Lyric + additional pickup

[tetsu83]

Hi Fellow Musicians,

I recently installed a Lyric in my Epi EJ-200 (Jumbo) which was previously occupied by a Shadow eSonic2 (undersaddle piezo and magnetic).
The preamp died, prompting the emergency upgrade and gave me a bonus soundport.

As mentioned here and elsewhere, the Lyric has a (not-so) secret solder pad for an additional pickup.
My question is: is it worth salvaging any of the old pickups to connect to the Lyric jack? If so, which one?
I'm planning on using this potential for a secondary signal with additional effects. Thanks in advance!

[Caleb_Elling]

Adding a second source to the Lyric is a bit more complicated than it can initially sound. If you add your old undersaddle or magnetic pickup to the Lyric, you'll only be able to use both sources if you have a stereo or stereo-Y cable, and a stereo preamp or mixer that can blend the signals. If either of the Fishman pickups requires a dedicated preamp to get the signal level up, you'll need a compatible preamp for the Ring channel coming from the guitar.

If that's what you want to do, I believe that both of those pickups are capable of running passively, so they should work just fine as an aux pickup with the Lyric.

Choosing which one to use is absolutely a matter of personal preference and what you're wanting to get from the guitar. In my experience, blending a magnetic pickup with the Lyric is usually the more versatile option since the mag sound is so different from the mic. Blending them together gives you lots of tonal options.

Blending the UST with the Lyric also has its benefits. I usually like the punch of the UST with the smoothness of the mic, but it all depends on how you blend them.

I hope this helps.