Dean Markley Sweet Spot

Passive

Yamaha Acoustic
Required hole drilled through bridge and end pin hole reamed to accomadate end pin jack.

I also have a vintage Martin 000-18, and old Norman, and a resonator guitar.

Didn't work.
I play fingerpicking blues, country, ballads and jazz.

I wish someone would steal it so I could claim it on my insurance.
Been playing 30 years.
I ordered this from Strings and Beyond on recommendation BUT things were wrong from the start: The instruction pamphlet had installation procedures for another pick-up mixed in with the Sweet Spot instructions, and pages were missing - apparently a misprint. The end pin jack was the wrong end pin jack. I went online to check the correct instructions, and as others have mentioned here, they are not complete or explicit. I called Dean Markley and the rep gave me instructions (and this is how I found out the end pin jack was the wrong one). Nevertheless, I completed the installation and except for a faint scratchy sound I derived after turning the volume all the way up on my amp - it didn't work. . I was pissed! . .

Samick Dreadnought Acoustic guitar, steel strings.
No modifications
No other puckups

Output is very high, no preamp was needed.
The tone was a bit trebbly, which is typical of under saddle pickups

The sound isn't natural enough. I'll replace it with another type of pickup.

Pickup features: Passive Piezo under saddle
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Yamaha classical solid cedar top
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: none
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): folk /celtic
Reason for pickup change: Add electric without a microphone

Perceived output level: accurately reproduces fingerstyle dynamics
Tone: balanced tone without pre-amp
Sonic evaluation: Have tried a peavey practice amp and a Kustom acoustic guitar amp (looking forward to try with a full board PA).

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Great for nylon string folk and celtic. I would not recommend for picked nylon strings (but that's an oxymoron!)

Comments: This pickup would definitely be replaced. It gives me the sound that I want from my classical guitar. For my steel string acoustic (Jean Larivee) I have a B-Band unit which suits that guitar just fine. Although a neophyte with electronics, I would say that the output and impedance from the Sweet Spot is optimal to acfurately reproduce the classical guitar sound. The cedar top guitar has a very warm sound and this (surprisingly) come through with the Sweet Spot. Careful installation is important. I spent considerable time aligning the saddle and ensuring a very exact fit (a micrometer helps). Scott Curfman's instructions were helpful. The 45 degree 3/32 hole did hit a brace but that only helped for the putty adhesive after fitting. It is very unlikely that, with a vary careful installation suing proper equipment, this pickup can be surpassed. I've tried other guitars with passive pickups but not with this quality. Also, the price from Stringsandbeyond.com is quite good. Maybe I'll add ont to my thirty year old Yamaha steel string. A professional would improve on this with only a condenser microphone.

Pickup features: Passive piezo-electric
Impedence or other specs: damifino

Model of guitar or bass: 70's-vintage Ovation Balladeer
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Unknown after-market surface-mount passive
Other pickups on guitar: None
Artists using this pickup: Dunno - check the Dean Markley site?
You musical style(s): Balladic, folk
Reason for pickup change: Old pickup failing

Perceived output level: Accurate representation of my guitar's sound and timbre
Tone: Needs just a touch of bass boost
Sonic evaluation: Currently mostly recording in studio. Use a Peavey Rage for practice, and an inherited Crate Voodoo (!) if more volume required.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Unsuitable for any position except under the saddle :o)

Comments: I have been playing guitar, both acoustic and electric, for almost 40 years. I decided to add pickups to two guitars (the Ovation 6-string and Seagull 12-string) and I did quite a bit of research before chosing the Sweet Spot. My decision, to be honest, was strongly influenced by the reviews here, and I decided to 'risk' my Ovation before committing to a pickup for my Seagull.
I have to say that the pickup lives up to the opinions (yeah, even the advertising hyperbole on the Dean Markley website!) It really does work well without a pre-amp, although the volume needs to be set a touch higher, and it gives great balanced sound without any of the dreaded 'quack.' As far as my tin ear is concerned, with just a bit of bass boost, the pickup is reproducing the sound of my guitar quite nicely.
A few notes about installation: Scott Curfman posted a nicely-detailed set of instructions below about installation (thanks Scott!) and he was right on the money. If you can handle a soldering iron and are not too ham-fisted, this is an easy job.
However, I did run into one glitch that he didn't mention. The pickup consists of 6 piezo elements sandwiched in very flexible foil strips, which are passed down through the hole you drill in your bridge. The foil strips are then gathered into a swaged aluminum fitting, which then transitions into the cable that leads to the jack. I think the idea is that the aluminum fitting is supposed to remain partly within the drilled hole, providing support for the foil strips so they can't twist. However, in my case the foil strips extended slightly from the hole, possibly because the bridge of my guitar is very narrow. The end result was that a bit of tension was placed on the foil strips by the slight weight of the cable, which twisted the foil strips and gave me an intermittent connection - a nasty surprise after a couple of days of clean sound! Anyway, the fix was simple: I pulled out the pickup and added a couple of drops of epoxy to reinforce the end of the foil strips next to the metal fitting, and when I reinserted the pickup, I put a small blob of epoxy putty around the metal fitting and foil to keep it straight where it exited the drilled hole. I have had no problem since.
My final answer - this is a great pickup, despite the initial hiccup with installation. I'm happy enough that I have another Sweet Spot on order for my 12-string - and I'm betting that the wider bridge will prevent my installation problem!

Pickup features: Passive under-saddle piezo transducer
Impedence or other specs: Don't know

Model of guitar or bass: Custom-order Moon 0003 six-string acoustic
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: None
Other pickups on guitar: None
Artists using this pickup: Don't know
You musical style(s): Fingerstyle blues and ragtime, plus some flat-picked pop and pop-rock
Reason for pickup change: I had this beautiful guitar custom made for me by Moon Guitars in Glasgow, Scotland. Originally I was going to have a pickup fitted at the time of manufacture, but they normally fit the Fishman Matrix - I already own a couple of Gibsons with the Matrix pickup, and have never been happy with the amplified sound. So, I asked them to pre-drill the guitar ready for fitting an under-saddle pickup, and just fit a Taylor removable end-pin for the time being - that way I could take my time researching pickups and fit one myself easily later on. Since then I've listened to lots of electro-acoustic guitars with different pickups, and read lots and lots of reviews - as a result, I decided to try the Sweet Spot - mainly because of its reputation for natural tone and high output without the need for a pre-amp.

Perceived output level: Very loud indeed! Difficult to believe this is a passive pickup!
Tone: Well balanced, with only a very slight tendency to brightness
Sonic evaluation: I'm running the guitar into a Kustom KAA-30 acoustic guitar amplifier. It has Low, Lo-Mid, Hi-Mid and High EQ controls, a spring reverb, and a 10" Celestion speaker. It's an OK amp - not brilliant, but OK. The results I'm getting with this Sweet Spot pickup are excellent, though - frankly, I've never heard this little amp sound so good! Most of the time I run with the EQ controls set equal, or perhaps with a tiny bit of the High rolled off, and with just a hint of reverb - no chorus, no compression, nothing else. The reproduced sound is full, well balanced and very, VERY faithful to the acoustic tone of the guitar. There's little, if any, piezo "quack" unless I play very close to the bridge. I'm amazed at just how natural this pickup sounds - it puts the pickups in my other guitars to shame!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play all sorts: blues, ragtime, pop, pop-rock - this pickup works superbly for all of that.

Comments: If this pickup were destroyed somehow, I'd replace it with exactly the same model, no question. I've been playing for 23 years, I own several other acoustic guitars (mostly Gibsons, some fitted with pickups) and have owned many other acoustics in the past. This is the best acoustic pickup I've heard - period. It was easy to install, and I love the fact that it doesn't need a pre-amp - no batteries to worry about, ever. Why anybody would two, three or four times as much for any other pickup is really beyond me. There might be better models out there, I guess, but I'm so satisfied with the performance of this Sweet Spot that I won't bother searching. The next guitar I buy will be retro-fitted - very quickly - with another Sweet Spot.

Pickup features: Pasive
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Various
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Various
Other pickups on guitar: Various
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Rock - World
Reason for pickup change: Unsatisfied with most previous under Saddle designs

Perceived output level: The amplified sound was so close to the Acoustic sound
Tone: Balanced
Sonic evaluation: Various Solid bodied/Acoustic Guitars mostly Crafter.
Into Old Roland GP 16 and Makie or Allanen & Heath Mixer.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: From fairly Bizarre Rock to Anglo/Japanese

Comments: Perfect sound, when you change picking/plucking postions the sound varies as on a 'real' acoustic instrument, unlike many of the other types. ALMOST UP TO THE SOUND QUALITY OF THEIR NOW SADLY DISCONTINUED SST SADDLE REPLACEMENT MODEL!
Good strong CLEAN output with no hiss or batteries.

Pickup features: passive
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Candelas custom made classical cutaway
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: none
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Classical - nylon string
Reason for pickup change:

Perceived output level: Hot
Tone: balanced
Sonic evaluation: acoustic amp - Ibanez Troubadour, Crate Limo TX-50DBE, Yamaha AA5 mini

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:

Comments: I have a new Martin 0 cutaway with a factory Fishman Blender. On the Fishman I much prefer the saddle pickup to the mic. I actually play the classical much more, have played for 25 yrs mostly un-amped, and wanted to experiment with amping it. No need for a battery and high output and natural sound attracted me to the Sweet Spot, also it is cheap. My classical has a super thin saddle and this was also a consideration. I mostly want to add some fairly subtle ambience at home and project a fuller sound in gigs and weddings without the hassle and feedback of a mic. So I use a hall reverb mostly and modest volume. Pure natural classical sound is a must for me. My saddle slot had to be widened slightly, and then I glued a thin bit of plastic to the saddle to get it to be very snug again in the slot. I love that it is completely invisible and stone simple. Installation instructions were horrible though. Getting the hole in the saddle slot positioned exactly right is important (no mention of this.) However it sounded fine right away, as I did take pains to make sure the saddle and the slot were flat and even. One thing I noticed about the sound is that there is an excess of pick noise (astually fingernails in my case) that I find annoying. I finally realized that it was much worse when picking close to the bridge. The noise is much reduced if you shift your plucking farther up toward the neck, and it actually depends on how high on the neck you are fretting. Basically I need to pluck at the sound hole or above it, about the halfway from the fret to the bridge (wherever that may be) to minimize the clack sound and get a good round tone. This requires some adjustment/re-learning but the clacking sound is a good reminder! With this technique I am pretty happy with the sound. It spoils me to play at home with the amp on for some reverb ambience. I sound like a better player! Would definitely recommend as I'm aware of no better saddle pickup. I would love to have a volume control like on the Martin but of course that would probably mean yet another hole in my beautiful guitar. If somehow they could cure the clacking pluck noise it would be nice as there are occasions for the tone you get when plucking very close to the bridge in classical music a la Christopher Parkening.

Pickup features: Under saddle Piezo transducer pickup
Impedence or other specs: no idea

Model of guitar or bass: Sigma dreadnought acoustic guitar
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: None - new
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Me
You musical style(s): Fingerpicking folk-hop, indie, strumming
Reason for pickup change:

Perceived output level: Hot
Tone: Bright
Sonic evaluation: Straight into a desk which has a built-in preamp. Never used with an amp, so not sure how it sounds. Totally enhanced the sound of my guitar. ?40 pickup sounds better than a ?70 mic and it's portable and dead quiet.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Good match for strumming. bright

Comments: I have been playing for 10 years and used to winge about my big boomy dreadnought. When I bought this pickup I put on lighter strings and got a bone saddle to replace the plastic one. To my surprise it was almost two bright, but I think this will settler down with the strings. My old trusty guitar now sounds like a bright, loud new guitar. It does sounds a little tinny, so I balance it with a mic and run two inputs into the desk which gives a big sound which makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I like equipment that makes makes me a better musician AND makes me sound good. It makes me want to record myself and listen back, like you would with a real musician.
Soldering instructions could have been better - I got it wrong once, but I guess that's my own fault. Tip - keep your string wound long on the pegs in case you have to loosen them to adjust the pickup. I never had to though - sounded great straight away. And for the value, it's fantastic. I was all set to buy a guitar with a built in pickup before I discovered this thing.

Pickup features: passive transducer
Impedence or other specs: god knows but i luv it

Model of guitar or bass: Hohner siberian willow series
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: none
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: dunno but they shud
You musical style(s): acouctic rock, small band work
Reason for pickup change: didnt have one

Perceived output level: the output is maybe the same as my pure electric guitar dunno but its high output for piezo
Tone: alot of treble but turn it back an the mid an bass up an its 'sweet'
Sonic evaluation: ive played it through my avt50 an it sounds really cool. i even tried it on overdrive an it seems to have replaced my electric guitar.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: this is very good for strumming chord work.

Comments: this pickup is very good for the money. i even got it done by a pro for ?80 with a pro setup so its action is low as a dog. this kicks ass an so do wizard. even if it did takes a while for em to do it it was worth the wait. it sounds like it did in my dreams ;)

Pickup features: piezo under saddle
Impedence or other specs: unknown

Model of guitar or bass: Epiphone EJ-200 jumbo acoustic
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: n/a
Other pickups on guitar: n/a
Artists using this pickup: ???
You musical style(s): praise & worship
Reason for pickup change: needed a pickup on my acoustic

Perceived output level: very hot especially for not having a preamp
Tone: very bright
Sonic evaluation: This is a follow-up to my earlier post. After a couple months work, I've finally got this pickup sorted out.
On my Epiphone EJ-200 jumbo acoustic this pickup is extremely bright. Without good EQ capabilities on your amp, it will probably be too bright for most guitars except classicals with nylon strings - on which it should sound awesome.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Probably best for crisp finger picking such as Chet Atkins or classical styles

Comments: Great value if installed correctly. NOTE: This pickup must, I repeat MUST be seated on a smooth FLAT surface with a smooth FLAT bridge base. If you have trouble with this pickup, especially with a wide/thick bridge, it is most likely because your bridge is tilting (due to string tension) off of the parallel plane with the pickup. I ended up having to route a small channel in my bridge pocket, allowing the sweet spot to sit a fraction of an inch below the pocket surface. This keeps the bridge in solid, flush conact with the pickup. If you do this, be careful! Route too deep a groove and the pickup will sit below the pocket surface and will not make good contact with the bridge. Read the installation instructions on one of the reviews below and do it just like he says.