Dean Markley Pro Mag Plus

Single Coil.
No onboard controls.

I have 2 Dean Markley pickups and I use them with an Art & Luthier parlour style acoustic and a Maton 12 String acoustic through a Vox AC30 with blue bulldogs speakers.
No modification to the instrument, but I need to cut the pickup to fit the sound hole of the A&L. I should add that this is a relatively easy operation.
No pickup being replaced (though I do have another acoustic with a factory fitted piezo and it doesn't sound nearly as good as the Dean Markleys - way too tinny and thin).
I needed to amplify my acoustic guitars for playing live and recording.

Straight output level is lowish, however, I run through a Boss EQ which means I have a huge range of shaping and levels available.
The AC30 is ridiculously loud so volume is not an issue.
As for tone, I fingerpick and strum so I shape the tone (via the EQ) to match my playing style - more bass and mids for fingerpicking where I want my bass runs to be clear and none of that tinny sound from the B & E strings).
I play rock, folk, alt-country (whatever moves me on the day) and I find that the Dean Markley can pull the sorts of tone I am after.

If it was lost or destroyed I would probably buy another one as the only other options are to have a pickup installed and unless this is a piezo with no onboard controls, it involves a level of work to my guitars that I am not comfortable with unless the factory does it.
Playing for approx. 20 years. I love playing acoustic. One of my other babies is a Cordoba Spanish electric (Onboard Fishman EQ & Controls), but I also play 6 and 12 string Rickenbackers and a mid-60's ES330.
The only thing I hate is the manner in which the pickup fits in the soundhole. You need to tweak it a bit to get just the right height vis-a-vis strings. Otherwise, once it is in place I forget about it and concentrate on playing.
I chose the Dean Markley as it has a good reputation. I did't have time to compare this with other options. I'm sure if I played it alongside the factory fitted Maton or Cole Clark they would sound superior but I'm dealing with what I've got and loving it.
I am satisfied with the pickup. It is definitely not for the plug and play generation. I would not recommend anyone use it without an EQ to shape your tone.

Single coil passive acoustic guitar sound hole pick up

I am currently using it with my Simon & Patrick Mahogany Spruce dreadnought guitar. The pick up just slides on and off so no modifications had to be done. It's easily removable for when you don't need it.

This pickup sounds fairly good for the price. The sound of the pickup alone can be a little bit boomy and flat sounding if you don't have it set up right.

I usually run this through my POD X3 live and add a little bit of EQ, compression and a tiny bit of reverb to the picked up sound.

I usually have my microphone for vocals set up about a foot away from me so that it also bleeds in the mic'd sound of the acoustic guitar. That usually blends in with the sound from the pick up quite nicely.

It doesn't sound horrible on its own but I just personally like the high end shimmer that you get when you mic an acoustic guitar so I tend to use it in conjunction with a microphone placed about a foot in front of the strumming area when I record the acoustic guitar on its own. Playing with the angle of the pick up position will only make a slight difference to the sound.

Cons:
The pickup can tend to get in the way of your strumming especially if you need to raise the height for more volume and you are used to strumming above the sound hole. I had to learn to strum in between the sound hole and bridge to avoid ugly sounding pick hitting noises on my recordings. On the plus side, if you strum there it brightens up the sound from the pick up if you are using it on its own.

There is also no way to adjust the volume. But if you run it through some kind of floor pedal system it makes it easier to play around with the volume when performing live.

I was considering trading it in for a piezo bridge type pick up, but that requires drilling and the ease of being able to put this pick up on and off is definitely a plus.

I used this pickup in conjunction with the microphone bleed from the vocal mic on all songs featured on my "Live Acoustic EP" check it out at www.adrianafrica.com to hear it in action. Just click on the EP cover to hear the tracks or you can download them for FREE if you like.

If it was destroyed or stolen, I might consider going for one of the Martin Thinline type pickup systems instead. But for the price and ease of use this Promag Plus is hard to beat.

I've been playing guitar for over 15 years. I also own a bunch of Fender electric guitars and basses but I will leave that for another review. I actually had this same Promag Plus pick up several years ago but ended up trading it in along with my Art & Lutherie acoustic for an acoustic electric Norman. (Unfortunately that guitar now rests in pieces)

Like I mentioned before. I chose this product because of the price and ease of use. It sounds good enough but IMHO you can't beat a piezo type bridge system mixed with a permanent type sound hole pickup combo if you want to use just the pickup sound on its own.

All in all I am satisfied with my purchase of this pick up.

Pickup features: single coil, passive
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Peavey Indianola
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: none
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: ?
You musical style(s): Rock, Brit Rock, some pop, a little ska...okay just about everything.
Reason for pickup change: it didn't have one?

Perceived output level: not all that loud
Tone: bright
Sonic evaluation: i've used it through a fender bassman and through a PA. Both of which have left the guitar sounding bright. It has good bass response and nice highs with a good crisp tone.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play mainly with a pick and it sounds really good for that. It doesn't pick up finger picking as well as it does with a nice thin pick.

Comments: I actually would never buy the pickup again. Honestly it's pretty good if you are on a budget. But it picks up every time u tap the guitar or the pickup. Also, if u don't use the pickup all the time like me the rubber that holds the pickup in place dries out and no longer works. Oh yeah...not that any pickup should really have to deal with it, but i stepped on mine and broke the part that holds the pickup on the guitar...that also is a big mistake heh. wood putty and super glue does a good job on that though.
If it was lost, stolen...hell even if it isn't, i'm gonna go get a rio grande tone bone or possibly a fishman rare earth pickup. If u must have dean markley the next step up does eliminate the tapping problem. But at the same time the foam still dries out and makes it impossible to stay in place.

Pickup features: Single coil passive
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Guild D4 dreadnaught, Taylor Big Baby 15/16 dreadnaught
Position: middle
Pickup being replaced: None
Other pickups on guitar: None
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Blues / Acoustic Pop
Reason for pickup change: Sick of dealing with sound guys who can't manage a mic, or venues where the SM58 is the only mic around...

Perceived output level: Not real hot -- barely drives amp to acceptable volume without a pre-amp.
Tone: Balanced, with single-coil clarity. Nice on my Guild, which booms and needs taming.
Sonic evaluation: The sound is pretty well balanced, if you set the pickup height properly.
I like it through my Fender Concert, which with normal electric pickups is ridiculously loud. With this p'up, however, its clean warm tube tone, good eq-shaping capabilities, and impossible-to-overload EV speaker bring out a nice full round sound. The amp has volume to spare, so I can raise the volume to compensate for the pickup's relatively low output.
The pickup is held in place by foam rubber in two slots at either end,
and there's some potential for adjusting the relative heights of the bass and treble sides. I like the entire pickup sitting fairly low in the sound hole, with the bass side just slightly higher to compensate for the tendency for the unwound strings to be slightly louder than the wound ones (though this is far less pronounced than in some other magnetic soundhole pickups I've tried, which have un-tameable treble bias.) This slight tilting yields a nice, balanced sound, without the dreaded clack and thump of a bridge piezo. Pretty nice. Still could use a pre-amp, which would add the one thing this unit lacks -- a volume control.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Strummed or picked, this is a good-sounding unit. I've run it through a Rocktron Austin Gold overdrive with good results -- like a big jazz box with a bit of snarl on leads.

Comments: I got this to after showing up for a garden-variety open mic event at which the so-called sound guys couldn't deal with mic'd instruments. After sitting onstage for ten minutes while they tried to get it right, then finally resorting to walking off and setting up the mixing board myself, I decided that I needed something child-proof for the future. I really dislike the piezo sound, and when I saw these
on sale for 20 or 25 bucks, I bought one single-coil and one humbucker. They do a decent job in a pinch, though a mic is still the way to go on acoustic, for my two cents. Some sort of pre-amp with at least rudimentary eq and gain control is a worthy addition if you plan to use it a lot. With a pre-amp, this is a very nice unit.

Pickup features: Single coil passive
Impedence or other specs: unknown

Model of guitar or bass: Martin 000-1 and Fender DG-7
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: none
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: unknown
You musical style(s): pop, rock, blues, country
Reason for pickup change: there was no pickup on guitar-originally acoustic.

Perceived output level: I needed something to amplify my guitars natural acoustic sound for gigs. Don't like piezo's.
Tone: It basically it just amplifys the guitars natural tone without any color. That's what I wanted.
Sonic evaluation: I use this pup on both my acoustics. I use 4 different Fender tube Bassman amps, 2 Peavey s.s. amps, and d.i. into a big P.A. system. It just makes the guitars loud enough to be heard with the rest of the band.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Mostly classic rock, a little blues, and country.

Comments: If it were gone, I would get another one. I've been playing off and on about 35 years. I have a small guitar store in my bedroom, but I only buy what I use. My Peaveys have gobs of eq buttons, so it works better with Peavey, although the Bassmans are full of tone. I bought this pup because it was cheap, and came with a set of strings and the feedback reducers. It makes both the Martin, and the Fender loud enough to work in gigs. I even go thru a POD sometimes. It sounds better, imho than buying an acoustic electric or a $250 pup and a $150 preamp. I have not noticed any "muddy" sounds as others have reported. I did put the cord into the endpin jack. It got in the way hanging out of the bottom of the pup. I also use a volume pedal, so I really wouldn't add anything to the Pro Mag Plus.

Pickup features: Single Coil
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender DG-10/12
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: N/A
Other pickups on guitar: N/A
Artists using this pickup: N/A
You musical style(s): Rock Mainly, and Just about everything else under the sun
Reason for pickup change: It didn't have a pickup to begin with

Perceived output level: Weak, Weak, Weak
Tone: On its own Pretty Muddy, With emphisis on the Bass End
Sonic evaluation: I found this pickup to be very week when run directly in to the PA, I found that I had to really push the volume on my channel to compete with my lead players active ovation, how I overcame this was by using an old Ibanez UE405 Rack Unit as a preamp, and by using the analog compressor, and the analog EQ, I have been able to over come all of the inherent problems with this pick up. So on its own I would say that this pick up is weak, but through some basic effects it greatly improves

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: It does the job

Comments: If it were stolen I'd probably upgrade, I have no loyalty to Dean Markley, I like to ease of installation of thsi pick up and how I don't have to alter my guitar, if only it had some balls to it then we would have a good pickup. Overall I would give this pickup a 7

Pickup features: single coil..passive
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Hohner dreadnought
Position: middle
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar: two piezo transducers
Artists using this pickup: Me? An artist....
You musical style(s): strummin and pickin
Reason for pickup change: I added the two transducers because the dean markley was somewhat muddy and at the same time shrill. also the b string was really pronounced so after reading about the article about the piezo setup,I went to radio shack and bought two, one the size of a half-dollar and the other a nickle. I place the small one on the inside taped to the dean markley and the larger one halfway between the end of the guitar top and the bridge slightly toward the larger strings side. I spliced them together and fed it though my equalizer and got a really decent sound. not tinny like a piezo sounds and not muddy like the dean markley but a nice mid-sound. very clear and clean is all I can say. this was all just an experiment but it worked out fine. I even left the transducers mounted in their plasic housing with no problems. I had removed one previously and the wire is so fine that you have to be careful or it breaks at the solder joint. so anyone who has a soundhole pickup like a dean markley, go get yourself some piezo transducers and have at it.

Perceived output level: clean and clear
Tone: balanced
Sonic evaluation: I run my guitar through one channel of my TEAC EQA-220 graphic equalizer with 10 channels and then into my Fostex 4 track and finally into the breakout box. this combination allows alot of twiking and the feedback that the single coil produces (due to the monitor's electromagnetic zoomies)is cancelled out. I still have to make sure I angle the guitar a certain way when recording but so far so good. I have a real no-frills basic operation but it allows me to produce some really decent demos. people can't believe the quality sound I get when they see my setup but when you're laid off, ya gotta improvise! anybody need some electrical work done?

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: country mostly and now it is very suitable

Comments: I don't think anyone would steal it (the Hohner or the pickup setup) and I could replace it all for around $130.00.The Hohner has a laminated top but after comparing other guitars in the local music stores, I believe I got a good deal for the price. ($120.00)
I would like to upgrade to a Epiphone acoustic-electric but that'll have to wait until construction picks up again.
Once again, if you're on a tight, and I mean tight, budget and you have a single coil soundhole pickup, go get some transducers and experiment. You'll find the right combination but note that an equalizer helps. Hope this helps all the other poor musicians out there.

Pickup features: A Passive Single Coil, no outside preamp
Impedence or other specs: The didn't specify

Model of guitar or bass: Martin D-1 Dreadnought
Position: middle
Pickup being replaced: None
Other pickups on guitar: None
Artists using this pickup: No Idea
You musical style(s): All (blues, rock, space, metal, jazz, pop - minus country) But I bought it mostly for Worship Music
Reason for pickup change: I needed an acoustic pickup, and I didn't have alot of money. I didn't want to install a crappy pickup, so I went for this insert.

Perceived output level: Very Low (its passive passive) about the same as a computer mic. But, If you run it through an overdrive with the drive low or off, or a acoustic preamp, and you've got what you need.
Tone: Its pretty balanced in tone (easiest eq balance, you just move it!), but it is kind of muddy and lifeless. But, you get what you paid for. Remember, its not there to enhance. If your acoustic sounds "ok" without it, it will sound worse with it. I've got a martin, and it sounds pretty good. Don't blame all your problems on the pickup.
Sonic evaluation: Right now, I'm going straight to the P.A., so I'm going to get an active D.I. But from what I've heard, it sounds good enough for $50

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: On acoustic, I play lighter stuff (duh!), though I do use it mostly for worship. It gives me a great blend of tones into the electric side with the single coil. I add my little overdrive to give it some sparkle, and a tad a reverb and I'm set.

Comments: This is not my settling pickup, but its pretty good. I didn't want to tear up my guitar for something crappy, so this does the job right now. Just remember when your looking for an acoustic pickup: The best acoustic pickups are the ones that capture the true tone of your instrument. If the true tone of the instrument is mud, your in for a rude awakening. You'd probably be better off by a good solid A/E and keeping your acoustic nice and clean. I've been consider this myself.

Pickup features: single coil passive
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Yamaha FG-422 OBB
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: n/a
Other pickups on guitar: n/a
Artists using this pickup: me
You musical style(s): classic rock, country
Reason for pickup change: n/a

Perceived output level: Needed to really turn the amp up (and I have a 100 W acoustic amp) to be on parr with my friends' 25 W electric amp. This pickup doesn't deliver much life.
Tone: very muddy.
Sonic evaluation: I have an awesome Yamaha FG-422 guitar and an awesome Yorkville AM100 acoustic amp, and this piece of wood doesn't do it it justice.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: the wood in the soundhole is awkward when strumming because it makes a loud clicking sound whenever you touch it. For the same reason, it's hard to fingerpick (plus the wood gets in the way).

Comments: I would never buy it again. It's cheap and very easy to use, but if you own a nice guitar and/or amp, get your money's worth out of them and get a nicer pick-up. It doesn't give a very good replication of the guitar's true sound.

Pickup features: Umm, not sure... passive definitely
Impedence or other specs: don't know

Model of guitar or bass: Takamine GS-330S
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: none, first pickup
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: none that I know of
You musical style(s): various, ranging from acoustic rock to fingerstyle ballad to light jazz (church group)
Reason for pickup change: I bought it because it sounded decent (especially for the price) and it was easy to use (plug-and-play)

Perceived output level: eh.. I don't know, not much I have to compare to (a little less hot than my new Rare Earth Blend)
Tone: A little muddy, slightly weak on the highs. "Plasticy."
Sonic evaluation: Straight into the house PA, using a Peavey Basic 50 for a moniter. Very "electric" sounding coming through the Basic 50, the main PAs allow it's true sound (plastic and all) to shine(?) through.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I mentioned "my" styles above... It's ok if it's the only pickup you can afford (at least better than those stinking piezos).

Comments: Over all this pickup is underwhelming. It provides a useable sound for live applications, not very good for recording. It's ok for the money, but if you can afford it, spring for something like the Fishman Rare Earth Blend (like I did), or something like a B-Band or Sunrise blending system (from all I hear they are very good as well). I have been much more satisfied with my Rare Earth system (much more authentic acoustic guitar sound). If destroyed (which I did), I would save up and get a better pickup system, like a Rare Earth Blend (which I did).