LR Baggs Anthem
Acoustic Guitar Pickup and Microphone
The LR Baggs Anthem acoustic guitar pick up has blown me away. I’m serious. If you haven’t heard this pickup in person, go to your local acoustic guitar dealer and play it immediately! I’m telling you, it is sounds awesome!
Quick Overview
The LR Baggs Anthem is more than your ordinary acoustic guitar pick up. It combines LR Baggs Tru-Mic microphone with their Element piezo style pickup. Their website claims that this combination allows you to have a, “studio mic’d sound wherever you perform.” They are not lying. It really sounds fantastic. I decided to document the sound for you in this post so you can hear for yourself just how good this microphone is. I’m going to provide a few sample sounds of some finger picking and some strumming. I’ll pick and strum the same lick in each demo so you can hear the pickup and microphone’s sound and the acoustic guitar’s sound individually. But first, let’s go over the features of the LR Baggs Anthem.
Controls
The controls for the LR Baggs Antehm are mounted behind the acoustic guitar’s sound hole. The curved face plate closley matches the sound hole’s shape. This curved face plate is very discreet and is the only visible part of the Anthem.
You’re provided a volume control, mix control, phase button, and a battery check. The volume control the forward most roller, and controls, well the volume!
The mix control is the roller closest to the bridge and allows you to blend the sound between the Tru-Mic and Element pickup. With the roller 100% toward the bridge, the Element pickup is isolated, and the Tri-Mic is essentially off or muted. The Element pickup provides a great sound, but being a classic piezo it does not differentiate itself from the pack too much. That’s where the Tru-Mic comes in.
The Tru-Mic is LR Baggs patented microphone. LR Baggs designed this microphone to capture as much of the guitar’s full range as possible. The Tru-Mic pickup is preset the Element pickup supporting the lower frequencies of the guitar. When you roll the Mix control towards the neck, you begin to blend the Element pickup with the sound of the Tru-Mic with Element low frequency support. This is where the Anthem really begins to shine.
Does it Feedback?
Plugged into an amplifier, this pickup sings. It really makes acoustic guitar sound great. I use this exclusively when I play live with my band, roadrunners, and I’ve never had feedback issues. The entire Anthem system, including the 9 volt battery, is so lightweight that I don’t notice it at all.
Speaking of feedback, there is a phase inversion button in case you find yourself getting feedback in a particular room or with a certain PA setup. I’ve never had to use this button for feedback, and when I do use it, I’m usually listening for what sounds best at that moment.
The battery check is another handy feature. To operate it, you push the battery check button, and the green LEDs light up to indicate how much juice the battery has left. There are 5 LEDS, and when all three are green, you got 100% battery juice levels, dude!
I did forget to mention one additional control, and that is the mic trim control. I left this out because L.R. Baggs presets the levels of the mic and the pickup in the factory, and if there are any adjustments to be made, most of us are probably not qualified to do so. I had my technician install the pickup in my Martin Custom D Classic, and I’ve never had to touch the trim.
How Does it Sound?
Fingerpicking
It sounds pretty frigging good. But don’t take my word for it. Listen to the sound clips below to hear for yourself! This first audio clip is of the Element pickup, with the mix control rolled 100% towards the bridge of my Martin Custom D Classic. I’ll start with some fingerpicking, and then I’ll show you how it sounds strumming some chords.
The next clip is also the Element pickup with the mix control rolled 100% toward the bridge, but this time with the phase button activated.
Now, compare this to the Tru-Mic microphone, with the mix control rolled 100% toward the neck.
And the last pickup sound, the Tru-Mic microphone with the mix control 100% rolled toward the neck, but this time with the phase button activated.
Finally, I’m going to share a clip of the guitar recorded acoustically (no pickup). You can listen to the guitar’s natural sound, and compare this to any of the clips above.
Strumming Chords
Below you can hear some simple chords strummed using the LR Baggs Anthem. The first clip is the Element pickup, with the mix control rolled 100% towards the bridge.
The next clip is the Element pickup again with the mix control rolled 100% toward the bridge and the phase inverted.
Now the Tru-Mic Microphone with the mix control rolled 100% toward the neck.
And the last sound, the Tru-Mic microphone with the mix control rolled 100% toward the neck and the phase inverted.
To wrap up, listen to the guitar recorded acoustically to hear how the guitar sounds naturally. You can compare this to the pickup and microphone.
The Wrap Up
The LR Baggs Anthem really impressed me. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have this installed in my acoustic guitar. I would love to have a shoot out with another pickup and see how the Anthem stacks up, because I think the Anthem is hard to beat. They retail at about $300, and I paid about $160 to have it professionally installed by the guys at Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto.
This could be the holy grail of acoustic guitar microphone and pickup combinations. If you want to know more about the Martin I played, check out my review of the Martin Custom D Classic. At the end I mention what kinds of strings and picks I use, and also mention the equipment I used to record the audio clips. Thanks for reading, and happy playing!
