- Body Sensing Magnetic Soundhole Pickup
- Active and Passive Operation
- Detects Body Vibrations In Additional To Strings
- Adjustable Pole Pieces (extra pole pieces included)
- Volume Control (Active Mode Only)
- Includes Prewired Endpin Jack
It's all about the body. The more body that a pickup can capture, the more natural and inspiring the sound will be. The new M80's built-in 3D sensor picks up the entire frequency range of your guitar's body and captures more of its acoustic soul than any single pickup ever created.
The soul of your guitar is in the body - from the tone woods that it’s made of to the fine details in the way it was put together. A typical magnetic pickup hears only dry strings. The patented and iconic LR Baggs M1 was the first magnetic soundhole pickup to capture the upper frequency resonances of the guitar’s body for a more natural sound.
The M80 pushes this idea to the limits by sensing the entire frequency range of the top, back, side and neck resonances in all three dimensions. Tap on the body and you’ll swear that there’s a full range mic inside of the guitar - but it’s all coming from the M80. This all-in-one pickup installs in minutes and faithfully captures more of your guitar’s acoustic soul than any single pickup ever created. Amplify more of the guitar you paid for.
“The M80 is a significant advance in acoustic magnetic pickup design…The guitar feels and sounds alive as you play it, in a way that other magnetic pickups can’t match.”
Phil O’Keefe – Associate Editor, Harmony Central
HOW IT WORKS
The secret of the M80 is the patented floating secondary coil that acts both as a humbucking coil and a 3D body sensor. By deftly unlocking the secondary coil a robust full range signal is created as the body vibrates and the floating coil interacts with the magnets.
The coil is tuned to respond to the entire frequency range of the guitar and the proprietary suspension allows each axis of the 3D coil to contribute, thereby adding enhanced richness and complexity to the sound. Finally, just the right amount of body signal is added to the string signal for an all-in-one pickup that will capture the character of your guitar like no other magnetic pickup ever created.
The M80 can operate in either active or passive mode. In Active mode, the M80 engages a high quality, all-discrete
preamp that is specifically tuned to optimize the M80’s performance. With optimal noise cancellation and a higher output level, the active M80 can plug directly into a P.A. or acoustic amplifier without an external preamp. The built in volume control is available when in Active mode. If your battery dies during a performance, you can continue using the M80 by switching to the “passive” setting and making the proper external adjustments.
In Passive mode, the M80 bypasses the preamp for a battery-free performance. This setting also allows you to use the pickup with an external soundhole cable (sold separately, part #M1-C1) to avoid permanently modifying high-end or vintage guitars and also makes transferring the M80 from one guitar to another quick and easy.
The pole pieces on the M80 are factory set for bronze acoustic strings, but this is just a starting place. They are adjustable with the included 3/32” Allen wrench to obtain the optimum balance and tone. Raising the pole pieces will increase the output of the strings; lowering them will decrease the output. Two additional 3/4” pole pieces are provided for use in the B and little E string positions with nickel or electric guitar strings, and one spare 3/8” pole piece for acoustic strings that have an unwound “G”.
Package includes M80 pickup with battery installed, pre-wired strapjack assembly, spare battery, 3/32” Allen wrench, two spare 3/4” pole pieces, one spare 3/8” pole piece, two self-stick wire clips, user manual, warranty card.
