My friend has the LR Baggs Element installed and it sounds fantastic. It’s a simple design but sometimes the simplest design can sound great. He retrofitted it on his Taylor and he has a great sound!
Martin LX1E
The small Martin series is fun to play and sounds amazingly good for a guitar partly made of formica! I bought my LXME for around $220 and the retail has just been going up. I got mine setup by a luthier and it plays really great. Almost like an electric guitar feel. The built in Fishman pickup sounds great and it’s easy to get a decent piezo pickup sound. I pair mine with the ZOOM MSG-50. Sounds great! The link is to the LX1E which has a solid wood top.
Ultimate Tone, Volume III (Generations of Tone, Volume III)
Volume 3 is another fantastic book in the Ultimate Tone series! Covers iconic amp designs.
The ultimate tone – a fantastic amp book!
If you don’t have a copy of The Ultimate Tone, you really need it. It’s a fantastic book and a must have if you own a tube amp.
AKG D5 vocal mic for live
After listening and checking out all the available decents mics for live, the AKG D5 stands out as a great choice! I like the smooth, warm tone that sounds clearer than the standard Shure SM58.
Great, small, accurate tuners for guitar!
I got a 2 pack of these tuners and they are amazing! Accurate and fast tuning plus a built in visual metronome!
Tip: remove the sticker from the display and the plastic insert for the battery.
Feedback Buster
For acoustic guitar, this is an indispensable item for playing live.
Area Note for iOS
I wrote this small utility that leverages the power of the reminders app in iOS/iPhone. There were many times I wanted to be reminded of the names of people I have met at a club, like the manager’s/bartender/worker’s name. In addition you can use this for gate codes, really anything that you want tied to a location. All you do is run the app, press the + to add a new note that is tied to the current location. Since it uses the built in reminders, you can share your notes with anyone else. Very cool and useful and FREE.
Musician Insurance
For years I have used MusicPro insurance, but I never had to actually make a claim. After many years, I did have to make a claim and they were really fast and efficient! If you don’t have insurance and you play all the time, do yourself a favor and get insurance! The cost is very little compared to what you can lose through theft or with an accident.