Anyone know the iRig Acoustic Stage Pickup?

papajoe · March 2017

I'm looking at a low cost way of amplifying my guitar. I saw this new addition to the iRig line made especially for playing through an amp. Anyone have one or used one?

dart18 · October 2017

Hi there from Italy.
after having experimented most of the solutions with mics (AT831b) + preamps with notch filters to control feedback (with some good results) I'm an happy owner of this new Irig acoustic stage from these two last weeks. I'm using an Acus oneforstring 8 ampli that is very Hi Fi compliant. You have to calibrate first the mic on your instrument to get the best sound, following the video instructions on Youtube (I suggest until 6th fret to have a sound focused on the mid freq). The result is simply awsome. A very good sound...but moreover you can play very very loud (you will be surprised...mostly 3/4 your amp master volume knob). The little box where you plug in the mic has a digital circuit that calibrating the "system" avoids 80% of feedback that you have with AT or other mics. Should a freq arise..just push the botton to eliminate instantly the feedback, without lowering the nice sound colors of your guitar.
The little box accepts another aux imput (like piezo ) end you can mix them with a variable percentage. In case you want to add your favorite AT you can using an impedance matching adapter that transform the AT output from low impedance XLR in hi impedance 1/4 pin to fit the imput.
It's very important the sound chain (mic+ampli). If you have been able to experiment, some amps play better with piezo systems (like AER or Heriksen), other with mics (like Acus, Schertler, SR). So I uggest you the second choice for every mic.
Last advice, the mic has a very very thin cable that you can easily brake. So I built a little system (a litle box with two female jmini acks) to have all the mic cable on my guitar and another cable to the mic box, so in case you will accidentally pull the cable it will not be the mic one.
Hope these info could help you.
You can found some Joscho Stephan videos using Irig acoustic Stage.
Live slow...play fast

alton · October 2017

I bought one. I like it. It is definitely an upgrade in tone from the K&K Definity that I was using before. Is it perfect? Hell no. But it is a more realistic tone than a contact element. So far, I have used it on a grand bouche through an amp at a wedding, and on a dreadnaught through a PA playing country/folk/blues. Better than a piezo, better than the Definity, and the feedback suppressor works great. Super easy to use. The price!

My only issue was finding the proper placement on the grande bouche. Putting the mic in the suggested place while picking Gypsy style, the high E (closest to the pickup) was getting a weird ghost note. I moved it to under the strings beneath the D and G and pointed it towards the neck. Much better. Perhaps with proper calibration, I could cure the ghost note, but this placement worked well. No problem with the dreadnaught, as I tend to play that guitar with more finesse. I don't think that I could fit it under the strings anyway, as the strings are much closer to the soundboard.

Yes, the cable is thin. As I am hard on everything that I own, I will probably break it. I am going to try really hard to take care of it and avoid that. Time will tell.

Buco · October 2017

This thing looks good. I might have to try one myself.
Hey @alton did you try their calibration process? I watched some videos which are all very positive but didn't see anybody going through the calibration, it was only mentioned as a feature.

alton · October 2017

@Buco I have messed with the calibration process with the grande bouche, but I find that the nylon string settings worked just fine for that guitar. Also, I am kind of intimidated by the instructions - they tell you that when calibrating, don't play too hard or your tone will be too "X", don't play too soft or your tone will be too "Y". I forget the specifics, but it sounded like too much trouble to me, since I am going to play the guitar way differently when I am strumming six string one finger barres than when I am pompin' or picking. The stock settings are pretty good.

The dreadnaught was really easy. Steel string setting on "warm" worked great.

Elí Saúl · October 2017

this is interesting, i recently asked Daniele what he thought about it he said he thought it sounded really good.
I'm quite interested on it due to it's preamp and its feature to connect it to a PC, it might be useful for some demostration stuff.
In amazon reviews for it are quite mixed @alton what i wonder is if it fits a petite bouche? because that's my concern, i'm willing to buy an AT pro 70 but i saw this some days ago and started wodering if i should re think my choice

Buco · October 2017

A lot of Amazon reviews are people being pissed off at the thin cables, calling it a POS and such nonsense. Sure cable is a concern, sounds like you really have to baby it but you get a lot of tech and features for a pretty reasonable price. And more reasonable people that criticize the build quality, still agree that it sounds great.

Lango-Django · October 2017

Haven't seen the iRig yet, but I've got to agree that thin cables are an open invitation to the guitar gods for Murphy's Law to take over.

It was a great relief to get rid of my Ischell CPJ's thin cable by mounting it inside the body.

klaatu · October 2017

Mine arrived today. Caution: check the thickness of your top first. Buried in the Web site support pages is an item that says it will only fit guitars with tops up to 4mm thickness, and that is a stretch. It will not fit my gypsy guitar, a Rodrigo Shopis grand bouche. Rodrigo glued a thin layer of wood around the sound hole because he says that is a weak spot. I also wanted to try it on my archtop, which has a 4mm top, and I was barely able to make it fit. Its fine on my classical, and will probably be OK with the flattop that is at the office.

And that cable is shockingly thin. I would never use this without a backup.

I'll check it out soundwise in a day or so.