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When it comes to gear there's a lot of strong opinions.
Here are mine.
Probably one of the things people ask about most is what has become my signature sound. I'm
a tone junkie. I obsess over my sound more than any single aspect of what I do. [Well, okay,
tuning my guitar is up there, too...] This doesn't make me an expert, but it does sometimes
make me a little crazy. I want my sound to be warm, to sound like an acoustic guitar-only
louder, to sparkle in the mids and trebles, and faithfully reproduce harmonic overtones. I also
like to get some thump out of the top of my guitar for tapping and general playing dynamics. In
my playing I like to let the notes ring--which calls not only for technique, but instruments that
have sustain and character in each note. This leads me to my first point: get the best guitar
you can afford. This is where excellent tone begins...
A high quality guitar inspires because we can hear so much more. Don't be a cheap-skate: get
a guitar made of solid tone woods. Two of the modern masters of acoustic guitar include
James Goodall and Bill Wise. James Goodall has been building since the mid 70's and has
achieved an amazing consistency in his instruments. I think they keep getting better. His
guitars have strong overtones that develop dramatically as you allow a string to ring. This
"halo" of tones makes his guitars sound wonderfully sweet. I play a rosewood and German
spruce jumbo that I've had for 10 years, and a mahogany and sitka spruce standard that I've
only had for 16 months. Bill Wise of Charis Guitars is a one man operation coming up on his
200th guitar. He has been inspired by the likes of Jim Olson of Olson Guitars, and builds in a
similar style. Bill's guitars excel at delicate fingerstyle playing. His composite necks with a strip
of maple in them create a very quick attack and long sustain. In other words, the notes develop
fast and ring for a long time. I have a Madagascar rosewood and western red cedar small
jumbo. I think I may have gotten one of the last highly figured sets of Madagascar left on the
planet on this one.
Okay. Why would you want to take a nice guitar and put a crummy pickup in it? It defies
common sense. It's a desecration of a work of art. It's worth at least 3 billion bad style points.
Seriously, if you just want your guitar to be loud: buy an electric guitar. The only pickups worth
installing in your fine guitar would be those made by L.R. Baggs. The Baggs I Mix has an
IBeam and Element paired with a very cool, highly adjustable preamp. Reaching through the
sound hole with a jeweler's phillips head screwdriver allows you to balance gain between the
two pickup, roll of the bass on the IBeam, trim the mids, and switch to mono [blended]
operation. A nifty thumb wheel mounted in the sound hole gives you volume and mix control.
It's the holy grail of pickups. Baggs has won several gold medals in the acoustic guitar player's
choice awards.
You could install a Fishman aura, but then you'll be wanting processed sound-not pure tone.
You could install a K&K, but then you're hurting for enough gain and using superglue gel to
stick it on your bridge plate. [Uninstalling is a blind adventure with a razor blade in a cramped
space...] You could try a PUTW, but why mess around with outboard preamps sticking out of
your end pin jack and snagging on stuff? Schertler's are supposed to be mini microphones. If I
owned a microphone that sounded like a Schertler Bluestick that was installed in my jumbo, I'd
throw it away.[In fact, I did!] Holy mid range hump, Batman! I know this may sound like a lot of
attitude, but I'm on my second double espresso. Point of fact: I've used everything that I just
critiqued.
I will say that the B-band A2.2 under saddle and bridge plate combo sounds pretty good.
However, unless you want to saw a hole in the side of your guitar for an A8, there's not the
same level of tone adjustment.
With your excellent pickup purchase a high quality cable. I like monster cable, but the Planet
Waves cables are pretty good, too. A cheap cable can make you think your pickup has issues.
A good cable faithfully moves those beautiful electrons along the signal chain so people can
hear your beautiful acoustic tone.
The preamp needs to boost the signal, allow for some adjustments, and faithfully maintain that
sweet wood and steel tone. I use presonus acousticQ stereo preamps with NOS tubes.
[Presonus discontinued this model for reasons unknown.] The tube circuit delivers a warm and
musical signal. Unfortunately, most tube preamps are quite expensive-and many of the
cheaper ones don't use true class A circuitry. There are a few solid state preamps that do an
excellent job, like the Duncan-Turner [D-TAR] Solstice and Mama Bear. Everyone I know who
uses them raves about them. The Baggs para DI is relatively inexpensive, but provides notch
filter and sweepable EQ settings. One of the lowest priced quality tube alternatives is the
Universal Audio solo. UA specializes in analog/tube gear. I love their stuff.
There you have it: pure opinion on pure tone.
