any form of adhesive like a glue or epoxy vs tape or putty.

I will say though, I don't trust myself with brake fluid. Am I correct that Teddy recommends cleaning off the epoxy with brake fluid? I have no issue with him or a proper tech doing that, but I would be loathe to try that.

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by stevecuss

Using any glue is my last preference, but I also recognize that the number of us now down to the 'putty or tape with IR' to solve our pickup desires are pretty low.

So for me, it isn't glue vs epoxy, it is any form of adhesive like a glue or epoxy vs tape or putty.

I will say though, I don't trust myself with brake fluid. Am I correct that Teddy recommends cleaning off the epoxy with brake fluid? I have no issue with him or a proper tech doing that, but I would be loathe to try that.

Exactly. That’s my issue as well. I can potentially deal with the epoxy but the brake cleaner is not appealing at all. I really wish I could have made the Amulet work. Right now the Fishman Matrix and Tonedexter are really working for me but I still have a second jack. Maybe I will give a PUTW a try. I believe they too use tape.

[Br1ck]

Why worry about cleaning off epoxy? I've never once considered removing a Dazzo.

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

Why worry about cleaning off epoxy? I've never once considered removing a Dazzo.

Honestly it’s because of placement. Doesn’t sound like many people get placement perfect on the first go. Also, no pickup is good enough yet to be in a guitar forever. Just my opinion though.