best pickup system for taylor 110

[arcadesonfire]

hi friends,

 

first, i'll be honest... i'm an electric guitarist, but i've got some gigs coming up and need a pickup for my acoustic,

 

the guitar is the bottom line, pressed wood taylor... a wonderful guitar so far as i can tell, but again, i'm an electric guitarist, and i don't know quite as much about acoustic tone,

 

anywho, i will be playing these gigs in small new york clubs. i'll be playing with a drummer, pianist, violist and singer, i suppose i need a pickup that will produce a sound that fits into the dreadnought's unique spot in the sonic spectrum (i.e., the highs are more important than the lower mids); in other words, i'm not doing a solo gig and don't need to fill the whole place with sound on my own,

 

it would be nice if the pickup also sounds decent for recording so that i could blend it with a mic'd input,

 

finally, i don't want to drill any holes or do any major surgery on the guitar... so an under the saddle or soundhole pickup is fine, but no onboard preamps

 

ok, those are my main questions, you can stop reading here and tell me what you think, or if you'd like to see some more questions, read on,

thanks very much

 

 

i've done a bit of research, and i'm curious...

1. what's the difference between magnetic pickups for acoustic guitars and the magnetic pickups i put in my electrics?

 

2. some of the more expensive systems include a magnetic pickup and a condenser mic or a magnetic pickup and a piezo, that sounds like a good idea to blend the differing qualities, but is that only necessary for solo players who need to cover a wide frequency range and not so important for players who are fitting into an ensemble?

 

thanks again

[jjang1993]

a good soundhole pickup can give a pretty good acoustic tone.

 

a really good mic gives the best acoustic tone

a piezo pickup gives the second best tone

a soundhole pickup gives the third best tone i think

 

there are some people who think the LR Baggs M1 sounds better than most piezos, and they do sound pretty nice.

 

i have a DiMarzio Elemental acoustic pickup and it does sound pretty natural through my roland jazz chorus.

 

if you can, get a LR Baggs M1 Active or Passive i have heard great things about them

[AugTPD]

I have a Baggs M1 Active I personally prefer it to any piezo pickup I've had in previous guitars. More feedback resistant, no quack, no holes other than the endpin jack. It's a great solution for amplifying an acoustic in my opinion!

[arcadesonfire]

 

I have a Baggs M1 Active I personally prefer it to any piezo pickup I've had in previous guitars. More feedback resistant, no quack, no holes other than the endpin jack. It's a great solution for amplifying an acoustic in my opinion!

 

 

so it sounds like the M1 is a well-liked option, i'm just concerned... i've read that the soundhole magnetic pickups might not sound acoustic enough, so does the M1 stand out from the crowd?

 

what's it's frequency response like? i'll be playing with a group, so i'll be cutting probably everything below 500 hz anyway,

 

so, i guess what i'm saying is: bright is good for me... but not artificially bright... so will the M1 provide a sound that's bright (even better than a piezo?) or do you guys like it because it's warm...

[AugTPD]

I wouldn't necessarily call the M1 bright or warm. It will sound like your guitar, bright if it is bright or warm if it is warm (as long as limited EQ is applied). The M1 actually senses body vibrations and pressure on the soundboard to give it a very acoustic sound. I can tap my guitar with a pick anywhere on the body and the sound will come through the PA just as clear as I could hear it holding the guitar, it's crazy how responsive it is. As far as getting a bright sound, a lot of that is going to have to do with EQ applied to the pickup signal. I can get sounds all the way from extremely bright to very dark sounding from my guitar.

 

I would head to an L.R. Baggs dealer and try out an M1 if you are interested. Since it can be tested without any permanent installation you can take your guitar and give it a try without making any modifications at all, something you can't do with any undersaddle pickup. I highly recommend you try the active version though. I've had both the m1 active and passive and I found the active version much easier to work with.

[arcadesonfire]

 

I wouldn't necessarily call the M1 bright or warm. It will sound like your guitar, bright if it is bright or warm if it is warm (as long as limited EQ is applied). The M1 actually senses body vibrations and pressure on the soundboard to give it a very acoustic sound. I can tap my guitar with a pick anywhere on the body and the sound will come through the PA just as clear as I could hear it holding the guitar, it's crazy how responsive it is. As far as getting a bright sound, a lot of that is going to have to do with EQ applied to the pickup signal. I can get sounds all the way from extremely bright to very dark sounding from my guitar. I would head to an L.R. Baggs dealer and try out an M1 if you are interested. Since it can be tested without any permanent installation you can take your guitar and give it a try without making any modifications at all, something you can't do with any undersaddle pickup. I highly recommend you try the active version though. I've had both the m1 active and passive and I found the active version much easier to work with.

 

 

thanks, that sounds good... i've got a very bright guitar, so if bright is what i'm going for, then perhaps the m1 will do it (on this guitar especially)

[arcadesonfire]

anyone else have any thoughts