'Sound Checker' transducer pickup

[Oster]

Anyone else have one of these? It's a little wooden checker-sized (game piece) passive piezo transducer that you stick to the soundboard of your acoustic with putty.

I bought one a few years back and stored it away but now it's geting pressed into service as my main means of amplifying my acoustic. I go direct into my Fender Passport PA.

It's actually a very nice sound. Warmer and fuller than your typical under-the-saddle piezo sound. Not bad at all. I think I paid $20.00 for it. My only complaint is the attached cord can be a little noisy (the pickup picks-up its every movement).

I'm not a big fan of piezo sounds but this is pretty good. I'm curious to hear of anyone else's experiences, good or bad with this type of pickup.

[Steelpicki'n]

http://www.schattendesign.com/HFN-Artist.htm
Oster, have not tried the brand you mentioned but, I use one of these and find it to be everything they say. I also use onr of there pickups on my dobro and mandolin with equally fine results.!!

[Nathan]

A funny story is how I ran into the guy who makes the Sound Checker products 2 years ago, then this summer I got to work for him. He's an engineer by trade, and makes some of the coolest things you ever saw, a very gifted "inventor" type. I was able to put some of the Sound Checkers and Accusticks together during downtime when the main engineering stuff was slow. I never even got to hear the pickups because my acoustic already had a K&K unit installed. Anyway, just thought it was cool to read about Sound Checker! He has ideas coming out his ears, and not enough time to develop the products much further. When the bigger engineering projects come up, he has to leave the 'Checker stuff alone but he might get to the real cool stuff in the future. Real smart guy...

FWIW, the wooden shell attenuates the sound somewhat and yes, you will hear every ambient thing going on like the cord scraping the body. Internal installation with a jack might a good idea! You could blend it with the preamp, add the mic or undersaddle if you prefer. Eq is available, lots of options really and word to the wise: there's NO difference in what he uses to build his pickups and what the big names are doing. Alot of that is marketing hype...

[Deaf Eddie]

I've installed a couple of their undersaddle models - here's the link:

Soundchecker SC2655

They sound great, and are LOUD - no battery or preamp required. The last one I installed was into an Epi EJ-160E, and it easily keeps up with the stock P90-ish magnetic pup. In fact, I just rewired the existing tone control as a second volume (for the SoundChecker), so I can blend the two pups. Amazing!