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Post by gavdav on Oct 21, 2017 14:46:30 GMT
I've got a couple of guitars that have baggs Element undersaddle pickups in. At any kind of volume they reveal all those horrible old piezo artefacts, and it's frustrated me for ages that great guitars sound average on stage. I didn't want to spend tons on a pair of new pickups, particularly when there's still going to be a level of gamble on what will sound right. I've gone back to messing around with the Fishman Aura - previously tried the spectrum DI but it was over engineered and not the best tuner or best DI. Now I picked up the Aura 16 cheaply and I am completely blown away by the difference.
Running the quacky sounding J15 with the J45 and schoeps mic image is a great grin inducing improvement. Messing around with other guitars and images but am stunned by how good this is with really minimal tweakage. Easily as good as what I was getting with the Rare Earth blend but easier and (now) cheaper.
Fishman have only just admitted that their cheaper aura pedals are the same spec as the 16 (if you pry off the aluminium sticker covering the USB port) really recommended as you can pick there up for less than £70.
Anyone else gone down this route?
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Post by earthbalm on Oct 21, 2017 21:06:57 GMT
I'd love to know more as I am considering taking the same route for amplification and tone shaping.
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Post by gavdav on Oct 21, 2017 21:08:45 GMT
I love it, but am gutted that I spent 150quid on a 16 when I could've done the same job for half the money. Will try and record some sound samples this week.
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Post by earthbalm on Oct 21, 2017 21:20:39 GMT
Thank you gavdav. There are a few units on eBay at the moment and I was seriously considering buying.
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Post by MartinS on Oct 21, 2017 22:32:44 GMT
I have a jumbo version of the aura pedal, which i keep meaning to sell, since I don't use it any more.
I really liked it, it gave a very useable sound which knocked spots off just about all 'electrified' acoustic guitars I heard with piezos. And now I know there is a hidden usb port, that must have pushed its value up a bit!
It's also reassuringly bomb-proof. Only reason I don't use it is because I got another guitar with an in-built Baggs Anthem SL which I think gives more of the character of your own guitar (comparing it to the models of the Aura - but I guess that's part of the point of the Aura system).
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Post by gavdav on Oct 22, 2017 8:52:12 GMT
Weirdly the value has stayed low for the "fixed" versions - £150 for a used Sixteen and between £50 and £80 for the locked models. The bottom backplate is a sticker, and Fishman will sell the full unlock software for $29 meaning you're looking at around £80 fully unlocked.
I'm running a boss tuner into the pedal, then EQ and out to my stereo DI.
If there were more bouzouki models available I would definitely be buying a second.
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Post by gavdav on Oct 22, 2017 8:55:26 GMT
It's a different beast when you can add in the huge variety of other models. You can match body volumes, cutaway, mic choice, top and body woods. Pretty impressive and a huge step forward for me from the undersaddle alone.
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