We as players get caught up in the natural sound of our guitars. The truth is that our audiences don't care which pickup we are using. All they hear is a guitar. I started playing out, using only a mic. That has it's own problems. Then I had a pickup installed and used both the mic and the pickup. That set up gave me a great sound but was hard to get all the EQ's right. Today, I use what ever pickup is in my guitar and just play the guitar. Nobody tells me that my guitar doesn't sound good. Often people do comment on how good my sound is. Is it actually good? it is good enough .
I'm coming from electric guitars, been concentrating on them for over 15 years and only now started taking acoustic seriously. Because of that I'm already used to not getting caught in the natural sound of the guitar. I'm also a producer and mix engineer so I like looking at it from the lense of a sound designer and drown my acoustic pickups with effects XD. I got to know some of the most high profile session guitar players in my country, and the very highest profile one is one of my lifetime mentors, and if an undersaddle piezo is good enough for him then there's no reason why it shouldn't be fine to anyone (Funnily enough, he uses the Fishman Aura but doesn't even turn on the Aura IRs on it XD)
Great review thanks! "I want it to sound like the guitar but louder" is a nice romantic idea, but in a dense bandmix not always what you need. A little bit quack helps to cut through.
I’m going to be a tad bit biased, but I had one put in my D18. I didn’t want to adjust the action after getting it to where I like. It’s warm, yes. That’s what I like. It sounds like my guitar plugged in, just louder. Of course I’m pleased with my results.
Such a massive improvement over most pickups. It still sounds like a pickup, but not nearly as much as most. What I really want is L.R. Baggs to make a new generation of the Anthem that keeps the mic they're using in the current Anthem but pairs it with this in places of the under-saddle transducer. It would be the best acoustic pickup ever produced, by a ridiculous wide margin.
@Roy Meyer I like your idea, in terms of sound principle. Sonically, it'd be much better than the Element UST. However, the primary problemo with what you're recommending is "Bridgeplate Size and Spacing". There just isn't enough room on most Bridgeplates for BOTH the Tru-Mic AND the Two High-Fi SBT's. You do know that BOTH of the two High-Fi SBT'S are sonically designed to be placed IN FRONT OF the Bridge Pins and directly on the Bridgeplate (below the Saddle Area) with the Bass Lens Transducer attached proportionately in Front of the E & A Pins, while the Treble Lens Transducer is attached proportionately in Front of the B & E Pins. Therefore, they would be taking up the exact same place on the Bridgeplate, where the Tru-Mic is sonically designed to be placed. There would not be enough space left in front of the D & G Pins for the Tru-Mic to fit in between the Bass and Treble High-Fi Lenses! See what I'm saying? The generic term SBT (SoundBoard Transducer) is a bit misleading. SBT's are actually meant to be attached to the Bridgeplate to pick up the String Vibrations, directly underneath where the strings are attached to the Bridge. They should really be called BPT'S (Bridgeplate Transducers). All of the major SBT's like the K&K Pure-Mini, the new High-Fi's, the Acoustic Lenses of Trance Audio Amulet are designed to be either glued or 3-M taped to the Bridgeplate, not necessarily anywhere on the Soundboard nearest to the Bridgeplate! Bottom line, so many choices and not enough space!🤔🫣
You can attach a plate microphone eg LRB Lyric Microphone inside the guitar box to the sound board top parallel slightly offset from the bridge plate on an 'X' braced steel string guitar. The plate microphone at this location will work well. ua-cam.com/video/2loM3uK1olE/v-deo.html @@timmcgurl
Santa Cruz blows me away once again. I never thought a dreadnought could have such beautiful highs. I like it with both the 120 and the direct if that means anything. - very exciting pickup.
Sounds very good with flesh and nails. Minimal quack then - but what is there is in the trebles. Your remarks about setup are SOOOO crucial with that lightweight guitar, which is all about the setup and playability.
So, as you know, the thing about mics is that an acoustic guitar being mic'd in a room, will add, to some extent, what the room itself provided to the sound to some extent, depending on the microphone...the HiFi sounds a bit dry when doing side by side comparisons with the mic capture vs the pickup capture...I think with a little digital room ambience added, it would compensate really well...I, for sure, think the mic sounds better, because it is capturing how the guitar sounds being played in the room you're recording it in...paused at 3:46 to comment...still, the Baggs sounds really close to the mic'd recording, minus the ambience of the room...thanks for another video, Jeremy...hope you and yours are doing well! Editing in...I use Anthem and Lyric (like an Anthem system, but without the under-saddle piezo element...just the mic) pickups in my acoustics...and have for years...I really like the Lyric, because it sounds like the guitar (at least to my ear it does), and doesn't add that under-saddle piezo thing to the sound...
Woohoo Jeremy it's incredible ... firstly that Santa Cruz ... WOW man just wow! beautiful warm tone ... the Hifi is absolutely stunning! I'm waiting for the Hifi Duet in July w' the 'Silo mic' to put into my new Yamaha LL-36 ... but this video has got me more excited than any other showing off the strait Hifi. The 'quack' you're talking about I believe (and hope) will be greatly 'controlled' w' the Silo mic which is a small diaphragm condenser. Thanks for the video ... subbed up
The words i use for under saddle is both "mix-forward attack" (good) and "brittle" (bad). For me, the HiFi is too brittle. I'm currently using a Lyric + UST stereo out. This allows me to cut the brittle highs in the UST, and removing the boxy boom of the low end of the lyric. Said in reverse, I get a mix-forward presence with natural sounding highs. In theory this is what the Anthem is also doing, but by blending outboard, I have control. Happy so far.
The K&K Pure Pickup is "dark" only if you don't use the proper - impedance matched - preamp. With a K&K preamp or a Grace Design preamp set to 1M ohm input (there may be others) K&K Pure Pickup sounds amazing.
Much obliged to you for this very revealing video, which confirms that this pickup - when EQd a bit - doesn‘t have to be as dark as I‘ve heard in several other videos. That slight, high-end quack is regrettable, but loads better than normal piezos, so I could live with that live. That said, I‘ll hang on and wait for a few months, in the hopes that LR Baggs will be releasing the same pickup with a mic as a 2nd sound source. That might enable us to dial back the quack a wee bit, since the mic would be handling more of the upper range. That, of course, would add a bit of weight to the installation, but I‘d be willing to take that hit.
Thanks Man, appreciate your hard work for us guys out here Love Baggs pickups. I do feel that a really good preamp may help with a bit of balancing out the tone As I’m a strummer by trade So food for thought and ears
Best review Structurally, it is a contact mic, but it has a distinctive midtone and gives the impression of an in-bridge piezo. I think I can drive the tone more if I use the EQ. Thank you.
The Santa Cruz is so beautiful and sounds great. I kinda like the sound of the lr baggs. Would be interesting to see a comparison with the anthem, which I really like and use in my guitars.
About the "quack:" deal with it. As long as any system is installed INSIDE a guitar, it's gonna be there. And that "quack" can be used for a very good thing: cut in the mix, something necessary if you play in a band and, you know, want to be heard.
I wanna try one but I’ve found an amazing solution in JJB Electronics particularly the Prestige 330. I have an anthem in my ‘70 J45 and it’s pretty great a Element in my J15 (quacky) fishman old school quack in my old Taylor lol but I am loving the JJB’s less complicated to mix than K&K and no need for their preamp just run it with a para di or any other pre amp. They also have a rubberized coating which causes them to not feedback. Anyhow not endorsed by JJB or anything but if you haven’t tried one I highly recommend it!
Beautiful tone, the lows are balanced really nicely. The highs definitely have a quack, I would dial them back personally, especially for fingerpicking but they produce a tone that is still familiar and nice. Pretty good pick up by the sounds of it 👍
It sounds nice but I’m kinda curious what the case is for it vs the iBeam, which sounds pretty similar. My favorite system of theirs is the LB6/Lyric/Session preamp system they developed for the Godin Doyle Dykes pickup. The perfect fingerstyle system.
loved it!! can't wait to get one. I'm using the lyric now, but having bad feedback problems. I was afraid the hifi was going to be dark, but it sounds very full and rich. thanks for your videos.
I put a Lyric in an OM but found it boxy. I added a soundhole humbucker and wired the two together. Sounds pretty good now and I can dial out the feedback prone Lyric
The bass frequencies sound decent compared to the mic, but the highs are pretty far off…they sound processed. I don’t think anyone would mistake which clip is the mic and which is the HiFi in a blind test. I would add the VoicePrint DI to your signal chain and you’d be in business.
lr baggs are awesome for loud environments, but I can still l hear the piezo-ness in it. For a truer representation of your natural acoustic tone , then check out the Miniflex Model 7 internal microphone. It is Phantom powered so needs a decent pa/amp or ph power source . It is adjustable with 2 goose necks and easily removable (I have 2 and swap them between multiple guitars). To me, It sounds the most natural out of all the acoustic pickups I have tried.
The Hi fi seems to be the best single source pickup based on you tube demos. I can't wait until they launch it with an accessory microphone on a cross over like the anthem. It kills the basic piezo pickup in sound quality. I would love to hear you do a show on IRs like the voice print and others. Are they worth it?
Late to the party here, but I agree with your assessments of the lingering quack. In my opinion, they ain't built the ideal natural sounding pickup yet. However, the forthcoming LR Baggs "Duet' Hi Fi system may be closer. I've got K&K in both of my acoustics, and coupled with the Venue, they are 'okay'. But there seems to be a common undesirable sound that comes from all bridge plate pickups I've ever heard.
Sorry, this pick up doesn’t do it for me either, amongst the many that I have listened to. I am sticking with my DPA 4099A. While the DPA isn’t as convenient as a built-in pick up, or may have the potential feedback issues… I’m sticking with the true tone from a microphone.
It sounds great and wow, what a beautiful guitar! But I hear what you mean by a "quacky" sound. I've been listening to some sound comparisons between the K&K pure mini and the Schatten HFN. FWIW - the Schatten is amazingly clean and transparent. It really doesn't seem to add anything to the sound, just amplifies the natural sound of the guitar. Take that as what it is - second hand evidence from other people's videos - but there are several from different people and they all sound great. I'm still doing research for installing a pickup in my new Eastman E20OO, so I do appreciate your honest review. Thanks!
A piezo transducer is a piezo transducer, is a piezo transducer. Quack, quack, Give a good microphone to hear the acoustic guitar everytime. Try a MacIntyre Feather. Cheers, Tom eh
Still kind of quacky like a piezo but more natural, definitely. The microphone sounded so much better for my tastes. I’m sure the Baggs is great for live application.
I like this paticular pick up. It is light weight . My favorite lr baggs pick up is the i beam. The best sounding instrument that i have is a martin 00015sm with the i beam pick up ,znd i use the lr baggs para di ran through a genzler accoustic array amp, and boze pa. Some times a radial stereo di box. It just sounds like true natural velvet.
For the straight through, it sounded a little distorted. Then when it said LA120, it sounded good. I am thinking that the pickup output signal may be a tad too high, thus overdriving, thus a slight buzz distortion. (I have 4 guitars with K&Ks, and 1 with the LR Baggs Anthem).
I'm not a fan. It's still got the piezo quack. That guitar sounds so good in front of the microphone, and the direct tone is doing is a great disservice. I much prefer the attack of the K&K. You can EQ the darkness out of a K&K, but, in my experience, you can't quite EQ out quackiness.
Shiild have put a Lyric in. Even LR Bagss says its the most realistic way to amplifly the guitar. The hifi, and the Anthem.. are designed for those folks who equate the acoustic sound with that quaxky piezo , and aee more concerned about the 'mix' and feedback . ( the lyric doesnt feed back on stage if you use a soundhole cover ). The hifi doesnt sound at ALL natural.
I see that you have a volume controller wheel and a tone controller wheel inside of your sound hole. Could you do a video on the different position of the tone controller so we can here what that sounds like?
I think that I could read the graphics on which is what with my bad eyesight and a magnifier. I thought that in the quest to sound as natural as possible, this pretty much nails it! I do have a couple of questions, no pre-amp needed? Which pre-amp do you recommend for a K&K? Overall, I would be content with this sound. Thank you.
@@JeremySheppard That would be amazing. I know the hifi has the added tone control and I have a hunch that the overall eq has less midrange but I’d love to hear it.
I plugged my anthem equipped hd28 in a grace Alix on the HiZ impedance setting and that thing you describe went away. I know what you’re talking about. That high/mid thing that you can never dial out. The hiFi Does sound good. I’m curious how it holds up around a band.
I really like it, but will stick to Stagepro Anthem… 2 band EQ, mic / Element blend, phase & notch, and tuner. I often play where I am the sound man, so I want everything at my fingertips. The best, IMO. And no, I would NEVER cut a hole in the side of that beautiful Santa Cruz, to install a Stagepro Anthem… this is why I have never bought a “collector” grade guitar. My #1 stage guitar is a carbon fiber RainSong jumbo… even though it wasn’t cheap, ($3,500), it doesn’t bother me in the smallest to have a hole cut in the side, to accommodate the Stagepro pre-amp. Same with my inexpensive Alvarez 8 string, which is a very nice sounding stage guitar,(came with Stagepro Element, and it swapped it out for Anthem).
The "quackyness" is what make it hard for me to warm up to these type of pickups. What happened with the Lyric Pickup? I'm curious to what you thought of that one.
Sorry J, sounds like most other under saddle pickups through my computer with a pair of external Bose monitors. K&K is still far better - used one for seven years worth of gigs and didn't suffer any of the "darkness" you referred to, nor did I need a preamp. Into a tuning pedal then strait to the P.A. That setup worked in a variety of settings from medium sized bar rooms to outdoors. Disclaimer: After having a Gibson with a Baggs VTC already installed (after all, what doesn't Gibson put an L.R.Baggs into?), I am not a fan of their products. This demo hasn't convinced me otherwise.
Does anybody have strap suggestions? I installed LR.Baggs hifi pickup and putting on and taking straps on the endpin jack is absolutely terrible. Can anybody help?
What would you say is the advantage of this over the Lyric? I use the Lyric and feel it sounds more natural in the treble area like you mentioned. Occasional feedback though.
I put a Lyric in an OM but found it boxy. I added a soundhole humbucker and wired the two together. Sounds pretty good now and I can dial out the feedback prone Lyric
Hi Jeremy, thank you very much for this in-depth review. I think the hi-fi sounds really nice! Question: how does this pick up deal with feedback resistance?
Not much quack it ok Better than Es2 taylor pick up. The little quack of this is for churos pedal without the liitle quack using churos pedal is going to be sound muffled. Like the ES 2 taylor pick up
So between this Hi Fi and the Anthem, from your experience, which is more feedback resistant? And which sounds closer to the acoustic sound of the guitar? I play all styles, on my acoustic gigs, sometimes I’m playing in loud noisy bars where I really need to turn up pretty loud to hear myself, other times, i might be playing in a country (or any other style) band playing with drums bass etc, so trying to play some lead parts (flatpicking bluegrass on certain songs for example), so which pickup would sound best and be feedback resistant? My current working acoustic is a Martin cutaway dreadnought with a Fishman prefix with volume and tone controls on the side of the guitar instead of in the sound hole so I’m able to put one of those rubber feedback busters into the sound hole but with the volume and tone controls in the sound hole as they have on both the Anthem and the Hi Fi, I wouldn’t be able to use the rubber feedback buster plug thing. But I have a custom shop Martin I’d like to put a different pickup in cause the K&K pure mini currently installed doesn’t sound as nice to me in comparison to an anthem I heard today in another guitar at guitar center. So I’m trying to decide between the hi Fi and the anthem. Thanks for any info and opinion
@@JeremySheppard Do you prefer the tone you're getting out of the Hi Fi versus the Anthem? Does one convey the acoustic guitar sound more accurately in your opinion than the other? (I did hear your comments in the video but it sounded like you mentioned a quack in both pickups, so just curious 9 months since you've posted this video if you prefer the hi fi over the anthem. Thanks again for any info on my questions. I'm in the midst of choosing one or the other pickup for an expensive Martin and hope to make the best choice the first time around.
I am considering this for my favorite guitar, my 1994 Gibson J100extra made the year Gibson turned 100 that I got at the Philly Guitar show in 2005! This would replace the Fishman undersaddle and matrix Infinity preamp system currently in the guitar. My only fear with this Baggs pickup is low freq feedback. Can you address this based on your experience? Thanks Jeremy, you know I really respect your opinion!
I use Schatten HFN Active in my Furch guitar and IMHO it sounds better than this LR Baggs. They use similar technical solutions. On the HFN the quack is not that present.I highly recommend to try it out. This is coming from someone who also has an Anthem in my other guitar. I am no Baggs hater.
But it’s passive… great for solo finger style, but not really usable in band situations, unless you stick a DI in front of it. Stagepro Anthem, always gives a very usable tone, even straight into a board.
Sorry Jeremy, but it sounds like an under saddle pickup to me. It's a kind of buzzy sound, unnatural, like bees humming. I have a K and K on a Gibson J 35, and I like it's sound much better.
Sorry, but nope. Sounds like every other thin, quacky transducer or piezo pickup I’ve heard. The only acoustic pickup that sounds pretty good to me is the K&K Trinity that has a microphone with the transducer, and the little mixer-preamp.
My 814ce had the horrible ES1 pickup. I had it replaced under warranty and it still sucked. Too bright on the B string. I finally got the courage to replace it with a K&K style pickup made by JJB. The improvement was incredible. I play fingerstyle so for my use it's perfect. It turned a expensive guitar I was ready to sell into a keeper. Taylor guitars play great but I don't like the ES1 or 2 pickup. I suffered with their electronics for too long and no outside EQ helped. Fishman Aura spectrum, Baggs DI, and a slew of other makers was a waste. Do yourself a favor and be careful about your purchase and don't listen to the hype.
What you are hearing that you don't like about the hifi system is that it's passive, which in electronics world means the signal isn't boosted, highs tend to be weak and bass is muddy. Think of it like plugging a microphone into a Mackie mixer vs plugging mic into a dedicated high quality preamp. Both may measure similarly but the dedicated preamp will have real balls, defined bass, and sparkle crisp high end. The baggs hifi system sounds like a Mackie mic preamp. Your anthem sounds more like a dedicated preamp which is why you own those and use those. You are being wayy to kind to baggs here. I get that they own you but cmon.
We as players get caught up in the natural sound of our guitars.
The truth is that our audiences don't care which pickup we are using. All they hear is a guitar.
I started playing out, using only a mic. That has it's own problems.
Then I had a pickup installed and used both the mic and the pickup.
That set up gave me a great sound but was hard to get all the EQ's right.
Today, I use what ever pickup is in my guitar and just play the guitar.
Nobody tells me that my guitar doesn't sound good.
Often people do comment on how good my sound is.
Is it actually good?
it is good enough .
Agreed…to a point. The Takamine Palathetic pickup is stellar! Currently, I use Stagepro Anthems, and like the versatility and tone.
I feel I play better when I am enjoying my guitar sound. Each to their own though
I'm coming from electric guitars, been concentrating on them for over 15 years and only now started taking acoustic seriously.
Because of that I'm already used to not getting caught in the natural sound of the guitar. I'm also a producer and mix engineer so I like looking at it from the lense of a sound designer and drown my acoustic pickups with effects XD.
I got to know some of the most high profile session guitar players in my country, and the very highest profile one is one of my lifetime mentors, and if an undersaddle piezo is good enough for him then there's no reason why it shouldn't be fine to anyone (Funnily enough, he uses the Fishman Aura but doesn't even turn on the Aura IRs on it XD)
Sounds like an EQd K&K to me… the fact that you got there without glue means this will probably be a great fit for a ton of players.
Easy fix for installation: just put a dot of "White Out" on the top of the black pegs - this will make them really easy to see.
Great review thanks!
"I want it to sound like the guitar but louder" is a nice romantic idea, but in a dense bandmix not always what you need. A little bit quack helps to cut through.
Yep… I use Anthems. Solo blend is 50-50, mic / Element piezo. With a band, 100% Element…
I honestly think it sounded best with the mic, the l.a.baggs is quite quakkky and buzzy when you hit it harder, its good for fingerpicking
Exquisite sounding Santa Cruz! Nice playing! Excellent pickup
I’m going to be a tad bit biased, but I had one put in my D18. I didn’t want to adjust the action after getting it to where I like. It’s warm, yes. That’s what I like. It sounds like my guitar plugged in, just louder. Of course I’m pleased with my results.
Now I'm jealous LoL That sounds perfect, very balanced with the bass ringing true and not muddy .
Such a massive improvement over most pickups. It still sounds like a pickup, but not nearly as much as most.
What I really want is L.R. Baggs to make a new generation of the Anthem that keeps the mic they're using in the current Anthem but pairs it with this in places of the under-saddle transducer. It would be the best acoustic pickup ever produced, by a ridiculous wide margin.
@Roy Meyer
I like your idea, in terms of sound principle. Sonically, it'd be much better than the Element UST.
However, the primary problemo with what you're recommending is "Bridgeplate Size and Spacing". There just isn't enough room on most Bridgeplates for BOTH the Tru-Mic AND the Two High-Fi SBT's.
You do know that BOTH of the two High-Fi SBT'S are sonically designed to be placed IN FRONT OF the Bridge Pins and directly on the Bridgeplate (below the Saddle Area) with the Bass Lens Transducer attached proportionately in Front of the E & A Pins, while the Treble Lens Transducer is attached proportionately in Front of the B & E Pins. Therefore, they would be taking up the exact same place on the Bridgeplate, where the Tru-Mic is sonically designed to be placed.
There would not be enough space left in front of the D & G Pins for the Tru-Mic to fit in between the Bass and Treble High-Fi Lenses!
See what I'm saying?
The generic term SBT (SoundBoard Transducer) is a bit misleading. SBT's are actually meant to be attached to the Bridgeplate to pick up the String Vibrations, directly underneath where the strings are attached to the Bridge.
They should really be called BPT'S (Bridgeplate Transducers).
All of the major SBT's like the K&K Pure-Mini, the new High-Fi's, the Acoustic Lenses of Trance Audio Amulet are designed to be either glued or 3-M taped to the Bridgeplate, not necessarily anywhere on the Soundboard nearest to the Bridgeplate!
Bottom line, so many choices and not enough space!🤔🫣
You can attach a plate microphone eg LRB Lyric Microphone inside the guitar box to the sound board top parallel slightly offset from the bridge plate on an 'X' braced steel string guitar. The plate microphone at this location will work well. ua-cam.com/video/2loM3uK1olE/v-deo.html
@@timmcgurl
Santa Cruz blows me away once again. I never thought a dreadnought could have such beautiful highs. I like it with both the 120 and the direct if that means anything. - very exciting pickup.
12-frets are just DIFFERENT
Sounds very good with flesh and nails. Minimal quack then - but what is there is in the trebles. Your remarks about setup are SOOOO crucial with that lightweight guitar, which is all about the setup and playability.
So, as you know, the thing about mics is that an acoustic guitar being mic'd in a room, will add, to some extent, what the room itself provided to the sound to some extent, depending on the microphone...the HiFi sounds a bit dry when doing side by side comparisons with the mic capture vs the pickup capture...I think with a little digital room ambience added, it would compensate really well...I, for sure, think the mic sounds better, because it is capturing how the guitar sounds being played in the room you're recording it in...paused at 3:46 to comment...still, the Baggs sounds really close to the mic'd recording, minus the ambience of the room...thanks for another video, Jeremy...hope you and yours are doing well! Editing in...I use Anthem and Lyric (like an Anthem system, but without the under-saddle piezo element...just the mic) pickups in my acoustics...and have for years...I really like the Lyric, because it sounds like the guitar (at least to my ear it does), and doesn't add that under-saddle piezo thing to the sound...
Woohoo Jeremy it's incredible ... firstly that Santa Cruz ... WOW man just wow! beautiful warm tone ... the Hifi is absolutely stunning! I'm waiting for the Hifi Duet in July w' the 'Silo mic' to put into my new Yamaha LL-36 ... but this video has got me more excited than any other showing off the strait Hifi. The 'quack' you're talking about I believe (and hope) will be greatly 'controlled' w' the Silo mic which is a small diaphragm condenser. Thanks for the video ... subbed up
The words i use for under saddle is both "mix-forward attack" (good) and "brittle" (bad). For me, the HiFi is too brittle. I'm currently using a Lyric + UST stereo out. This allows me to cut the brittle highs in the UST, and removing the boxy boom of the low end of the lyric. Said in reverse, I get a mix-forward presence with natural sounding highs. In theory this is what the Anthem is also doing, but by blending outboard, I have control. Happy so far.
You have nerves of steel taking that big drill to that guitar freehanding!!!
It projects well. The word that comes to me is twangy, ha ha. Thanks for sharing.
The K&K Pure Pickup is "dark" only if you don't use the proper - impedance matched - preamp. With a K&K preamp or a Grace Design preamp set to 1M ohm input (there may be others) K&K Pure Pickup sounds amazing.
Much obliged to you for this very revealing video, which confirms that this pickup - when EQd a bit - doesn‘t have to be as dark as I‘ve heard in several other videos. That slight, high-end quack is regrettable, but loads better than normal piezos, so I could live with that live. That said, I‘ll hang on and wait for a few months, in the hopes that LR Baggs will be releasing the same pickup with a mic as a 2nd sound source. That might enable us to dial back the quack a wee bit, since the mic would be handling more of the upper range. That, of course, would add a bit of weight to the installation, but I‘d be willing to take that hit.
Thanks Man, appreciate your hard work for us guys out here
Love Baggs pickups.
I do feel that a really good preamp may help with a bit of balancing out the tone
As I’m a strummer by trade
So food for thought and ears
Best review
Structurally, it is a contact mic, but it has a distinctive midtone and gives the impression of an in-bridge piezo.
I think I can drive the tone more if I use the EQ.
Thank you.
The Santa Cruz is so beautiful and sounds great. I kinda like the sound of the lr baggs. Would be interesting to see a comparison with the anthem, which I really like and use in my guitars.
That's a beautiful guitar and that Baggs is very nice. I very much like their pickups!
Sounded bright n clear
About the "quack:" deal with it. As long as any system is installed INSIDE a guitar, it's gonna be there. And that "quack" can be used for a very good thing: cut in the mix, something necessary if you play in a band and, you know, want to be heard.
I did this about two years ago with a k&k and a baggs vtc. Just cut the piezo strip off and put the transducers on. Super hot but it works.
I wanna try one but I’ve found an amazing solution in JJB Electronics particularly the Prestige 330.
I have an anthem in my ‘70 J45 and it’s pretty great a Element in my J15 (quacky) fishman old school quack in my old Taylor lol but I am loving the JJB’s less complicated to mix than K&K and no need for their preamp just run it with a para di or any other pre amp. They also have a rubberized coating which causes them to not feedback. Anyhow not endorsed by JJB or anything but if you haven’t tried one I highly recommend it!
I agree Jeremy, Still got the Quack in the back round. 🤔 The most natural ive heard is the Maton pickups or Cole Clark pickups
Beautiful tone, the lows are balanced really nicely. The highs definitely have a quack, I would dial them back personally, especially for fingerpicking but they produce a tone that is still familiar and nice. Pretty good pick up by the sounds of it 👍
Well well. The places you see people 😂
@@JoelK there’s a familiar mug 😜
It sounds nice but I’m kinda curious what the case is for it vs the iBeam, which sounds pretty similar. My favorite system of theirs is the LB6/Lyric/Session preamp system they developed for the Godin Doyle Dykes pickup. The perfect fingerstyle system.
loved it!! can't wait to get one. I'm using the lyric now, but having bad feedback problems. I was afraid the hifi was going to be dark, but it sounds very full and rich. thanks for your videos.
I put a Lyric in an OM but found it boxy. I added a soundhole humbucker and wired the two together. Sounds pretty good now and I can dial out the feedback prone Lyric
The bass frequencies sound decent compared to the mic, but the highs are pretty far off…they sound processed. I don’t think anyone would mistake which clip is the mic and which is the HiFi in a blind test. I would add the VoicePrint DI to your signal chain and you’d be in business.
lr baggs are awesome for loud environments, but I can still l hear the piezo-ness in it. For a truer representation of your natural acoustic tone , then check out the Miniflex Model 7 internal microphone. It is Phantom powered so needs a decent pa/amp or ph power source . It is adjustable with 2 goose necks and easily removable (I have 2 and swap them between multiple guitars). To me, It sounds the most natural out of all the acoustic pickups I have tried.
Sounds kinda muddy compared to my Lyric…but internet sound can be weird.
The Hi fi seems to be the best single source pickup based on you tube demos. I can't wait until they launch it with an accessory microphone on a cross over like the anthem. It kills the basic piezo pickup in sound quality. I would love to hear you do a show on IRs like the voice print and others. Are they worth it?
Late to the party here, but I agree with your assessments of the lingering quack. In my opinion, they ain't built the ideal natural sounding pickup yet. However, the forthcoming LR Baggs "Duet' Hi Fi system may be closer. I've got K&K in both of my acoustics, and coupled with the Venue, they are 'okay'. But there seems to be a common undesirable sound that comes from all bridge plate pickups I've ever heard.
My question is: how does it compare to a K&K or K* & K Trinity? I think your Anthem is better.
Sorry, this pick up doesn’t do it for me either, amongst the many that I have listened to. I am sticking with my DPA 4099A. While the DPA isn’t as convenient as a built-in pick up, or may have the potential feedback issues… I’m sticking with the true tone from a microphone.
I’ve used the Neumann MCM and live it but believe the DOA would be just as good or better. I agree the mics sound way better
It sounds great and wow, what a beautiful guitar! But I hear what you mean by a "quacky" sound. I've been listening to some sound comparisons between the K&K pure mini and the Schatten HFN. FWIW - the Schatten is amazingly clean and transparent. It really doesn't seem to add anything to the sound, just amplifies the natural sound of the guitar. Take that as what it is - second hand evidence from other people's videos - but there are several from different people and they all sound great. I'm still doing research for installing a pickup in my new Eastman E20OO, so I do appreciate your honest review. Thanks!
A piezo transducer is a piezo transducer, is a piezo transducer. Quack, quack, Give a good microphone to hear the acoustic guitar everytime. Try a MacIntyre Feather. Cheers, Tom eh
maybe try to position the trebles pickup further from the pinholes....the sweet spot is not between the strings, methinks.
Low fi is a more accurate name for it. It has that piezo quack we love so much.
Still kind of quacky like a piezo but more natural, definitely. The microphone sounded so much better for my tastes. I’m sure the Baggs is great for live application.
Man, I haven't liked any of the LR Baggs pickups I've played, at all, but the demos of the HiFi seem to beat out the K&K Pure Mini.
Sounds awesome! I would be scared to death to try that.
I like this paticular pick up. It is light weight . My favorite lr baggs pick up is the i beam. The best sounding instrument that i have is a martin 00015sm with the i beam pick up ,znd i use the lr baggs para di ran through a genzler accoustic array amp, and boze pa. Some times a radial stereo di box. It just sounds like true natural velvet.
Sounds metallic to me like most acoustic pickups.
Yep. You have to really roll off the treble.
Total right..quaksound like undersaddle piezos...I pref.the schatten hfn..no quak
I've gotten it to sound better by rolling the tone off a lot.
Should have had LR Baggs to make a vintage jack like kk sound for this pickup
For the straight through, it sounded a little distorted. Then when it said LA120, it sounded good. I am thinking that the pickup output signal may be a tad too high, thus overdriving, thus a slight buzz distortion. (I have 4 guitars with K&Ks, and 1 with the LR Baggs Anthem).
I'm not a fan. It's still got the piezo quack. That guitar sounds so good in front of the microphone, and the direct tone is doing is a great disservice. I much prefer the attack of the K&K. You can EQ the darkness out of a K&K, but, in my experience, you can't quite EQ out quackiness.
Shiild have put a Lyric in. Even LR Bagss says its the most realistic way to amplifly the guitar. The hifi, and the Anthem.. are designed for those folks who equate the acoustic sound with that quaxky piezo , and aee more concerned about the 'mix' and feedback . ( the lyric doesnt feed back on stage if you use a soundhole cover ). The hifi doesnt sound at ALL natural.
I liked it a lot in the middle and the high range. Deep bass sounds a big muffled somehow.
In this video it seems that this pickup sounds very good but in some other video on youtube same pickup sounds bad ... which video we should believe ?
I would like to hear this through a Voiceprint DI from Baggs. Then you could mix both
I see that you have a volume controller wheel and a tone controller wheel inside of your sound hole. Could you do a video on the different position of the tone controller so we can here what that sounds like?
I think that I could read the graphics on which is what with my bad eyesight and a magnifier. I thought that in the quest to sound as natural as possible, this pretty much nails it! I do have a couple of questions, no pre-amp needed? Which pre-amp do you recommend for a K&K?
Overall, I would be content with this sound. Thank you.
Piezo quake saddle or contact context, I think we are currently caught with that but this does less of that to my ear .
Do people forget that baggs has had a bridge-plate transducer system out for more than a decade…the iBeam. I would like that comparison.
I have the I-beam in my Guild D40. I can definitely do a comparison.
@@JeremySheppard That would be amazing. I know the hifi has the added tone control and I have a hunch that the overall eq has less midrange but I’d love to hear it.
I think the Lyric is the best sounding Pick up
I plugged my anthem equipped hd28 in a grace Alix on the HiZ impedance setting and that thing you describe went away.
I know what you’re talking about. That high/mid thing that you can never dial out. The hiFi Does sound good. I’m curious how it holds up around a band.
I really like it, but will stick to Stagepro Anthem… 2 band EQ, mic / Element blend, phase & notch, and tuner. I often play where I am the sound man, so I want everything at my fingertips. The best, IMO.
And no, I would NEVER cut a hole in the side of that beautiful Santa Cruz, to install a Stagepro Anthem… this is why I have never bought a “collector” grade guitar. My #1 stage guitar is a carbon fiber RainSong jumbo… even though it wasn’t cheap, ($3,500), it doesn’t bother me in the smallest to have a hole cut in the side, to accommodate the Stagepro pre-amp. Same with my inexpensive Alvarez 8 string, which is a very nice sounding stage guitar,(came with Stagepro Element, and it swapped it out for Anthem).
The "quackyness" is what make it hard for me to warm up to these type of pickups. What happened with the Lyric Pickup? I'm curious to what you thought of that one.
Had an Anthem SL installed and it is a feedback hog. Should have installed this instead.
Pickup warm but constructed and fuzzy. Mic very clear but a bit less bass support than p/u.
Sorry J, sounds like most other under saddle pickups through my computer with a pair of external Bose monitors. K&K is still far better - used one for seven years worth of gigs and didn't suffer any of the "darkness" you referred to, nor did I need a preamp. Into a tuning pedal then strait to the P.A. That setup worked in a variety of settings from medium sized bar rooms to outdoors. Disclaimer: After having a Gibson with a Baggs VTC already installed (after all, what doesn't Gibson put an L.R.Baggs into?), I am not a fan of their products. This demo hasn't convinced me otherwise.
Does anybody have strap suggestions? I installed LR.Baggs hifi pickup and putting on and taking straps on the endpin jack is absolutely terrible. Can anybody help?
What would you say is the advantage of this over the Lyric? I use the Lyric and feel it sounds more natural in the treble area like you mentioned. Occasional feedback though.
I put a Lyric in an OM but found it boxy. I added a soundhole humbucker and wired the two together. Sounds pretty good now and I can dial out the feedback prone Lyric
Hi Jeremy, thank you very much for this in-depth review. I think the hi-fi sounds really nice!
Question: how does this pick up deal with feedback resistance?
Hasn't given me feedback yet, I played quite loudly and it was controlled
@@JeremySheppard thank you for your reply take care!
Can you see LR Baggs making an anthem like pickup with a mic based on this pickup? How does it compare to the Element?
Probably not but this definitely is tonally in between the anthem and element. It's warmer than the element. It reminds me a lot of the i beam.
Not much quack it ok Better than Es2 taylor pick up. The little quack of this is for churos pedal without the liitle quack using churos pedal is going to be sound muffled. Like the ES 2 taylor pick up
So between this Hi Fi and the Anthem, from your experience, which is more feedback resistant? And which sounds closer to the acoustic sound of the guitar? I play all styles, on my acoustic gigs, sometimes I’m playing in loud noisy bars where I really need to turn up pretty loud to hear myself, other times, i might be playing in a country (or any other style) band playing with drums bass etc, so trying to play some lead parts (flatpicking bluegrass on certain songs for example), so which pickup would sound best and be feedback resistant? My current working acoustic is a Martin cutaway dreadnought with a Fishman prefix with volume and tone controls on the side of the guitar instead of in the sound hole so I’m able to put one of those rubber feedback busters into the sound hole but with the volume and tone controls in the sound hole as they have on both the Anthem and the Hi Fi, I wouldn’t be able to use the rubber feedback buster plug thing. But I have a custom shop Martin I’d like to put a different pickup in cause the K&K pure mini currently installed doesn’t sound as nice to me in comparison to an anthem I heard today in another guitar at guitar center. So I’m trying to decide between the hi Fi and the anthem. Thanks for any info and opinion
The HiFi is more feedback resistant but the anthem has more control with phase and blend.
@@JeremySheppard Do you prefer the tone you're getting out of the Hi Fi versus the Anthem? Does one convey the acoustic guitar sound more accurately in your opinion than the other? (I did hear your comments in the video but it sounded like you mentioned a quack in both pickups, so just curious 9 months since you've posted this video if you prefer the hi fi over the anthem. Thanks again for any info on my questions. I'm in the midst of choosing one or the other pickup for an expensive Martin and hope to make the best choice the first time around.
Hi man!
What pickup would you recommend for a Martin 000-17?
TIA
HIFI vs Anthem your preference and why?
Oooo. Genial.
martin 00042.... k&k, k&k + trinity o lrbaggs hifi ????
What would you recommend between this and the anthem sl?
Sounds like the Anthem SL is still the way to go for best tone.
Sounds like your guitar is buzzing a bit much
I am considering this for my favorite guitar, my 1994 Gibson J100extra made the year Gibson turned 100 that I got at the Philly Guitar show in 2005! This would replace the Fishman undersaddle and matrix Infinity preamp system currently in the guitar. My only fear with this Baggs pickup is low freq feedback. Can you address this based on your experience? Thanks Jeremy, you know I really respect your opinion!
It would be a huge upgrade and sound fantastic. I haven't had any feedback yet with the hifi.
@@JeremySheppard Great!
my heart stopped when your where drilling the hole...scary
How would this work with an IR? I would imagine it would solved the trebly problem
Yes. It would definitely sound great. I've used it since this video with a voice print and really like it.
@@JeremySheppard would you say with Toneprint + HiFi that it is comparable to a dual source system like Anthem?
Is this pickup body percussive like the K&K pickups?
Can this be used in a classical guitar?
Do I have any use for a PA system? No
Do I want you to review one? Yes
Compare to the Lyric ?
I use Schatten HFN Active in my Furch guitar and IMHO it sounds better than this LR Baggs. They use similar technical solutions. On the HFN the quack is not that present.I highly recommend to try it out. This is coming from someone who also has an Anthem in my other guitar. I am no Baggs hater.
The K&K Pure Mini sounds better and has no battery to worry about.
in my humble opinion, the K&K still sounds best and closest to what your acoustic guitar sounds like. Way cheaper too.
But it’s passive… great for solo finger style, but not really usable in band situations, unless you stick a DI in front of it. Stagepro Anthem, always gives a very usable tone, even straight into a board.
Sorry Jeremy, but it sounds like an under saddle pickup to me. It's a kind of buzzy sound, unnatural, like bees humming. I have a K and K on a Gibson J 35, and I like it's sound much better.
Sorry, but nope. Sounds like every other thin, quacky transducer or piezo pickup I’ve heard. The only acoustic pickup that sounds pretty good to me is the K&K Trinity that has a microphone with the transducer, and the little mixer-preamp.
did you try the amulet m by trance audio?
I haven't. It's on my list.
K&k thas volume and tone control they just upgrade the K &k pure mini
I just got some of these coming. I love the k&k but hate the install.
LR Baggs r too quacky sounding. Taylor ES2 the best all natural acoustic sound
My 814ce had the horrible ES1 pickup. I had it replaced under warranty and it still sucked. Too bright on the B string. I finally got the courage to replace it with a K&K style pickup made by JJB. The improvement was incredible. I play fingerstyle so for my use it's perfect. It turned a expensive guitar I was ready to sell into a keeper. Taylor guitars play great but I don't like the ES1 or 2 pickup. I suffered with their electronics for too long and no outside EQ helped. Fishman Aura spectrum, Baggs DI, and a slew of other makers was a waste. Do yourself a favor and be careful about your purchase and don't listen to the hype.
Honestly I'm not impressed. It's good enough but I can get the same results with an undersaddle with EQ.
Ok, so how is this any different than K&K Pure mini? It sounds great, but fundamentally the same concept.
ANd....you just mentioned this. My bad.
I still feel like the K&K is more responsive to treble, so I have to disagree with you.
With the right preamp the K&K gets sparkly but it's default is a bit dark.
sounded muddy to me
Buzzy, needs high end
trebles sound like a sitar
I can't explain why... but, I didn't like it. The bass notes sound funny...
What you are hearing that you don't like about the hifi system is that it's passive, which in electronics world means the signal isn't boosted, highs tend to be weak and bass is muddy. Think of it like plugging a microphone into a Mackie mixer vs plugging mic into a dedicated high quality preamp. Both may measure similarly but the dedicated preamp will have real balls, defined bass, and sparkle crisp high end. The baggs hifi system sounds like a Mackie mic preamp. Your anthem sounds more like a dedicated preamp which is why you own those and use those. You are being wayy to kind to baggs here. I get that they own you but cmon.
The Hifi system has an active preamp, it is not passive. The K&K is passive but the hifi is active with a preamp in the endpin.
After all of the hype, this is a profound disappointment. It makes the strings sound dead.