Preamp Question

I'm looking into acoustic guitar preamps and in a ad for one (the LR Baggs Gigpro) it said something along the lines of eliminating the need for a battery in your guitar. Is this true? I currently use a Seymour Duncan Neo humbucking soundhole pickup. I'm looking into a preamp for the sound-shaping and control capabilities it would give me on live gigs, where you often have no idea what you're going to be plugging into, but if it eliminates the need for an in-guitar battery that would be a bonus.

Also, anyone know what happens if you plug a non-dreadnaught guitar into a Fishman Aura preamp that's not a dreadnaught model? For example, a Fishman Aura Orchestra or Jumbo...I don't know whether it would be a trivial difference or a mess.

I'm looking into acoustic guitar preamps and in a ad for one (the LR Baggs Gigpro) it said something along the lines of eliminating the need for a battery in your guitar. Is this true? I currently use a Seymour Duncan Neo humbucking soundhole pickup. I'm looking into a preamp for the sound-shaping and control capabilities it would give me on live gigs, where you often have no idea what you're going to be plugging into, but if it eliminates the need for an in-guitar battery that would be a bonus.

The LR Baggs Gigpro is a preamp with an input level/ Gain control (as well as basic Tone shaping and an Output Level control) This means that it gives you as much Input Gain as required by your guitar's pickup: dial in more Input Gain if you have a passive pickup (w/no preamp or battery), or less if you do have an active pickup- you just dial in what is needed till an LED level on the Gig Pro lights up, or perhaps turns from green to red (if you dial in too much...) Then you can shape EQ a bit, and control Output Level going to PA or amp

Thanks Chio--I went ahead and bought a Baggs Para DI this morning. Went to GC, traded in a guitar and bass I bought in garage sales, made some money, used the 15 percent off coupon and walked out with the Baggs for almost no cash outlay.

Thanks Chio--I went ahead and bought a Baggs Para DI this morning. Went to GC, traded in a guitar and bass I bought in garage sales, made some money, used the 15 percent off coupon and walked out with the Baggs for almost no cash outlay.

Awesome, enjoy! Joe

I put the Baggs through its paces this afternoon for a while with two soundhole-pickup-equipped acoustic guitars (a DiMarzio Virtual Vintage and a Fishman Neo-D humbucking) and an Epiphone Les Paul ukulele (piezo undersaddle pickup) and the results were superb for each. The preamped tone is so much better for all three than the straight-into-the-PA tone it's not even funny. This is just what I was looking for--something to boost, EQ and improve the signal, and something to give me on-stage volume control if I need it (we do our own sound on a lot of gigs and it's easier to reach for a pedal on the floor than have my bandmate reach for the mixer).

Also, this thing is so quiet it's ridiculous.

Last week I saw James Lee Stanley and Cliff Eberhardt play their "All Wood and Doors" show and both guitarists sounded absolutely superb going through a single PA speaker and a who-knows-what powered PA head at a house concert. (If you ever get a chance to see them, do it!) Both were using the Para DI. A friend of mine who always sounds good live has been using one for a while too.

I had been hesitating for a while because I was not really convinced that I needed a preamp, figuring I could just plug in and let the sound person figure it out, and because I was trying to get away cheap, but man what a sonic improvement; you definitely get what you pay for with this unit.