M80 Buzz

[Rodrigo Pandelo]

Hi there, folks!

My name is Rodrigo, and I'm a Brazilian singer-songwriter.

I have had a M80 installed in a Martin HD28 for 2 years, and there is a little buzz every time I play in some places. The Buzz is intermittent. Sometimes it just goes away, and sometimes it comes back.

In some places I play, it never shows up! It's crystal clear!

I just bought an Anthem Pickup System, but I'm just too scared of the battery life. I just can't afford string changes every month, and I read in a few places about it.

So I just decided to keep my M80, but I would like to know what should I do to end with this little white noise.

My set-up is Martin HD28 with M80 -> Polytune 2 -> Lr Baggs Session DI -> LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI -> QSC Touchmix 8 Mixer -> QSC K10.2.

And... about the battery life of the Anthem. Am I overreacting about it? Should I give it a try? I play plugged for about 8 hours/week.

THANK you, everyone! And sorry for my bad English!

[Caleb_Elling]

Hey Rodrigo,
Thanks for posting.

The M80 is a magnetic pickup, so it can be subject to noise issues in some rooms or buildings. For instance, in some buildings with older wiring, the M80 could be more prone to hum. It's just the nature of magnetic pickups. Some electric guitars can be prone to the same noise in the same places.

As far as the Anthem goes, you should get about 200 hours (roughly) of playing time on a battery. And even then, you don't need to remove the strings in order to change the battery. The Anthem has a battery indicator on it, so it's easy to stay on top of the battery life. When the battery gets low, just loosen the lower strings, reach in and change the battery. It's not as crazy as some may think.

I hope that helps.

[Rodrigo Pandelo]

Awesome, Caleb! Thank you for the answer!

Now I'm hugelly interested in the Anthem again! 200 hours is about half a year of plugged playing for me, and that's a LOT!

But now I'm having an idea. Do you think that I could use the Anthem AND the M80 (for capture the lower frequencies... just what the US Element do in the Anthem), for a less quacky sound? I could set my Anthem just to capture the Tru Mic, and blend the signal with the M80.

Does it worth it? I would have to make a 2nd hole in my Martin... and use two cables... but if I could get an even more natural mic'd sound out of my Guitar, I would be happy.

What do you guys think?

[Caleb_Elling]

The nice thing about the Anthem is that, when you use in the mic, the pickup no longer carries the quacky mid frequencies. If you blend all the way over to the mic, the Element only carries 250Hz and below. This makes the whole frequency range sound more natural, and it is less prone to feeding back.

The issue with adding the M80 and the Anthem together is that the Anthem controller takes up quite a bit of room in the soundhole where the M80 would usually fit. There isn't usually enough room in the soundhole for the Anthem preamp and a soundhole pickup.

[Rodrigo Pandelo]

Got it, Caleb! Again, thanks for the help! One last question about the Anthem: does it take well effect pedals, such as reverb, delay, compressor and modulations (trem and chorus, basically)? Or do you think that the M80 would do a better job in this area?

Huge help! Thank you very much!

[Caleb_Elling]

The Anthem sounds more natural than the M80 (at the right settings), so it does sound different with effects. The Anthem will work with effects just fine, it's just that the M80 sounds a bit more electric, so it tends to "cut through" a bit more. Too many effects can make the Anthem get lost in a mix.

I use effects with my Anthem, and I love how it responds. It's different than the M80 though.

[Rodrigo Pandelo]

Thank you, Caleb! I love the M80, but I will give the Anthem a try. The hum of the M80 is causing me some problems in a few venues.

If the Anthem goes well with ambience effects (just to give a little flavour), and if it can take around 200 hours of battery life, it will be my new Pickup.

Thank you very much, Caleb. You guys are awesome! It's a real pleasure to be a LR Baggs customer!

Thank you!!!

[Rodrigo Pandelo]

Hi, again, everybody!

I just talked to my luthier, and he said me that it would be possible to install the Full Anthem with the M80 into my HD-28!

He will do the job on thursday, and I will try the combination of the M80 with the Lyrics. For now, just to test, I'll use the jack for the Anthem, and the M80 will have the jack going out of the soudhole. If I like the experience, I'll probably make a 2nd hole in the body of my Martin, and use them both at my overall sound.

The idea is to use the M80 running into a few pedals (Strymon Bigsky, Timeline, Mobius, TC Polytune 2 and Empress Compressor), and out for the Touchmix 8. The Anthem would run into the Session DI, Para DI, and to the Touchmix. I'll probably use the Anthem mic, leaving only the 250hz to the Element. And blend the Anthem signal to the modulations of the M80. I guess it will be really nice! Something similar with what Charlie Worsham made with mr Baggs in a Youtube episode.

I'll let you guys know how it goes!

Thank you for all the help, Caleb!

[Caleb_Elling]

I guess it will be really nice! Something similar with what Charlie Worsham made with mr Baggs in a Youtube episode.

I'll let you guys know how it goes!

Thank you for all the help, Caleb!

Sounds like a plan! Thanks for sharing.