advice for acoustic di circuit - dont buy lr baggs m1 active

[ulysses]

hey all

i put an LR Baggs M1 Active in my Martin 00015m. it sounds f**** awful.

the active circuit in there is f**** terrible.

its hard to put into words why it is so bad - but i'll try with some metaphors. its so "icy" - like it's been on a meth bender for a week - tweeked out like a jittery junky. it sounds so unnatural.

i knew i shouldnt have gone for an "active" version- but all the internet reviews said the non-active ones "cant be used with a PA" -  bulls**t i bet..

ive tried experimenting with the pole pieces but im not having any luck. does anyone know the optimum distance from the strings for this pickup? the manual doesnt say. i cant get it to sound good at any height.

also the body of the guitar becomes almost microphonic in a really bad way. like an electric guitar thats not grounded properly. when i move my sleeve on the body it goes swoosh swoosh. swoosh swoosh sh*t.

when i research online everyone says "you need the lr baggs DI" - well thats just bluddy great.

does anyone know of a simple acoustic guitar di circuit with eq i could build to fix up this mess of a pickup?

cheers

[Quackzed]

what are you plugging into?, is there anything with an eq you could stick between it and your amp/pa?

[ulysses]

im not plugging into anything before an amp. it sounds the same no matter what i plug it into- but my go to amp is a mojotone 5e3 tweed deluxe. sounds the same straight into a desk or avid soundcard.

it needs eqing desperately. which is pretty sh*t as it should sound rounded and balanced into any source.

it also sounds like it needs impedance matching.

so i am seeking a circuit with a pre that balances these sorts of pickups well and also has a 3 band eq well suited to acoustic pickups of these kinds.

im happy to make the circuit if anyone has recommendations for either the pre or eq section.

cheers

[FiveseveN]

The M1 is specifically designed to be microphonic (to the "higher frequency resonances").
Is it mounted correctly? How much gain are you using on the mixer or sound card?

the non-active ones "cant be used with a PA" -  bulls**t i bet..

No, a mixing desk's input impedance is not suited for pickups.

[karbomusic]

It isn't the circuit... Magnetic pickups have never really been very good for acoustic IMHO. Piezo comes in second. The best I've ever had and still use actively is the Expression system on my Taylor 814 which has a piezo + two actual transducers attached to the inner body. I wish I had one of those in my Martin. These were meant to be the lesser of evils when you can't modify the guitar rather than the cat's meow of acoustic pickup methods.

[Quackzed]

  sounds like there might be something wrong with it... a magnetic pickup/buffer type setup shouldn't be tinny or need outboard impedence matching to sound good... can you return it?

[ulysses]

found this on musicians friend review

Comments about LR Baggs M1A Active Soundhole Magnetic Pickup:
Watch out. All those great reviews you read may be ringers. I fell for them and was appalled at the hollow mid-range quack. Was halfway decent thru my Bose L1 but soon found out at live gigs (festivals and TV without the L1) that it was hollow and tinny no matter how I adjusted the poles and the EQ on my Baggs Venue preamp. Sent it back.