L.R.Baggs M1 Soundhole Pickup

I tried many under 100 bucks, some were not at all suitable, with 1st & second string being so very loud because they are both all "steel" strings, the other strings are bronze wound, bronze is "NOT" magnetic & magnetic pick ups cannot "fully" see the small steel wire inside the bronze windings. So 1st & 2nd strings really boom out and are awkward to use in chord shapes, with most p'ups under ?100.

The Baggs p'up has adjustable separate pickup poles for each string & is the perfect answer to this problem. It is like a separate volume control for each string. Guitar sounds natural & is far easier to play with this p'up. Do read the enclosed instructions & experiment swapping pole pieces & pole heights.

I assemble my own valve guitar amplifiers. I made a special acoustic valve amp for this reason. I find that valve amps & magnetic pickups go together like a horse & cart, or peaches & cream.

I have, at last, a great sound from acoustic guitar + valve amplifier combination.

I must thank Thomann for helping me find the correct pickup for my acoustic/valve application.

This is great if you have feedback issues when playing live (if you have like me an active pickup like a LR Baggs Lyric), especially if you play loud music like rock or pop.

The sound is very sharp, very metallic (I use it on my folk guitar): so for loud music it will cut through very easily and if you tell the sound engineer to put a decent amount of reverb on it and even possibly a little bit of chorus or flanger, then it will sound really great!

For acoustic or quiet music I would suggest to stick to something warmer like the lyric or anthem.

And for recording unless you want a very specific sound that this pickup gives you, I would suggest mic'ing the guitar (generally a lot more "real sound" than an internal mic).