L.R. Baggs Element Active Control System

Pickup features: Undersaddle Pickup with onboard control system
Impedence or other specs: I have no idea

Model of guitar or bass: Rainson OM-1000
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: none
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: don't know
You musical style(s): strummin, fingerpicking, rocking
Reason for pickup change: N/A

Perceived output level: strong output. compares to other 9-volt systems
Tone: clear, bright balanced and even across the strings
Sonic evaluation: I play a Rainsong OM-1000 through a Crate D250 acoustic guitar amp and this pickup in this guitar is a great combination. I mostly play guitar in my church setting but also with my band outside of church. The Element delivers a clear, quite, accurate representation of the guitar. The guitar itself is very bright, very clear and clean and I found that I had to really tweak with the EQ before I could get a good sound. The reason is that graphite instruments like Rainsongs will transmit ALL the frequencies to the pickup which in my case left me with a midrangy honk when amplified. However, when I had dialed out the midrange frequency that was the problem, I ended up with one of the best guitar sounds I have ever heard. Warm, full and bright all at the same time with a depth that put a smile on my face. I waited to do this review until after I used it live at my church where it is just guitar, percussion and vocals and my friend who was out in the audience said it was the best amplified sound he had ever heard (to be fair I also use a AKG condensor mic on stage but when he was dialing in the sound he thought that the tone coming out of the amp with the pickup only sounding warmer than the guitar did unamplified!) I think that his comment says it all. I also really appreciate the Element's on board notch filter and phase shifter which removes feedback in most cases, can achieve significant volume before feeding back. The coolest feature of the onbaord system is that the battery is accesable via a pop-up hatch that makes changing the battery so easy I actually laughed when I figured it out. My only caveat is that the pop-up hatch tends to buzz a little when I hit the bas strings.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: It is a great match for my styles which are mostly straight ahead strumming in rock band, folk and church scenarios. Works well for fingerpicking too!

Comments: This pickup has restored my faith in undersaddle pickups! I was going to add a K&K sound pickup or an Ibeam to my guitar but I might not after hearing how great this pickup sounds in this guitar. The tone is about as good as one can get for an undersaddle pickup and it easily blows away the Fishman matrix (which I have heard in other Rainsongs so I can make a direct comparison)I have been playing for 12 years and have only had the Fishman system in my guitars. I will never go back to Fishman products as I have now been converted to Baggs! The only thing I don't like about this pickup is that I miss the percussive elements of acoustic guitar playing (but then again no undersaddle pickup will reproduce those sounds anyway)and also the tone doesn't quite shimmer in the highest frequencies like the raw sound of the guitar. If the pickup got destroyed I would probably replace it with the Imix system by Baggs so I can have the best of both the undersaddle and the bridgeplate pickup worlds. I am very interested in trying the bridgeplate pickups by Baggs and K&K as the concepts behind them make sense to me. But until the budget allows, I am very happy with the performance of this pickup, and I believe that it dominates anything else out there in the undersaddle transducer market! I give it an 8 because of the buzz in the battery cavity, otherwise I love it!

Pickup features: Active pickup
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender F-35
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: none
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Rock. Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, John Mayer style
Reason for pickup change: I didnt have one in this guitar and I wanted to use it for live full band shows.

Perceived output level: Similar to Fishman natural pickup
Tone: a little bassy but my guitar is a little bassy so its probably balanced well.
Sonic evaluation: I use it with the Fender Acoustasonic Junior Amp. This is suitable for smaller live environments.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This is a good match for my style. Strumming mostly.

Comments: I have had this guitar for a couple of years and had an Ibanez Talman acoustic electric guitar to use when I needed to plug in. However I like using my Fender more so I finally decided to put in a pickup. This blows the Ibanez away. A very natural sound. When I play it seems like its my guitar but louder, which is what a pickup should do. I was going to go with a Fishman but decided to take a chance with the LR Baggs and im not dissapointed. Very nice sound. It might be nice to have some EQ control on the guitar but it does have volume control so its not that bad to EQ at my amp. I would definately replace this if lost or stolen.

Pickup features: active under saddle transducer
Impedence or other specs: high impedance

Model of guitar or bass: Guild D-50
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: n/a
Other pickups on guitar: n/a
Artists using this pickup: not sure
You musical style(s): folk, acoustic instrumental
Reason for pickup change: New guitar, first pickup

Perceived output level: High output; lots of gain before feedback (actually, no feedback experienced yet)
Tone: Bassy, however this matches the tone of the guitar. Has a crisp clear tone
Sonic evaluation: I run the pickup through a preamp and then a DI box either into an acoustic amp (Yorkville AM 100) or through a PA (canon to canon)
This combination results in some control over the natural boominess of the guitar while maintaining the "purity" that seems to come from using the canon input on a board or amp.
The resulting sound is penetrating but exhibits excellent acoustic tone in my opinion.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play acoustic folk and instrumental fingerstyle based styles. I guess the pickup is suited to that but

Comments: