Product: Artec AGE-MC
Price Paid: US $60
Submitted
09/06/2005
at
01:44pm
by
Chris Dewin
Email: thatguy<at>wintergreen dot in
Features
:
Pickup features: Joint microphone and saddle piezo pickup system. Onbord preamp with blend control.
Impedence or other specs:
Instrument
:
Model of guitar or bass: Maton M-125 Acoustic
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: generic brand
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): folk
Reason for pickup change: Needed a better sound on stage. Heard Artec was extremely good value from a number of sources. Can't say I was disappointed.
Sound
:
No Opinion
Perceived output level: normal
Tone: Can be bassy if you turn the microphone up high. Trebly if you just use the saddle pickup. Ideally you want a blend, and that's why there's a blend control on the preamp.
Sonic evaluation: Mainly just plug into PA for live shows. Have done a bit of experimenting, multitracking, plugging the pickup direct into my PC. If you want to hear a sampe, and can excuse my sloppy playing
http://wintergreen.in/sounds/mypickup128.mp3
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play mainly folk, but can range quite a bit when experimenting. I'd say I can get as near as practicable to a natural acoustic sound with this pickup, which is exactly what I need for my style of music.
Overall Rating
:
10
Comments: I really like this pickup. I'm thinking of buying a spare, incase it gets damaged, or I need to buy a new guitar.
I have been playing since I was 10 y.o. That's 28 years now.
The only thing I dislike about it, is that the preamp was designed to fit on a very specific part of the guitar. That means I had to have the area where the old preamp was positioned patched up. Doesn't look too good. But heh, my old guitar has always been admired for its rustic look.
I have played guitars with fishman saddle pickups. I'd say the overall sound compares favourably with them. Pretty much on a par. The saddle pickup by itself sounds a little more trebly than I'd like, but that can always be fixed with a good bit of EQ at the preamp stage.
If there's anything I wished it had, I wished it had more EQ controls. A mid-sweep would be useful. But you can't have everything I guess.
I'm quite satisfied with this system.
The only thing I'm a bit concerned about, is the fact that it was so unbelievably, almost disturbingly cheap. I think it retails for around US$100 in the States, about Au$150 here in Aus. Only time will tell whether the electronics on it is really reliable stuff I guess.
