The acoustic guitar is a magical instrument. It is known as much for both livening the party at small clubs and backyards to quieting large crowds at indoor theaters and concert halls. In the hands of a master, the acoustic guitar is a living breathing soul, with individuals in the audience enraptured by the complex qualities of its six strings. As we have discussed before, capturing and amplifying the tonal qualities of an acoustic guitar is no easy feat. However, the L.R. Baggs company has dedicated enormous resources to developing technologies that deliver the promise of transparent acoustic tone. In fact, the M1 series of soundhole pickups were designed with the purist in mind. This is the person who relies on the natural feel of the instrument and does not want to cut a giant hole in their guitar in order to be heard. As of 2005, there are now two products in the M1 family, the M1 passive and the M1 active pickup. We review both in this article.

L.R. Baggs Rules!

L.R. Baggs is certainly at the top of their game. In 2004, they were awarded three gold medals in Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s Player’s Choice Awards. Twin gold medals for acoustic preamps and pickups, and an overall gold medal for “Most Popular Guitar Performance Gear Manufacturer.” An amazing achievement, but not surprising when you realize that L.R. Baggs has been at the forefront of acoustic amplification for nearly 25 years, ever since Lloyd Baggs invented one of the first piezo ceramic transducers for none other than Ry Cooder. So as you read this article, don’t just take our word for it! Lloyd is considered to be one of the foremost authorities on acoustic amplification, and the players have given the company top honors to prove it.

The M1 Pickup



Most magnetic soundhole pickups are built using a very simple single coil designs. These models are actually quite good for picking up high and mid-range tones produced by the strings of an acoustic guitar. However, single coil pickups suffer from two key problems, 60 cycle hum and lack of warmth. First, when playing an electric guitar, the noise generated from single coils is often not really a problem, and is in some cases preferred; however, it is almost never desirable in an acoustic setting. In “unplugged” and recording situations, 60 cycle hum is at the very minimum distracting and detrimental. Second, magnetic pickups are designed to detect changes in the magnetic field as determined by the vibration of metal strings. However, much of the sound that is characteristic to an acoustic guitar is also heavily influenced by body shape, bracing patterns, and aspects of top vibration.

The M1 pickup utilizes two technologies that eliminate these two common problems. First, instead of a single-coil design the M1 uses a dual-coil (i.e., stacked humbucking) design for its magnetic pickup. If you are familiar with the properties of a humbucking pickup on an electric guitar, the results are similar – effectively both enhancing volume and eliminating noise. Second, this pickup uses L.R. Baggs exclusive “TriAxial Dynamic Technology™”. Essentially, the second coil is suspended below the first coil and allowed to vibrate in three dimensional space in response to vibrations from the top of the acoustic guitar.

As mentioned the M1 now comes in two flavors, a passive version and an active version.




Features common to both units include:

• Quiet, hum-free operation under the most challenging live conditions
• Highly feedback resistant
• Adjustable pole pieces with smooth threadless tops preserve fingerstylists' nails
• Built-in, 1/8” gold plated jack for signal clarity and ease of installation


Installation:

I found installation to be almost identical and equally easy for both units. I installed the active pickup in a Greg Bennett designed Carolina Acoustic model with a solid cedar top. Similarly, I installed the passive pickup in a Taylor 714CE acoustic which also had a solid cedar top.

Because the Taylor already has the Expression System™ installed, I used the supplied 12’ Mogami cable suspended out of the sound hole. However, the Greg Bennett Carolina did not have any kind of pickup installed, so it was easy enough to install the end-pin/strap-jack in the Greg Bennett Carolina by drilling a ½” hole in place of the current strap button. After drilling the hole you just remove the washer, retaining nut, and strap ring from the jack, insert the jack through the newly drilled hole and then reattach and finger tighten the washer and retaining nut on the inside and the strap ring on the outside.

In either case, make sure you loosen the clamps on each side of the pickup device prior to installation. For the Taylor, I didn’t even have to remove the strings; all I had to do was loosen them enough to slide the pickup into place.



Installing the M1 into the Carolina was a little more troublesome in that it has a slightly smaller than average soundhole. After studying the design of the M1, I realized that if I loosened the clamps enough I could gain an extra bit of space not occupied by plastic which then allowed the pickup to just barely slide over the lip of the soundhole and perfectly into place. However, unlike me, I would suggest measuring your soundhole before installation to make sure it is large enough to accommodate the M1.

One last tip on installation – do not over tighten the clamps. This is very important since the M1 does not have any padding (cork or otherwise) between the clamps and the top face of the guitar. This design is meant to maximize surface contact, and hence meant to transmit vibration from the top to the pickup. Nevertheless, over tightening can also damage the top if you are not careful.

Aesthetically, the installed M1 was very appealing, with a clean, understated look. It certainly did not take away from the appearance of either guitar.

Sound Test:

The tone achieved from both of these pickups was surprisingly well balanced and natural. Oftentimes, magnetic pickups (especially humbuckers) can be muddy and indelicate. Both the M1 passive and M1 active sounded much more natural than a piezo transducer pickup which is usually criticized for having that “quacky” quality. The M1 was articulate and not muddy, sonically much closer to a well placed microphone than a magnetic pickup. Being honest, I would say that a good condenser microphone would probably provide a more natural response; however, this pickup really does provide a great balance between feedback resistance and acoustic quality. Obviously this provides tremendous advantages for on stage performances. In addition, this might be the perfect pickup for studio recording where you record and blend the natural sounding pickup signal with a microphone signal.

As I mentioned, both pickups sound much more like a microphone than a magnetic pickup. Remembering that the M1 translates top vibration as well as string vibration, I experimented with a little percussion playing with great success. If you are a percussion player who likes to tap and thump on the top of your guitar in addition to playing the strings, you will find that the M1 well suited to your style.

Another feature I liked was the adjustable pole pieces. According to the manual, both M1 pickups are already balanced for bronze strings. I like to use phosphor bronze light gauge strings that are somewhat brighter than standard bronze strings. These also performed well; however, I found that on the Carolina the “G” string was way too prominent in the mix. To remedy this, I used the Allen wrench supplied with the M1 Active to “dial down” the pole piece for that string. Problem solved – perfect tone achieved.

I’ll admit that I spent most of my time experimenting with the M1 Active that I built into the Carolina. It is really a nice “plug-n-play” pickup, meaning that once it installed there is no need for an additional pre-amp. I really enjoyed the fact that I could easily adjust the volume by turning a small thumbwheel on the lower right side of the pickup.

Although the M1 Passive did produce an acceptably loud signal, I found that it sounded clearer and more harmonically rich when routed through a quality pre-amp such as the L.R. Baggs Para-Acoustic D.I. The M1 Active did not seem to require additional pre-amplification for optimal tone, unless you desire additional equalization options not provided by the amplifier, mixing board, or PA. The primary disadvantage to the active version is that you run the risk of your batteries dying in the middle of a gig. However, checking the manual for battery life it suggests that the battery supplied will last about 1000 hours of playing time or 250 gigs.

Other features:
What if your guitar already has a built-in pickup like a piezo transducer? Although, I did not test this option, both the M1 Passive and M1 Active allows you to connect the output wire from an internal microphone or transducer pickup system to the ring terminal of the endpin jack, allowing you to have dual output capability.


Which one should I choose?

The reality is that both the passive and the active options are great sounding choices for natural sounding acoustic guitar tone. If you already own a good acoustic pre-amp or if you just do not want to face the thought of removing the pickup for battery replacement then the M1 Passive is probably your best bet. However, if you would like a well balanced acoustic pickup with a high quality built-in pre-amp and have the capability of adjusting the equalization on the output device then the M1 Active is the most logical choice. Both pickups will allow you to mix its signal with a second onboard source and to optimize pole-heights relative to your guitar and your personal taste.

Conclusion:

The M1 represents an important advancement in non-invasive pickup technology, providing both a natural and well balanced translation of acoustic guitar tone. The M1 Active in particular was highly responsive to both string attack and percussive playing, while remaining free of feedback. Because both the passive and active pickups are similar in technology and have varying features that might appeal to different guitarists, GuitarGearHeads is proud to award both units our “Approved” award for 2005!



Furthermore, because the M1 Active is now part of my personal rig it also receives the new "Rig Ready" award given only to products that we feel represent the "best of the best".



We would like to thank L.R. Baggs for allowing us to review the M1 pickups and encourage our readers to visit their website for more details (www.lrbaggs.com).


Written by Daniel L. Halberg

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