Anyone had a chance to spend time with a Fishman Aura Spectrum DI?

F30

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If this actually works it is a pretty amazing piece of equipment. Settings to emulate other types of guitars with your guitar.
Pretty wild idea....if it works. I can see how this may be useful if you are in a place with very different dynamics than expected and wish you had one of your other acoustic guitars.
fishman-aura-spectrum-di.jpg
 

kostask

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Seems to be trying to do the same thing as the Duncan (originally Duncan Turner Acoustic Research (DTAR)) Mama Bear. I can attest that the Mama Bear does work from having heard it live. I have not yet heard the Fishman Aura Spectrum DI.
 

fronobulax

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Haven't used it. Perhaps of relavence is that there is/was a Martin acoustic with on board processing that, when amplified made the guitar in hand sound like a different instrument. I had a friend who had one of those as well as experience with one of the emulated instruments. It was OK but he claimed he could tell the difference between the real thing and the electronic emulation. He sold it. Interperting his experience and comments this sounds like something that would be great for someone who was otherwise willing to bring several instruments to a gig or venue.

I suspect of your requirements and needs were satisfied by a modeling amp you would, be all over this and love it.
 

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It's not an emulator. It takes an "image" of a model (made in their facility using the actual guitar and mic'd from different position with different mics) and blends that in with the signal coming from your UST. It won't make your guitar sound like another guitar; it adds the sound of mic'd guitar to what you would normally get.

I use one and like it. One night I set it up in an empty club, put it through a house PA and dialed it in with the help of a couple friends. The key is finding a patch that works for you. There's a lot of experimentation involved, and what you hear through headphones won't be the same as what you hear in the room. The tuner, equalizer and compressor all work well.

The bummer is that it appears Fishman (at least to my knowledge) isn't making or releasing new images.
 
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I use one.
Like Coop said, it’s loaded with sonic images of different guitar composition and mic types.Then you blend it with the signal of your guitar. You can load more images from the online interface. You can even select your own and save it... either by guitar brand ( Guild, Gibson. Taylor, Martin), size (dreadnought, jumbo, parlor) or type (spruce top, rosewood back and sides, mahogany, maple) and mic brand and placement ( Neuman at the 12 th fret). You can experiment with various pre-loaded settings, and/or user settings. You can even use it in with your preamp.

It has a LOT of subtle variations, some very useful, some hardly noticeable, or you can turn off the imaging and use it as a D.I. with EQ and compression. AND... it has a 3-band automatic narrow band pinpoint feedback eliminator, just by stepping on a button. Very useful for live amplified performances.

My Gibby SJ 200 came with a mini-version of it loaded into the soundhole.
 

F30

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Thanks for the info and posts. I watched a couple videos which is certainly not the same as using one and/or applying it to your rig. Pretty interesting idea.
I'll have to keep my eyes open and check one out first hand.
 

Sal

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I have that same Aura Spectrum and I love it. It's by far the best sounding preamp I've tried with a piezo pickup; it totally removes the quack of the piezo and sounds great. The variety of sounds in the Aura are fun and there should be something there that works for you. On the other hand my Guild F-40 has a K&K pure mini pickup installed and with that I still prefer my L.R. Baggs Para Acoustic D.I.
 

Coop47

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I have that same Aura Spectrum and I love it. It's by far the best sounding preamp I've tried with a piezo pickup; it totally removes the quack of the piezo and sounds great. The variety of sounds in the Aura are fun and there should be something there that works for you. On the other hand my Guild F-40 has a K&K pure mini pickup installed and with that I still prefer my L.R. Baggs Para Acoustic D.I.

Hi Sal, I have a K&K in my F-512, but haven't played it amplified all that often. What do you like more about the Baggs D.I.? I'm curious about the difference.
 

Sal

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Hi Sal, I have a K&K in my F-512, but haven't played it amplified all that often. What do you like more about the Baggs D.I.? I'm curious about the difference.
Hey Coop, I have to admit I haven't A/B'd them in a while but my preference for the Baggs with my F40 didn't come from any failings of the Aura but came largely from my love of the F40s wonderful natural tone and the quality of the K&K mini. I wanted to try and keep the amplified sound as true as possible. But the Aura works really well with the K&K too.
 

Coop47

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Hey Coop, I have to admit I haven't A/B'd them in a while but my preference for the Baggs with my F40 didn't come from any failings of the Aura but came largely from my love of the F40s wonderful natural tone and the quality of the K&K mini. I wanted to try and keep the amplified sound as true as possible. But the Aura works really well with the K&K too.


Gotcha - thanks. FWIW, you can adjust the blend knob on the Aura to remove any of the imaging and leave only the direct signal from the pickup. If we ever get to gig again, that's probably going to be my plan for the F512.
 
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