B-Band A-2 and UST

Submitted at: 14:08, 3/25/2004

Product Info

Pickup features: Under saddle electret accoustic guitar pickup with 2-channel end pin pre-amp
Impedence or other specs:
Price Paid: Ł90 something
Purchased from: chandlers guitars, London UK

Instrument

Model of guitar or bass: Fender GC23s (small body flat top accoustic)
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: N/A
Other pickups on guitar: N/A
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Sort of bluesy, jazzy, laid-back rocky ......(OK! OK! .....I DON'T KNOW!)
Reason for pickup change:

Sound

Perceived output level: Pretty loud
Tone: Best I can say is clear, full and balanced; good rich accoustic tone
Sonic evaluation: Fender SC23s through either a Carlsbro Sherwood Classic (by the way - a very beautiful amp!) or DI'd (Behringer Ultra DI) into my mixer and into the PA

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Nearest indication I can give is sort of J.J. Cale'ish but perhaps less coutryfied more rocky/bluesy

Overall Rating

Comments: If it were lost or stolen I would weep for a while and then replace it. I'm actually very picky about tone - I just can't live with a naff sound. I tried a lot of under saddle p'ups - all piezo's and frankly they all had that generic piezo 'plastic' sound (some refer to it as 'quacky' but to my ears it sounds plastic. B-Band is NOT PIEZO - it's electret (I'm not electronics engineer but I am told that electret is a different technology to piezo). I also listened and tried lots of guitars with piezo p'ups - again there was not a great deal to chose between the high end stuff - they all had the piezo sound - and the cheapo kit sounded - er - cheapo! The B-Band just sounds beautiful - that's all I can say - beautiful warm, harmonically rich and balanced accoustic tone. Very clear string separation, very tranparent treble, deep but clear bass. My guitar is not a particularly expensive or special guitar (but yes....I love it) and I am a pretty average guitarist, but virtually every gig I play I get comments from musicians and punters alike about how good the guitar sounds - which of course makes my day! When I first installed the B-Band (and it is very easy to install - the supplied booklet of instuctions etc is excellent) the b-string was pretty dominant (a common fault on amplified accoustics) - B-Band in the suppied booklet make some suggestions to rectify bad string balance and the solution which worked for me was to raise the angle of the b-string behind the saddle - I just placed a small piece of rosewood under the string behind the saddle as it angles down to the bridge pin - this raises the string a little behind the saddle and thereby reduces the downwards pressure of the string on the saddle. It worked perfectly, quietened the string down without losing any tone or intonation - very simple and effective solution.

Can't recommend the B-Band highly enough - it's definately superior to any piezo I heard (even the very expensive stuff) and it is a well designed and intelligently delivered bit of kit.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this pickup a: 10 Fantastic value

Submitted by: Peter Pollard <littleboots@onetel.com>