Dazzo and Trance

[AeroUSA]

These are two pickups that I haven’t had much experience with. Would any happy users of either system be able to post some direct and unprocessed recordings. It would be good to hear several different examples. Thanks in advance!

Also has anyone directly compared both pickups and if so what are your thoughts?

[SpruceTop]

Hi Aaron,

Here is a Trance Amulet M-VT comparison recorded simultaneously with a Shure SM81 for my now sold 2014 Martin HD-28. All EQ everywhere is set Flat with the Trance's Tone Control at the treble-end. i.e., the complete spectrum from the pickup. As I've mentioned before, in real life, I play the Trance system just off the Bass-end of its Tone Wheel travel where the treble-frequencies just become noticeable in the mix as this gives the most natural-tone to the amplification. Also, the Trance system and just about any pickup/preamp system will sound better through a PA or amp given at least ten feet of air between the speaker(s) and the listener. Below is my posting from April 2019:


Hi Folks,

As mentioned before, this is a continuing series of onboard, acoustic-guitar, pickup/preamp to microphone comparisons. This time, I've just made some quick recordings of my vocal accompaniment guitar part for Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" without the Drop-D Tuning. These two tracks were made simultaneously with one channel recording the Trance Amulet M-VT, with its Tone Control set to full-spectrum tone (Treble-end of control rotation), and the other channel recording the Shure SM-81 microphone that is about 8" inches away from the guitar at the 14th-fret, neck and body interface with the mic capsule pointed between the neck-joint and soundhole. When playing through a PA or amp, a player would dial-in the Trance Amulet M-VT's Tone Control to have a more pleasing balance of the tonal spectrum by rolling off some of the high and mid-range to be in a more pleasing balance with the Bass frequencies. These are direct-to-computer recordings using a PreSonus Studio 192 Interface with each track recorded simultaneously and then each rendered in two-channel mono output for listening. The tracks are rendered with FLAT EQ and NO EFFECTS, except Normalization, and picked moderately-aggressively with a Guitar Moose .80mm Classic Flatpick. One thing I will say is that the Martin D-18 in my Schatten comparison sounds better mic'ed than the Martin HD-28 mic'ed in this comparison. Although different mic-positioning can complement one guitar or the other, my initial assessment is that if you want to play out with a mic using a Martin dreadnought, a Martin D-18 may be a better tonal choice for live performance compared to a HD-28 as the D-18 sounds clearer and more upfront with less darkness. Please excuse any slightly mis-fretted notes as I have carpal tunnel in both hands, especially in my fretting hand. Thanks and your comments are Welcome!

[SpruceTop]

I've got a Dazzo system coming and will likely install it in my Larrivee D-40M. I've also, as of last Friday, just had carpel-tunnel surgery on my left hand so soon I should be able to fret cleaner and hold my finger positioning better than when the above Martin HD-28 recordings were made.

[AeroUSA]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Hi Aaron,

Here is a Trance Amulet M-VT comparison recorded simultaneously with a Shure SM81 for my now sold 2014 Martin HD-28. All EQ everywhere is set Flat with the Trance's Tone Control at the treble-end. i.e., the complete spectrum from the pickup. As I've mentioned before, in real life, I play the Trance system just off the Bass-end of its Tone Wheel travel where the treble-frequencies just become noticeable in the mix as this gives the most natural-tone to the amplification. Below is my posting from April 2019:


Hi Folks,

As mentioned before, this is a continuing series of onboard, acoustic-guitar, pickup/preamp to microphone comparisons. This time, I've just made some quick recordings of my vocal accompaniment guitar part for Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" without the Drop-D Tuning. These two tracks were made simultaneously with one channel recording the Trance Amulet M-VT, with its Tone Control set to full-spectrum tone (Treble-end of control rotation), and the other channel recording the Shure SM-81 microphone that is about 8" inches away from the guitar at the 14th-fret, neck and body interface with the mic capsule pointed between the neck-joint and soundhole. When playing through a PA or amp, a player would dial-in the Trance Amulet M-VT's Tone Control to have a more pleasing balance of the tonal spectrum by rolling off some of the high and mid-range to be in a more pleasing balance with the Bass frequencies. These are direct-to-computer recordings using a PreSonus Studio 192 Interface with each track recorded simultaneously and then each rendered in two-channel mono output for listening. The tracks are rendered with FLAT EQ and NO EFFECTS, except Normalization, and picked with a Guitar Moose .80mm Classic Flatpick. One thing I will say is that the Martin D-18 in my Schatten comparison sounds better mic'ed than the Martin HD-28 mic'ed in this comparison. Although different mic-positioning can complement one guitar or the other, my initial assessment is that if you want to play out with a mic using a Martin dreadnought, a Martin D-18 may be a better tonal choice for live performance compared to a HD-28 as the D-18 sounds clearer and more upfront with less darkness. Please excuse any slightly mis-fretted notes as I have carpal tunnel in both hands, especially in my fretting hand. Thanks and your comments are Welcome!

Incredibly useful thanks! If anyone else has more then please share.

May I ask why you no longer use the Trance?

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by AeroUSA

These are two pickups that I haven’t had much experience with. Would any happy users of either system be able to post some direct and unprocessed recordings. It would be good to hear several different examples. Thanks in advance!

Also has anyone directly compared both pickups and if so what are your thoughts?

Samples of both on my pickup page.

I've had lots of both installed. I currently have 1 Dazzo, and 3 Trance's installed, but the guitars are all different, and SBTs are sensitive to the guitar's sound, so I'm not sure how useful a comparison would be. Glad to make you a quick demo, tho, if you'd like.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by AeroUSA

Incredibly useful thanks! If anyone else has more then please share.

May I ask why you no longer use the Trance?

I sold the 2014 Martin HD-28 with the Trance in it but I have a Trance Amulet M Phantom on the shelf waiting to be installed in something. I just got a new 2020 Martin HD-28 and may install the Trance Amulet M Phantom in that guitar.

[AeroUSA]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

Samples of both on my pickup page.

I've had lots of both installed. I currently have 1 Dazzo, and 3 Trance's installed, but the guitars are all different, and SBTs are sensitive to the guitar's sound, so I'm not sure how useful a comparison would be. Glad to make you a quick demo, tho, if you'd like.

Yes please Doug. I’m mostly looking for heavy strumming examples and fingerstyle often sounds good.

[SpruceTop]

Something I want to emphasize is that I play 90% of the time with a flatpick and that's how I adjust and judge what I'm hearing from any pickup/preamp system. I feel that moderate to aggressive usage of a flatpick can reveal the shortcomings of a system--If it sounds good with a flatpick, it'll sound good when fingerpicked.

[SpruceTop]

Aside from sounding better than a pickup in general, I've found that I hear a mic recording as being more forgiving of any playing imperfections, especially in nuanced transient passages.

[AeroUSA]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Aside from sounding better than a pickup in general, I've found that I hear a mic recording as being more forgiving of any playing imperfections, especially in nuanced transient passages.

I agree. Last week I used a mic for my livestream and it sounded and felt amazing. I also agree that fingerstyle sounds better than using a pick with any pickup.

[Vancebo]

Aaron, Dazzo fan here. I wish I could help you out with direct recordings but I just don’t record. I owned both a Dazzo and a Trance in two GS Minis at the same time. As you might expect, I found they were very similar. There were good reasons I stuck with Dazzos as my go to pickup system, none of which was because the Trance was bad or inferior. If I were someone who frequently recorded, I wouldn’t use either one direct without some sort of microphone included. They shine when played live through a speaker. PA speakers are the best.

[Doug Young]

I sent you some samples. Using the MS-2, but no mic, just pickups. Totally agree that direct doesn't due them justice. Might give you a reasonable idea if you play these samples thru an amp or PA. I've never had much luck recording an amp in a way that really captures how they sound that way, either. Add in the guitar variations, and it's pretty hard to say definitively how either of them sound...

[aaronmarkson]

I have the Trance mono pickup in my Gibson 1935 Jumbo (a model made for Fullers Vintage Guitars in TX... Not an actual 1935) I’ll see if I can figure out a way to get a direct recording of it.

[Methos1979]

Timely subject and commenting to follow. I just picked up a new guitar that I purchased to primarily be an at-home, live stream guitar for which I use an ETL mic. That said, I almost always in the past put something in my guitars even if they are meant to be at-home for that rare occasion when I want to take it out into the wild. Whereas this would be primarily a fingerstyle guitar I was thinking of trying something different like a Dazzo or Trance. Both systems seem to benefit from knowledgeable installation though. So I'll follow this to see how it turns out!

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Methos1979

Timely subject and commenting to follow. I just picked up a new guitar that I purchased to primarily be an at-home, live stream guitar for which I use an ETL mic. That said, I almost always in the past put something in my guitars even if they are meant to be at-home for that rare occasion when I want to take it out into the wild. Whereas this would be primarily a fingerstyle guitar I was thinking of trying something different like a Dazzo or Trance. Both systems seem to benefit from knowledgeable installation though. So I'll follow this to see how it turns out!

IMHO, just about anything will sound good for fingerstyle guitar. Don't spend the extra cost on something like a Trance or Dazzo unless you're considering spending a lot of money on a guitar which your post indicates you aren't about to do, correct?