I just purchased one of these and I used it with my L1 today.

I'm impressed, it does some really nice stuff to my guitar sound.

This is what I've noticed so far:

1) Depth has been added, the guitar sound is 3 dimensional now, a sonic space has been created.

2) Dynamics have been greatly improved and are realistic now, they were not so great before.

3) Overtones and harmonics have been created that did not exist before.

4) The preamp in the Pedal must be pretty nice because my guitar sounds better thru the Aura in bypass mode than it does when I take the Aura out of my signal chain. In other words my guitar sounds better than it did before even with the Aura feature turned off, simply running the guitar thru the pedal provides a richer sound. I've seen this mentioned elsewhere on the internet and I must say I noticed the same thing.

4) I'm forgetting some stuff, but it's late so.. oh well


All in all it's better than I expected.

My signal chain is pretty simple: Martin DX1 guitar ------> Martin thinline undersaddle pickup -------> Fishman Aura Pedal --------> L1 Classic ( Preset 45 or 49 mostly )



Anyway I thought I would report my findings and see if other folks here have tried it and see what their thoughts on it are.

Or if you haven't tried it but have questions, I'll try and answer them for you


Ted

I don't have one and have never used one but I know a couple of people that do own/use them and they pretty much say the same thing you do.

Mostly because I already use the T1, and more so now that I've started using a DPA4099 (and mix that signal with my internal pickup) in conjunction with the T1, I get a very natural guitar sound so don't really have a reason to buy the Fishman box, etc.

Otherwise, because I must confess I do like gear , I would probably own one (or two).

Stu

Ted,

I use one a lot & really get some good use out of it. It's especially good with a band where the tone cuts through very nicely & adds that mic shimmer that you just can't get out of a pickup. The main downside is that I have to notch about 130 or so with every guitar I use on my favorite preset, number 7, to get rid of some pretty bad feedback.

Tom

The other thing is that the presets on the Aura pedals are designed to use with a Fishman Matrix or similar undersaddle using what I think is Kynar. The older piezo crystal & even some ribbon types of undersaddle pickups don't sound as good.

Hi Tom and Stuart,

Thanks for your thoughts.

Tom:

I am using the Fishman 332 pickup in my Martin which I have been told is the same as the Martin thinline pickup ( I don't know that for sure though ) I am not sure if the 332 is made of Kynar or not.

I was expecting to get some lowend feedback with the Aura in the chain, but much to my suprise I've had none. Woohooo !

Anyway, I'm pretty stoked about the improvement in my guitar sound, it is sounding much more natural now.


Stuart:

Glad to hear that you've heard some good stuff on the Aura.

I am also glad to hear that the DPA mic and the T1 are getting you where you need to be, that's what it's all about.

This gear thing never ends

Ted,

The 332 & Thinline are not Kynar, but if they sound good for you, that's great! I just know they used the Matrix to set up the Aura pedals, but nothing's hard & fast in this world of music as you know.

The classical Aura pedal is amazing as well. I've even used it on recorded pickup tracks in the studio to warm them up & make them acceptable.

Tom

Hi Tom,


I've since done some research and it looks like the 332 that I have is ceramic, not Kynar, so you are correct