PICKUPS, AMPS & PREAMPS

I have tried many different pickups over the years and have settled on a few types that I would most recommend (You'll see from the list below that I really like LR Baggs stuff but I'm also finding K&K to be really interesting now!). I also offer a fitting service for guitars other than my own, please contact me for advice and for complete price list. The prices below are all for fitting to any guitar, see my Prices page for cost when fitted at the time of making to one of my guitars.

Whilst I mainly supply pickups fitted, I am happy to sell mail order as well. I am not currently set up to take payment online so please contact me and arrange to send a cheque made payable to 'N. Benjamin' or do a direct bank transfer. Most pickups are available within two weeks but some special orders or out of stock items may take longer, I will advise you of this when an order is taken.

All the systems listed below are based around an internal preamp generally built in to the endpin socket for minimal impact on the guitar unless otherwise stated.

WITH THE CURRENT PRICE FLUCTUATIONS FOR IMPORTED GOODS PLEASE EMAIL OR CALL FOR UP TO THE MINUTE CHANGES - THE PRICES LISTED ARE AS ACCURATE AS POSSIBLE BUT ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT WARNING!

LR Baggs Systems www.lrbaggs.com

LR Baggs Element Active System - undersaddle pickup with internal preamp - easy, invisible amplification

Bagg's latest undersaddle pickup is an ideal choice for simple, reliable and invisible amplification. It fits easily - usually without any modification to the bridge saddle slot - and produces a good dynamic tone with enough presence for band work and enough warmth and depth for solo or mainly acoustic groups. Included is an optional volume control which mounts invisibly just inside the soundhole.

Some gentle EQing from the Headway EDB-1 or Baggs Para DI unit can help to yield exceptionally realistic stage sounds compared to any other undersaddle pickup.

Element Active System: £130 inc P&P within UK. (UK RRP £140)
Element Active System including fitting: from £160.

Recommended EQ settings: high mid cut at about 1.4kHz and sometimes a mild cut to treble above 5kHz plus notch at 200-250Hz (or slight bass cut) for more resonant guitars.

See lower down the page for the new iMix system which combines the Element with an iBeam contact pickup and the Dual Source Element which combines it with an internal mic.

LR Baggs M1 and M1 Active - magnetic soundhole pickup with soundboard sensing - deep, robust, feedback resistant tone

The M1 appears on first inspection to be a magnetic soundhole pickup much like any other but its secret weapon is its ability to sense soundboard vibration as well as the normal picking up of the strings like other magnetic units. It does this by allowing the two coils within it to vibrate relative to one another in a controlled way, producing a balanced and non-boomy microphonic effect as well as the magnetic string sensing from the same device. This means great simplicity; no blending of the two parts required.

The M1 boasts adjustable pole pieces for each string, allowing string to string balance adjustments and also quite dramatic tonal adjustments. When the pole pieces are set further away from the strings the microphonic part of the sound is heard more, giving the pickup a brighter more transparent quality. As you move all the pole pieces nearer the strings you get a fuller more 'magnetic' tone .

The M1 has all the benefits of most magnetics including good feedback resistance, which combined with it's great sensitivity makes it an ideal pickup for solo fingerstyle players, it also sounds very good strummed and flatpicked (some mid cutting EQ at about 900Hz benefits for these styles), making it one of the best ways to be heard in a (moderately!) loud band with minimum hassle and maximum tone. Combine it with a Headway EDB-1 or Baggs Para DI EQ box for the most flexible, reliable and straight-forward pro quality system available.

An active version of the M1 with built in preamp and mini integral volume control powered by a watch battery (1000 hours life) is also available. The M1 Active has increased output and is compatible with any outboard equipment (please note the passive version does not work well straight into a desk line input and needs either an active DI box with reasonably high input impedance, acoustic amp or preamp, such as the EDB-1 or Para DI to work at it's best).

M1: £165 inc. P&P in UK (RRP £180), fairly easy to fit yourself, especially if you already have a half inch hole for an endpin socket.
M1 fitted: £180

M1 Active: £185 inc. P&P in UK (RRP £200)
M1 Active fitted: £200

Recommended EQ settings: mid cut at about 800-1000Hz plus mild treble cut above 5kHz for brighter PAs.

LR Baggs iMix System - great versatility for a broad range of styles - warm and rich dynamic tone.

The 'iMix' internal system combines the Baggs iBeam bridge-plate contact pickup with an Element undersaddle pickup. Blending is via two small controls mounted invisibly just inside the soundhole or offboard. The internally mounted preamp has adjustable gain and midrange controls for each pickup and a bass roll-off control for the more resonant iBeam, allowing you to preset a great sound without the need for an expensive off-board blending unit. Output is switchable mono or stereo giving the option of two separate sources for recording or off-board blending.

Combining the direct, deep and clear sound of the Element undersaddle with the warm, rich, lively microphonic iBeam for an ideal mix of solid stage sound and dynamic realism. This system sounds fantastic strummed as well as fingerstyle.

iMix internal system: £255 inc P&P within UK (RRP £300)
iMix including fitting: from £300 (includes full setting up of the EQ presets on the mini internal blender) *NEW LOWER PRICE*

Recommended EQ settings (depends on how much iBeam is used and how bassy the guitar is); usually a notch cut at about 250Hz and a mid cut at about 400-600Hz.

LR Baggs Dual Source Systems - strong robust stage sound with microphonic detail ideal for percussive players

Baggs original internally fitting pickup and mic blending system has now been updated with the more unobtrusive blend controls used on the iMix system. The Dual Source is now available with an Element or the original Ribbon undersaddle combined with Bagg's internal mic. The mic is unique in its combination of foam block suspension and mounting position on the inside of a guitar's back rather than using the more common gooseneck mounting style soundhole positioning of most internal mics. In my experience the Baggs mic gives a much more even and less boxy sounding tone than any other type of internal mic and the variable bass control included on the Dual Source preamp makes it relatively easy to set up a good sound. It is also possible to combine an M1 (passive) with a mic using this system and blending can be purely on-board via the soundhole controls or it can be switched into stereo mode for off-board blending.

Dual Source system (Element or Ribbon): £225 inc P&P within UK (RRP £265)
Dual Source system (Element or Ribbon) including fitting: from £320

Recommended EQ settings: upper mid cut at about 1.4kHz and slight treble cut above 5kHz, if higher mic levels are used then a notch cut at about 250Hz is also essential.

As used by Newton Faulkner in his Benjamin guitars (Ribbon version).

LR Baggs Anthem and Anthem SL *COMING SOON!*

Other LR Baggs pickups
Baggs make a huge range of excellent pickups with very high quality preamps. If you want controls on the outside of the instrument, Baggs have a large range to suit all requirements, all with great sound. Ask for details.

K&K Sound www.kksound.com

K&K pickups are based around a seemingly simple three head piezo disc contact pickup system which superglues (removably) to the bridgeplate inside the guitar. Thomas Leeb first asked me to fit this pickup to the 'Percussion' guitar prototype for him and I was very surprised at the tone and feedback resistance. To get the best results a reasonably strong mid cut is required but when you have done this every other part of the sound is very good. Feedback resistance is as good as many undersaddle pickups and the tone is dynamic and warm without too much bass boom or harshness in the treble.

K&K preamps are ideally matched to the system and allow you to preset the EQ for a given guitar and allow blending of either an undersaddle pickup or microphone with the main K&K 'Pure' pickups. There are many choices - please see their website for details - some of the main options are listed below.

Pure Mini: £95 (inc. P&P), £130 fitted.
Ultra Pure Mini: £150 (inc. P&P), £185 fitted.
Trinity Mini: £250 (inc. P&P), £285 fitted.
Onboard Trinity Mini: £265 (inc. P&P), £300 fitted.

Highlander www.highlanderpickups.com

I can supply all Highlander acoustic guitar products, contact me for prices. These are to order only, waiting time generally two weeks or more.

Headway www.headwaymusicaudio.com

Headway produce excellent piezo undersaddle pickups here in the UK which include some of the best piezo preamps available, all class-A for maximum headroom and minimum distortion with a hi-fi inspired enriching circuit in some models which helps remove any brittleness from the sound and gives a valve like quality. Definitely one of the best undersaddle systems I've tried for higher volume stage work.

Fishman www.fishman.com

Rare Earth
Fishman Rare Earth pickups, originally designed by ace luthier Mike Vanden, are based around a magnetic soundhole pickup in single coil or humbucking (recommended) configuration, with the option of an internal mic built in to the Rare Earth Blend model. These are very easy to use and reliable pickups and great if you like a warm meaty sound with the option of a very natural edge from the mic in the Blend version. These are highly recommended for easy amplification in a loud band setting.

Rare Earth Humbucking Active £190 inc P&P (UK RRP £204), fitted £210.
Rare Earth Blend Active with mic and blend control £310 inc P&P (UK RRP £389), fitted £330.

Other Brands

I can also supply and fit many other brands including; Schertler, B-band, EMG, Ashworth, Seymour Duncan and D-tar. I'm also happy to source and fit brands harder to find in the UK such as; PUTW etc etc, although you may have to wait a little while for them to arrive!

AMPLIFICATION

Headway Shire King SK120 & SK60 www.headwaymusicaudio.com

The new Headway Shire King acoustic amps have recently been developed by John Littler at Headway pickups and here's the quote I gave John after trying them:

"The Headway Shire King 120 is, without doubt, the best acoustic amp I have tried. The combination of plenty of sweet, clean power and the extremely comprehensive whilst very intuitive to use EQ make it stand out above all the other amps I've tried. The natural tone of the Shire King 120 is warm, deep and clear, a great boon for more sterile sounding pickups, whilst the powerful 5 band EQ allows you to very easily and precisely drop down the fullness for a very clear, deep, transparent tone if you are using a meatier toned pickup. The addition of a very nicely thought out notch filter makes using this amp as a close stage monitor a doddle. This amp has every feature I would have included if I'd designed it myself!

The Headway Shire King 60, the smaller, simpler, more portable little brother to the 120 shares its great natural warmth with only a slightly less deep tone due to the smaller cabinet. Superficially this amp seems very similar to many of its competitors but the difference is in the tone. Most other amps of this size produce a compressed and coloured tone whilst the Shire King 60 is very dynamic and clean but without a hint of sterility. This amp knocks spots off the current market leader!"

The Shire King amps make fantastic performance tone shapers as well as the more obvious uses of stage monitoring and pub gigs for the SK120 and rehearsals and home practice for the SK60. I'd personally consider using one of these as an extension of a live tone in the manner of an electric guitarist, mainly because it would be pretty hard to mess up the warm, sweet sound coming out of one of these, even for the most uninterested soundman! Both amps can also double as blenders for stereo systems with the SK120 even having a stereo input so if you're thinking of buying an amp, plus EQ unit, plus blender, plus effects unit, don't: buy one of these!

The built in Alesis effects are also the best I have heard from any acoustic amp (very similar to the Alesis Picoverb).

Both; Two channels, Alesis reverb and effects, DI and line outputs etc, powered mic input on second channel, carry bag.

SK120 120 watts output
Channel 1; input gain, 5 band EQ, two types of passive pickup input, one passive magnetic input, one active pickup input, stereo input.
Channel 2; input gain, 3 band EQ, active pickup input, powered XLR mic input (also accessible via stereo input).
Master; output volume, effects selection, channel pan and level, notch filter with variable Q control (best set up notch I've heard).

SK60 60 watts output
Channel 1; input gain,3 band EQ, two types of passive pickup input (which can work fine with active pickups if gain control is kept low).
Channel 2; input gain, 3 band EQ, general pickup input, powered XLR mic input.
Master; output volume, effects selection and level.

SK120 including postage within UK £645 (RRP £699.95)
SK60 including postage within UK £510 (RRP £559.95)

Pictures are both of SK120, SK60 looks very similar but is about 2/3 the size.

Fishman amps www.fishman.com

Loudbox 100 £650 (UK RRP £749)
Loudbox Performer 130w £850 (UK RRP £999)
Solo Amp 200w tower amp £1100 (UK RRP £1299)

LR Baggs Acoustic Reference amp www.lrbaggs.com

Please enquire for current availability! £950 (UK RRP £1195)

OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES

A good pickup is only the start of a good sound. I would recommend an onboard preamp of some description with any pickup (all the above include one unless stated) but further EQing may well be necessary to suit the room or PA being used and dial out the biases of the particular pickup's tonal colouration. The best sounds I've heard are usually by players who are in control of their own sound and really only leave the sound person to set levels. This control needn't cost an arm and a leg or fill a small van and here are some devices I would recommend plus blenders for stereo pickup systems. These are all available directly from Benjamin Guitars.

Headway www.headwaymusicaudio.com

Headway EDB-1; Headway's new preamp/EQ/DI box is essentially the main channel of their fantastic SK120 amp in a small box; warm tone, powerful 5 band EQ, excellent notch filter, plus many switchable extra features (see their website). It has two input channels with separate gain controls but the two signals cannot be EQed separately - ideal for a more visually obvious way of blending the Baggs iMix or Dual Source. This is currently my first recommendation for tone shaping any acoustic pickup!
£195 inc P&P within UK (RRP £199).

LR Baggs www.lrbaggs.com

LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI (Para-DI); a great EQ/preamp/DI in a small rugged box, 5 band EQ including notch filter etc. The Para DI has long set the bench-mark for all units of this type - its uncoloured tone and subtle 'quasi-passive' EQ are great for tweaking your sound in a live setting.
£180 inc P&P within UK (RRP £200).

LR Baggs Venue DI; a new all singing all dancing DI unit from Baggs! Five band EQ with two tunable mids, notch filter, signal level meter, built in tuner/mute, boost foot-switch, and ground lift. Lots of very useful tools for live performance in one box!
£310 inc. P&P within UK (RRP £339)

D-Tar; please enquire for current prices of D-tar preamps. www.dtar.com

Highlander Pro Acoustic Mix DI (PAMDI); please enquire for current availability and price.