Pickup/mic Choices

[lionboy]

Alright, as some of you know I own a beautiful LV-09BW.  It's an unbelieveable guitar in terms of looks and sound.  Now, I want others to appreciate its sound as well.  I just had UnclRob take out my K&K Pure Western.  I could never get it to sound good with the PA I have to use at church.  It  always had too much midrange.  Even so much tht it was hard to EQ out without sounding crappy.  Playing by  myself, it sounded prety good, but with the band it sounded horrible.  So UnclRob put in a Fishman Matrix active to try out.  I'm using it with a PADI.  I'm still not too happy with it.  It sounds way too plasticky for me.  So now I'm thinking I have 3 options.  
1. Try another pickup.
2. Get some sort of modeling preamp like the Yamaha AG Stomp or Fishman Aura to try to make it sound more real.
3. Get a really good condenser mic and either belnd it or run it totally off the mic (which is difficult in a live band setting that I have to move around in).

Any suggestions?

[Zach]

What is the PA like at your church?  That could be part of the problem.  Did you try the K&K anywhere else?  I really like the K&K, but if it didn't work for you then we'll move on.  

I personally think that the Fishman pickups are horrible, but some people like them.  If you want undersaddle, try the LR Baggs Element.  Much more natural than the Fishman, however it's still an undersaddle pickup.  Also take a look at B-Band.  I've heard one of their dual source setups that sounded really good.

I wouldn't mess with the modeling preamps.  I haven't heard one that didn't make the guitar sound overly processed.

A decent mic is going to sound best, but it's not always possible in a band setting.  I've tried it a few times and it's more trouble than it's worth.  A lot of this though depends on your monitor setup.  

My first suggestion would have been the K&K Trinity system with the internal mic, but since you took out the Pure Western you're obviously looking for something else.  Try B-Band and LR Baggs.  

[fitness1]

Baggs I-beam active to handle the bass and low mids, Shure Sm-57 to handle from there up.....in my opinion, there's no other way to go unless you want to spend around 1000.00......it may take a while to get it tweaked,  but you can make that sound great....

[guitarcrazy]

Hi Lionboy.  I have an OMV-09 that I play in church, and I am real happy with the LR Baggs Ibeam also.  It is a pretty non-intrusive install, and everyone I play with raves over how nice it sounds.  Placement is critical, but they give a pretty good template to help with that.  I have the same pickup in an alvarez dread, and it sounded awful through a fender passport, and I got worried.  I had the placement readjusted, and it was great.  (The passport still sounded poor, but everywhere else it sounds good.  I'm not too crazy about the passport systems).  For the money, I like ibeam.  Jason.

[lionboy]

Ok, let's say I try the K&K again.  Last time it had way too much midrange on multiple PAs.  Is this a placement issue?  I was using the Pure Western into the Pure Preamp and had to almost turn the mids completely off.  Thanks.

[chuck_forbes]

I recently installed a pickup the world #54 with the stereo blender preamp and really enjoy it. There are two transducers wired in stereo across the bridge running along both the x-brace on the treble side (high-E), and the x-brace along the bass side (low-E).

This combination of pickups (you can also buy the #27, which is only one transducer) is supposed to dial out the midrange. I find that if I run the bass transducer at 1/2 the volume of the treble pickup, I get a great balanced sound.

Oh, I have an L-05.

Talk to the owner of the company, he's incredibly helpful: http://www.pick-uptheworld.com

-Chuck

The blender preamp is really cool, too. Rather than sitting on the floor, or being belt-clipped, it actually plugs into the port at the end of the guitar. So, it's like having all the controls of a Fishman (minus the 5-band eq) but without the hole in the guitar. Pretty cool.

[Zach]

It could have possibly been a placement issue, but from the ones I've installed placement doesn't seem to be critical.  I've never heard them have too much midrange, but I've never used the Pure Preamp either.  I really like the Trinity Quantum .  You might also try the Trinity system without the K&K preamp and try something like a Rane RP-13 or a Raven preamp.

The I-Beam is another choice, although it seems somewhat hit and miss on placement.  

If you're looking for an inexpensive mic to try out, look at the MXL 603.  I would stay away from dynamic mics on acoustic if you're looking for the most natural sound.