(I know I posted this as a reply too, but i think it deserves it's own thread...)
Yesterday I went to demo an Aura Sixteen pedal with my Taylor 110e.
I took a Sunrise with it's buffer box with.
This is my impression: Using the Taylor ES-T undersaddle pickup, the default dreadnaught images on the Aura Sixteen in general is way too boomy. The only image that seemed to work was the SM57 (spruce/mahogony), but it didn't have the complexity of the more expensive microphone images. Almost all the other had this phasey boomish quality in the bass or lower mids that was also impossible to dial out on my Ibanez Troubadour amp. Also it made it more feedback prone.
The blend of direct/image sound was the most useable in the 40 - 60 % range, but then there's still enough annoying peizo quack coming though.
(100% Aura blend just doesn't sound so good)
I could hear something nice was going on, but the difference (even ignoring the boominess for now) wasn't worth the asking price.
Enter the Sunrise. Wow! To me the Aura did a better job of minimizing the magnetic character of the Sunrise than it did blending away the peizo character of the Taylor's undersaddle. And it was much less feedback prone..a stronger bolder tone. Also with the Sunrise I could use the Aura's blend knob in the 60% - 70% range with better results.
To be fair, the Taylor ES-T is not a fishman matrix undersaddle (which Fishman used to create the images), and I got marginally better results with a high-end Cort equipped with a Fishman prefix system.
However, only one model really sounded good, and it also wasn't sooo much better than without the aura.
But... the Sunrise-Aura combo to me was amazing! It is also subtle, and most people probably won't want to spend that amount for the difference, but to me it adds some great natural character to the already amazing-sounding Sunrise.
I didn't try the Sunrise without it's buffer box though. Sorry!
I'm now wondering how good a Fishman Rare Earth magnetic will be with the Aura...since this is actually the only other pickup, (other than the Fishman matrix that the images were made for), the manual suggests the Aura works with.
Yesterday I went to demo an Aura Sixteen pedal with my Taylor 110e.
I took a Sunrise with it's buffer box with.
This is my impression: Using the Taylor ES-T undersaddle pickup, the default dreadnaught images on the Aura Sixteen in general is way too boomy. The only image that seemed to work was the SM57 (spruce/mahogony), but it didn't have the complexity of the more expensive microphone images. Almost all the other had this phasey boomish quality in the bass or lower mids that was also impossible to dial out on my Ibanez Troubadour amp. Also it made it more feedback prone.
The blend of direct/image sound was the most useable in the 40 - 60 % range, but then there's still enough annoying peizo quack coming though.
(100% Aura blend just doesn't sound so good)
I could hear something nice was going on, but the difference (even ignoring the boominess for now) wasn't worth the asking price.
Enter the Sunrise. Wow! To me the Aura did a better job of minimizing the magnetic character of the Sunrise than it did blending away the peizo character of the Taylor's undersaddle. And it was much less feedback prone..a stronger bolder tone. Also with the Sunrise I could use the Aura's blend knob in the 60% - 70% range with better results.
To be fair, the Taylor ES-T is not a fishman matrix undersaddle (which Fishman used to create the images), and I got marginally better results with a high-end Cort equipped with a Fishman prefix system.
However, only one model really sounded good, and it also wasn't sooo much better than without the aura.
But... the Sunrise-Aura combo to me was amazing! It is also subtle, and most people probably won't want to spend that amount for the difference, but to me it adds some great natural character to the already amazing-sounding Sunrise.
I didn't try the Sunrise without it's buffer box though. Sorry!
I'm now wondering how good a Fishman Rare Earth magnetic will be with the Aura...since this is actually the only other pickup, (other than the Fishman matrix that the images were made for), the manual suggests the Aura works with.
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