Schertler Dyn-M vs L.R. Baggs Radius

[Demetrius]

Hello,

I would love some feed back from those who have owned or have had some experience with either or both of these to mandolin pickups.




Thanks,
D

[Dave Martin]

LRB was susceptible to extra noise IMHO. I could not get much gain out of the Shertler, but tone was very good.

You should look at JJB, and don't let the low price fool you. Excellent stuff.

[almeriastrings]

The Radius can be very problematic..... they can be OK, but on some instruments, they really struggle. A basic K&K type (including JJB) is usually easier to get a decent sound from. I try to avoid the Radius. The Schertler is much nicer in my experience.

[pops1]

The Schertler I had fed back easily, I would never use the tone guard when using the pickup and that helped. I have a K&K and redeye preamp and couldn't be happier with the sound. Had a mandolin player at a gig come up to me Sunday and ask what I was using as it sounded so good. This has happened a few times so I know it is not just me thinking it sounds good.

[mandroid]

Passive Schertler can go into a Mic channel .... acoustic amp ..

or a guitar amp , maybe a low cost impedance matching transformer, at most, in between them ..

lots of feedback is your stagecraft,, monitors ring the top, and it becomes a microphone.

turn the monitor , cut that frequency band. with EQ.

[Demetrius]

What does Sam Bush and Jeff Austin use?

[MontanaMatt]

I've used the radius for seven or eight years. I've been through five different d.i.'s. The next to last was what I thought was a great d.i. pickup combo...the Triton piezo big amp. It had a big input impedance and gave a pretty open sound. Then I got the Tonedexter from Audio Sprokets. WOW! It's the best I've yet to hear. It emulates/ modeled a mic, whose patch you make with your own mic. I have sweet in ear monitors and when I balance the volume, with one in one out, my ears hear the same sound. Very realistic acoustic sound. Tons of gain for loud shows, and fantastic detail for intimate shows. Better than a stand mic, as there is never a distance issue. Pickup and di are cheaper than a dpa mic. Has a latching mute switch, tuner, notch, eq, 22 mic image storage, blend, phase, variable boost, and more.
I've been planning to write a detailed review, now I'm motivated to do a full write up...I see it as the new essential setup for stage. If they don't sell it in Spain, you need to find one Almeria!
NFI

[almeriastrings]

What does Sam Bush and Jeff Austin use?

Not sure about Jeff Austin... but "Hoss" is heard by the audience (FOH) from a small lav microphone. This one:

http://www.countryman.com/isomax-2-a...ose-microphone

The monitor sound is fed by a separate, old, Barcus-Berry 'Hot Dot' transducer on the bridge. That is far more feedback resistant than the Isomax. They don't sound that great, but will do the job for high level monitoring purposes.

[MontanaMatt]

I wanted to follow up on my last comment...after hearing how the Tonedexter compensates for the limitations and shortcomings of the standard piezo pickup sound characteristics, either pickup will be awesome if you use the right d.i. The TD is significantly superior to any other d.i. system. You gotta try it!

[stevedenver]

i have the Dyn M 48.
it is a great , transparent, true to sound mic.'it requires phantom power, 48v. some guitar style amps don't have this, or, don't have full 48v phantom. its critical. you can get an external power source for this aspect. no phantom , no sound. period.

it attaches with inert gum, and provided the thin cord doesn't get yanked, its very stable.

the only thing I might change is to somehow, reduce the cord length with a disconnect, so that when you set down the mando on stage, theres not the approx. 5-6' long cord, or, in my case, when I grab my mando and take it with me at breaks, i hate the thing dangling about. while i have had no problems, overall, i always feel that the schertler is going to be pulled off with others milling about the stage. this really bugs me, even though i run the cord under the tailpiece and also secure it with a prussic type elastic to the end pin. the beauty is its not permanent, the bad thing is, it kinda feels like this too.

I bought an xlr foot pedal too, called a Panic Button, which is nothing more than an on off switch for the pup/ mic ...nice to be able to mute when tuning, or, sudden feedback (which has not been a problem at all for me, with or without monitors, with or without large diaphragm carioid or condensors -yeah enough volume and it will, but this is always the case...

the baggs, is good, with its DI, not so much without. without, imho they sound very boxy and shrill and unnatural, the DI is a must have. Really. it absolutely changes the sound, from arghh to ahhh. try it and youll get it.

while I prefer my schertler for sound, (my mando sounds just like it does acoustically amped) I think they are, generally speaking, close enough.

i ordered mine schertler directly from Switzerland, service was astounding and i received it in 2 days. i ordered extra putty.

the baggs DI is great because not only can you control eq, volume, and notch filters, you have some on stage control, even if not at your fingertips but on the floor, rather than simply relying on the sound guy.

i still thinking about getting an dedicated pencil style mic-great sound, but you have to stay put and close when you play, but, none of the hassles of a cord , (baggs has a sensible 1/4" so not an issue)

both are significantly colored and influenced by position and placement on the sound board.

FWIW, the schertler also work great on my martins.

Montana matts post sounds like a great best of both worlds. but, you still need to make the image of your mandos sound in a studio with a mic, if i understand things.

[Jim Nollman]

I've owned one for 8 years. I've used it lots on stage. When plugged straight into a board it sounds more like a mandolin should than anything else I've ever used except maybe a good small condenser mic. I've never experienced feedback with it. The unit broke last month. I'm not sure why or how. I just sent it back to Schertler in Switzerland for repair. They told me the cartridge got fractured somehow. They put in a new one for less than $150.

[pops1]

It's not a radius, but a K&K and again this weekend I had a mandolin player comment on the sound. We were trading instruments after the show, he had a BRW, and he said my mandolin sounded the same with the pickup as it was when he was playing it acoustically. Since he was listening to our set I was tickled.

[drkix]

Sierra Hull uses a Radius.

[roysboy]

I've been using the Radius for a few years with no issues .Saying that , I didn't have many options to explore at the time of purchase so I cannot compare it to other pickups . I like that there is a warmth about the radius when used with a decent DI . I experimented with pickup placement and found that no matter where I got the best sound , I always needed to roll off a little bottom end to minimize picking sound and extraneous noise , in general . The pickup is a microphone and as such does a good job of picking up everything .
I'd buy it again . Hope this is helpful .

[Dave Greenspoon]

The Rigel has a really super high impedance piezo. I have to run it thru a good preamp, so I use the Baggs Venue DI. When someone on a Cafe board shared the secret for the EQ settings for the Radius, I gave it a shot and was surprised by how good it it finally sounded. My buddy has a K&K on his Eastman 915 which also sounds excellent...especially thru the K&K preamp. Peter Mix put the Schertler in his A-5's for a reason: he wanted top of the line. There is a value in that; there is also value in other options. I like my Radius.

[BrianWilliam]

Sierra Hull uses a Radius.

Does she? I've never seen that thing plugged in.

IME, the radius was a major PITA. With the K&K/red eye setup I have now, getting a good plugged in sound is easy.

[Victor Daniel]

I have the radius. Never really liked it. Very hard to eq. to get to sound decent. Had a K&K installled and loved it. Much easier to get a good acoustic sound and very feedback resistant. I sold that mando and now use a Pyle clip on mic which I love. The mic is hard to beat to really capture the tone of your instrument. The only situation it might not work is a really noisy bar gig.

[drkix]

Does she? I've never seen that thing plugged in.

IME, the radius was a major PITA. With the K&K/red eye setup I have now, getting a good plugged in sound is easy.

I have seen her with just the Radius, a mic mounted on the mando and a mic. With the Radius, she was wireless. Here is a vid starting at 3:52.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1gau0ZXJ0Q

[mandroid]

What does Sam Bush and Jeff Austin use?

Read here, Sam splits to 2 pickups , 1 to monitors has the notches in EQ cut to eliminate feedback

the other goes to the mains and faces away from him and the stage , so is EQ'd differently..

[Dave Greenspoon]

Does she? I've never seen that thing plugged in.

IME, the radius was a major PITA. With the K&K/red eye setup I have now, getting a good plugged in sound is easy.

I have the radius. Never really liked it. Very hard to eq. to get to sound decent. Had a K&K installled and loved it. Much easier to get a good acoustic sound and very feedback resistant. I sold that mando and now use a Pyle clip on mic which I love. The mic is hard to beat to really capture the tone of your instrument. The only situation it might not work is a really noisy bar gig.

I've seen Sierra at Grey Fox and at Ram's Head in Annapolis with that Radius.

Those with one, zero out everything under 180 hz for the Baggs and see what that does for that annoying low-end.

[sloanypal]

I've been using the Schertler for 15 years. Great acoustic sound. I've used it plugged into my amp and directly into the board at different times. The only time I have feedback issues is if I lean directly over the amp or monitor.

[MikeHalloran]

Once I installed the Radius, I stopped using anything else. You have to hunt a little for the sweet spot which varies but, once found, it's quite natural.

No piezo quack—it's a contact microphone. No twin-transducer comb filtering (phase reinforcement and cancellation) since it's a single element.

[Br1ck]

As I understand it, the Tonedexter is going to sound like your mandolin miced with whatever great mic you can beg, borrow, or steal. It certainly works that way for guitar. Have not heard it with mandolin, but I'd take a good look, even though I'm analog by nature ( geezer).

[Dooney]

Hi, I have seen that in various posts you mention the secret to equalize the lr baggs radius. I can't get rid of the noise, it drives me crazy. I have a para acoustic DI and I would like to understand how to equalize it. can you help me?