Myers pickup for acoustic instruments

[kkmm]

I have read a lot about this Myers pickup and just ordered one for a friend (playing violin).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VIOLIN-PICKU.../111702431226?

I am sure it would work on mandolins, guitars, ukuleles, etc...
The only thing remains is the sound quality thru a good amp system.

[mandroid]

A suction cup mounted mini Mic and jack box V pot, , seems a decent solution .

report back when you've tried it a while ..
nothing says what its mic is , a Dynamic lavalier is my guess..

http://myerspickups.com/aboutus.html

unless there is a small battery in it's box to charge a condenser/capacitor ..

[kkmm]

I sent a message to ask about the battery, here is the answer:

The pickup comes with a fresh battery installed for you and in the box there an extra one too. It takes a lithium CR1220 coin cell battery.

[mandroid]

Ok, lavalier condenser type then..


a friend just puts a headset mic, lavalier, on .

plays the violin and announces the music compositions,

and moves around a lot on stage, so it's using a wireless transmitter.

[almeriastrings]

They are an omnidirectional, self-polarized back-electret microphone with a small FET preamp powered by a lithium battery.

[mandroid]

So its up to a Line level output? lot more drain on the battery then , I'd suppose..

[almeriastrings]

Good luck finding any meaningful specifications buried among the sales blurb on their website

[mandroid]

yea that what I saw, rely on rumors here for the rest of it.

[kkmm]

I found two threads on Myers pickups

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...t=Myers+pickup

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...t=Myers+pickup

From the ones who bought and tried it, it's a good pickup. It is actually a tiny microphone and not any kind of contact pickup such as piezo. As far as whether it needs a preamp or DI box or not, I will have to try to know for sure.

I have guitars / mandolins with built in preamp / pickup and they can be connected directly to a 1/4" input of a combo amp or a mixer.
Or they can be connected to a DI box which is in turned connected to the mixer using a standard XLR mic cable. Can't tell the difference between these two connection methods.

[almeriastrings]

You should not really have to wonder about that.

The manufacturer should provide enough basic details on their website for you to know. They seem to have no problem filling pages upon pages of sales hype...while leaving out all the essential details about the product (a pet gripe of mine).

Output level?

Balanced/unbalanced?

Mic sensitivity rating? Max SPL? Self-noise?

That kind of thing.

Ideally, a mini-mic should have a balanced output and should be able to handle phantom power (even if it uses a battery). I suspect these don't do either. I have to "suspect" for reasons stated above. I guess (see above again) they are intended to plug in via a mono unbalanced jack to an amplifier....

[kkmm]

The pickup arrives 3 days sooner than predicted.

I use my keyboard amplifier as recommended by the instruction regarding how to test the device.
Here are what I found after trying on one violin and one mandolin of mine.
1) acoustic sound is reproduced near perfectly to my ears, sound much better than when the built in pickup is used
2) output level appears to be similar to the active pickups I have in these two instruments
3) the suction cup, IMHO, is a joke. It cannot hold for long. I simply cannot rely on it in gigs. It could fall off any time and this causes an anxiety that will certainly affect my playing

Next, I use another PA system to test it via a DI box connected to the PA using standard XLR mic cable, no phantom power is needed. The sound is great, better than when using built in active pickup of the instruments.

I have a very good impression with this Myers pickup, the only negative part is the suction cup. But the box also contains double side adhesives to allow glueing the pickup somewhere on the instrument, or screws to mount it permanently. This requires to remove the suction cup making the whole thing thinner.

In summary, this Myers pickup connection methods are similar to what I use with built in pickup, no difference.
As the Myers contain a tiny microphone, it is somewhat more sensitive to feedback.

[almeriastrings]

Next, I use another PA system to test it via a DI box connected to the PA using standard XLR mic cable, no phantom power is needed. The sound is great, better than when using built in active pickup of the instruments.

Yes, microphones do tend to sound considerably better than pickups.

I would carry a spare battery with you. That type of cell has very limited capacity, and they can die suddenly, without warning in relatively high drain situations.

[kkmm]

I would carry a spare battery with you. That type of cell has very limited capacity, and they can die suddenly, without warning in relatively high drain situations.

Thanks for the suggestion. The package contains an extra dime size battery, but I feel more comfortable to buy more to put in the instrument case.
The built in active pickup has the advantage of using 9V battery that seem to last "forever" to me, but I always replace them every 6 to 9 months depending on usage load.

[Dan Krhla]

I got mine a few weeks ago. Works very well. Output is nice and loud and clean. Little sensitive to feedback as mentioned above. Great tip on the battery, will get spares in all my cases. I like the suction cup. I have a little Velcro loop on end of strap where it attaches to bottom of instrument. That way the strap / end pin bear most of the weight of the strap slack and my pickup stays on for hours. Beautiful reproduction of tone. If your stomach growls, people will hear it. Might try to special order one with a longer mic wire. Getting it into my oval hole Breedlove puts the box slightly in the way. On my F hole mandolins, I'm at the point where I don't even notice it. Very happy. NFI

[kkmm]

Velcro

I like Velcro as a way to attach the pickup on the instrument very securely, and yet it is still removable to be put on another instrument that has Velcro too. GREAT IDEA.

[avaldes]

Anyone have experience with the "feather", which seems to have a clip rather than a suction cup attachment, and looks like you clip the preamp to your belt. As noted by several of you, actual details are hard to verify.

[kkmm]

I got it for two weeks now, and two days ago, finally have to put Velcro on it (two small pieces permanently glued on the side of the violin, and two under the pickup). It hold very good during gigs and can be easily removed so the violin fits in its case. The same pickup is also put on the cello when needed (with two pieces of Velcro on the top sound board, near the F hole).
I had to try this before using Velcro on the more expensive violin and cello (of a nephew, I do not play cello and just learn violin)
Glue Velcro on my cheap violin for hours then remove it: damage to the finish whatsoever.
When we played in the church yesterday, I have to put the amp behind the upright piano (which I play), and my friend sits on my right side to avoid the feedback issue. If the violinist "sees" the amp, then feedback occurs. The good part is the volume knob is within my right hand reach and I can help to adjust the volume when he starts playing.
One viola and one cello will join the group and two more pickups have been ordered for them.

I am facing with the feedback issue and here is how I plan to deal with them:
1) keep the volume of the combo-amp LOW to avoid feedback
2) put a dynamic mic (already connected to the church main PA) in front of the combo-amp speaker so these 3 instruments can be heard

I do not want to hook anything in the church sound system as I have no control over the settings (the mixer is in a back room, used in the set and forget mode, no one can touch).

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. I never had to deal with this kind of pickup before. All the pickups I used are "under the saddle/bridge pickup", even for my violin and viola. They are much less sensitive to feedback (virtually none) than the Myers pickups. Here is a photo of the violin pickup I used:

I had to cut a window on the side of the instrument for the preamp and my instrument looks like this:

It sounds good with either my keyboard amp or the larger Yamaha mixer / amp.

[almeriastrings]

They are much less sensitive to feedback (virtually none) than the Myers pickups.

That is because:

a) The Myers "pickup" is not a pickup at all. It is a microphone.
b) On top of that it is an omnidirectional microphone.

I would return it and get something with far better performance in a live setting - for example, the well proven Audio Technica PRO-35 or ATM350.

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...at-much-better

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...-mic-vs-others

Alternatively (though considerable more costly) the DPA 4099's are really excellent. Note: all of these are tight cardiod or hypercardiod - because that's what you need in these situations if directional 'spill' is not to enter the signal chain and cause feedback.

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...55338-Dpa-4099

Or.. you could just a pickup. A real pickup, rather than a microphone....

[kkmm]

The Myers "pickup" is not a pickup at all. It is a microphone.

Yes, I knew it is a mic and feedback is an issue to deal with. In the church we play, the choir has 6 condenser mics hanging above the head, and the speakers are behind the choir pointing to the rear (i.e. the choir do not hear their voices thru these speakers). This is how feedback is avoided.
And all the (clip-on or glue-on) piezo pickups require a pre-amp to sound good. The active pickup with preamp I installed on my violin (and viola) requires cutting a "rectangular" hole on the side of the instrument for the preamp. Here is the hole I cut on my viola.

I like the result as it sounds good and I have the freedom to move around as needed, no feedback to deal with.
My friend, like a lot of others, has trouble to accept cutting a hole in his instruments. Can't blame him.



That is an extra cost (for 3 instruments) that my friend can't afford.

[almeriastrings]

Not all active pickups require cutting holes... and you can get very good results from other pickups too. AKG C411, for example, or the Schertler DYN. You can also get pretty good results from a piezo with an external preamp.

An omnidirectional microphone in the vicinity of an amp (or monitors) is just asking for feedback.

There are laws of acoustics and physics involved here. No amount of wishful thinking (or marketing hype) can overcome them.

[mandroid]

& in general a soundboard fixed transducer makes the whole top act like a Microphone diaphragm.

[almeriastrings]

Indeed, but not a particularly sensitive one.

[mandroid]

one would hope so .. on Stage church level is lower than Bar Band with a Drummer level , I may assume

[terrygh1949]

I have one ordered with the gooseneck mic. I have several instruments which I plan to try it on. I'll post my results after I try it out. I play out with a 4pc band and duo act with my son. I'll try it on my mandolin first, this instrument has a built in pickup which has never sounded good, weak, noisy, and, not a true sound. I have several good preamps and, acoustic amps and, I'm hoping for the best. Not sure about the suction cup but, I have used stick on mics and, I do not like them even though they stayed put. I usually will loop the cable under the strap for a strain relief. The reviews are excellent on this unit and, emails with the owner Gregg have been very positive, can't beat the warranty either, don't like it, full refund. I have several guitars with built in pickups and, preamps and, I love the convienence of this. This unit with the built in mic and, preamp just sounds like what I have been looking for. I might add that I came across his product by accident and, it really showed me something that I had been looking for. I have high hopes.

[avaldes]

I have one ordered with the gooseneck mic. I have several instruments which I plan to try it on. I'll post my results after I try it out. I play out with a 4pc band and duo act with my son. I'll try it on my mandolin first, this instrument has a built in pickup which has never sounded good, weak, noisy, and, not a true sound. I have several good preamps and, acoustic amps and, I'm hoping for the best. Not sure about the suction cup but, I have used stick on mics and, I do not like them even though they stayed put. I usually will loop the cable under the strap for a strain relief. The reviews are excellent on this unit and, emails with the owner Gregg have been very positive, can't beat the warranty either, don't like it, full refund. I have several guitars with built in pickups and, preamps and, I love the convienence of this. This unit with the built in mic and, preamp just sounds like what I have been looking for. I might add that I came across his product by accident and, it really showed me something that I had been looking for. I have high hopes.

I have had the feather a couple of weeks. This is a recording of a bluegrass/Vivaldi mashup.
https://soundcloud.com/prairiealoha/myerspickup