Takamine Triax

Active soundhole humbucker. Adjustable polepieces (plus spare polepieces), passive/active switch, long battery life. It's an exact liscenced copy of the LR Baggs M1. Everything you could want.

Installed in a Martin 000X1, basic version of the typical martin sound. A little bass-light.

Output level is good, much better than passive pickups. I'm using it with a Zoom A2 FX unit into a PA. I just use the Zoom to cut mid frequencies and tune up really. This is the most well-balanced soundhole pickup you can buy. I own the Fishman Neo-D and the Fishman Rare Earth Active and neither compare to this. The sound has a silky dynamic response which is more like a piezo but without any of the treble quack. It sounds much more like an acoustic than most soundhole pickups. My one gripe with the Triax is ironically its very strength - body sensitivity. I am a very active performer in a rock band and like to be able to strum all over the guitar. Unfortunately if you hit the Triax it makes a VERY loud 'pop'. I couldn't live with this so bought the Rare Earth. The sound was so dissapointing that I had to go back and use the Triax. What I have done is to turn the Triax round and seat it at the back of the soundhole nearer the bridge. Before doing this I took the polepieces out and swapped them around so they maintained the correct distance from the strings. I think I actually prefer the sound like this, and I don't tend to hit the pickup when strumming.

If this was destroyed I would have to buy another.

Humbucking active pickup, which might just be the same thing as the LR Baggs M1 active pickup. Don't tell anyone, it might be an industry secret. It has a volume control, adjustable pole pieces, and a passive/active selector switch on the bottom of the pickup. the second pickup apparently picks up body vibrations.

I have put this into my Alvarez 12 string (jumbo, maple back and sides). So far, I haven't drilled into the bottom for the jack - I've only plugged into the pickup with an 1/8" to 1/4" cord, which works well, although I have to slide the pickup around to pull the cord out of the pickup.

Ah, the sound is great! High fidelity all the way. So far, I plan on using it with a reverb unit (Alesis Wedge) and my studio monitors, a pair of Tapcos. With this setup, I can achieve very detailed higher register work as well as deep basslines. I am mostly playing in smaller venues - art galleries and listening rooms. The sound is very realistic, and I love the fact that I can tap on the guitar and it is picked up by the pickup.

I paid a little more than an LR Baggs M1 active, but I had to try it out. I prefer the black compared to the creme casing, anyhow. It really works well with the 12 string - I usually play fingerstyle, and I can get a balanced sound on each string due to the adjustable pole pieces. I wish it was easier to plug a cord into the pickup: if the input was closer to the guitar top, then it could really be a convenient solution to adding pickup capability to a guitar that one might not want to drill into for an end-jack, like an ancient Martin, or a fancy-pants Collins, or whatever wonderful guitar one might have spent gobs on. It gets a 9: if I could easily get a cord out of the pickup, out of the soundhole, and into the amp, then it would be a miracle!

A stacked humbucker that can work in either passive or active modes (selector switch at the bottom of the unit). Class A preamp built into the pickup itself. Onboard volume control. Six adjustable pole pieces. Looks a bit like a Sunrise: black, solid looking but very sleek.
This is a stacked humbucker pickup, developed in conjunction with LR Baggs I believe, and based on their far more expensive 'body sensitive' pickups. The theory is that the unit picks up vibrations from the soundboard and body as well as from the strings, resulting in a far more believable tone.
I am actually a left hander, but bought this pickup on the strength of being able to readjust the pole pieces for opposite stringing: I wasn't disappointed and this was a doddle.

Installed in a Crafter D8 dreadnaught (comes without a pickup). Minimal modification needed: Drilling a bigger hole for the endpin jack is all that's required.

Output level is excellent and very controllable. I'm currently ust going straight into a Tascam Portastudio to get demos down, and my cheap guitar sounds far batter than it has any right to with this pickup onboard. The tone is well-balanced across the frequency range. The 'body sensitive' claims actually stand up to scrutiny. This is a really natural sounding pickup. Yes, there are slightly twangy overtones from time to time (it's a magnetic pickup after all) but it's probably the best in its price range. I am recording my own stuff at the moment: Just voice and guitar with a few overdubs of percussion or electric guitar. Some songs I strum, some I fingerpick and others I play in a percussive stlye a la John Martyn: The pickup reponds to them all very well indeed. I honestly can't fault it for the price and for the sound that it delivers. Once I listened to my first playback I had no regrets about choosing it at all (and heaven knows there's enough competition in the price range).

If you are thinking of getting a pickup and see one of these then do try it. I think it must compare very favourably to any pickup of any type on the market. Value for money is excellent, and I just don't worry about my tone. Knowing that to my ears no electronic means short of a very expensive microphone will truly capture an acoustic's sound, I just plug in and go and I'm never disappointed. It adopts a fresh approach to do a difficult job extremely well for a very reasonable price.
If I was parted from it I would get another one without hesitation, or until the next big improvement in acoustic amplification comes along.