The compactness is all the more impressive because the pickupвЂ™s housing also includes an onboard preamp, powered by a pair of LR44 1.5V batteries or a single CR11108. And visually, it blends nicely with the pretty PRS. I was impressed with just how small its footprint is-itвЂ™s way less obtrusive than a typical magnetic pickup. The soundhole member of the PowerTap family features FishmanвЂ™s Rare Earth humbucker, designed to fit soundholes as small as 3-5/8 inches in diameter. Both versions come with battery-powered active onboard electronics and offer either mono or stereo output, for all kinds of sonic flexibility.

I checked out both versions of the system: The soundhole PowerTap Earth (installed on a PRS SE A40E) and the undersaddle PowerTap Infinity (retrofitted to a Guild F-150CE), each with a street price of $299.95 (guitar, of course, not included). The sensors are designed to capture percussive elements, body resonances, and performance dynamics that pickups alone tend to miss. This problem is enough to make even the toughest electrical engineers cry into their pocket protectors.Д®nter FishmanвЂ™s new PowerTap series, which mates either a soundhole or undersaddle pickup to its new TAP (which stands for Touch, Ambience, and Percussion) body sensors. Acoustic pickups, on the other hand, have the thankless job of being neutral and measuring up to an all but impossible standard-replicating the unplugged sound of the guitar itself. TheyвЂ™re celebrated for their tone-coloring effects, and their quality is subjective.

Fishman powertap earth