Acoustic Sound Hole Pickup Woes

GaryJ73167 · 03-04-2018, 10:00 PM

I have been having one heck of a battle with acoustic sound hole pickups these past few days.

There are a few things that have been giving me grief. One, is the size sound hole in my Goya. It is barely 3 1/2". With the said, trying to find a pickup in my price range (that will fit that size sound hole) is challenging as well (all for about $85.00).

The other issue has been, that in my price range, I was mostly trying Single Coil pickups. These have all been a bit noisy on my setup and I read online that they are known to pickup interference.

So, after trying different pickups and multiple trips to Guitar Center, I came up with an idea

I have an iRig acoustic for my iPad. I LOVE the sound of this device, but, the only way I can get it to plug into my guitar interface is to buy the iRig Acoustic Stage setup. And , i dont feel like spending the $100.00 for it. Especially since purchasing one is like buying a 2nd iRig acoustic clip. (I should have thought of this last month when I purchased my 1st iRig acoustic)

So, what i did was run an 1/8' jack out of the iRig acoustic (after it was already plugged into my iPad) into the Focusrite 2i4 that I have. I used the same jack that headphones are usually plugged into on the iRig. I didn't have high hopes for the sound that it would create, but, I must say that I am quite impressed.

This was my final result below. It may not suit everyone's taste, but, for me and what i do, I was pleasantly surprised. And it has ZERO interference noise (as far as I can tell)

https://soundcloud.com/gary-falzone-.../ipad-acoustic

colonelporridge · 03-20-2018, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaryJ73167

I have been having one heck of a battle with acoustic sound hole pickups these past few days.

There are a few things that have been giving me grief. One, is the size sound hole in my Goya. It is barely 3 1/2". With the said, trying to find a pickup in my price range (that will fit that size sound hole) is challenging as well (all for about $85.00).

The other issue has been, that in my price range, I was mostly trying Single Coil pickups. These have all been a bit noisy on my setup and I read online that they are known to pickup interference.

So, after trying different pickups and multiple trips to Guitar Center, I came up with an idea

I have an iRig acoustic for my iPad. I LOVE the sound of this device, but, the only way I can get it to plug into my guitar interface is to buy the iRig Acoustic Stage setup. And , i dont feel like spending the $100.00 for it. Especially since purchasing one is like buying a 2nd iRig acoustic clip. (I should have thought of this last month when I purchased my 1st iRig acoustic)

So, what i did was run an 1/8' jack out of the iRig acoustic (after it was already plugged into my iPad) into the Focusrite 2i4 that I have. I used the same jack that headphones are usually plugged into on the iRig. I didn't have high hopes for the sound that it would create, but, I must say that I am quite impressed.

This was my final result below. It may not suit everyone's taste, but, for me and what i do, I was pleasantly surprised. And it has ZERO interference noise (as far as I can tell)

https://soundcloud.com/gary-falzone-.../ipad-acoustic

Sounds very nice, if i was to be a stickler id say its ever so slightly boxy but an eq cut in the right place would sort that out.

GaryJ73167 · 03-23-2018, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colonelporridge

Sounds very nice, if i was to be a stickler id say its ever so slightly boxy but an eq cut in the right place would sort that out.

Thank you for the kind words

2 things that confuse me a lot (and I feel I have a decent ear for music, so I dont understand why I would be having these issues)

1st thing is a compressor

2nd thing is an EQ

Growing up, the only thing I used an EQ for was to give my home stereo a bit more treble.....and as far as a compressor, I have very little understanding of it..most of the times I really don't know what I am listening for

But, anyway, thanks again for the reply

pipelineaudio · 03-23-2018, 04:51 PM

Got 5 bucks?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7cJTZoRSPs

GaryJ73167 · 03-23-2018, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pipelineaudio

Got 5 bucks?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7cJTZoRSPs

?????

colonelporridge · 03-24-2018, 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaryJ73167

Thank you for the kind words

2 things that confuse me a lot (and I feel I have a decent ear for music, so I dont understand why I would be having these issues)

1st thing is a compressor

2nd thing is an EQ

Growing up, the only thing I used an EQ for was to give my home stereo a bit more treble.....and as far as a compressor, I have very little understanding of it..most of the times I really don't know what I am listening for

But, anyway, thanks again for the reply

there is some good eqing tips in here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHxMsawJsTc

moribund · 03-24-2018, 12:25 PM

Something I've recently discovered:

You can greatly improve the usually awful, quacky sound of an acoustic under the saddle pickup by running your guitar into your recording interface and using an acoustic guitar IR in ReaVerb. Up until now, the best sound I was able to get from either a steel string or a classical guitar was with a mic mounted inside the guitar (outside is difficult for live use - it picks up too much crowd noise and is very feedback prone, not to mention awkward). The inside the guitar solution of course needs to be heavily EQ'd but still sounds way better than just a normal piezo. However, the piezo into ReaVerb actually sounds better than the internal mic setup, and is more flexible in terms of effects, as you can use any VST effect (compressor, reverb, EQ, etc) in the channel. It is very close to the sound of a studio mic'd guitar.

tweezer · 03-24-2018, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moribund

using an acoustic guitar IR in ReaVerb

Is there any particular one you've used and can recommend? I've spent way too much money on snake oil that promises much and delivers nothing.

tweezer · 03-24-2018, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaryJ73167

Thank you for the kind words

2 things that confuse me a lot (and I feel I have a decent ear for music, so I dont understand why I would be having these issues)

1st thing is a compressor

2nd thing is an EQ

Growing up, the only thing I used an EQ for was to give my home stereo a bit more treble.....and as far as a compressor, I have very little understanding of it..most of the times I really don't know what I am listening for

But, anyway, thanks again for the reply

There are loads of sites that offer tuition on recording in general but the one I've found most useful is https://www.therecordingrevolution.com
Here's a link to one of Graham's videos dealing with compression on acoustic guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fwn3QKE9Cc
You can sign up to his site free of charge and there is a ton of useful info to be had absolutely free. There's also stuff you can buy but you are free not buy anything. No spam from him, just useful info.

serr · 03-24-2018, 05:27 PM

"acoustic guitar sound hole pickup"

Are you after one of the 'budget' acoustic pickups that is basically a cheap electric guitar pickup (and pretty much sounds like one) because the under saddle piezo pickup is too expensive?

Or are you in fact after an electric guitar style pickup for the sound hole so you can slip in electric guitar parts on stage with that acoustic?

Or are you talking about some other system that I apparently have no idea what it might be but it's not the crude thing I mention as option 1?

Answer #1: Save your money for the piezo pickup. Just don't even consider the sound hole version. You'll sound like a cheap electric guitar and be sad.

Answer #2: They make what are called "stacked" pickups that have the single coil form factor but are two coils stacked and wired for humbucking.

Answer #3: Um, what pickup would that be?