Bill Dutcher – Modern Acoustic Guitarist

I always am asked what kind of pickup I use in my guitars and how I get the sound I do…..Well….

Acoustic amplification and pickup technology has also gone through some incredible breakthroughs.  I encourage people to get out there and play as many different systems as possible.  Tone is in the ear of the beholder!  I personally have not found one pickup that does it all.  I like to use a combination of a magnetic pickup with a soundboard transducer.

A magnetic pickup gives more of the fundamental note and has a quicker attack.  Because it senses primarily the vibration of the string, it’s best suited for loud volume situations and will resist feedback the best.  In other words, a good choice if your playing in a band setting.  It also will reproduce notes lower in frequency than what the body cavity of the instrument will reproduce.  This is useful for lowered alternate tunings.  I’ve also found a magnetic a good choice if your playing in a wide variety of rooms with different sound engineers.  You really have to try hard to make it sound bad. 

Some tips on equalizing a magnetic for optimum performance:  Try scooping out somewhere between 300hz – 400hz.  Boost a narrow bandwidth at 63hz – 100hz for more thump.  A slight boost around 6k – 10k will add some sparkle if it sounds dull in the mix.  Once again, use your ear!

A soundboard transducer senses more of the body vibrations of the instrument at all three axis’s (top, back and sides).  While they behave similar to a microphone there more resistant to feedback.  Keep in mind, they’ll still feedback if pushed hard enough.  They’re a great choice for reproducing more of the authentic tone of the instrument and have a wonderful high-end definition. I tend to notch out all frequencies at 150hz on down to take out the boominess as well as add of few db of boost around 8k – 10k.  When blending both pickups together I get my low-end from the magnetic and the mids and highs from the soundboard transducer. 

In regards to under the saddle piezo type pickups…I really have not heard one that I like.  Their prone to string balance problems and tend to have a harsh ‘quacky’ sound that is instantly identifiable.  While they are not my preference I encourage players to check them out.

What gear do you use?  Well…..I always am looking for the newest and best…  Right now I run a L.R. Baggs I-mix system in all guitars with the I-Beam mounted underneath the bridge plate and a Sunrise Magnetic pickup in the soundhole.  I run a TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) cable out of the guitar that splits into a “Y” and goes into a Pendulum SPS-1 Acoustic pre-amp.  Channel 1 gets the Sunrise and channel 2 gets the I-Beam.  I come out of the F/X loop out of the Pendulum and run into a TC-Electronics G-Major (Reverbs and Delays).  I come out of it into an Oberheim Echoplex (For digital live looping), then into a Peavey Kosmos (sub-harmonic generator).   The Kosmos makes it sound like there’s a bass player playing along with me.   I’ll tell you all!…It’s the kept secret for acoustic players!!!!   It gives you that “larger than life sound”.

The signal then returns into the F/X return of the Pendulum pre-amp.  I insert a Route 66 Distortion/Compressor pedal in the Sunrise channel.  This way I can get an “electric-sounding-overdive” from the Sunrise pickup while at the same time having a clean “acoustic-sound” underneath it from the I-Beam.  I then run the signal into the Bose PAS-1 system. 

Hope this helps!

Bill Dutcher