Recommend Pickup to Work Well With Voiceprint

[Jim Nasium]

I have an acoustic only Taylor dreadnought. What is the ideal pickup to install to work with the Voiceprint?

The desire is to have only the Voiceprint on stage between guitar and mixer, with no other pedals.

My thinking is the Element because it has a preamp already, and I wouldn’t need a microphone as well since the Voiceprint should compensate for any benefit a microphone would have provided, and not have to deal with any possibility of mic related feedback.

Thoughts?

[Planetben]

I installed the element into my Guild 12 string and it worked perfectly.

[thirdie2002]

It works well with an undersaddle pickup. It works great with a sound board transducer. I have heard it also works well with magnetic and dual source pickups.

[Caleb_Elling]

The Voiceprint works well with a good variety of pickups. If you like the punch of an undersaddle, the VPDI maintains some of that and drastically improves the tone. If you like the smoother feel of a soundboard pickup, that also comes across in the Voiceprint to some degree. If you prefer one kind of pickup already, then I would recommend using that kind of pickup with the Voiceprint DI.

[Jim Nasium]

To close the chapter on this thread, I can tout my success with two pickup systems.

First is a Taylor 360e (solid mahogany top dreadnought 12 string) with the Taylor Expression System 2. I have never really like the Expression System 2 as a stand alone, however, in principle I really get it. The pickup is actually behind the saddle. So there is no material between the soundboard/bridge and the saddle. I do not like the idea of placing anything between the saddle and the bridge that might dampen the vibration transfer. This piezo type pickup works perfectly with the Voiceprint DI. The 12 string sounds amazing, just like unplugged, only louder. I played around with the EQ and ended up using one of the presets. I have the blend set at 70% Voiceprint, 30% pickup. It does appear to compress a bit the more Voiceprint % that is added. Either compression or the gain drops, I cannot really tell. Basically I have to increase the volume the higher I go up on the VP %.

Now I am running the exact same guitar except a six string version of it without onboard electronics (Taylor 320) but with a bone nut and saddle. It has a LR Baggs M1A, which i am just letting the wire hang out the sound hole and the switch jack through my beltloop. I have not adjusted the poles, or created its own voiceprint on it. I just plugged it in and used the same VP as the 12 string (remember, exact same guitar, though, except 12 vs 6 string) and the thing sounds amazing already. I'll adjust the poles on the M1A and make a voiceprint tomorrow. I am not running cork under the M1A. I have the pickup on the bare wood for better soundboard vibration transfer.

Hopefully someone, at some point finds all this useful. I will say, that in addition to the fantastic products that LR Baggs is making, the product support is amazing. There are other similar products out there, but the technical support is here when you need it. You will not find an easier to use IR device out there. Just don't over think it, and follow the instructions, even if you have to watch the videos over and over. Everyone that hears this thing is blown away.

[Caleb_Elling]

Thanks for sharing, Jim!

It's great to see your unique experience with the DI/App. I'm sure this information will be helpful to others with the ES2 or the M1A.

[scott53]

Hi - I have a taylor 814. I replaced the pickups not too long ago with LR Baggs anthem SL, which worked better than any of the taylor expression systems (I've had that guitar for 15 years or so and tried them all!). However, I use it for looping and singing and the mic part of the anthem picked up the vox, so i have it disabled for now. If I wanted to get best sound using the voice print, could I enable the mic to set up the voice print and then disable the mic, but use the original voice print? also wondering if I can use the voice print on a different guitar to get a more consistent sound when switching guitars?


also wondering if I can 'cheap out' on a pickup if I know that I'll have the voice print, or does the voice print quality really rely on the pickup? If I don't love my pickups, can it use a microphone to make the image?

Thanks!

Thanks!

[Caleb_Elling]

Hey Scott,
The Voiceprint is created using information from the guitar AND from the pickup. Changing the balance between the pickup and mic after the VP is made will influence the tone after the fact. So it would be best to maybe blend in just a small amount of mic so that you have a little mids and high-frequency content, but not so much that it's picking up everything around you. Then when you make the VP it will compensate for the extra high end that you need.

If you are switching guitars, make a Voiceprint for each, and then you set up your presets for seamless switching with the press of a button on the DI.

[Jim Nasium]

So, I do a couple of open mic nights per week, these days. I cannot count the number of times I have people approach me and tell be how amazed they are at my guitar sound vs every other guitar that goes up on stage. Afterward, I show them the Voiceprint and explain it to them. I'm thinking I should start getting a commission, ha, ha!

Great product. I just love it more every night I use it. Once I set up my voiceprint that first week, I have done nothing to it. I just plug it in on stage and I know everything is good to go, and I just play. If I need to adjust anything, I just make a minor adjustment on the guitar's preamp controls (expression system). The only adjustment I ever make is the preamp volume. With multiple venues, different mixers, different people mixing sound, and on a 12 string ( the absolute worse conditions one could ask for) and the thing just sounds perfect every time. I have never even had any feedback issues.

[Caleb_Elling]

That's so great to hear, Jim! Thanks for sharing!