Biggertone active pickup vs Dupont Bigtone? Also asking for general mic advice.

arimail

Hi all,

I'm new here on djangobooks 😊

I was wondering what the best option for a bridge-pickup-system for my Cigano GJ-15 is? I don't want to get an audio technica pro 70 because I don't want the hassle with feedback, and I could just use an sm-57 in combo with the bridge pickup.

The comp guitarist in our band has a "biggertone active pickup BAP-1" that I think sounds great! They don't seem to sell them anymore though, and so I'm looking for alternatives but will look for second hand ones. I heard about the "Micro Chevalet", and was told that Adrien Moignard uses it. Has anyone tried it, and was the sound good? I can't seem to find it for sale either, so I'm gonna look for second hand ones. I also wonder size I should buy? The biggertone (the passive one that they still sell) comes in 3 heights: 17 mm, 19 mm and 22 mm. I love my guitar as it is, and optimally would like to avoid needing to do a lot of setup after changing the bridge.

I know I'm putting expensive mics on a fairly cheap guitar, but I honestly love my GJ-15 and will keep playing it until any concert money even remotely justifies buying a 2K EUR guitar.

Thanks in advance!

-Ari

billyshakes

Ari,

Welcome to the forum! This place is a fabulous repository of information and active with many players (AND builders!) who can give advice on all sorts of things.

One thing that isn't the most intuitive, though, is the forum search. It isn't the window you see at the top of the page. That will search the whole site, and is best used to find products that Michael sells here. If you want to search the forum, look on the right side of the page and scroll down to beneath the "Today's birthdays" section to a second search bar. That will give you access to all the old posts (going back ~15 years). I tried to search "cigano pickup" and got many hits. Here's one. I'll leave you to parse the others. Good luck!

https://djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/9069/pickup-for-cigano-gj-10

MichaelHorowitz

The "biggertone" was an attempt to make an active bigtone (i.e. it required a battery powered preamp) but I don't think it's been available for many years. Most people prefer the passive bigtone anyway as there's no need to deal with batteries or clunky preamps. The bigtone uses a special high gain piezo sensor that generates a hot signal without the need for any boost which is very convenient, especially on an acoustic guitar where you don't want to add weight.

Also, keep in mind that there is no one "bigtone." They have been made by many luthiers over the years and the bridge, piezo sensor, and sound quality can vary greatly. We've always sold the Dupont bigtones which are the best ones I've come across as they have the use the highest quality sensor and you also get Dupont's world famous bridge which will optimize the sound, both amplified and acoustic, for any Gypsy guitar.