My Initial Results With a Fishman Aura Sixteen

[Big.Al]

I've been doing a little experimenting with a Fishman Aura Sixteen pedal and my Larrivee D-03SO.  It has the Baggs Imix pickup system, with the Baggs Element pickup and an Ibeam.  The Auro only seems to work with the Element UST, so I've been trying it out with the blend at 100% element pickup.  I found that an image of a Maple Baden guitar with a DPA mic matches my guitar really well, even though the actual guitars are quite different.  (I tried dozens of images before I found the one that sounded quite natural.)  To do the testing, I bought a small Alesis USB mixer so I can record directly to my computer without a lot of noise.   I've tried a dozen different pickups over the years and I think I've finally found a combination that will be usable without sacrificing too much:

Please have a listen and let me know what you think!

Here is the raw pickup output, direct to the board:

Raw Pickup

Here's the same guitar plugged in through the Aura at a 50% blend . . . also recorded straight into the board:

 Aura At 50%

Finally, here's the guitar recorded with a Blue Snowflake condenser microphone:

 Miked Guitar  

For recording, you can't beat a good mic, but for live ensemble use, I actually like the Aura sound better.  It has a little crisper attack to be heard above the group, and only a little piezo sound leftover.  I'm surprised at how open and airy the Aura-enhanced sound is, even wired directly into the board.  I can't wait to try this in public!

[Legolas]

Hi,

I have a Larrivee d03r and the original Aura Imaging Blender. I've always gone 1/4" to the Aura
and then 1/4" out of the Aura to Pro tools. Last night I decided to try XLR out of the Aura to
Pro tools and it was quite a difference. Much crisper and natural sound.

Has anyone else noticed that?