PRODUCT REVIEW
Rating:
guitar’s acoustic qualities the louder it
got, until at times it sounded like a guitar
the size of a pipe organ: rich, sustaining,
and very loud. Highs were smooth and
brilliant, never harsh or spiky. Mids—
typically the frequency most likely to reveal a
pickup system’s shortcoming in the form
of quack or feedback—were remarkably
well defined, with a total absence of harsh
nasality. And the bass sounds, generated with a combination of the Tru-Mic
and the Element, were awesome without
being woofy or overwhelming, and without
inducing groaning feedback.
entire space. The guitar tone remained pure
guitar, regardless of crowd noise or the percussive power behind me.
Because of its highly accurate signal, the
Anthem system also opens up an interesting world of recording possibilities, where
blends of the Anthem signal and an organic
mic’d signal can be split to create greater
girth and ambience in an acoustic track.
you have a gorgeous-sounding
guitar that deserves to he heard
in all its glory when you plug it in.
Buy If...
Skip If...
you are still working your way up the
high-end-guitar food chain.
The Verdict
Thankfully for all of us who perform live with
acoustic guitars, acoustic amplification technology has grown by leaps and bounds. But
L.R. Baggs has taken a truly giant leap forward with the Tru-Mic Anthem system. And
by focusing on a microphone-oriented solution—an approach that many players and
certainly engineers regard as the best way to
capture a guitar’s natural tone—L.R. Baggs
is helping raise the bar for what players can
expect from an accessibly priced system.
L.R. Baggs
Street $299
lrbaggs.com
I did have a chance to use this guitar live for
a duo gig with my drummer Eric in a medium-sized, L-shaped venue. Eric is a pretty
aggressive player, and as the night went on
his playing got a bit rowdier. But the Anthem
had no problem rising above his caffeinated
exuberance. Each note was clear, and both
of us could be heard perfectly through the
HEADOnline…
or use a mobile
device to read
this QR code to
download audio
clips of the
pickup at
premierguitar.com/dec2010
