McIntyre Contact Piezo

Pickup features: Passive
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Guild F30
Position: middle
Pickup being replaced: None
Other pickups on guitar: None
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): country-folk, blues
Reason for pickup change:

Perceived output level: Mid-to-low, definitely need an outside preamp
Tone: sounds very much like the guitar, but pickups the noises and tone directly from the top. So, although acoustic, it can sound boxy. If played with a pick, sounds great. Fingers, on the other hand, don't fair as well.
Sonic evaluation: I ran this through a L.R. Baggs Gig Pro preamp then into whatever house PA I was playing at. Works OK for small rooms, NOT for high volume situations. Without the preamp, the sound guy had to turn it up so loud it would feedback quite easily. I used a soundhole cover which helped with that a lot.
This pickup sounded best when the guitar was strummed, sounded very 'acoustic', nice bass response and the top end never sounded brittle.
The pickup goes on the underside of the top, stuck on with putty. Maybe if I experimented a bit more with the placement of the pickup I could have got a better sound, but the putty did not come off that easy and its a bit of a pain to be honest.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Like I said, strummed = good tone, fingerpicked= a bit muddy. Not even muddy so much as little distinction or clarity between notes.

Comments: I'd give it a 7 overall, really not bad for the money and I am happy with it for what it is. I didn't play out that much when I got this pickup and didn't want to drop $300 on a pickup system. You get what you pay for.
I also tried recording with this and it was unusable.

Pickup features: passive
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Taylor K14C & Taylor GAMC
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Fingerstyle/Celtic/Contemorary
Reason for pickup change:

Perceived output level: Normal
Tone: Very balanced/I like to use the LR Baggs preamp with it.
Sonic evaluation: I use a LR Baggs preamp/eg than into a Trace TR35. Very natural and simple.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play Celtic/Contemporary fingerstyle.

Comments: This pick-up is the best value around. After searching for the ideal set-up for a long time I found it in this pick-up. When combined with a mike it is unbeatable! Carl McIntyre is very helpful as well.
I'd buy it again if it broke. I really didn't like under saddle pick-ups. Too un-natural.

Pickup features: top mounted piezo
Impedence or other specs: very high

Model of guitar or bass: Lowden L25C & Graziano L
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Fishman
Other pickups on guitar: Sunrise
Artists using this pickup: tons of bluegrass folk
You musical style(s): progressive acoustic
Reason for pickup change:

Perceived output level: average output
Tone: very nice woody tone.
Sonic evaluation: The most natural sounding single source pickup that I've heard at any price. It does feedback a bit and it sometimes over-amplifies the artifacts

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

Comments: I love it and heartily recommend it. It is simple to mount, does't require any modifications except to enlarge the endpin hole and doesn't require any batteries. With the Sunrise, it is an unbeatable rig.