Acoustic Guitar Pickup System Comparisons

[MacNichol]

This guitar pickup system comparison video is a mono recording using a George L (1/4" cable), a Whirlwind IMP-2 Direct Input box (to ground the unbalanced ¼" connection) and a Monster XLR cable that runs direct to the video camera's XLR input.  The video features LR Baggs' Element, Dual Element, iMix (iBeam with Element), Stage Pro, Fishman Matrix, Fishman Ellipse Aura and the Carlos acoustic guitar pickup systems.

Overall I thought all of the above pickup systems performed really well.  Some of the systems are pretty basic, such as the LR Baggs Element and Fishman Matrix pickups, which consist of a single pickup with volume and tone controls.  Whereas others have onboard tuners, additional built in microphones, 3-band EQs, battery indicator lights, easy access to batteries, notch dials and phase switches (for feedback control).  Now I'm not going to say that one is better than the other, obviously they have a variety of options to suit your needs.  So if you are a musician that does a lot of louder gigs, you would most likely prefer the LR Baggs Stage Pro or Fishman Ellipse Aura compared to the basic element models.

Sorry no Larrivee guitars in this particular video, but I'm hoping to do some with the pickups down the road - Justin

Here is the link to the comparison video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW0EYtIzRzE 

[claudefr]

Hi,

From my point of view, this test have no value. It is impossible to discern what come from the instrument and from the pickup, It is not the same guitar each time so... The idea is good.

Claude

[MacNichol]

Unfortunately, you really can't change out the pick-up systems to work in the same guitar, simply because they differ so much from one another.  The whole pick-up system video turned out kind of arbitrary, I really couldn't say one was better than another; they all performed the task they were designed to do.  Some have better options than others (phase, notch and anti-feedback), but some of the more basic pickups sounded just as good as the higher end systems.

I think what we can take away from this videos, is that certain guitars with the pick-up system preinstalled will sound somewhat like the video (obviously that is going to depend on how you mix the pick-up from the onboard controls).  I did put together a table that shows the different options available in some of the more popular Fishman and LR Baggs pick-up systems.  This may prove to be more beneficial than the actual video if you are in the market for a pick-up system.  Here's a link to the table:

http://macnichol.com/acoustic_guitar_pickup_comparison.html

[saxman10]

I want to thank MacNichol, i thought i had lost that video to the vast open-ness of the internet.
This is totally want i needed to find, cuz im about to put a system in my acoustic "gig" guitar.
thanks!

[petevee]

Hi,

From my point of view, this test have no value. It is impossible to discern what come from the instrument and from the pickup, It is not the same guitar each time so... The idea is good.

Claude

This video is about as useless as the Pickstick demo, and the "how to put water in your humidifier" video. To my eye these McNicol posts are nothing but spam.

[dberch]

I want to thank MacNichol, i thought i had lost that video to the vast open-ness of the internet.
This is totally want i needed to find, cuz im about to put a system in my acoustic "gig" guitar.
thanks!

Hey, saxman10, check out Doug Young's pickup comparison page before you buy.  He's put an amazing amount of work into this page.

http://www.dougyoungguitar.com/pickuptests/

David