Grateful Dead Music Forum

Hey all, I have some acoustic gigs coming up and I need some advice about installing a new pickup in my Alvarez. I would like a simple yet effective pickup. I need to know about active, passive, what is best what is a waste of time. Usually, I use a sound hole PU that goes to LR Baggs Para DI then amp/board/PA this works fine but I would like to install something more permanant and reliable. Thoughts would be great! My guitar has never had a installed PU. thanks in advance

It would be hard for me to reccomend a sound hole pickup (but you certainly can gig with a soundhole pickup)... imho, by the time you get a half decent pickup system installed into your acoustic ($$$), you might be just as well to buy a new or used sub-$499 acoustic with built in Preamp/multi-band EQ with notch-filter/and a Tuner built into the side of the guitar, to use for gigging.
GC/MF/etc... has a ton to choose from at that price point.

But if you were to go with a soundhole pup, I recommend the Rare Earth Humbucker by Fishman. I gigged with one until just recently and it never failed me. Like many others, i was wary of soundhole pups having gone through several with no good results. The warmth and clarity were definitely a surprise. Also, it's active and easy to install whether permanently or not. Good luck.