LR Baggs M80 Magnetic Soundhole Pickup

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Price: $249.00 $244.01   

Product Feature

• Full-Range Body Sensitivity
• Active or Passive Operation
• Feedback Resistant
• Multi-Segment Battery Check
• Adjustable Pole Pieces

Product Description

The soul of your guitar is in the body from the tone woods that it's made of, to the fine details in the way it was put together. Standard magnetic pickups hear only dry strings, resulting in an "electric" sound that omits the true acoustic voice of your guitar. In contrast, the M80 hears the entire frequency range of the tone woods, thereby contributing warmth and complexity to your amplified sound. The secret of the M80 is a patented, free floating humbucking coil that acts as a 3D body sensor. As the soundboard resonates in all 3 dimensions, a proprietary suspension allows each axis of the humbucking coil to respond with the guitar's movement. A resonate body signal is produced and blended with the strings to faithfully capture your guitar like no other magnetic pickup ever created. The M80 also gives you the choice of active or passive settings with the flick of the switch. The active setting engages a preamp with built in EQ and audiophile circuitry for that "high fidelity" sound Bags is known for. Switch to the passive setting and bypass the preamp for a battery free performance. Other features of the M80 include a battery check, volume control and adjustable pole pieces for perfect balance between the strings.

LR Baggs M80 Magnetic Soundhole Pickup Review

I purchased the LR Baggs M80 to electrify my Blueridge steelstring acoustic. My girlfriend and I play folk and popular music for fun in small venues-- mostly local bars, which can be quite noisy. Since I usually fingerpick, I needed a pickup that can project the sweet sound of my Blueridge, including delicate single-string runs, with fidelity at volume. The M80 has exceeded my expectations. Each note comes through with bell-like clarity, without any hint of distortion. The balance from bass to treble strings is extraordinary, and each string pickup can be fine-tuned with a simple turn of the included Allen wrench. If your playing style includes vigorous flatpicking, the M80 will handle that too, with ease.

The M80 has a convenient volume control along the lower corner. It will not turn the volume completely off but will lower it enough so that a poorly planned disconnect of the patch cord will not result in amp-destroying squawking. There is also a battery-check feature: press a little button and from one to four little green LEDs light up, indicating the juice remaining in the single button battery. A fully charged battery will yield over a thousand hours of playing time. We have a little studio set up at home and we always use amplification-- no worries. I have two minor quibbles with the M80 design, though: the battery is installed from the bottom of the unit, which is quite deep, so it is necessary to remove the unit from the soundhole in order to change the battery; and, there is a switch that allows the pickup to operate in passive mode (without battery power), but it is located along the bottom edge of the unit and is nearly impossible to access without removing the unit from the soundhole. Removing and installing the pickup is simple, requiring the loosening of two Philips screws. Unfortunately I am unable to insert the pickup into the soundhole unless I unscrew one of the side clamps almost to its maximum extent, but that's more of a problem with my guitar, which has a soundhole a bit smaller in diameter than that of many full-sized acoustics. The M80 does not fit in my Larivee parlor guitar. Check the specs and measure your guitar's soundhole to be sure it will fit.

I installed the RCA jack myself. The installation requires removing the guitar's strap button and widening the hole to 1/2 inch. I placed a strip of masking tape over the hole to prevent chipping of the finish, and carefully reamed out the hole with a 1/2 inch reamer that I purchased at the hardware store for $8. I secured the cord inside the guitar body with velcro strips so that it doesn't rattle around. LR Baggs recommends having a luthier install the jack, but if you have basic woodworking skills and are patient and careful, you should be able to install it yourself in about an hour. Thoughtfully, Baggs designed the internal cord so that it unplugs at the pickup end, so you can completely remove the pickup at any time, without removing the cord and jack.

When I want to record my practice sessions, I patch the M80 directly into my Zoom H4 handheld recorder. Sound is delivered to the recorder cleanly and crisply.

My only other (very minor) quibble is the color of the pickup-- a bland ivory that contrasts unpleasantly with the usual rich color of an acoustic's top wood. They should offer it in black and/or in wood tones.

Quibbles aside, the beautiful, true-to-instrument sound produced by the LR Baggs M80 makes me smile every time I plug in my guitar. I think even the most demanding professional guitarist would be thrilled with the tonal quality of this outstanding pickup. It costs more than others, but it won't disappoint when the stage lights are on.

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