RE: acoustic pickups

["William Walker" <billwalker@baymoon.com>]

 I have had an RMC 6 saddle midi capable pickup on my hecho in Mexico,
Carlos Pena flamenco for several years and I'm just about to switch to the
same pickup I have in my Martin OM-18, that is a Dtar wavelength. One
reason is the RMC has metal saddles which are rough on nylon strings, and
compromise the guitars acoustic tone, and its preamp seems a little wimpy
when really laying in to the guitar.  But mostly its about sound, the
Wavelength is just clearer and more robust sounding, and it has better
headroom characteristics than any of the current 9 volt piezo systems I've
had,  namely the B-band,  the highlander( a close second )the Fishman
matrix, a Takamine pre-amp on board an nylon string, or ones I have tried,,
the new on board taylor expression, and Yamahas new multi-source, both have
excellent dynamic range as well.  The wavelength voltage conversion circuit
and Rick Turner designed preamp are an 18 volt system allowing for greater
dynamic range with less distortion in the high end (the dreaded quack). In
other words I can smack the crap out of a guitar equipped with this system,
snap string hit the bridge, you name it and it holds its own. It also has
stereo capability allowing for another piezo element or sound hole pickup 
to
be added (not an option on nylon string guitars of course). In my last 
talks
with Rick Turner he had just, installed a combination of a wavelength and a
dtar excelerometer (a small high quality disc transducer, in the guitars of
the firey young Mexican flamenco meets metal duo Rodrigo Y Gabriela, the
smaller transducer mounted in front of the bridge to capture Gabriela' s
percussive slaps. For these Artists, and anyone doing higher volume 
acoustic
playing, mics are pretty much out of the question due to feedback issues, 
Me
personally, I have a mic built in to the  Duncan mag mic pickup that I use
on a Hawaiian lap guitar, but I only use a little bit of mic as it gets too
touchy close to monitors particularly when looping. Did you see how 
cleverly
I used the word looping so as not to be too OT, Oops I did it again.., but 
I
digress, I don't think you would be able to add a pickup to your takamine 
on
board system without adding an extra output jack, so I'm not sure how to
advise you there. Simply wiring an extra pickup in mono with your onboard
system may prove unfeasible, ask a tech you trust. 
 Lastly I love My Keeley compressor, it has internal trim adjustments that
allow it to behave more like a studio compressor than a stomp box, ie you
can adjust its sensitivity to handle active and higher signal levels,
without the dreaded  breathing and pumping, and dynamics squashing that
happens when you feed a normal stomp box compressors a hot signal.
 Hope that helps
Bill