Anthem for Martin 00015M

[davewuff]

Hi from a newbie!
I have recently purchased a Martin 00015M and my question is, will the Anthem controls fit this guitar or will the SL fit better? (it is quite a small guitar and I am worried the soundboard braces will be too close together.) I cant find an exact measurment/footbrint for the control module any where. I would rather have the Anthem but as this pickup is hard to find and expensive in the UK I will be buying from the states and shipping it in, so I would rather be sure it will fit as it will be a lot of hassle to return it. Can anyone help?
Many thanks

[Bryan McManus]

Please take a look at the fourth picture on this page: http://www.lrbaggs.com/anthem/#seeit

That picture is a fairly standard dreadnaught guitar design with the back removed to show how the Anthem system is installed. Note the brace on the opposite side from the preamp. Also see the preamp fitting over an identical brace at its location. The Anthem preamp attaches with adhesive on the front corners by the soundhole edge and one on the other side of that brace.

The soundhole should be 4" in diameter. If it is smaller, there will be a small crescent-shaped gap between the soundhole edge and the curved lip of the preamp. If your soundhole is smaller than 4" I would consider the Anthem-SL. If you have a 4" soundhole, you then want to make sure the brace the preamp will straddle is no thicker than 1/8", no wider than 1" and approximately 1/8" away from the edge of the soundhole. If that brace that the preamp should fit over is thicker than 1/8" or scalloped like an extension of the X-pattern, the Anthem-SL should be chosen.

Here is the Anthem-SL thumbnail page also showing the system installed into the guitar with no back: http://www.lrbaggs.com/anthemsl/#seeit

It shows how small the controller is compared to the standard Anthem's preamp/control unit.

[davewuff]

Thanks for that Brian, I'll check things out when I next change the strings.

How much of a trade off is the SL compared to the Anthem? Is the Anthem SO much better. Has anyone reading this tried both and decided that the extra is worth it? Many thanks again

[Christian]

Hi Davewuff,
It's not necessarily that the Anthem is so much better. The big difference is the amount of control over the sound. With the Anthem SL the mix is set to aprox 70/30 mic which is the same as the Anthem with the mix rolled to max mic setting. With the Anthem you have the ability to mix in more piezo pickup until the piezo is the entire signal. The Anthem also has a battery check and phase button.

The link below is the sound you will get from the Anthem (mix set to full mic) and Anthem SL.


Anthem Sounds:

http://www.lrbaggs.com/anthem/#experienceit

-Christian

[davewuff]

Hi Christian, thanks for the reply.
Question, I thought the anthem only used the lower frequencies from the piezo to support the mic when that is selected, then someone else said the piezo could be used on it's own in very loud situations to avoid feedback. If that is the case does the fade/balance control bring the whole frequency spectrum of the piezo into play when selected 100%, or am I missing something? I know I'm being an anorak but I really like to know how things work.

I'm going to contact Martin to see if they can supply info about the bracing sizes.

[Christian]

Dave,
All versions of the Anthem use our element undersaddle pickup for low frequency support. You are correct; The mix wheel on the Anthem (full version) gives the player the ability to make the piezo carry the entire frequency range. On the Anthem SL the range both the mic and pickup carry is preset.

We have found that the pickup will feedback before the mic.

-Christian

[eugenewalls]

i installed the anthem SL on my martin D custom, and ive been able to achieve perfect acustic tone with it matched with a para di. plaid straight thru a pa. it sounds exactly like my guitar unpluged. its amazing.