I bought this pickup to replace and Artec woody style humbucker for my Alvarez. The Artec is a really poorly designed piece of kit. The cable failed after little more than a year, and it's difficult to tighten the holdning screws, although the sound was OK,
The Harley Benton sounded great once I got it working. There is a small slither of plastic covering the batteries which I didn't realise was there. At home, I've had the pickup on full volume, with the mic on about half way. I busk in a subway, and the wall opposite me is only about 3 metres away, so I will judge the amount of microphone I can useafter playing there tomorrow. I also bought a gig bag, and a tuner. Both are great, the gig bag does not really have any padding, but it oozes quality, great zips, tough material.
Problem is, the subway that I busk in has strip lighting, and this pickup displays all the problems associated with 60cycle hum, which is like a constant ringing in your ear from your amp.