L.R. Baggs M-1 Active

The L.R.Baggs M-1 Active is a fairly new addition to their already healthy line of acoustic guitar pickups. This is a sound hole unit and is revolutionary in that it is a dual stacked dual coil design in which the lower coil is design to actually float and act to pick up body vibrations (which it actually does!). The pickup actually has an extended life battery built in to power a pre-set preamp that is equipped with a nice volume control. Installation is simple.Requires an endpin jack hole (professionally drilled) everything else is in the great instructions.

I had this unit installed in a new Martin 000-16GT. As i mentioned...the only modification was to the end strap pin hole. I went with this pickup sight unseen based on L.R. Baggs great reputation for great pickups. And I liked the idea of non-invasive installation.

I intentionally waited several months before submitting this evaluation so that I could see how this thing performed. It has not let me down. The output level is fantastic. The adjustable pole pieces really allow string definition to be set just right. It does require tweaking to find the sweet spot. I usually play this guitar through a Zoom A2.1u effects pedal which provides very good eq adjustment and whatnot. Straight into the board via unbalanced input...the pickup sounds very natural. Can tend to be bright but can be compensated for with mixer eq adjustment.Great bass, mids and highs (pole piece adjustment very important here!) I play exclusively contemporary Christian music using alot of open chording with bass note emphasis and this guitar/pickup combo comes through the mix incredibly well. My other band members were impressed to the point of comment!

I believe that I would be inclined to put this pickup in any other acoustic guitar that I might purchase. I've been playing for over 20 years and have had just about every pickup out there. Actually I had a nice Martin with a B-band A4.2 that I installed and when I got the 000-16Gt set up with this new M-1 Active...I sold the other guitar. I would never presume to say that this is the best sounding pickup out there because the diverse tastes of many guitarists...but, I will say that it is a great addition to the choices that are available in this ever progressive search for the real-deal. The only other thing I'd like to add is that Jesus Christ is totally AWESOME!