gitar mic pick ups

[davelikesheat]

my acoustic guitar doesnt have a pick up built in. i am planning on doing some coffe shop playing in my local town. i was planning on buying one of those guitar mic/pick up things that go over/in the whole of the guitar.



are they anygood?

[bassman462]

mangold just wrote up a whole thing about pickups, here let me quote it for you...

Acoustic Amplification

Ok people, we're all looking for it. The holy grail of Acoustic Amplification. How do I make the beautiful and unique sound my guitar makes as loud as possible without losing quality? (You may be asking yourself) Well I myself have done alot of research on the subject and would like to impart all the information I have learned to you. (For a nominal fee)

What we are going to do is trace the path of your guitar signal from the strings to the speakers and figure out what setup will work best for you economically.

Pickups

This is where it all starts people, your pickup. Now, there are 4 different types of acoustic pickups: Piezo, Transducer, Magnetic, and Mic. It is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each type so you can decide which one fits your style the best.

A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: I am very very strongly opposed to a few things that will not be discussed later. Those things are built in electronics from a company and onboard preamps with EQs.
First off, any pickup in your guitar from the company that made the guitar is going to be of lesser quality than one you can buy on the market, and as i will discuss later, is extremely unlikely to be exactly what you are looking for. NEVER settle on a lesser pickup system because of the convenience that comes with it being pre-installed. Plus, companies will ALWAYS overcharge you on an acoustic with built in electronics.
I am just as strongly opposed to onboard EQs. These tumors are frankensteined into the side of your guitar only to do a job that could be done much better by an outboard EQ. Some will say that having access to the levels of your signal on the side of your guitar is convenient, but how many times do you change one of your settings midsong? Is it really that much harder to reach down and change it on an outboard EQ? Plus, it is always a good idea to keep things simplified and have as few volume controls on your signal as possible. If you have a volume on your guitar, DI box, amp, mixer, and power amp, it can get a little confusing. (Later on i will express my love for the Bband A2.2 with its volume and mix controls onboard, but they are placed INSIDE the soundhole where they are not obstructing the guitar's tone, and the mix dial is the only one i would suggest using, i would keep the volume at a max for all settings so you never have to touch it.)
So, don't read halfway down and ask where my review of the Takamine cooltube is. Don't ask for a section on onboard EQs either. Thank you that is all.

Piezo: This is probably the most widely used type of pickup. It consists of a very very thin metal strip underneath of the bridge that "feels" the vibrations of the strings and translates those vibrations to sound. The piezo pickup has a very high output with clear unmuffled sound that allows you to hear individually picked strings through a mess of strumming. It works best in a full band setup where the guitar needs to cut through other instruments. I personally find that on its own a piezo sounds less natural than other pickup types, and often trebbly and quacky. I also find it to be a little to harsh for a singer songwriter setup. It makes the guitar jump out front and scream "Listen to me!" instead of blending into the background and providing a foundation for the vocals. In conclusion, the piezo is a high output pickup, suited best for full bands, that requires little modification to your guitar to install.

Transducer: Transducers are my personal favorite kind of pickup. They are basically suction cups that attatch to the underside or topside of your guitars top, ussually with finish safe double sided tape or adhesive. They feel the vibrations of your guitar's soundboard, instead of the strings. This makes the sound put out by the pickup more unique to your guitar and also more natural sounding than other options. Different placements on the top will increase the bass, trebble, or mids or the signal, therefore pickup placement can be used to offset, say a martins natural bassy tone or a taylors trebbly one. Transducers give the best reproduction of your acoustics tone with little modification to the guitar. On the downside, transducers have a lower output and much strummier sound than some other pickups, making it a weaker choice for full band setups. However, the tone and nature of the transducer works perfectly with an intimate singer songwriter setting. Basically, as long as you don't have to overcome a drumset or a horn section, the transducer will work in nicely with any duo, trio, or quartet. Also, the transducer picks up noise from anything that touches the top of the guitar. In my case, this is a good thing because i often tap the top of my guitar with my finger or the side of my hand for a more percussive playing style. A transducer picks up these thumps better than any other pickup. However, some cleaner players see this as a weakness of the transducer, because they do not want these thuds to be amplified. In conclusion, transducer pickups are low output pickups that closely replicate your guitars distinct acoustic tone, and are best suited for smaller venues.

Magnetic: Magnetic pickups are just slightly modified versions of the pickups you see on an ecletric guitar. They sacrifice alot of the acoustic tone for convenience, ease of use, and output signal. They are most often just the pickup itself with clips on either end to mount right in the soundhole of your guitar. They are the worst pickup at getting your guitars acoustic tone just right, but have many other advantages. They can be easily moved between guitars, and often the output cable just hangs right out the soundhole of your guitar, therefore if you have a few guitars you want to amplify, or plan on upgrading but need to amplify a cheaper guitar, you can easily move the pickup from guitar to guitar without any risk of damage to the guitar or pickup. In some cases you don't even need any tools. Some people feel that the magnetic pickup or its output can get in the way of aggressive strumming. However, magnetic pickups are some of the only pickups to come with volume and tone controls right on them, without the use of a preamp. In conclusion, Magnetic pickups are the worst at replicating acoustic tone, but make up for it with high output, affordability, ease of use, and transportability (not a word i know). They are best suited for people who need to amplify a collection of guitars on a budget.

Mics: One might assume, from using logic, that a small mic on the inside of the guitar would be the best at replicating acoustic tone. This is however not the case and I will explain why. If you were able to put your ear inside your guitar, you would find that the sound in there was drastically different than the sound outside of your guitar, and heres why: The sound of your guitar is a combination of 2 main things, the strings vibrating and the top vibrating. When a mic is places inside of a guitar it hears the strings vibrating just fine, but the sound from the top is either eliminated, greatly reduced, or warped, depending on mic placement. The sound waves move outwards from the top or your guitar, and a mic inside the soundhole is not reached by those vibrations. Basically, onboard mics are high matainence, low output pickups that usually sound very bassy and not very natural. Part of this is because the best place to mic a guitar is around the 12th fret, not right above (or in) the soundhole. I almost didnt include mics as a pickup option, because along with the reasons above and a whole new world of feedback problems, they are not a very reasonable option. I would advise against them.

Mixes: Many pickup companys are now offering pickup systems that mix 2 or more of the types of pickups. (lr baggs iMix, Bband A2, fishman rare earth blend) These are very high quality options if you can afford them. You can basically figure out from combining the descriptions above what each of them is about, but i will say my personal favorite is the piezo transducer combo. The pickup system i would recommend above all others is the Bband A2.2. This system mixes the piezo and transducer pickup types with an onboard preamp and onboard dials for mix and volume that are conveniently placed right inside the soundhole out of sight but right at your fingertips.

from,
http://www.dmbtabs.com/boards/viewtopic ... 646#719646

[mangold]

Thank you oh so much matt

[6_strings_for_life]

"Magnetic: Magnetic pickups are just slightly modified versions of the pickups you see on an ecletric guitar. They sacrifice alot of the acoustic tone for convenience, ease of use, and output signal."

can you prove that? or just opinion?

I think magnetic pickups that are made for acoustic have amazing tone.

[mangold]

"Magnetic: Magnetic pickups are just slightly modified versions of the pickups you see on an ecletric guitar. They sacrifice alot of the acoustic tone for convenience, ease of use, and output signal."

can you prove that? or just opinion?

I think magnetic pickups that are made for acoustic have amazing tone.

There is no proof because there is no measure of tone, it is intangible.

I have played alot of pickups and thats what i think