Now I already have a good pick-up system in my Larrivee L-03 but when went into my favorite guitar store, the 12th Fret in Toronto, I feel madly in love with the L.R. Baggs IMix.
Now I have been looking to update my pick-up system in my L0-3 lately and found many systems in which to chose from. I have narrowed it down to two items. (1) the Fishman Ellipse Blend vs. (2) the LR Baggs IMix.
When I went in I talked to my favorite guitar guy Tim Cameron. Being the honest guy that he is he immediately directed me to a acoustic guitar pick up god named Nevin. I told him what I was looking for and told him that I was just looking to hear the differences between the two and he paid as much attention to me as if I was going to pick one up right then and there, now that’s service!
He brought me two guitars that had the pick-up systems already in them and put me in their little music room, plugged me in and let me got at them. Wow, was I impressed with both!
First I tried the Fishman Ellipse Blend. It had a real nice sound but I was detecting feed back. I know that I was in a little room but for some reason the feeling and sound was off to me. I realize I am knew at the finer subtleties of acoustic pick ups, but it was a gut feeling. It was very refreshing to see that you can adjust the position of the mic inside.
Then I tried the LR Baggs iMIX. The sound was full, responsive to very fine picking and it can overpower your senses, in my view that is.
Guitarist realize that since the sound of the acoustic guitar is very complex and fickle, so therefore it is a must to use more than a single pickup to attempt to sense it.
The iMIX uses the Baggs iBeam under-bridge pickup with a Baggs Element under-saddle piezo. The Element pickup senses the strings and provides the presence and feedback resistance of piezo while the iBeam reads the sound inside the guitar and adds natural fidelity, albeit with increased feedback sensitivity. The signals from the the two pickups are blended, in this case via the rotary blend control, on a side-mounted, Baggs iMIX Onboard, pre-amp. This pre-amp also features three slider controls for volume, treble and bass, plus a phase reverse switch for a measure of elementary feedback control. A fingertip pressure releases the battery from its compartment for a quick change when required.
iBeam
Element
Now all that I have to do is get my wife on board!
Keep on Jammin’
I’m curious about what you are running through an amp or PA system. I’ve been experimenting a lot lately and the best thing I’ve come up with is, using a soundhole pick-up with a piezo under the bridge but running through a clean sounding tube amp, one designed for electric guitar rather than acoustic. It’s not the holy grail, has some flaes in the high end but, I like the warmth of the tubes.
Hey Pribek, you have a very good point with that.
I love the sound of a tube amp myself but I tend to use a direct approach cause most of the time I am on stage only once in a while.
While trying both of them, I ran it trough a tube amp and the iMIX in my eyes was far superior. I tended to have more feedback with the Fishman. Also, I have heard nothing but good reviews about plugging in direct with this system.
When I am recording for bands in studio’s, I use the Gearbox software and I just love it. Every engineer that I work with uses it and it allows me the freedom to choose the sound I want. I had a HIWATT 50 Custom but it was way too heavy to cart around so the Gearbox was a welcome alternative. I still want to get another tube amp but that will have to wait for a little while longer!
Keep on Jammin’