Anyone have the Fishman Aura Spectrum? Thoughts?

[javabirds]

Or any of the Aura pedals?

Acoustic pickups always have bothered me so I'm wondering if the Aura lives up to its claims. Seems like a brilliant idea. But does it work as advertised?

[benderb9]

they are like an acoustic guitar multi-effect pedal, so you'll either like the effects or not. I didn't like them, plenty of effects on my pedal-board/amp/PA. I did get a Fishman Plantinum Pro pre-amp/DI and THAT lets my acoustic sound just like it is (I have a JB Electronics passive piezo system inside the guitar). It's a great way to amplify an acoustic. They have several other models with less eq or features as well. I also looked real hard at LR Baggs stuff but went with the Fishman.

[tjalla]

Not quite a multi-effect, though the eq and comp are indeed handy. Mixed reviews about the Aura, but you MUST spend time dialing it in and finding an 'input source' patch that is as close to identical to your guitar as possible. From there, the blendable selection of studio mic 'images' work very well IMO.

[RockerDuck]

I think regular guitar pedals could do as good a job as the Aura pedals. Only pedal I use if I play acoustic through a PA is a Boss Chorus. My Marshall AS50D already has reverb and chorus.

[tjalla]

Fwiw I use mine about four gigs a week - having eq, comp, DI and a tuner is great, but the images is what makes this pedal unique and to me, indispensable. Highly recommended, but as mentioned - take your time to understand and tweak it to your specific guitars needs. There are also 'hidden' options like choosing whether eq affects the image and pickup signal, or pickup signal only etc.

[javabirds]

Originally Posted by tjalla

Fwiw I use mine about four gigs a week - having eq, comp, DI and a tuner is great, but the images is what makes this pedal unique and to me, indispensable. Highly recommended, but as mentioned - take your time to understand and tweak it to your specific guitars needs. There are also 'hidden' options like choosing whether eq affects the image and pickup signal, or pickup signal only etc.

Thanks. I just found someone who is willing to loan me one to test drive. I should be able to put some hours on one tonight or tomorrow. Yesterday I downloaded the image gallery and was looking over it. My only beef is that there are no triolian/duolian images. Still, the list is large and the potential is there. I did get a few quick moments with one at GC but I didn't have time and I was using it with the new loudbox. It sounded superb but I really had so little time and was also unsure how much of the sound was the amp. What I want is great results through a PA, so that will be the big test.

I also need to download the manual because I have no idea how to work the EQ function you just mentioned.

Thanks for the input!

[tjalla]

Importantly, the Aura is designed to primarily work with under saddle piezos - so from what i understand one would possibly get less success running soundboard transducers or magnetic soundhole PUs.

[MCgardyloo]

I used to have one of the older versions which had I think 16 images and you had to match the size of your guitar to the pedal (dreadnought, orchestra, etc) when I played more acoustic stuff in band settings. I used a cheap takamine laminate guitar with an under saddle pickup, so it wasn't like I was really trying to recreate the tone that came out of that guitar acoustically, but I liked what the Aura did. It definitely sounded much more like a mic'ed guitar through the Aura, and much less nasal.

[javabirds]

The sad thing is that I was able to borrow one but it is still sitting on my desk because I've been so busy. I hope to get to it soon!

I did hear back from fishman as to why they don't have any metal body resonator images. They said that they didn't think there were any great biscuit pickups so they haven't done any images. Well, I have the Highlander and I think it's great. Still, it could benefit from some aura imaging.