doing a classical concert in a great European hall.
Pickup + External Mic
This is probably the ideal combination for solo acoustic performance, when
you're looking for a good representation of the sound of your instrument but
want some control over how 'woody' your guitar will sound. In most cases the
pickup will be some sort of string-sensitive device, either a saddle or under the
saddle piezo (that's pee-ay-zo folks, not pee-zo or pie-zo) transducer or a
magnetic soundhole pickup. Some work better than others, some are easier to
install, and some are just awful! The idea here is to use the pickup to provide
the direct 'in-your-face' sound of the vibrating string, and combine it with the
ambient sound of the wood vibration the external mic gives you. By varying the
blend between the direct and ambient sound, you can get a very reasonable
representation of your instrument. You can use more pickup in a very lively
room, and more mic in a dead room. By using a single pickup or two pickup
Preamp Module in one channel of the SPS-1, and an external mic in the other,
you can have complete control over this blend on stage. Many players find that
piezo transducers flatter light fingerstyle playing, but are harsh when the strings
are hit hard. The best magnetic pickups, on the other hand, don't fold up when
played hard, but are too 'round' sounding for players who prefer that 'brash'
piezo sound. The choice is up to you. Check out what your favorite player is
using, and see if it works for you. In addition, most studio recording of acoustic
instruments also relies on using these two sound sources. During mixdown you
can establish the blend of pickup and mic that gets the guitar to cut through the
mix. The downside is that you have to have to stay glued to one position for the
mic to be effective. This doesn't work for everyone. And, you can't use this
setup with high stage levels or in a band situation, since both feedback - and
more important - leakage of other instruments into the mic, will present major
problems. Mic selection and placement will often help solve some of these
problems, but not in all cases, or even in all rooms.
Pickup + Internal Mic
This is currently a hot combination, since it gives you the benefits of an
external mic, and you can move around. There is a price to be paid, however,
since a mic inside a guitar will never sound as good as a mic out in front of
your guitar. It may come pretty close, and in many cases it works very well, but
it's still a compromise. After all, it's is a mic in a box. All that said, it works
quite well in many applications, particularly for solo players or groups where
the stage levels are low. The problems encountered with external mics, namely
feedback and leakage, are also problems here. Feedback problems can usually
be cured by keeping the mic out of the stage monitors, which the SPS-1's
monitor output allows you to do. Leakage, however is another matter. The mic
is in a resonant box with a hole in it, which acts as a 'magnet' for low frequency
sound, particularly drums and bass. You can roll off all the low end on the mic,
but isn't that what you wanted the mic for in the first place?
A word about soundhole covers: You may think that by blocking the sound
hole, you're blocking external sounds from reaching the internal mic. This is
true, but you're also preventing air from moving inside the instrument. If the air
