L. R. Baggs M1 Passive Magnetic Soundhole Pickup Reviews 
5 / 5 based on 1 reviewsABOUT ME: I've been playing for over 20 years, for fun and professionally (is there a difference?). I'm in several bands; i'm also a studio musician. My musical tastes range from Alice Cooper to the Hellacopers. 'Acoustic' music i dig includes John McLaughlin.
WHERE ACQUIRED: I bought my M1 two years ago (2004) out of curiosity and it almost immediately became my favorite pickup. I got it from Huber & Breeze here in Michigan; i think i paid $140 for it.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT: 1. It fits in all of my guitars, including the ridiculously-shaped (oval) soundhole of my old Washburn EA10.
2. The pickup itself has a 1/8" jack so you don't have to worry about the cord going bad and then trying to figure out where the short is. It comes with a Mogami 1/8" to 1/4" cable so you can stick it in any guitar and play with the cord hanging out. It also comes with an endpin (including 1/8" cable) so the pickup can be installed "permanently" if that's what you want (really though, you can still take the pickup out and use it with any other guitar).
3. The sound is just amazing. In my opinion it is STILL without a doubt the most "acoustic-sounding" magnetic pickup out there. It actually picks up on the vibration of the soundboard, which means you can TOTALLY hear the difference between a spruce and cedar-topped guitar.
4. For fingerstyle, the response is outrageous for a passive pickup. For flatpicking, the response just what you'd expect. For heavy strumming, it is open and full without any of the compression heard with some other magnetic pickups.
5. String-to-string balance on my guitars happens to be perfect, although they *do* include extra pole pieces and an allen wrench so i would imagine you might have to tweak it if you use different gauge or type of strings (i use mostly .12 phosphor bronze). 6. The bass response is full and accurate; the mid is equally accurate; the highs *do* seem over-hyped to my ears (more on this below).
WHAT I DISLIKE ABOUT IT: 1. While the individual pole pieces CAN be adjusted, the height of the pickup body itself CANNOT be adjusted. On one of my guitars it is a bit close to the strings, and when i pick over it there is a danger of tapping the pickup, which comes through the PA loud and clear!
2. As anybody researching this pickup probably already knows, it does not have a volume knob or slider, which is a drag.
3. It only comes in one color – that horrible horrible cream! Why LR Baggs chose to go with cream over flat or even gloss black is just beyond me.
UNIT QUALITY: The very nature of this pickup probably mandated a very hard plastic in order to facilitate picking up soundboard vibration – it works well. Basically, there is nothing that would hurt this pickup that wouldn't FIRST hurt any guitar that it would be mounted in! I haven't had any problems in two years of moving it from guitar to guitar, plugging and unplugging that cable.
SUMMARY AND FINALY COMMENTS: After two years i love the M1 passive (next will be the M1 active!). Anybody who wants/needs a magnetic pickup (versus a UST or SBT) that sounds as "acoustic" as possible should consider the M1. It's easy to move from guitar to guitar. Something to watch out for is its response on the highs, which are definitely hyped a bit. On my cedar-topped dreadnought that over-pronounced high is a match made in heaven. On my spruce-topped OM it has to be controlled with the EQ on my active DI. Speaking of which, anybody using a magnetic soundhole pickup really MUST have some type of DI or preamp, preferably one with a semi-parametric (mid) EQ. This pickup is NOT very forgiving when it comes to sloppy playing: it *will* reproduce the sound of plastic or steel picks hitting the pickup body and it also faithfully reproduces the sound of tapping basically anywhere on the soundboard! People who strum with a "heavy hand" might want to consider something more along the lines of a Duncan Woody (or something similar).
Amall Gib rated this unit
on
2006-08-08.
