Acoustic Guitars and Pickups Part II

[L20A]

In my other post I got a wide range of answers about which guitar is a good choice to amplify. That wasn't a surprise.
What I did get from your answers was that most any decent built guitar will be fine.

Now for the part II question.

Let's say that I have an Alvarez or Guild Import or equivalent. and want to add a pickup.
Leaving the K&K out of the equation, what are good pickups that have tone and volume controls in the sound hole?

This is for solo or duo shows mostly at Assisted Living Homes.
The guitar will be tuned down 1 full step to a D to D tuning.
This is for vocal support.

I want a pickup that will sound as natural as possible and also have the controls mounted inside the sound hole.

The pickup could be the type that mounts in the sound hole or uses an under the saddle transducer.

Going back to my No K&K thought.
I already have 2 very nice guitars with the K&K in them. What I want is the ease of the volume and tone controls onboard.

I don't want a duel source pick up.
If I want to use a mic, I will use my Shure SM 57.

Cheaper is always better but I do want something that will sound good to my audience.

[SpruceTop]

Trance Audio Amulet M-VT in either Phantom or Battery power.

Trance Amulet M-VT Phantom Powered

Trance Amuklet M-VT Battery Powered

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by L20A

In my other post I got a wide range of answers about which guitar is a good choice to amplify. That wasn't a surprise.
What I did get from your answers was that most any decent built guitar will be fine.

Now for the part II question.

Let's say that I have an Alvarez or Guild Import or equivalent. and want to add a pickup.
Leaving the K&K out of the equation, what are good pickups that have tone and volume controls in the sound hole?

This is for solo or duo shows mostly at Assisted Living Homes.
The guitar will be tuned down 1 full step to a D to D tuning.
This is for vocal support.

I want a pickup that will sound as natural as possible and also have the controls mounted inside the sound hole.

The pickup could be the type that mounts in the sound hole or uses an under the saddle transducer.

Going back to my No K&K thought.
I already have 2 very nice guitars with the K&K in them. What I want is the ease of the volume and tone controls onboard.

I don't want a duel source pick up.
If I want to use a mic, I will use my Shure SM 57.

Cheaper is always better but I do want something that will sound good to my audience.

LR Baggs full anthem.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by L20A

In my other post I got a wide range of answers about which guitar is a good choice to amplify. That wasn't a surprise.
What I did get from your answers was that most any decent built guitar will be fine.

Now for the part II question.

Let's say that I have an Alvarez or Guild Import or equivalent. and want to add a pickup.
Leaving the K&K out of the equation, what are good pickups that have tone and volume controls in the sound hole?

This is for solo or duo shows mostly at Assisted Living Homes.
The guitar will be tuned down 1 full step to a D to D tuning.
This is for vocal support.

I want a pickup that will sound as natural as possible and also have the controls mounted inside the sound hole.

The pickup could be the type that mounts in the sound hole or uses an under the saddle transducer.

Going back to my No K&K thought.
I already have 2 very nice guitars with the K&K in them. What I want is the ease of the volume and tone controls onboard.

I don't want a duel source pick up.
If I want to use a mic, I will use my Shure SM 57.

Cheaper is always better but I do want something that will sound good to my audience.

If you're leaving the K&K Pure Mini out, there's nothing really worth talking about.

Sound hole volume and tone controls have a high failure rate in my personal experience. Much better to control from a floor pedal.

I had a Baggs Element fail mid-song and cut the wires with a pocket knife to finish my set. I removed the controls and have never had any desire to repeat that problem.

[Wild Bill Jones]

Sprucetop is right. Trance Amulet. I’ve tried a number of others and this is the best I’ve ever found.

[edward993]

That TransAm gets a lot of love, but I've had no experience with it. So for me, it is Baggs Anthem all the way. Full version as first choice, the Anthem SL as second.

Edward

[rllink]

Eventually I want to put an L.R. Baggs humbucker sound hole pickup in my Guild. An M1 or an M80. I don't know very much about them except that a fellow I know who plays a lot of venues around here swears by his. I'm try ing to get more input by other people who are actually using them before I do it though.

[jaymarsch]

I know that the Baggs M1 and M30 are great choices. I opted for a Baggs Lyric in my Alvarez parlor and it works great. Easy to initially adjust and then you can pretty much leave it and still have the volume control.
Best,
Jayne

[SpruceTop]

A note about the Trance Amulet M-VT system: the whole system is modular so if the preamp itself or Volume or Volume/Tone control soundhole module should fail, these can be easily replaced. I think I remember Gary Hull once telling me that the Amulets can't be ordered separately which, although he didn't say why, I'm thinking it's probably due to maintaining control over the design. I'm also thinking that if ever an Amulet should fail, as long as it's sent back to Trance, he'd likely replace it with a new one for a fee of some sort.

[slimey]

I've been using the Trance Amulet in my gigging guitars for about 7 or 8 years now. It's a very reliable system that I've never had any issues with.
I recently started to use an M80 as an experiment, I can't get the acoustic tone I can with the Amulet, but I can get a signal which doesn't overdrive when I boost the gain for a solo.
I've tried K and K and it's a nice system where you can get a pretty decent acoustic tone, but I play in a 5 piece band which often plays outdoor festival type gigs and the K and k was horribly prone to feedback. The trance performed much better for me in this scenario.
My conclusion is smaller venues where I can get the volume for solo's just by digging in with the pick, use a guitar with the Amulet. Larger outdoor venues where we're using large systems to cover large areas , parks etc use the M 80.
Amulet or Anthem when you want or need a close to natural acoustic tone sound. M 80 when you're willing to trade some natural tone for beef.

[Doubleneck]

You can have the K&K with the controls onboard which you say you want.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by rllink

Eventually I want to put an L.R. Baggs humbucker sound hole pickup in my Guild. An M1 or an M80. I don't know very much about them except that a fellow I know who plays a lot of venues around here swears by his. I'm try ing to get more input by other people who are actually using them before I do it though.

I have in the past used a couple of different sound hole pickups, a Fishman rare earth humbucker (with the active preamp built in) and a Sunrise.

If you are considering a sound hole pickup then just be aware that they will provide a sound that is much more like an electric guitar than the other types of acoustic guitar pickups.

One good point is that depending on the pickup, it's quick and easy to try out a new one and return it if it doesn't match your expectations.

[erniecaster]

Hi,

MiSi Trio Air.

cu

e.

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by L20A

In my other post I got a wide range of answers about which guitar is a good choice to amplify. That wasn't a surprise.
What I did get from your answers was that most any decent built guitar will be fine.

Now for the part II question.

This is for solo or duo shows mostly at Assisted Living Homes.
The guitar will be tuned down 1 full step to a D to D tuning.
This is for vocal support.

I don't want a duel source pick up.
If I want to use a mic, I will use my Shure SM 57.

Cheaper is always better but I do want something that will sound good to my audience.

For most assisted living venues, why not just leave the p/a at home and simply stand and play/sing? You can't get a cheaper or more natural a sound that that. It is definitely what I would do for that small venue/small audience situation like the assisted living facility where my mother-in-law lives.

One step up from that would be to single mic' just to "lift" the acoustic sound. The next step would be a separate mic' for guitar and voice - but I really don't think that would be needed for the type of situation you describe - they are going to be a quiet audience - it's not a bar room situation.

Just stand and sing. You will have far more interaction with the audience if you don't use a p/a. We can be perhaps a little too quick to reach for amplification when the guitars that most of us play were originally designed around performing without.

[varmonter]

I for one cant reccomend an onboard system
As I cant recall ever using one. My contact RT old have always been external..I can however
Reccomend the Sunrise pickup.
I've used alot of pups in including the m80.
And the sunrise sounds thg he best to my ear.
It doesnt sound magnetic and it doesn't feedback as piezo ust or sbt pups tend.
.