The iRig Acoustic Stage Microphone Pickup System... 🤔

FloridaGull, Does the venue not have an SM-57 for folks with no pickups? A lot of folks have no pickups and would like to play open mics, especially banjo, mandolin. . . players.

I never thought of that. I have mine hooked to a female endpin jack/strap button.

Ok - just ordered one... 💸😁🎉

I will let everyone know how it is...first guitar I try will be Giannini Craviola 12-string... 😄

I played with the iRig over the weekend on many guitars, 12-string, 6-string, classical. It works amazingly on everything! I'm going to take it tonight to the open mic with my Cort L500-O, which is a 12 fret, slot head, OM sized instrument. Sounds amazing at home, I'll let you know how it sounds tonight! 😁

A somewhat less positive review here: I bought the iRig, got it yesterday, and tried it out. I have to say that in comparison with the K&K Pure Mini pickups I have in my Eastmans, the K&Ks totally blow away the iRig in tone and output. In general, that would be my primary complaint about the iRig; the output is weak even with the volume all the way up. To get it to match the volume of the (entirely passive) K&Ks, I had to really push the fader on my mixer.

Mind you, when I do that, the iRig sounds pretty natural (certainly better than an undersaddle piezo), but the K&Ks still have a more expansive tonal range and don't need the extra boost I had to give the iRig. I did try to put it on the Guild GAD F212 12-string, but the wood is too thick around the soundhole on that guitar; the iRig simply doesn't fit.

I'm going to replace the batteries that came with it, given that they're an off-brand and I don't know how long they've been sitting. Maybe fresh batteries will boost the output. And I also want to try the iRig through an amp rather than going into a mixer and then to the PA. And I really want to try it on my Guild 140CE (I'm not impressed at all with the sound of its undersaddle piezo); the iRig can mix the output of an undersaddle with the mic in the iRig, and that may be a nice solution for that guitar.

Bottom line: I'll hang onto the iRig as it'd be handy if I have to use a guitar (or ukulele or mandolin) without a pickup on stage at some point. On the plus side, the iRig is rather inexpensive, and one wouldn't need to do minor surgery and careful gluing on a guitar to use it, unlike the K&Ks.