Often I am asked about my pickup systems, and folks somtimes want to know if they should just get a new guitar. As long as you like the way your guitar sounds and plays, then no. Here’s my long winded answer to an email I received…..
First, I do not think you need to start over with a new guitar. The Yamaha I used is a small cheap guitar that I actually got for my son. Most of what was heard was the pickup.
The gear I used was as follows:
Pickups – Fishman Rare Earth in the Yamaha & an LR Baggs LB6 in the Guild.
Preamp – LR Baggs Para DI
I use the same preamp for all pickups. It’s just a great sounding preamps with great EQ, and it’s easy to use! The LB6 pickup is passive and requires the preamp, but you can get active systems that don’t. However, I did not want to deal with batteries. I think the LB6 is a great pickup, and have used it for close to 17 years in several different guitars. The major draw back is the installation, which is quite involved and requires routing of the bridge of the guitar. This pickup is consistent, details, has a extremely wide frequency pattern, and can get just as loud as you want.
The Rare Earth pickup is a great sound hole, magnetic pickup. I also have a Rare Earth Blend (it has an attached mic), which I like better. But that night I just used the Rare Earth. In general I do not like the sound of the high E & B strings from a magnetic pickup because they sound like a cheap electric guitar, and this one is no exception. However, what I do love about it is that it’s warm, tone-full, and reacts like the strings on the guitar. It seems to me that all saddle pickups sound “hard and loud” all the time, even when paying soft. Magnetic pickups react with a changing dynamic tone when playing. One other draw back is that if you are around terrible electricity, and florescent lights, magnetic pickups almost always buzz and hiss, no matter what the maker says….
Also, you should know that I hate pickups. I love mics. If I can get away with it, I love running at lower volumes and using a good mic (like an SM81). But often I have to plug in, and so I try to run both. The pickup gives the power, and the mic helps the tone. But for ease, I sometimes just plug in.
I’m not sure this helps much, and I will probably check out other systems through the years. The dual element is a great system – I played with one a couple times. In fact I had one in a 12-string once. The lowend sounds great, and the high end sounds a little rubber-bandy, or “soft.” That’s very different than the LB6, which has a harder sound. Also, I used a LR Baggs M1. It really is cool – but I move around too much and kept banging into it, and since it senses the top, it makes a lot of noise when you hit it with a pick. If you play in one spot this might not be an issue.
As you can tell – I like talking pickups, and would love one guitar with every kind of pickup just to try. I’m a bit of a geek about this.
So, in the end, I might suggest finding a store that would let you try a sound hole pick up (not a cheap one – you won’t like it). Then, if you don’t like the “electric guitar” sound, I’d say go for a Dual Element simply because the install is not so much trouble. Or, you could get really geeky, and go for an LB6 with an internal mic. Or, if you mainly play at the church, have Brandt put up a good mic. He’s got great taste in mics. Plus, you can then control how much bass and volume you give just by how close to the mic you stand.
You can see that this can go on forever. So – best yo you, and I hope you enjoy finding your sound!
Peace to you,
nathan
