The Steel Guitar Forum

Has anyone tried one of these? I am hoping it might work with the pick up I already have in my guitar rather than having to purchase and install the Fishman pickup that the pedal is designed for. Might any of you have experience with this?

http://www.fishman.com/products/details.asp?id=104

What pickup do you have in your guitar? This is the key to the whole thing.

I have a Schertler Basik in my Dobro that works amazingly well with the Douglas Aura pedal. The Schertler on its own sounded great, and the pre-amp is small enough that I can velcro it to the Aura. A great tool for live use.

I was involved with trials of various p/u's and the Aura pedal. Results with the Schertler were "OK". The pedal did provide a benefit, but not as profound as the saddle p/u. We were also able to drive volume levels a _LOT_ higher with the Fishman saddle p/u. I think that was to be expected.

Caveat: "involved" also means I work for Beard Guitars that had a hand in the p/u design.

I played a show the other night (with my Wechter-Sheerhorn Ickes model, no pickup, through a mic) and got to hear a friend playing his rig, Wechter- Sheerhorn with the saddle transducer and aura pedal through a fishman amp.
His sound was very authentic to the acoustic tone, sonded great and plenty loud without feedback. Very impressive compared to most other amplification systems I've heard.

Howard, any trials with the Aura pedal and a Lace dobro sensor or other magnetic pickup?

Just curious!

Yes..

We tested the Beard Road-O-Phonic with it's Lace. The results were "underwhelming". Personally I would not spend the money.

I do not speak for my employer

Anyone that hasn't heard the Aura system can check out several clips on YouTube. Look for Jimmy Heffernan and Mike Auldridge playing their Aura equipped guitars. Reso fans can find other useful/entertaining clips. Checkout Stacy Phillips and the "Lesson".

h

Hi Jonathan,

I tried the J.D. Aura with the older Fishman pickup (the little donut one) that was in my gigging dobro and it was not very useful IMHO - low volume and not much realism tonally. Recently I installed the new Fishman saddle pickup that was made for the Aura in my dobro and couldn't be happier with the results. The difference is like night and day, can't comment on what the Aura does for other pickups, but you can't go wrong with using the properly matched set! Totally worth the dinero if you are playing out with a spider style reso.

All the best,

Julian

I use the matching fishman pickup and aura pedal. The pickup is worth the price IMHO. I have used them in gigs from outdoor festivals to coffee houses and can't live without them. I also saw Jerry Douglas with Elvis Costello a few weeks back and it sounded amazing (of course!).

Ditto on the above two postings for use with the matching pickup the system is a knockout.

I like mine a lot. Hint: get a pro dobro tech to install it.

Another vote for "under-whelming" when used with a different pickup.

I had these pickups installed in my MAS and Clinesmith, recently at the Beard shop. They are the best reso pickups I ever had. The Aura unit makes them even better, sorta a "super EQ" box.

I couldn't resist trying the unit on everything from a cheapo reso with an old Fishman doughnut to a vintage Stringmaster. IMO, it's only good for it's intended mate.

Did I say I'm happy with the system?

The only concern I have with the Aura system, other than the cost, is the integrated saddle pickups.
They make sense, but what happens when you need to replace a saddle? I just had to replace the treble side saddle on my reso because of chipping in the first string slot from the string slipping out.
Do you have to buy a whole new saddle set when that happens? Is there a replacement policy?
It's pretty cheap to keep a standard replacement saddle around, in fact, that's what I did and I was back up and running in the time of a string change.
Seems like it would be more expensive/time-consuming with the Aura saddles?

thanks everyone for the input. I reckon I should try the pedal out with my current saddle pickup and if it doesn't cut it spring for the rest. I look forward to actually being heard and having a tone that is worth listening to.

Well I finally got one of these pedals and it is fantastic. It works well with my current pick up. When $$ permit I may go for the full Fishman and spider set up but this is so much better even as is. Ah free at last, from a mic that is.