King David
Guest
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2010
- Messages
- 321
- Reaction score
- 82
Where are we at with this? We're all aware of Mi-Si. Apparently they ditched the old trio under saddle element(which was geared for guitar anyway and not my favorite) on some versions like those installed on Pono TE's - now they use the same LR Baggs Five.O element as the big brother coin cell powered pickup which sounds like an upgrade in technology. I'm still not a fan of the super capacitor batteries though as they are no where near as hot as say 9volt powered pickups, which allow me to directly line in my PA without that fancy LR Baggs venue DI boost.
Then there's these new blends of half MIC half under saddle piezo Baggs has been working on to get more of a mic'd sound...however, these are not quite there yet technology wise of what you'd expect or want.
So that leaves us right back with the Baggs Five.O. Is this seriously as good as it gets right now/next couple years? Don't get me wrong, it's a nice pickup with an adequate amount of power voiced for the ukulele, however, it tends to be a bit boomy and geared toward the low end(for low G players?) so I'm often rolling off the lows to avoid muddiness and bass heavy finger noise. To top it off, I can't help but think this pickup is lacking when you directly compare it to say the custom LR Baggs active 9volt pickups built specifically for the Ko'olau CE semi-chambered electrics. When will these be the new norm, if ever, or in your speculation what will replace the Five.O for best sound?
P.S. I'm aware of vendor specific geared pickups: example Ovation & Blackbird.. like the graphtech/rmc individual piezos found on the former. While they sound good, (I wouldn't say natural...) it still is guitar technology and these are super fragile on ukes where messing up one of the gold elements can happen as easily as during a string change/setup..i.e. these are not the answer for consistent live performance or travel.
Then there's these new blends of half MIC half under saddle piezo Baggs has been working on to get more of a mic'd sound...however, these are not quite there yet technology wise of what you'd expect or want.
So that leaves us right back with the Baggs Five.O. Is this seriously as good as it gets right now/next couple years? Don't get me wrong, it's a nice pickup with an adequate amount of power voiced for the ukulele, however, it tends to be a bit boomy and geared toward the low end(for low G players?) so I'm often rolling off the lows to avoid muddiness and bass heavy finger noise. To top it off, I can't help but think this pickup is lacking when you directly compare it to say the custom LR Baggs active 9volt pickups built specifically for the Ko'olau CE semi-chambered electrics. When will these be the new norm, if ever, or in your speculation what will replace the Five.O for best sound?
P.S. I'm aware of vendor specific geared pickups: example Ovation & Blackbird.. like the graphtech/rmc individual piezos found on the former. While they sound good, (I wouldn't say natural...) it still is guitar technology and these are super fragile on ukes where messing up one of the gold elements can happen as easily as during a string change/setup..i.e. these are not the answer for consistent live performance or travel.
Last edited: