I bought this pickup after extensive research as an alternative to a Fishman Rare Earth Blend. Installed it in my Martin DM and was ultimately disappointed. Despite what they claim, the string balance was off for my instrument. High E and B too loud, bass strings too soft. This was with regular D'addario phosphor-bronze strings, which they recommend. For someone playing fingerpicking parts across all strings this renders the pickup useless. I did a head-to-head comparison with the Fishman and the string balance was much better. I might give the LR Baggs M1 with pole pieces a shot or I might just stick with the Fishman.
Soundwise it does seem to be a bit more natural sounding compared to the Fishman. Probably due to the fact that even with the mic mix at zero it picks up body/top resonance. Keep this in mind, this is not a pickup to be used with a tube amp or a lot of effects, it will feed back quickly. I'd only add a little bit of mic to the mix but it doesn't improve the string balance issue.
I really wanted to like this pickup so the fact that I'm returning it says enough. One more detail, the design is nice and compact with the built-in mic but I don't really like the fact that the chip/electronics are visible. They are not completely enclosed like in Fishman and LR Baggs products. Probably makes it sleeker and lighter but looks a bit vulnerable to me.
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