Pickup

happyjazzer

What pickup do you use to amplify your gypsy guitar and like the sound? a) Oval hole b) 'Grand Bouche'.

voutoreenie

What pickup do you use to amplify your gypsy guitar 

Many options!

and like the sound?

Many opinions!!!

lucky

It's a tricky area, it's not really possible to amplify the guitars in a way that really captures their tone and feedback is a constant nuisance. These are some options that I have tried:

1. Bigtone pickup. Quacks like a duck but it's popular because you can really drive the guitar and it doesn't tend to feedback much. Probably the best option for a D-hole.
2. Stimer-style pickup. Good for that 1950s Django sound but of course not good for anything before that, and to be honest as they tend to be quite expensive you're better off getting a secondhand Chinese-made semi-hollow.
3. Microphone pickup. A small mike in the sound hole is often used - Audio Technica is the most common - gets better detail but a bugger for feedback
4. Microphone into an amp - I've found this the best solution, especially if blended with a piezo-style pickup like Bigtone
5. No pickup at all. Be brave - these guitars are designed to project and the gypsy jazz style is all about driving them to get the tone. They don't need amplifying

Good luck!

voutoreenie

6. Contact mic pickup

For me, 2 & 6 blended together are the best amplified sound I've found to date.

That said, 2 is all you need along with a tube amp if you're going for later period electric Django with some natural overdrive as the tubes warm up

MikeK

Welcome, happyjazzer. If you do a little research on previous threads on this forum, you'll find tons of great info on this very important subject. But for me, there's nothing like a Krivo Micro Manouche. It won't get you the pure acoustic sound that some desire, but if you play through a good amp & experiment with the knobs on it, you can get some great sounds that are, I believe, quite suitable for this style of music. Think of a blend of Django's acoustic sound with his electric sound. Best of all, you won't have to fight the feedback. And with the putty that comes with it, they're really easy to take on & off. Just my opinion, but there you go.

happyjazzer

Thanks for the info--much appreciated.

JSanta

https://djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/121861#Comment_121861

I don't think any archtop is going to come close to that amplified Django sound. The strings, scale length, and Stimer-style pickup are very different and I think someone chasing that tone would be disappointed if they grabbed an archtop instead.

But back to the topic - I have a Kleio and one of the AT clip-on mics for amplification and use depends on the venue. I think the Kleio sounds just fine through my AER, but my preference is usually the mic for that, and the Kleio is awesome through my little Fender tube amp. Lots of great options out there, but those two are both easiest for me and the most flexible.