Fishman Powerjack Onboard Instrument Preamp

I had one of these installed on my Taylor 510 many years ago and consistently get compliments on the sound. The EQ on the preamp circuitry does a nice job of giving a full, balanced sound. I just installed another one in my Taylor Big Baby with equally great results. The tone and output level are great... I really don't miss a tone knob, and just make adjustments directly on my mixing channel as necessary, though I usually leave it completely flat.If you were extremely picky about that sort of thing, you could always add an external EQ pedal. The battery life on these lasts beyond most people's careers. I am a professional musician, and at one point played over 400 shows in one year (yes, really), and never swapped out a 9V. I've had the Taylor folks swap out the battery whenever I get a refret done (currently on #3 for my 510), just in case, but for a casual player, you'll never need to worry about this thing going dead on you at a gig.

Impossible to rate, as my installer reversed polarities on the wiring and accidentally burned out the circuit board.

AAAA++++

It works very well and I am satisfied with it. I have recommended it to some of my friends and one person purchased themselvesone. I would definite get another if I needed it.

I have used one of these for years with an under saddle passive pickup. When installed, you plug in and play. EQ settings are good enough for live sound and if you need anything other than flat, adjust it at the board. Put a sound hole cover in the guitar, and never get any feedback. 9V battery lasts years. If you have a under saddle passive piezo pickup, need umph, and are looking for a simple system that you don't have to constantly mess with, this is what you want.

I bought this as my 3rd choice of replacement preamp for my 2003 Yamaha APX5LA. My first choice? Well, I tried buying the replacement preamp from Yamaha for the actual guitar. Well, Yamaha really let me down. After searching everywhere, including 2nd hand on ebay and other sites, for finally, after weeks of emails, informed by Yamaha Europe, that they no longer made my model. I then went for the Fishman Outboard Preamp that is featured on Amazon, and it was really nice, but too bulky. I wanted something that was as close as I could get to my original part. Now don't get me wrong, Amazon sell loads and loads of acoustic preamps, and they all would work, BUT, beware, the plastic mouldings around each one is NEVER the same as the hole where its supposed to fit, so it doesn't go into the guitar recess properly. That was my problem with Yamaha to. They had the preamp, just the shape of the moulding did not fit my old APX. - As for this product, it is, as they say quite simple to install, but you do need a bit of electronic soldering skill for the piezo pickup to be installed. Once its in? It sounds great! I use it with the best acoustic amp on the market in my opinion, the Marshall AS100D. Only 4 stars? Well it would of got 5, but you can now, only adjust the volume control from the Amp. Would of been nice if this product had a volume control on it. But all in all, fantastic.

Astoundingly compact! 100 mm long 13mm in diameter (15mm over the nuts); the Fishman site gives some odd sizes (perhaps the size of the packaging?) It has, it is said, (and confirmed by Fishman) a 12,000 hour life for the 9v battery (not supplied); I reckon that should cover my bass playing for this life & the next couple of reincarnations!The specs for this are the same as an external Fishman pre-amp that I need to use, so I assume it will work as well (although there are no tone controls on this). I have not actually fitted it yet, as I need to make a new backplate for the bass; when fitted I should not need to worry about forgetting it or losing a connecting cable (or running out of battery...!). I will revise this review when I am using the preamp.

I previously bought a Fishman banjo pickup for my 6 string guitar-banjo but it did not work well as the outer strings sounded weak. The engineer fitting it suggested the powerjack together with a standard contact pickup as an alternative. So far it seems to work OK although I've only used it once in public. On that occasion audience members told me it sounded good but I wasn't too sure and will need further tests to be certain. So far so good though.