Pickup Advice for semi-loud band

[elninojesus]

After searching around here for a while I'm finding a lot of great pickup information but not a lot about feedback. I'm looking for a pickup to put in my guitar for live shows. We are playing fairly decent sized clubs and we are by no means a "loud" band but feedback is always going to be an issue. I'm reading good things about the K&K pure western and the PUTW #54 but I'm curious how prone they are to feedback. I really like the idea of the pure western's installation and not having a battery to mess with would be great as well. I'll probably pick up a good DI as well, I've been looking at the Baggs Para DI. Also, I see no discussion of those little rubber deals you close the soundhole with. I imagine those would help a ton for feedback but I have no experience with it. Thanks.


Mark

[Brackett Instruments]

Normally Sound board transducers like the K&K or the PUTW are prettys sensitive to feedback and at higher volume levels they pick up alot of bumps and body noises. A soundhole cover works wonders for feedback and a properly set compressor can help with the other noises. In the end either a plain old UST(B Band A1. Fishman matrix or LR Baggs element) or a decent magnetic soundhole pickup(Fishman rare earth humbucker, rare earth blend, or a Sunrise pickup) will give you decent but probably not great tone with no worries of feedback or other unwanted noises.

[tiktok]

The Sunrise is about as feedback resistant as it gets. Whatever "acoustic" flavor it misses would probably be covered by the band (*cough drummer cough*) except in the quietest passages.

[elninojesus]

Yeah, I probably shouldnt have even mentioned that we are loud because we are really not at all, we just play clubs. Its a tough decision because there are a lot of stripped down parts where you would really hear the acoustic and I've always been pretty unhappy with the rubbery transducer sound I always hear from band's with acoustic guitar. What we are using right now is the really cheap Dean Markley pickup that you just stick in the soundhole and we feedback from it. I thought that was a magnetic pickup so would a nicer magnetic pickup not have the same problems? I've been leaning against those just because you cant use them with a soundhole cover.



Mark

[cotten]

Hi Mark! Welcome to the AGF. We talk pickups all the time, mostly over in the "Now Hear This" section. That's where I'm moving your request, so more of the people interested in such things will see it.

Give us a little time, and we'll come up with more suggestions than you'll want to read!

cotten

[4Gtrs]

Mark,
Feedback and pickups are the subject of frequent threads here. I agree with Woody, any AST will be susceptible to feedback. An active IBeam graces one of my guitars. It provides nice fingerpicking sounds in quiet settings, but with loud band venues, even with the rubber soundhole plug it suffers from howling 'A' frequency feedback. My church strummer has a Fishman Mag/Mic REB, which also sounds great, however, with a band, it must be biased completely towards the magnetic setting (which is very tolerant of feedback).
I recently purchased a BBand UST/A1 for my six string to compare against the Ibeam (but haven't installed it yet). It may not provide a perfect acoustic tone, but it's better than the very distracting howling.
Several Forum members have discussed the newer 'solid body' acoustics, e.g. Crowdster and RS6. You may want to look into those as well.

[cotten]

Here's a thread from a couple of weeks ago that you may find interesting. Some very knowledgeable comments about the Baggs M1 and the Fishman Rare Earth Blend. http://217.160.250.165/forums/showth...ighlight=Baggs

cotten

[elninojesus]

Thanks guys, this is all great information. I probably didnt see anything about the subject I was asking because I was looking in the wrong forum!
If it helps at all you can check out what my band sounds like so you can see what we are goin for.

www.cordelane.com

On the music page "Under" and "Play Along" both have acoustic tracks on them, they are probably the best example of what we're doin.

So even with the open soundhole, something like the M1 would be pretty safe for feedback?


Mark

[elninojesus]

Anyone else?

[bing4sons]

You can always go with a UST/AST combo. I've used both the LR Baggs iMix and the B-Band A2.2 with excellent results. Both systems have a ton of gain. I have not experienced feedback issues with either (and I play with a band). The good thing about these systems is that you can dial in the best sound. If you do get some feedback from the AST, you can mix more toward the UST side and away from the AST. Both systems also give you some control over the volume and mix at your fingertips, via a soundhole remote control.

[cpmusic]

I posted in the thread that Cotten linked to, but I'll add the suggestion of the Baggs M1 here as well. The Rare Earth has a fatter tone, but either the single coil or humbucker alone will sound more electric than the M1. For my ear, the Rare Earth Blend (mag/mic) is best, but its mic might be superfluous in your setting.

Another reasonbly priced soundhole pickup is the Seymour Duncan MagMic, but I've never worked with one. I heard Laurence Juber using one in concert a few years ago and it sounded great, but I read somewhere that he had the stock mic replaced with a better one.

The nice thing about the Fishman, Baggs, and Duncan mag pickups (and possibly the Sunrise?) is that they're easy and quick to "field test" if the dealer is willing, and removing them won't hurt the guitar or the pickup. The dealer from whom I bought my first REB did this for me, and it helped seal the deal. My main word of caution is to try them through either a PA or a clean acoustic amp like an Ultrasound or AER.

[Wally]

I have a Fishman Prefix UST wired in stereo with the Fishman Rare Earth which I run through a small two-channel mixer. This allows me to dial in more or less of each pickup as needed to a) get the sound I'm looking for and b) to help with venue concerns for feedback. Given this combination feedback is now virtual nonexistent.

[elninojesus]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I think the A2.2 is looking best for me right now. If I'm understanding this right, I could get the A2.2 and the UST and then add the AST whenever I wanted? I think that might be a good starting point so i'll have some money left over for the DI.



Mark

[leeasam]

I whitnessed a guitar being played with a Bggs M1 standing with in 3 feet in FRONT of and amp and turned up quite a bit and no feedback!!
The M1 with the para DI would be a sweet set up.
Lee