NEED help, which acoustic pickup?

[dreamlander]

I need a guild guitar with an acoustic but guilds acoustic/electics sell for too high so i want to put my own in. What would you suggest in the price range of $250 for pickup and preamp?

[guitarist21]

Without knowing what kind of music you play and how loud your gigs/other plugging-in applications are, I recommend a K&K Pure Western Mini and an LR Baggs PADI.

 

Ellen

[Terry Allan Hall]

Depends on how loud you'll need to get...SBTs, like The Lovely And Talented Ellen recommends, sound great, but can feedback a lot easier than a UST (under saddle transducer), which is why I use the UST, myself.

 

Either can sound very good, btw.

 

As for the PADI, we're in 100% agreement!

[AugTPD]

Don't rule out magnetic pickups. Some sound like the poo, but some are quite good. I have a Baggs M1 active that I love and I've heard good things about the fishman rare earth series.

[guitarist21]

Ellen recommends...

 

Aw shucks.

 

Ellen

[J.]

The best-sounding pickup I've heard yet is the LR Baggs M1 Active. The only thing I didn't like about it was the low output (even the active model was quieter than a clean passive pickup on an electric and much quieter than a typical UST with a barn door preamp).

[bransonb]

Pickup? What's a pickup? I don't think I've ever seen one.

[Terry Allan Hall]

Pickup? What's a pickup? I don't think I've ever seen one.

 

 

Here's mine...

[EvilTwin]

I have a Dean Markley Sweet Spot that's as good as any UST I've ever heard. You can get them for cheap on eBay.

 

However, if you don't want to do too much modification on your guitar, the K&K (with their "vintage jack") may be the way to go if you don't play loud venues, and L.R. Baggs M-1 may be worth looking at if you play with a full band.

[bransonb]

Here's mine...

 

Sweet, Terry. So how does that plug in to your Para-DI?