Seymour Duncan Mag Mic

Reviewing the Mag Mic. Have it installed in a Maton BG808. The Seymour Duncan Mag Mic is awesome. If you like the Tommy Emmanuel style you'll love it. You can tame the mic off to play beautiful melody or tweek the mic up to get tremendous body response. Tapping, slapping, knocking, whatever your style you can express with this pickup. I have a Baggs MA1 active and love it but you can't "turn off" the body response. With the Mag Mic you can. You can also dial up or down the amount of body response you want. No other sound hole pickup gives you this flexibility. It runs on a long life 9volt, easy mount and set up. Everything included in the box to install.

No mod to the guitar required. Very easy to install.

Output was slightly hot on the low E string. Used the included hex wrench on the low E pole pieces and solved the problem quickly. Now all strings are symmetrical in volume even when upping the mic. I don't care for under saddle peizos. The Mag Mic has no peizo quack or distortion. I play everything from Chet Atkins to classic rock, finger style with thumb pick. This pickup works for all my styles.

Would buy it again. Its hard to get perfect acoustic guitar reproduction. I would definitely get another one. It is very similar to the Sunrise I have installed on a Composite Acoustic guitar. See my CA review on Sunrise pickups on HC. Sunrise is passive with no body response.

Pickup features: active humbucker with microphone
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Gibson L200
Position: middle
Pickup being replaced: none
Other pickups on guitar: K&K Trinity
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): All styles mainly fingerstyle
Reason for pickup change: I didn't change, actually just added the duncan to the mix. It has such a smooth low end

Perceived output level: The pickup has ample output, with onboard volumes you can really send a very hot signal to the board or amplifier
Tone: without the mic on it is a bit unrealistic sounding but it's a good sound just not exact to the guitar. add the mic and it really opens up
Sonic evaluation: I use a full blown p.a. as well as a behringer ACX1000 amplifier, it sounds wonderful with each

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

Comments: It's a wonderful pickup, let's cross our fingers that it doesn't get stolen. It, in conjuction with the trinity system is very animated and alive. It is awesome in a word. I like the simplicity of the mag-mic as it's easy to install and it sounds wonderful.

Pickup features: Humbucking soundhole pickup, with small mic mounted on rear of magnetic soundhole pickup
Impedence or other specs: Absolutely no idea, but it sounds great!

Model of guitar or bass: Several acoustics, Collings, Martin, Taylor, Goodall
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Baggs I-Beam; Fishman Acoustic Matrix
Other pickups on guitar: None
Artists using this pickup: Laurence Juber (helped in the design and voicing too)
You musical style(s): Folk, blues, jazz, rock, really just about anything
Reason for pickup change: Looking for best possible acoustic sound, no holds barred.

Perceived output level: Powerful pickup, lots of gain but not overpowering.
Tone: Extremely well balanced.
Sonic evaluation: First, no pickup sounds like your acoustic guitar but louder. That's a marketing myth. They all color the sound in some way. That said, the Mag Mic is a really great acoustic pickup. It has a very pleasing sound, better than anything else I have tried to date, and I've tried a lot, most of the Fishman line, LR Baggs I Beam, Baggs Dual Source, B-Band, etc. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, as does the MagMic. But to my ears - yours, of course, may vary greatly - it's pretty much the state of the art today.
It's strength? You will find yourself playing and just marveling at the tone, it sounds so wonderful and just "right". No piezo quack, as on the undersaddle type of pickups. Very natural sound. Responds well to EQ. I play through a Baggs ParaAcoustic DI box, with XLR input to a Mackie powered mixer and JBL Eon G2 powered speakers, Alesis effects in the effects loop. The MagMic can be a touch strong on the bass in certain guitars, but that is easily handled with EQ and I am always able to get a very well balanced, natural sound through the Baggs DI box, in any of the guitars I have tried it in. Also, the pole pieces on the MagMic are adjustable, so that also helps it it adapt well to different guitars.
Back to the sound. It really is quite magnificent, balanced, strong, great clarity from the Mag part alone, and the Mic adds some high end sparkle if you want it. Had a Fishman Rare Earth Blend for a week, and A/B'd it with the Duncan MagMic, which was clearly a better, stronger, more balanced pickup, just much better to listen to on a regular basis. By comparison, the Fishman sounded, well, thin would be the word I would use. This pickup is stone quiet, and it's hard to get it to feed back unless you turn the mic way up. You won't like that sound anyway, too sharp. Just a little mic blended in, 2-4 on the dial, and you're set.

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

Comments: Have played electric and acoustic for about 15 years, mainly acoustic now and for last 5 years. Have tried most of the pickups that are out there, and based on what is on the market today, I think the MagMic is the best - a true gem. After playing it and living with it for several months, I got rid of my I-Beam and Fishman Acoustic Matrix and now use only the MagMic in my guitars. It's not cheap, but it's well worth the price.
Hey, everyone hears things differently, so don't take my word for it. Go try one, and see what you think. From where I sit, however, I have never had better sound than I am getting with the MagMic, and when I go hear people play live these days I come away thinking my amplified sound is quite a bit better and more natural than what I am hearing out in the clubs. I'll give it a 10 for sound quality, but it's hard to say it's a "fantastic value" as it is expensive.
One other benefit - if you don't want to mount it permanently in a guitar, it works just fine to let the battery and cord dangle out of the soundhole. Not pretty, but great for seeing how it sounds in different guitars. And, when used in that manner, you can put it in and take it out of any guitar in about a minute without removing any strings. That's a real plus if you own a lot of acoustics. I have two of my MagMics permanently mounted, and use the third to move between different guitars.
I'm not looking at pickups anymore, very satisfied with the MagMic and feel like I have found, after a lot of work, the best that is available today. Again, your mileage may vary, so go play one and trust your own ears.

Pickup features: Humbucking/Mic
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Taylor 612C, Bourgeois Dread
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar: Active Baggs Ribbon & Internal Crown Mic
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s):
Reason for pickup change: Like to experiment unfortunately

Perceived output level:
Tone:
Sonic evaluation: Rane AP-13 Pre or Baggs PARA DI & or Ultrasound 50 Watt Amp

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

Comments: First off - it's a magnetic pickup - there is no way around this BUT......IMO it's a very good sounding one right out of the box with no tweaking & if you have an external pre, even better. I've had a Fishman Rare Earth Humbucker, Fishman Rare Earth Blend, & Sunrise which I still own. The Sunrise is a great sounding pickup no doubt about it(if you like that sound) but you need a nice external pre-amp with EQ. I don't have all the pickups here to compare but I think the Duncan sounds outstanding for a magnetic pickup. I mean Seymour Duncan does know about magnets. You have to like that sound though - & if you do and are looking for a magnetic pickup I would definitely consider getting this one first or at least consider it with a Sunrise but I like it alot. The mic on it is supposed to give you the "air", I dunno about that - what it does do is add a very useful high end to the sound, this is where it beats the others IMO. It's lighter than the Sunrise and doesn't clamp the top as much which always bugged me, especially if you're putting it on a great sounding high dollar or not even high dollar guitar. It does clamp down on the sound a little bit though. The Mag Mic is sort of like a 20% shrunken Sunrise in size & weight. It uses an onboard 9 volt(drag) or optional "N" size batteries can be installed so you don't have to velcro or screw anything into the guitar. The negatives.......it's a blended mono output summing both the mag & mic together - meaning you can not split the outputs with a TRS jack like you can on the Rare Earth Blend. For $200.00 I think Duncan will do it. This doesn't bother me as much as it did at the beginning because it's pretty tweaked as is. There is a master volume for the combined signal of the mag & mic(the mag is always on) and another knob to add in the mic - which you really can add in a bunch - but you can't go from 100% Mag to 100% mic - not that you would want to but it's the principle of the thing that bugs me - that you can't. The mic is also stationary - it's on the back of the pickup facing into your guitar - no moving it. Other than that it really sounds nice - the big punchy, clear low end that only a magnet does. Yeah the high end probably still has that metallic electric sound that some folks bitch about - it's not an external microphone. It's not the most acoustic sounding thing either but neither is a piezo and Joe Mills Mic, etc combined IMO - it's just a sound everybody has started associating with acoustic guitar. But it is a cool tone unto itself. Anyway........if you're looking for a magnetic pickup I don't think you'd be disappointed in the tone of the Duncan Mag Mic.