Pickups

Removeable soundhole pickups are popular because their use does not require any modifcations to the guitar - you simply fit and go. Sam Wise, an experienced studio and recording engineer, tests four on the market today, that all retail for less than £100.

Magnetic pickups were originally used to amplify F-hole guitars, and in time, solid body guitars were developed especially to work well with their characteristics. A magnetic pickup picks up specifically the vibration of the strings, and nothing else, which is why the electric guitar construction has evolved in ways which affect how much, and for how long, the strings resonate. An acoustic guitar, however, produces its natural sound from the wood of the top and the air inside vibrating in sympathy with the strings, making it tricky to capture the full sound from the strings alone. Magnetic soundhole pickups, however, were at one time the only alternative to using a microphone on stage. Bearing in mind how hard it is to get a decent signal from a microphone on a crowded and noisy stage, it’s not surprising that they gained something of a following, despite significantly changing the look of your guitar, and sounding little like an acoustic when amplified. These days, however, there are many approaches to amplifying an acoustic, most of them producing very true acoustic sounds, and many of them all but invisible from the outside.

So why is it that the magnetic soundhole pickup continues to flourish today?
Cost is certainly part of the equation; Fishman’s Neo-D, for instance, undercuts any of their undersaddle transducers, although not by much in some cases. Another factor is ease, and non-intrusiveness, of installation; after all, there’s no need to cut any holes in your priceless vintage Martin, or for that matter in a cheap old guitar that’s not good enough to warrant doing the work! Finally, these days advances in pickup technology mean that you can get a much more acoustic sound. Of course, it won’t be the sound of your guitar’s top, these are still only capturing the vibration of the strings, but for all that, it’s a lot more convincing than in the days of yore.
   
For this article, we’ve taken a look at four pickups from leading manufacturers. As well as the sound (as heard through a DI Box), we’ve also taken into consideration ease of installation and use, and of course appearance. Let’s not forget that this pickup is going to be a major feature of your soundhole! Three of the four pickups we tested had a design feature in common; they are of a “humbucking” design. Single magnetic coils tend to produce hum, whereas a humbucker uses two coils of opposite polarity, thereby cancelling out a large part of the hum. The other side of a humbucking design, however, is a loss of top end in the signal. In an electric guitar, this is simply a feature of the sound, and is a large component in the difference between a trebly, ringing Fender sound, and a rich, creamy, middly Gibson sound.

• Shadow SH145

Looks 5/5
The SH145 looks like quality right out of the box. Its silver anodised aluminium chassis seems strong, and while the bright colour won’t melt away into the guitar, at least you’re adding something that looks classy. The Shadow logo is elegant, even if in red on a silver background, it’s not quite understated.

Ease of Installation and Use 2/5
I found the Shadow to be the hardest to install of all those tested. It’s relatively deep, meaning that you have to slide it under the strings in the wrong orientation, and then rotate it into the soundhole. Then you position it at the top of the soundhole, and rotate the tiny clamps into place, (not easy with big fingers) and screw them down with a Phillips driver. Where the clamps and pickup meet the soundboard on both sides, they’re protected by rubber pads, so there should be no damage to the guitar from this. Finally, it’s near impossible to fit the pickup with either of the supplied cables fitted, so you’ll need to reach between the strings, right to the bottom of the pickup, and plug in a mini-jack. The SH-145 is supplied with a long cable and jack plug, which can be trailed from the soundhole to your amplification, or a shorter cable with an endpin jack socket, for permanent installation. My guess is that if you’re using this type of pickup, it’s partly to avoid a permanent installation, but it’s a thoughtful addition. The Shadow is alone in this group in having a control on the pickup; a tiny knurled volume control which, I suspect, would be a fiddle on a dark stage. Finally, the Shadow has a button cell battery, on the bottom, meaning that to change it, you’ll have to remove the pickup altogether.

Sounds 4/5
The Shadow does a decent job of overcoming the naturally somewhat muddy sound of a humbucker, producing a fairly balanced response across the frequency range. There is something of a “hollowed out” edge to the sound, particularly when strumming, leading me to wonder whether there is a deliberate cut in the mid-range frequencies designed in. Overall though, it’s a pleasing sound, with enough punch to cut through in a band situation, and enough sweetness to carry the day when fingerpicking. The SH145 may not have the most sparkling top end, but it’s certainly a good all round sound which will do the job in most situations.

• Dean Markley Promag Gold

Looks 4/5
In the packet, the Dean Markley looks absolutely fantastic; its casing is lightly figured maple, which has been stained a beautiful honey brown, and the effect is stunning. How well that translates when it’s on the guitar, however, depends rather on the way your soundboard is finished. On my dark stained, mahogany topped Washburn, it looked rather garish, but on other guitars it may ‘match’ in a more aesthetically pleasing way. I suspect that it’d look fantastic with a cedar topped guitar.

Ease of Installation and Use 5/5
The Dean Markley is also spectacularly easy to install. It’s thin, and the back of the pickup is covered in felt, so there’s no risk of damaging your guitar top as you slide it in. Once in the soundhole, the pickup uses two pieces of foam in the slots at each end to hold it in position. You simply line the foam cushion up with the edge of the soundhole at the bass end, push to compress the foam, and slot in the treble end. When you let go, the foam expands and holds the pickup firmly in place; it really couldn’t be any easier. The Dean Markley only comes with a trailing cable, but it’s terminated with a gold plated solderless jack, which should give years of trouble-free use. Since the ProMag is entirely passive, there are no batteries to change, so if you plan on using it on the same guitar permanently, you should never have to remove it.

Sounds 2/5
Sound wise, the Dean Markley was a bit of a disappointment. In comparison with the other pickups on test, it lacked clarity and had a rather two dimensional sound. Strummed, it sounds bland and thrummy, and would quickly disappear in the mix with a band. Fingerpicked, the story is similar, as there’s little treble response or sparkle to bring your playing to life. The truth is that as good looking as this pickup is, its sound was overshadowed.

• Fishman Neo-D

Looks 4/5
I’m a little torn on the looks of the Fishman. On the one hand, there’s no question that it’s the most inexpensive looking of the bunch, and that black plastic is probably not going to top anyone’s wish list. On the other hand, it’s very unobtrusive on the guitar, being almost unnoticeable on my dark topped Washburn, so it may suit those who don’t want to advertise their pickup. Even the logo is plain black, and since the plastic is of excellent quality, it may be a winner on appearance for some.

Ease of Installation and Use 3/5
Like the Shadow, installation is achieved with a screwdriver and clamps; but in the case of the Fishman, the pads which protect the guitar top, which are cork this time rather than rubber, have to be fitted by the owner, and, I found, are rather fiddly. On the plus side, the Neo-D is slimmer than the Shadow, and has its cable hardwired in, so there’s less to aggravate the large fingered guitarist overall, but neither of the clamped models can get close to the slot-in foam systems for ease of installation.

Sounds 3/5
The Fishman is the only single coil pickup we tested, and it shows strongly through in the sound. It has by some way the most trebly sound, and would cut through nicely in a band scenario. When fingerpicked, or for that matter strummed solo, however, the sound has a rather harsh quality, and a lack of middle. This might seem picky but, I feel the Fishman goes too far the other way. It also suffers from hum; not to an extent which would make it objectionable in a band, but it’s very noticeable when recording, and might be a nuisance to a solo player as well. I can’t help but wonder how one of the Rare Earth pickups would’ve fared. 

• Seymour Duncan Woody XL

Looks 5/5
The Woody XL is, as the name suggests, wooden cased, but where the richly stained Dean Markley jumps out of the box at you, the Duncan is plain and light coloured. On the guitar, this is a definite benefit, as it looks understated and good on dark or light wood bodies. Personally, the attraction of the wood doesn’t quite win over the almost invisible quality of the Fishman for me, but if I had a lighter wood guitar, I might well feel differently.
 
Ease of Installation and Use 5/5
The Woody XL uses a foam mounting system, and really, it couldn’t be easier. You slot it in the hole, and you play. There’s nothing to choose between this pickup and the Dean Markley in terms of installation, and it’s hard to understand why all other manufacturers haven’t followed suit.

Sounds 4/5
The Seymour Duncan compares very favourably here with the Shadow as the better sounding pickups in this test. It has a good, well balanced tone, perhaps slightly less sparkling than the Shadow, but also without the slightly scooped quality to the mids. It’s the best sound here for strumming, with richness and projection, but perhaps lags just a little when finger picking, without quite such a detailed, three-dimensional sound. There’s no logical reason for this, but it’s as though the sounds of the two pickups relate to their materials, the Duncan simply sounding woodier, and the Shadow slightly more metallic, or perhaps even electronic.

• CONCLUSIONS

There are two clear leaders here; the Fishman and the Dean Markley simply don’t have the sound quality to compete with the Seymour Duncan and the Shadow, whatever their other appealing features might be. To my mind, the Duncan is the winner; I like the looks a little better, and the installation is so easy, and there’s almost nothing to choose in terms of sound quality. In any mulit-test such as this, it goes without saying that personal taste comes into the equation. Some may prefer both the look and sound of the Shadow, with the only thing really standing in its way being the difficulty of installing and removing the SH145. If I were having to spend my own money, I’d choose the Woody. But it must be said that these are all capable products and serve to prove that magnetic pickups have improved massively over the years and have come a long way towards sounding truly acoustic.
 

Producing tone shaping pre amps designed for acoustic guitars is a notoriously tricky business. Hartke rises to the challenge with the new ‘Attack’. Sam Wise plugs in...

The Hartke AGX Acoustic Attack is solid in a way few pedals are. My father, in his days of audio product design, showed me a belt pack which his company were developing for stage work, and which they were testing for robustness. Specifically, they dropped it from a fourth floor window, and ran it over with a truck. The AGX looks like the sort of pedal which would survive the same treatment. The chassis of the pedal is a good, solid aluminium extrusion, the side and base plates are reassuring metal panels, and the single footswitch is an old-fashioned positive action metal one as well. In case I haven’t been clear, I would be more than happy to rely on this pedal on stage! The Acoustic Attack is a combination tube preamp and direct injection box, giving the user EQ, a warming preamplifier, and a balanced signal all in one unit.
   
The top plate of the Hartke holds the rotary controls, and these are simple and easy to understand. There is a three-band EQ, with a sweepable mid allowing you to choose exactly where to put that midrange boost for best effect. Because the EQ controls cut as well as boost the signal, the mid frequency control can also be used to dial out frequencies which are feeding back, like a notch filter.
   
Then there are simple output level and mix controls, letting you choose how much of the effect to add to your dry sound, and to set volume. The left side panel contains two ¼ inch jack inputs, one a standard guitar input, and the other allowing you to loop signals from effect pedals through the AGX separately from the dry signal. On the right hand side is a comprehensive output section, with an unbalanced jack output, a balanced XLR output, a phantom power switch, and a –20db pad switch along with the mains power connection. For me, it’s this range of outputs and attention to detail which really sets the Hartke apart as a professional piece of kit which will be a boon to gigging acoustic guitarists. Phantom power allows you to reduce stage clutter and battery use by powering the pedal from the mixing desk (assuming your mixing desk provides phantom power), but if you don’t have that facility, or are suffering grounding problems using phantom power, you still have the option of using batteries or mains power.
   
Sound engineers will be thrilled with this pedal too, allowing them the choice of mic or line level signal, and with the pad button allowing them to cut a little level from the balanced signal if necessary. This makes an acoustic guitarist (sometimes the sound guy’s worst enemy), easy to deal with, and being on the right side of the engineer makes playing live a much more pleasant experience! In use, the Acoustic Attack is subtle, but useful. The EQ quietly does what you’d expect it to, giving you an extra layer of control over your sound, and the sweepable mid, when not being used to dial out feedback, really makes fattening up any weak spots in your sound easy. The tube preamp does indeed warm your sound, in a gentle way, but be warned, dialling in lots will get you something like a vintage fuzz tone, which - while it’s what you might expect from a tube - is probably not what you want for your sweet clear acoustic tone!
   
The Acoustic Attack is the sort of pedal which doesn’t actually change your sound dramatically, but which could become the most indispensable effect in your arsenal. Compared to switching on a flanger on your multi-effects unit, the effect is minimal, but it does make getting a good amplified acoustic sound easy, and ultimately, that’s what most of us want more than anything. With this in your kit bag, you can plug into any sound system without difficulty, dial in a really nice tone, add a little warmth with the preamp, and you’re ready to go. It just deals with so many of the niggling problems that acoustic players have had to deal with over the years, and for that, along with its indestructible build quality, I heartily recommend it.

Features

RRP £89.00

• Tube pre emulation circuit
• Active 3 band EQ
• Sweepable mid range freq control with ‘notch’ filter for feedback reduction
• Pad switch to accommodate guitars with active and passive pickups 1/4 inch and XLR outputs
• Power via 9v PP3 battery, phantom power or external PSU (not included)
  

Hartke
c/o Sound Technology
T: 01462 480 000
www.soundtech.co.uk

New from the Godin stable is a Seagull mini-jumbo - Richard Thomas takes a closer look. Was the MJM6 a high flyer or did it fail to get off the ground?

It’s been quite some time since Seagull guitars first appeared here in the UK. Since that time they’ve sold steadily, and have been joined by their fellow brands Norman and Art and Lutherie – all of which come from the Robert Godin stable. Godin, of course, is one of North America’s largest guitar makers, producing a wide range of instruments across different price brands. Best known for dreadnoughts and, to a lesser extent, for small ‘folk’ sized guitars, this is Seagull’s first venture into the increasingly popular mini-jumbo style.
   
This style of instrument has, in recent years, established itself as a popular alternative to the dreadnought, being a little more comfortable to play and, perhaps, a little more balanced in sound. It’s also, arguably, more aesthetically pleasing than the rather rectangular profile of the traditional dreadnought. At 16” wide, the mini-jumbo is actually slightly wider than Martin’s dreadnought, but the narrower waist makes it more comfortable to play, particularly when seated. The inspiration for this style of guitar is Gibson’s J185. A little smaller and less ostentatious than its cousin, the J200, the J185 had limited success when it was introduced in the 1950s, but was the inspiration for Gibson’s Everly Brothers model. Subsequently it’s become quite a highly regarded guitar and has been reintroduced by Gibson. It has also inspired highly spec’d instruments by boutique guitar makers like Bourgeois, Collings and Santa Cruz, and more modest, but still excellent guitars, such as those from Czech maker Furch/ Stanford.

Construction
As with most Seagull guitars, the MJM6 occupies a price point in the low-mid end of the acoustic market. It’s clearly inspired by the Gibson J185 in its body profile and similarly dimensioned. The 406mm wide, 125mm deep body is comparable in size with most dreadnoughts, but its decidedly curvier outline makes it appear a little smaller.        
As mentioned above, I certainly found it more comfortable to hold. The top is a fairly plain piece of solid Sitka spruce, bound in ivoroid with a single black purfling line around the edge. A herringbone pattern wood rosette circles the soundhole, which I thought was a nice aesthetic touch. Below the rosette is a small burgundy-coloured tortoiseshell scratchplate.
   
The bridge is a fairly chunky bottom-belly design, made from a reddish rosewood. It’s not the smoothest finish I’ve seen, to be honest. The compensated bridge saddle is seated in a well-cut slot. Inside, the guitar is pretty cleanly finished. Back and sides are made from nicely grained laminated mahogany and the whole body is finished in high gloss. There’s a little sinking of the finish into the surface which provides some reassurance that it’s not excessively thick, as is the case on some budget instruments.
   
The mahogany neck is one piece, with a separate heel. The neck’s satin finish is, like the bridge, not especially smooth. It is, however, consistent with the finish I’ve seen on other Seagulls over the years. The unbound rosewood fingerboard matches the bridge and carries simple mother-of-pearl dot markers between the 3rd and 12th frets.

The headstock is, of course, Seagull’s distinctive narrow, tapering design and carries its trademark logo. It’s certainly original and helps to create a straighter path from the strings between nut and tuners. The tuners themselves are Seagull-branded sealed affairs which seem to perform adequately, if unexceptionally. The headstock is faced in rosewood and gloss finished. It’s also bound in what appears to be maple. This creates a slightly odd visual effect – the combination of a bound headstock and an unbound fingerboard just doesn’t look right to me.

In Use
The Seagull’s neck took a little getting used to. It’s a wide, shallow design – 46mm (1.8”) wide at the nut. Still, this makes for pretty airy string spacing, which is a real boon for fingerpicking. The shorter scale length (63 mm) gives this guitar a very Gibsonish feel and the consequent lower string tension makes it easy to play. I’m used to playing 650mm scale length guitars, but I must say that I enjoyed the feel of this shorter scale guitar. I can see just what Doyle Dykes was getting at in his article on shorter scale lengths a few issues ago.
   
When I first took this guitar out of its box I couldn’t get on with it at all as far as the sound was concerned - brash and lacking in subtlety, it suffered from a seriously over-excited treble that dominated everything. However after acclimatising for a few days and after a bit of playing the sound calmed down considerably. Despite the size of the body the bass is not particularly strong. It’s quite a nice, thrummy sound though - an approximation of the Gibson sound and pleasant for strumming. The treble’s still a bit bright, but I think with some ageing and regular playing the sound will round out a little. Fingerpicking is certainly possible, though you might want to wear a thumbpick to add more emphasis to the bass.

Conclusion
It’s gratifying to see makers like Seagull producing alternatives to the dreadnought designs that tend to dominate this end of the market. If anything, Gibson-inspired designs are decidedly under-represented in this price range. I think this Seagull would make a decent general purpose guitar. It’s not a sophisticated-sounding instrument, but it plays well enough. There are a few competing instruments out there, often discounted to not much more than the £448 that is the RRP for this guitar. However, this is the only mini-jumbo I’ve come across with a shorter scale length. So if you fancy an alternative to a dreadnought and appreciate the playability a shorter scale brings, then this Seagull is well worth a look.