There are three basic types of microphonic transducers. Magnetic; like on your Les Paul or Strat, Piezo [pee-ed-zo] from the Greek piezo or piezein - it means to squeeze or press, and what are commonly called microphones.
Microphones give the best sound. That is why the engineer will plant a mic in front of you in the studio and not even ask if you have a cool pickup in your guitar. They limit movement onstage but A.Davis loves the way that bluegrass bands solve the problem. They just use the same mic as the grange auctioneer. When it's your turn for a lead, you move upstage and jam the guitar up to it for more volume. Lots of fun but not for everyone.
There are also lavalier mics that go inside the guitar. A.Davis doesn't use many of these because they get in the way of soundhole plugs and they are kind of touchy about feedback.
Magnetic pickups have magnets and one or more coils of wire that sense the movement of the strings as they interupt the magnetic field. When made for acoustic guitars they're different than electrics in one basic way. The wound strings for acoustics don't have a lot of steel in them so the pickup has to compensate for that. Many pickups have left the comfortable realm of the Sunrise or Seymour Duncans Woody and have become hybrids like L.R.Baggs' M1 or Duncans Mag-mic which combine technologies for a more authentic sound.
However you pronounce it, piezo pickups have come a long way. Experimentation started in the mid 1800's and they were first used to transmit the "ping" sound for submarine echo location in 1917. They can be made from 20 different natural crystals and fabricated compounds are currently the best. Undersaddle transducers can be made from one solid piece or a flexible membrane. They can be made with individual pieces for each string or built into a saddle/pickup like the Baggs LB-6. Body transducers can be simple discs, membranes, arrays or even combinations of all three types of pickups. Since the guitar has a varied and complex sound, so are the solutions for sound reinforcement.
Before Lloyd Baggs was a big time pickup magnate, he was a guitar builder. His knowledge of the instrument shows in the way the company has just splattered the industry with cool sound reinforcement options. The active element is a great all around pickup and many artists use the I-mix with an M1[Jim Messina] or an I-beam on the bridge plate [George Kahumoku Jr., Dean Parks]. Every tech worth his salt has a ParaAcoustic DI in his bag of tricks. It's the swiss army knife of direct boxes.
Seymour has been making pickups since the seventies. His "Woody" pickups are a good option for non-invasive amplification and the Mag Mic takes the cake for multi-dimensional drop in pickups. The collaboration with Rick Turner [D-Tar] has produced some top notch stuff. David Crosby turned us on to the Timberline awhile back. A Timberline with a Mag Mic in stereo gives you a lot of control over what's coming out of the speakers. The tricky to install cable transducer has been replaced by the Sadducer or a flat membrane style [a very good thing].
A Fishman Matrix is the "go to" pickup for many sound technicians and guitar manufacturers. It returns a good sound with great dynamic response. Mike Lennon and Pat Simmons are both using the Matrix onstage, all over the world.
The Highlander IP-2's rugged construction and excellent sound gets a gold star from A.Davis. The cable transducer's a bit tricky to install but the multi-dimensional effect on sound can be easily appreciated. The extra input plug with 9v supply[mounted inside the guitar body] can accommodate many other pickups. We've tried Highlander's onboard mic, Seymour's Mag Mic, Baggs' M1 and PTW 27's and 54's, all to good effect. Pat Simmons is using a Highlander on the Doobies Live at Wolftrap DVD.
Dieter Kaudel has combined simple ingredients into some nice sounding and affordable systems. K & K is a family style business and their website is rich with info and sound comparisons of their pickups. Zoux uses a Pure Western Mini with their outboard preamp.
Dean Markley makes great strings. They are all guitar crazy and this shows in a nice line up of acoustic guitar pickups. Like their strings, their pickups run in the middle of the road - laying rubber in a '67 Mustang with a fresh motor, 9" locker, and new wheels.
A.Davis loves this company. They have done away with the 9v battery and testy phantom power supplies. Their preamps are powered with a supercapacitor that charges in a minute. We hope this technology continues to spread along with Mi-Si's attention to detail in sound and utility.
PTW's David Enke gets the mad scientist award from A.Davis Guitars. We believe his ultra flexible piezo membrane pickups are at the pinnacle of the industrial age technology mentioned at the top of this page. We also believe he will be the first to advertise with a solar powered, guitar shaped blimp. Don't just take it from us -witness Tommy Johnston using a Dynamic Duo with a Baggs preamp on the Doobie Bros. Live at Wolftrap DVD.
When all the sound hounds lie down, Jackson Browne will still be pawing the ground and sniffing around, and trying to get a better sound. He settled on this system a few years back and all his guitars use it. His record, "The Naked Ride Home" which got a five star review in Rolling Stone, has a couple tracks on it where all the mics in his collection couldn't beat the Amulet. 'Nuff said.
These guys are the only European company listed on this page. They build beautiful products and their whole operation seems to be top notch. To A.Davis, their pickups sound authentic/ middle of the road. The key here is; the roads in Europe are a bit nicer than ours.
