Shout Out to Sunnaudio!!

[Vancebo]

This is my real world testimony. Just wanting to share with all of you.

Whether you are new or a long time forum member, I have to admit this is my favorite part of the forum. The Acoustic Amplification section is one of the best places to learn and share about gear that is designed to amplify your guitar. The art of amplifying your acoustic guitar has been a very "hot" topic for me over my guitar playing career. Ever since I put my first Fishman Matrix Natural UST in my first guitar and bought a Fender Princeton Chorus amp to plug it into because the guy at the music store said it would be a good one I have been on a journey to find satisfaction. Let's face it, what I heard coming from that first amp and pickup combo sounded like crap. (and it was not just the playing).

Years later, I find myself in a content place. I am omitting the details of my journey that cost thousands of dollars and involved a lot of pickup, preamp and amp/speaker configurations that are too numerous to include in this post. Instead, I wanted to share with all of you about a newcomer to the acoustic audio world that IMO people should be aware of. Sunnaudio.

For the last couple of months there have been a few posts mentioning the Sunnaudio preamps by myself and a handful of other members in a positive light. I have been waiting until I can spend time with this new gear. I wanted to share my unbiased thoughts because I have often come on here sharing my results praising the positives of a lot of gear over the years giving open, honest feedback even including any drawbacks. My idea has been to minimize the drawbacks and capitalize on the strengths of the gear I use. Lately, I find myself zeroing in on a place where this acoustic journey has come to a happy place. I have been loving my Dazzo pickups for 3 years now. Simple, need very little EQ and sound like the guitar they are in (or better). Happy, happy happy! Then Teddy introduces me to his buddies Sunny and Marc. Well, I haven't met them but I have met their new products. Teddy sent me a prototype of the Sunnaudio line driver. I was skeptical to put anything else into my guitar but results convinced me otherwise.

Now I have a Sunnaudio preamp in two guitars and one uke along with an outboard Stage DI. Before I bit the bullet and put the preamps in my guitars I was able to use the prototype line driver that was wired to easily move from guitar to guitar with any pickup just by plugging it into the jack on the guitar. I had use of that for a couple of months and it convinced me that the Sunnaudio guys had something here.

Lately, I was able to compare the Sunnaudio preamps next to other respected gear I currently own. The comparison preamps were: Baggs PADI, Baggs Venue, Fire Eye Red Eye, Mesa Rosette, Grace Alix. I used to own others including preamps by Fishman, Pendulum (SPS-1), Rane AP13, and Radial, AER, DTAR and Raven Labs. I simply wanted to see how the Sunnaudio compared to other gear I had in terms of 1) Sound quality when set flat, and 2) Dialing in the best sound possible using the EQ tools. I used a Bose S1 amp with and without the acoustic guitar preset as well as a standard Peavey powered mixer going into a large 12" speaker cabinet.

Results: This may be a bit of a shocker for you. No preamp sounds the same. Period. Nothing sounded bad per say because what you might like may be different than what I might like. But, some preamps can make you think others sound bad in comparison. That's what Sunnaudio preamps did. I dialed and dialed and dialed some more until I found the best tone for fingerstlye and/or flatpicking I could get out of the preamps. (some of the ones mentioned above have quite elaborate EQ sections.) I could always get a sound I loved on any preamp with very little cuts and boosts thanks to the Dazzos. (I found many other pickups to need a ton of EQ to sound their best) When I went back to the Sunnaudio preamp, I always preferred it over the one I came from. I repeated this over several days and yet always came back to the Sunnaudio. The Sunnaudio Stage DI is very simple to use. It has a Bass-Treble-Volume. That's it. There is no way you can get your guitar to sound bad even when you turn the knobs all of the way up or down. Same for the on board Tone Driver.

Before Sunnaudio came along, I have been claiming the wonders and ease of use of the Red Eye. I still love it. It's easy, one knob EQ function and boost is the bomb! As well as the Grace Alix with it's elaborate EQ and high fidelity is hard to beat! The Sunnaudio preamp has a way of smoothing out the treble to keep the harshness of the piezo from getting wild, it gives girth to the strings that otherwise can sound thin. It makes the strings sound more present and immediate rather than distant which has been a knock on soundboard based pickups. The bass is on point. I realize that my Dazzo equipped guitars may have a distinct advantage because Teddy Randazzo had some direct input with Sunny and Marc through the design process and the Dazzo pickups were front and center. Of course I was assured that other pickup were thoroughly tested with great results.

There is so much more to add but I have been rambling on. I will provide a link for you to check them out. I am willing to answer questions. Maybe Marc Gains himself will see this and contribute. I would love to see Doug Young review Sunnaudio and Dazzo together. They are all in the bay area so there is no excuse! Thanks for reading!

http://sunnaudio.com/

[Br1ck]

Well, I've come to the same conclusion, only through dumb luck have I avoided spending thousands to come to the same realization.

I bought a Lyric for my first pickup. It is still in the guitar. I don't know why.

My other five guitars have Dazzos. A friend turned me on to them. Teddy Randazzo turned me on to the RedEye. I was happy for life, or so I thought. He A/Bd the RedEye with a SunnAudio prototype. OMG.

I've had other such experiences. A friend bought a $2K mic pre. Wow.

The SunnAudio sounds more like a channel strip from a recording mixing board than a consumer type pre. The RedEye always sounded great, but not now compared to the Stage 1 DI. The frequency extension compared to a RedEye is very noticeable, especially in the bass. We have tried comparing a few other pres too with the same result.

I've said this over and over, and I'll say it again. With a Dazzo and a SunnAudio, you need minimal EQ if any.

The SunnAudio folks built me a custom Blender DI for an open mic. People have never sounded better.

And there is a new exciting box coming out for those that gig with both an acoustic and an electric guitar. Can't wait to try that one out.

[SpruceTop]

Is Sunnaudio associated with Sunn Amplifiers?

[Vancebo]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Is Sunnaudio associated with Sunn Amplifiers?

Nope. There is a long history that I am not sure I know enough detail to share. Sonny is no rookie when it comes to the work he does. I am hoping Marc will come on here and maybe tell us more.

[sunnaudio]

Vance, thank you for your thorough review, kind words and experience on our preamps!

Our goal is to get the "channel strip" type experience at the user / musician and keep it as simple as possible.

I gigged for many years playing both electric and acoustic guitars in loud bands - pop/folk/Rick etc... so those experiences really helped in deciding how to proceed with developing our products. Playing acoustic in a loud rock band is not an easy thing to do when you want fidelity as well. Nice guitar - good sound - good plugged in sound; pick two.
Every venue is different, the scarcity of good sound people grew and now we are left with less venues and whats a "soundman"?

We are not affiliated with now defunct Sunn amplifiers.

Sunny worked with Frap pickups in the 80's and then worked Nady, Dolby, Raynet.... while patenting his own circuits.

Marc

Originally Posted by Vancebo

Nope. There is a long history that I am not sure I know enough detail to share. Sonny is no rookie when it comes to the work he does. I am hoping Marc will come on here and maybe tell us more.

[JStotes]

I'll jump in with my 2 cents. I also have the Stage DI. I use it with 3 guitars, all having different pickups. I have previously used almost all of the preamps Vance listed in his OP.

First, I have a 1993 Taylor 910 that is equipped with Dazzo 70's. I was very happy with it when using the RedEye pre. The Sunnaudio moves it up another notch. I get a more natural sound that is very true to the acoustic tone. When not playing, in between songs and such, it is dead quiet.

Second, I have a custom Jayson Bowerman Deschutes that had a K&K installed when I got it. It is really a "Holy Grail" type of guitar and sounded very good with the RedEye. Again, the Sunnaudio rasied the bar. I'm not really sure that plugged in tone gets any better. If you weren't looking you'd swear it was using a good studio mic in front.

Third, I have a 2013 J45 Standard with what ever Baggs under saddle pickup came in it. I usually don't use a preamp with it as it's my "beater" that I use to play out at open mic's and such. Actually doesn't sound awful as is. When I tried it with the Sunnaudio there was a marked improvement in the sound. Still not as good as the Taylor or Bowerman, but much better than without the pre.
I'll probably upgrade this to either a Dazzo or K&K.

I play through a Schertler JAM 150 and if needed send the signal out to the FOH system. I would strongly recommend auditioning the Sunnaudio Stage DI if you're in the market for an acoustic preamp. I have been a staunch supporter of the RedEye since it's inception. The Sunnaudio is now my go to pre.

[AndyC]

I have only recently taken delivery of my Stage DI, which is being used in conjunction with a set of Dazzo 70's in my OM42.

Previously, I've used the following preamps; Red Eye Twin, Fishman Platinum, Grace Design Felix, Bose T1, D-Tar Solstice, ToneDexter and Boss AD-2. (Some of the twin channel preamps were used because I had a dual K&K system with a DiMarzio Black Angel).

The Stage DI is BY FAR the best sounding preamp I have ever heard. It delivers an utterly fabulous, almost studio quality sound. I am not using any EQ, Notch Filters or Para EQ on my board, and once the gain is correctly set from the Stage DI everything else is pretty flat on that box too.

[Petty1818]

Cool report, thanks for that. I have probably been through a good 10-12 preamp/DI's over the years and I can honestly say that tonally, they were all pretty similar. I currently own the Grace Design Felix and love it but I have compared it to my Fishman platinum pro and Radial PZ Deluxe and I am not sure if I can fully say that one is better than the other. I am sure these new Sunnaudio preamps are great but I am always hesitant to jump on the "next best thing" wagon. I can totally understand Dazzo users loving it though as they were meant to work together.

[Vancebo]

I am glad to hear others having good success with it. Not every company is set up to get big publicity and advertising. Best we can do is tell others about it.

The best thing I like about it is that I am not spending my time turning knobs. It’s easy. The on board Tone Driver has the same insides as the Stage DI so I can plug that guitar directly to an amp or DI or mixing board and get the same result without an extra cable or box in between.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Vancebo

I would love to see Doug Young review Sunnaudio and Dazzo together. They are all in the bay area so there is no excuse! Thanks for reading!

http://sunnaudio.com/

I'd be happy to check them out, always nice to see someone making good gear. And it's great that Teddy's got some nice electronics to go with his pickups. I actually have a custom wish-list I'd love to find someone to make, maybe these guys would be up for it :-)

I'm not surprised you hear differences between different preamps - different circuits and all that. I t's pretty difficult to do a comparison like this, it must have been a lot of work!. For example, a 0.1 db increase in volume will usually bias one to think the louder signal is "better" (clearer, more upfront, etc), and every preamp will have different gain structure, which makes them pretty tricky to compare. I always have the problem that unit A sounds best to me on Monday and unit B sounds better on Tuesday! In any case, it sounds like these new preamps easily hang in there with lots of well-regarded products, so that's great to hear. We need more options!

[sunnaudio]

Hi Doug, we would be happy to send you one of our Stage DI's to check out! Please PM us to coordinate.

Also, side note to others who've inquired about our DI, the Stage DI is not just for Dazzo pickups. It will work well with most pickup systems with different degrees of success.

Cheers, Marc

Originally Posted by Doug Young

I'd be happy to check them out, always nice to see someone making good gear. And it's great that Teddy's got some nice electronics to go with his pickups. I actually have a custom wish-list I'd love to find someone to make, maybe these guys would be up for it :-)

I'm not surprised you hear differences between different preamps - different circuits and all that. I t's pretty difficult to do a comparison like this, it must have been a lot of work!. For example, a 0.1 db increase in volume will usually bias one to think the louder signal is "better" (clearer, more upfront, etc), and every preamp will have different gain structure, which makes them pretty tricky to compare. I always have the problem that unit A sounds best to me on Monday and unit B sounds better on Tuesday! In any case, it sounds like these new preamps easily hang in there with lots of well-regarded products, so that's great to hear. We need more options!

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by sunnaudio

Hi Doug, we would be happy to send you one of our Stage DI's to check out! Please PM us to coordinate.

Also, side note to others who've inquired about our DI, the Stage DI is not just for Dazzo pickups. It will work well with most pickup systems with different degrees of success.

Cheers, Marc

Well, I hope you have enough to send to everyone. Lol.

[M Hayden]

Is there a place to check them out in the Bay Area? I see you’re based in Belmont...do you have a location where players can test drive?

[sunnaudio]

Originally Posted by M Hayden

Is there a place to check them out in the Bay Area? I see you’re based in Belmont...do you have a location where players can test drive?

We have a Stage DI at the new Beat St. Music in San Mateo.
More locations to come depending on vendors' interest.

We have units in stock to ship right now.

Marc

[throbert]

I tried the Stage DI and although I would agree it's a quality product, I just couldn't get it to work with my set up and was ultimately disappointed. My Dazzos are from 6 years ago and perhaps that was the problem. I would still encourage people to try the DI but I'm thinking the installed version in your instrument may be a better option. The search continues for me. Lots of good products now but I've tried enough pickups over the years to say they all disappoint in some way. I can also say I appreciate the reviews and comments of others who have found success and especially Doug Young for his sound bytes and his perspective on things. Sunnaudio offers a money back guarantee if not completely delighted with the product.