Dean Markley Promag Plus Pickup

My band started gigging a few years ago, and I noticed the need for an acoustic in some of our songs. My old trusty Epiphone didn’t have a microphone, and I didn’t feel like modifying the guitar permanently with some kind of internal microphone system, so I started digging on the Internet for an easier solution. I knew I needed something affordable and something I could attach and detach with ease.

I quickly came across the Dean Markley Pro Mag Plus, and after some closer studying and comparison I ordered one for myself. Initially, I was surprised by the sound quality. When I ran my acoustic through an EQ pedal, I was able to further fine-tune the sound to my taste. The pickup attaches easily, although you should be careful when doing it as you can quite easily chip the edge of the guitar's soundhole. As it turned out, two of my band members bought the same pickup based on my experience. A good product for a really good price.

A basic entry level device. Would be fine for a few occasional shows, but as needs increase it's limits reveal themselves. Some form of EQ will be required and also single coil can be a little hissy. My major complaint with this was the proprietary jack plug 'repair' system. It creates a very unreliable connection and coupled with the cable type made it unlikely that i'd use it live on a regular basis. I did contact the company about this on the customer feedback form and never recieved any response. Positive points are that you can electrify a steel strung acoustic guitar very quickly and on a reasonably price point.

I have never liked piezo pickups much, and I was in a position as a busker of needing a cheap guitar and a no nonsense pickup. The Dean Markley is really good, the sound is extremely similar to the actual acoustic sound of my guitars. Fitting is a piece of cake. I have used it a lot since I got it, and the feedback you get from piezo pickups simply isn't present with this budget end magnetic pickup. Basically it does a great job of amplifying my acoustic guitars without any fuss or bother. The cable that is fitted to it is long enough for most uses and the jack plug is high quality. Highly recommended..

3 months on.. I have used this pickup on open mic nights to great effect. It's still so simple to install and take out when not needed. I only wish that the cable came out of the lower end of the pickup and not around the middle. I have occasionally found that my strings are inadvertantly damped by the cable. A quick fix with some tape has fixed that problem. Other than that the sound is still amazingly acoustic, and I can thoroughly reccomend it in use.

I bought this pick up because there's no PA in the local pub where I got booked few unplugged gigs.

The way how you place it on the guitar is really simple and with a little of creativity you can turn around bass and treble part so you can get different soundings.

I plugged the cable directly into an electric guitar amp on clean setting with a little of reverb.The sound itself wasn't bad actually but what you have to be careful is the cable which broke after a year of usage. Fortunately it can be repaired at home with basic soldering but it's still a good warning for the company that they should think their cable placement again.

Bought this because I broke the piezo in my electro-acoustic, taking out the bridge saddle.
I have used it for gigs and recording direct into the computer.
Putting it in is easy, but the trailing wire is fairly easy to stand on, and although I haven't done it yet I think its only a matter of time until I rip out the cable. I was aware of this before my purchase, so no real complaint, just an observation.
My real problem concerns the output. I plugged into my computer and the sound was very, very, quiet, even with the input gain on the interface full up. I had to duplicate the tracks 4 times to get a reasonable output! The sound wasn't bad at all, better than the original piezo pickup to my ears, though a tad less acoustic sounding.
I put it through my mixer, but had to max out the output and turn the other channels down to get enough volume.
I read somewhere that using a particular kind of string would enhance the output, because bronze doesn't create the necessary changes in the magnetic field of a single coil, to generate a lot of volume. Didn't make a huge difference.
Eventually I bought a preamp, not necessarily a bad thing to do, I use it for a condenser mic as well, and a 20dB boost brings it up to what I would think is a regular level.
Sounds fine, but needs a preamp, so overall not as good a deal as I thought.