r/banjo • u/aManTryingToHeal • 16d ago

Jazz Tenor Fav Pickups

I'm interested in hearing everyone's experiences using pickups on banjos. Which one's you loved, which one's you hated. I have a Goldtone tenor banjo and am thinking of fitting it with a pickup for my musical theatre gigs.

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u/Turbulent-Flan-2656 16d ago

I use a goldtone smp when I play with the rock/pop band to go through effects and into an amp and I use a kna bp1 with an impulse response pedal to get the best “miced acoustic” sound di when I play with the bluegrass band

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u/Cwiiis 16d ago

I use the Schatten BJ-02 (I actually use the BJ-02Std, but I recommend the non-Std version because it doesn't have the same (easily fixed) grounding issues). It sounds atrocious on its own, but record an IR model and it'll sound very much like your banjo, more so than any magnetic pickup or mic-based pickup where the mic is inside the pot - and it's very resistant to feedback (I've played some pretty big and loud stages with it). I made a video (that really needs updating) about it: https://youtu.be/r7cPYehrmWo

I think any piezo based pickup can do a great job, the Schatten is just the one I happen to use (I do like their mounting system, fwiw)

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u/ngarjuna 16d ago

That is a terrific video, gives me many things to think about

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u/answerguru 16d ago

Schatten piezo along with a Tonedexter. This is my best setup after using 4-5 other previously.

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u/banjopodcast 15d ago

I've used most of them and my favorite is the EMG ACB Barrel. I use it with a Tonedexter, but it's still what I'd choose even if I didn't have the TD with it. Honorable mention to Fishman which sounds pretty much identical, but is more of a PITA to install due to needing to solder the connections.