Guzz Pickup Series II

Gadjo_Jazz

Hi all,

I was wondering if any of you have any experience with the new Guzz Series II Pickup?

I'm pretty close to purchasing one, although I did try the ALD Humbucker made by Benedetti through the Nuance Amp (Really nice sounding amp from a guy in Brighton UK) at Samois this year and that sounded great.

I'm Just not keen on the volume control having to be connected to the tail piece.

Any info or sound clips/videos from people who own one of the Series II would be much appreciated.

I've listened to the two samples on their website with the AER and 1940's Stimer amp and I'm very impressed, would just like to hear some opinions on people who have purchased one.

https://www.guzzguitar.com/ACOUSTIC_PICKUP.html

Thanks

MichaelHorowitz

@Gadjo_Jazz The Guzz is very nice! It's the best one of the magnetic pickups if you're looking for a more transparent, acoustic type tone. It colors the sound less than other pickups and the string balance is near perfect.

Gadjo_Jazz

Thanks Michael, I have read the string balance is meant to be much better with the Guzz.

Is it free from noise like the ALD Humbucker? And what's the volume like? I assume as I'll be using it on a D Hole, the pickup will be quite a distance from the strings so there may be an issue with getting enough volume out of it. There is always a preamp to fix that I guess.

How would you compare the sound of them both (if you've had the chance to try both pickups out that is)

Thanks

sambo

I have just recently got mine. They're pretty nice.

The balance can be pretty good if you spend the time to set it up right. Much better than the Stimer (which i had for a few years) and peche.

The output is quite low though so if you want break up you need to think about amp are going to use. I tried a bunch of old vintage amps like fender champs etc and it couldn't make them break up. The blues junior ended up being the only one that I could get it to happen with. Mainly because it has a master and volume nob.

That said however it does sound much more natural than the Stimer so maybe the low output was intentional. By that I mean they don't want it to break the amp up. Also this is probably why they did the demo with the AER.

It is a noisy bugger, about the same as the Stimer.

Overall I'm very happy with this over priced pickup.

Gadjo_Jazz

Thanks for the reply Sambo.

Forgive my ignorance, but what exactly do you mean by "break up"? I've not heard this term before

Do you mean the gain to give it that vintage Django sound?

Maybe a pre-amp could be a good idea to keep the volume but eliminate the noise....

This is why my thoughts are also with the ALD Benedetti humbucker.

That should be nice a quiet.... really need to be able to test them side by side but as always with this sort of gear, it will prove to be near impossible.

And yes they are expensive, but nice to know you are happy with what you got

Gadjo_Jazz

Has anyone been able to try out the Yves Guen Original Pickup ST48 re issue that has just been released?

Gadjo_Jazz

@MichaelHorowitz, do you happen to have any video reviews of the Yves Guen Pickup?

Would be much appreciated to hear how it sounds.

Thanks

MichaelHorowitz

@Gadjo_Jazz I don't have a vid of the Guen pickup yet. I will try an make one soon. So far I love it! Very high output, balanced, and warm. It's funny, people always say they don't like Django's distorted electric sound and therefore won't try any of the magnetic pickups. What they don't realize is that these pickups are very warm sounding. What you're hearing on those recordings is the amp being overdriven as well as the mic/recording gear being pegged.

Gadjo_Jazz

Thanks Michael.

I'll look forward to hearing how the pickup sounds.

Can make a more informed comparison between that the ALD Humbucker and the Guzz then to help make my mind up about which one to buy.

Then it will be onto amps after some more months saving the pennies

klaatu

It looks like mounting the Guzz on a D hole could be problematic. That volume knob would be sitting up right where it could interfere with your picking motion.

swingnation

I've been using the pick up now on various gigs for about two months now and here's my opinion. I'm totally happy with the sound but it took a few gigs to dial it in. I have to roll off most of the bass on my amp but it works great for lead and rhythm. The negative is that it is pretty low output and I have to turn up channel gain to match other instruments. And at this point it starts to give off a slightly noisy hum. Nothing too terrible but you'll notice it when there's silence. Normally, this was never a problem for me. BUT- I just played a new gig this weekend where the venue had some sort of grounding problem. The pickup hum was so bad (the looks I got from band mates were awesome) I couldn't even use it. I tried boosting the output with Baggs DI but it didn't help to reduce pickup hum at all. I could use less gain on the amp, but the hum was still there. Had to go with a shure 58 in front of guitar instead.

I'm definitely keeping it but it's not the perfect pickup quite yet.

J