The Steel Guitar Forum

My 1938 model 37 dobro needs a pickup..having used it in studios only,I've never needed an on board pickup.Live gigs make using a microphone impractical.. Have heard great things about the K&K pickups.. any and all ideas welcome and thanks !

Fishman Jerry Douglas setup!

Ditto. Requires use of JD Fishman Aura Pedal to really sound right. It's been discussed alot here and resohangout.

Nothing else comes close IMO.

There is the Fishman Nashville pickup used in combination with the Fishman Aura Jerry Douglas "imaging" pedal...then there is everything else. Do a "search" here in the forum archives regarding this subject - it has been discussed many times.

K&K does make good flattop guitar pickups, but amplifying a dobro is a whole other matter.

Pretty much every pro dobro player out there - in other words folks who derive all or at least a good portion of their living from playing the instrument and need to plug in frequently - use the Fishman system. Nothing else comes close.

There are other dobro pickups out there, and if one is okay with installing a unit which doesn't really sound like a dobro when amplified, then go for something else to keep costs down.

I have the Fishman system in my Clinesmith and it works very well.

The Schertler Basik is the only one I've used that sounds like a dobro - but no matter what you use a good outboard preamp is required. I use the Baggs Venue; the other good one for Dobro is the Fishman Douglas.

Unfortunately a good pickup and preamp are going to run about $600 total. that's simply what's required to sound decent. I've tried all sorts of other preamps, different pickups - nothing worked. The sound was hollow, tinny, boomy, electric sounding, lacked guts or definition or suffered from feedback.

And there's a ...or two...last parts of the signal chain. If going direct the whoever is mixing HAS to understand how to set a neutral EQ and how to mix or your carefully-crafted sound will be ruined; and if you are going to go through an amp it HAS to be a good acoustic amp - guitar amps are voiced all wrong for acoustic instruments and dobro in particular sounds terrible through all of them

You might want to look at one of these... no modifications needed.

https://www.myerspickups.com/pickups/the-grip-series

They have dobro players who use it...

https://www.myerspickups.com/see-in-act ... %20Pickups

They also have a you tube channel..

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSA-fQ ... -H2JlPZ0Iw

I have a Myers "Grip" pickup which I use on my Adams dobro. I don't play dobro professionally, but I've used it at open mics and jams. My only issue with it is that it needs a preamp with significant gain. Neither my Fishman G-II or Behringer DAI21 will quite do it. My ART tube MP works well. I haven't heard anyone else complain about this, so I wonder sometimes if mine might be defective. It sounds pretty good to my ear, not quite as good as a microphone on a stand, but pretty close. Feedback hasn't been much of an issue, but I've never been in a situation where it had to be cranked up much. This combination of pickup and preamp is about as cheap as I've seen.
Another one I'm curious about is the Schatten RG-03. I'm very happy with the Schatten HFN I have in my acoustic (armpit) guitar. The sound samples on their web page sound good. Has anyone tried one?

Scott, you're recommending that Chris checks out the Myers, but I'm guessing you haven't tried one yourself.

I met a guy who has one and they do sound pretty good - but it isn't a pickup in the classic sense. It is more of an on board microphone. And because of this it can cause problems depending on the band scenario in which one is playing.

Chris Boyd has not specified his situation, but he did write that "Live gigs make using a microphone impractical."

I have played in a lot of mixed acoustic/electric situations over the years (including drums) and the only system that has given me "peace of mind" is the Fishman Nashville through the JD Aura pedal.

On the Myers site, one of the dobro players they show is a guy named Ketil Liland from Norway. He is a good player - and he has since moved on from the Myers. We had a discussion on www.reso-nation.org about this last year and I asked him what he thought of the Myers and here was his response:

The sound of the Myers is really good, but theres some limitations when it comes to using effects, like delay and flanger. During practise with our band (in a small room) it picks up some of the room noise. We have drums so the nashville is probably the way to go.

A microphone based system will often work in an all acoustic instrument situation but can cause problems when one gets into the mixed acoustic/electric w/drums scenario.

When the Schertler Basik system came out in around 2005 it was a giant leap forward from previous pickups like the Fishman "donut" and the McIntyre Feather. Those were horrible. Rob Ickes used the Schertler for occasional plugged in playing for several years but he has moved on to the Fishman Nashville with JD Aura pedal. He has said he never really liked the Schertler. He uses the Fishman setup full time now in his duo with Trey Hensley. I saw them play for the fourth time a few weeks ago in the Bay Area and I don't miss Rob playing though a microphone as he did for so many years with Blue Highway.

Chase, your post came in while I was typing mine above.

I haven't had any experience with the Schatten but I have sort of an unwritten "policy" when it comes to these things. Until I hear it for myself in person, or I find that people who play for part or all of their living use it, I wouldn't spend my money on it. As I have written many times, comparing a company's pickup as used on a flattop guitar vs. their dobro version is like apples and oranges. Amplifying a dobro is a category unto itself, and a difficult category at that.

I have read on here and elsewhere that someone has a pickup on their dobro and they say it sounds really good. Then I am at a jam or I am attending a show at a club and I find out the guy has something like a surface mounted pickup that does sound pretty good - but it makes a dobro sound more like a lap steel. It would have been easier just to bring a lap steel.

I had the Fishman Aura for 6 years, and yes it was nice to be able to pick your different mic settings, but recently I have gone back to the Schertler that Tim Scheerhorn installed in 03 in my L body.
You have to be more careful with feedback with the Schertler, but it sounds just like the guitar does acoustically using a LR Baggs Pari DI preamp.

there's a new kid on the block...I have the Krivo pickup on my National M1 Tricone and Tim Scheerhorn Tricone...the hardest instruments to amplify, with 3 cones and a body tone....it works! It is a magnetic pickup that is microphonic, so you get the whole sound...check out his story of the reso model version...he also has a gypsy guitar version....
http://krivopickups.com

totally non-invasive, takes seconds to mount or dismount...if you want to get into the guts of your instrument, the Fishman and Aura work great...most folks I know with Schattens aren't happy with them...

I actually 3-D printed a clip-on mount for my M1 for the pickup and cable jack...

Thank you all SO much for your valuable input. I really appreciate all your ideas and suggestions... Steve..please let me know how the Krivo sounds live when you gig it next..thanks!

It sounds great. Before my last gig , during setup, I stood near the PA and aimed the reso toward me, heard the tone, and then aimed it away to hear the PA...I told the sound man to turn it on...he said it was on, and that was what I was hearing...it was a first-class PA..sounded pretty much the same as the acoustic sound.

EDIT: Note that this was a real-world situation, not a controlled test in a totally silent room...I think that pure acoustic in a silent room will always be different than amplified...I think that this would come close (or maybe even be as good as) to a mic...again, in a real-world situation, background noise, etc.

I recently sold my R body Scheerhorn
with the JD pickup with a Kent Schoonover modular spider. I always used that guitar for plugged in situations and it sounded great with the JD Aura box and my pedal board.

Last night played my 2005 Scheerhorn
L-body with the Schertler pickup through the Schertler preamp into the
PA and really it sounded surprisingly good as I hadn't plugged it in for years. I have been considering having Kent put his spider setup with the pickup in it but maybe I should look at alternatives. I really hate to mess with this guitar so thanks for suggesting some alternatives.

Steve

Hard to find , Bill Lawerence Dobro PU..great natural sound , no feedback ; next favorite, Lace Sensor Dobro PU...Larry

I'm curious to hear from any 8 string Dobro players to hear what they've been using lately. I'm thinking about checking out the Myers P/U, because if I got into a situation with drums I would just use a lap steel, but I've been wanting to use my 8 string in some acoustic style settings, and they are not always purists using only microphones. I have always noticed that its hard to keep up with an acoustic guitar with a piezo P/U in it when all you are using is a microphone. I am wondering if the Myers will be as loud as an acoustic guitar with a piezo.

Chase Brady wrote:I have a Myers "Grip" pickup which I use on my Adams dobro. I don't play dobro professionally, but I've used it at open mics and jams. My only issue with it is that it needs a preamp with significant gain. Neither my Fishman G-II or Behringer DAI21 will quite do it. My ART tube MP works well. I haven't heard anyone else complain about this, so I wonder sometimes if mine might be defective. It sounds pretty good to my ear, not quite as good as a microphone on a stand, but pretty close. Feedback hasn't been much of an issue, but I've never been in a situation where it had to be cranked up much. This combination of pickup and preamp is about as cheap as I've seen.
Another one I'm curious about is the Schatten RG-03. I'm very happy with the Schatten HFN I have in my acoustic (armpit) guitar. The sound samples on their web page sound good. Has anyone tried one?

Chase, on the Meyers site, there are some videos in the support section that talk about the proper impedance and also the battery.

Fishman Nashville pickup in tandem with the Fishman JD Aura pedal. Everything else comes up short. No question!
My $0.02