Headway G11/X Series Preamp

Pickup features: Co-axial transducer and belt-mounted active pre-amp
Impedence or other specs: Pre-amp matches transducer for PA or combo

Model of guitar or bass: Brook Tamar 6 string
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: EMG Ampjak
Other pickups on guitar: N/A
Artists using this pickup: Various UK folk/rock acts, widely fitted pickup by small volume makers in UK
You musical style(s): Fingerstyle
Reason for pickup change: EMG was noisy and sounded awful.

Perceived output level: Low level - could do with a bit more even at full volume setting.
Tone: Very natural, sparkly. You can hear new strings, separation between the strings, yet it sounds close to having a mike in there.
Sonic evaluation: So far, run it into a combo. Everything else I've tried needed a box of tricks to smooth out the sound - but this sounds great. The tone controls allow you to tailor a range of useful pleasant sounds. I had always found tone controls pretty useless, but this is really good. There is little handling noise a bit more than with other piezos I've had - however, it seems that the pickup is picking up a whole lot more favourable sounds too, and no hum from the pickup. Strangely. handling the preamp creates some noise. Overall, its a bright and lively sounding set-up, very responsive to dynamics and playing variations and with much less piezo quack than most other units.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: It works well for me in fingerstyle and strumming with a pick.

Comments: I am pleased with this. I chose an off-board preamp as I didn't want to have holes in the side of my guitar, and I can buy just the transducer for my other guitars, making a reasonably cost-effective set up. Headway is a small company but you get good instructions and plenty of advice over the phone. The transducer itself has a round section and you have to take a little more off the saddle than with many other units. It comes ready soldered so you get a clean and noise-free install. There web site appears not to exist yet. They took what seemed like an age to send my unit, waiting for the cheque to clear, despite their literature claiming express dispatch. This made them seem like a small company - win some lose some, I like the pickup. The only criticism is the preamp unit sits in a plastic case which looks and feels a bit tacky and there is some handling noise. Overall, its the best unit I've found (and I've tried Martin, Fishman, EMG, Ashworth. It isn't perfect, but whereas I'd give the others up to 5 out of 10 for acoustic accuracy, this is much closer to reality at 8/10. Recommended.