Anyone use the Fishman Aura Spectrum DI?

[Eskimo_Joe]

I'd love to hear some first hand reviews of the Fishman Aura Spectrum DI. Is it as awesome of you might think? Is there anything comparable?

[McStrats]

I'd love to hear some first hand reviews of the Fishman Aura Spectrum DI. Is it as awesome of you might think? Is there anything comparable?

I have been gigging with the Aura 16 for about a month now. The difference it makes to my martins is immense. Just plug into it and twist the knob til you find an image that works. Playing live I use about 40% Aura and 60% pickup. For anyone with a UST pickup the Aura is a no brainer.

[urlkonig]

I use one with a Bourgeois Slope D and a Taylor Jumbo, and I also have the Jerry Douglas version for my Reso. I'm running D-Tar Wave-Length pickups in the regular guitars, and I get very good results live. You could use it just to tame the piezo quack and it would be worth the cost -- but once you learn how to set it up, you can get a really credible acoustic sound. I briefly used the D-Tar Mama Bear a few years ago, but the digital artifacts it generated drove me crazy. Set properly, the Aura Spectrum doesn't have the same issue.

One caveat: The Aura units are intended to be used with UST pickup systems -- they don't work as well with magnetic pickups or mic/ust blender systems.