Myers Pickups The Feather Banjo Pickup with Flexible Micro-Gooseneck

I use a Myers feather pickup on my banjo, and it has been a game-changer for gigs! No longer am I stuck in front of a microphone on a stand. The pickup also includes a built-in preamp, which is an absolute MUST if you are using a wireless transmitter instead of an instrument cable. The tone I get with this pickup is very natural and sounds like my banjo! The EQ response of the pickup is very flat, and the sound is very realistic. Wherever I place the mic end of the pickup, that's what my banjo sound like at that spot. I have used internal pickups before, and the sound has never been right with those, and always sounded "plugged in" and unnatural. This pickup, which is essentially a very small gooseneck mic, can be placed in the sweet spot outside of your instrument, and delivers clean, natural tone... Having microphone quality sound with the freedom to move around and the conveniences of a pickup has been great!I have performed dozens of shows with this pickup. The life of the watch battery in the preamp seems endless - I haven't had to change it yet after over 2 years of playing shows on it (though COVID slowed down our shows a bit in 2020). I can say that there is a possibility of sound feedback occurring through this pickup if you are using floor wedge monitors; however, controlling feedback seems very manageable. The only time this happened was when my band was playing with floor wedge monitors and the wedges were right up close to us on a shallow stage, and were turned up quite loud. Turning the monitors down to a much more appropriate volume level eliminated the feedback. I was also standing directly in front of the stage left monitor.I did have one technical issue with the pickup after a couple years of repeated use. The pickup was still useable, but I had to be careful not to bend the gooseneck in a certain spot, or it might cut out, so I just bent it in a different spot and it kept going. Being that the pickup was still quite functional, I used it for several more shows and I put off reaching out to Myers about it (thinking I would have to mail it out and be without it for a little while). Finally during a gap between gigs, I reached out to Myers pickups about the issue and Gregg Myers himself contacted me almost immediately. Even though I was well outside of any replacement or warranty period, Gregg sent me a new pickup out right away, without needing to receive my existing pickup with the finnicky gooseneck! I believe the issue that I experienced was an anomaly anyway, but Myers stood behind their product and worked to make it right, right away!In conclusion, I am very satisfied with the Myers feather pickup. It has given me the freedom to move around on stage yet still have microphone-quality sound. The convenience of a pickup without sounding "plugged in" has been so much fun to play on... And compared to some of the other external mic-like pickup options out there (shop around, they are big $$$$$), this pickup is REALLY a bargain!!Steven Moore

i read reviews all the time and never write them. I'm in a touring band and have no time to comment on all the poorly written reviews I see. Most people don't even seem to understand what they're actually reviewing. In this particular case, I do.I run a band that I've been doing sound for since 2009. I've tried all kinds of mic setups with varying degrees of success. This mic works for me and it's really great.Here's why:First and foremost, customer support. All equipment fails when pushed hard enough, dropped, rained on or just plain neglected. We're on the road half of the year, so I've seen a lot of stuff fail. Usually, you just buy another and hope it lasts. With this thing, you can actually talk to a person about how best to use it, how to keep it going if you've accidentally damaged it, or how to trouble shoot it if you're not sure where your sound problem is coming from.Greg Meyers is complety different than anyone I've worked with in sound. He stands 100% behind his product and if you've got an issue, he doesn't just correct it, he asks your advice as the user how he can serve you better. Not because you're a rock star, but because his number is on the website and he actually answers it or returns your call quickly. This may sound like a minor thing, but if you take your gear seriously and you can't afford to have stuff fail during a show, you know how important it is to have someone you can call. This is even more important when you can't figure out what's causing the problem. Greg Myers will be there for you. Don't ask that of any major manufacturer.The sound: since I got this mic, I haven't just gotten compliments about our sound. I've gotten people who watch from the side of the stage trying to figure out what the hell we're doing that sounds so good. At every show people ask me how we do it. That never happened before at a show unless it was a sound guy or a gear head looking to chat about gear in general. We have always had good sound because we work at it, but since adding these mics, we get people at every show asking how we get the sound we get.The mics: I have one on a double bass and the other on a violin. I've used everything from Neumann condensers to 58s and rarely been satisfied. In a live setting, tearing down and setting up sometime two or three times a day, sound quality is just one of the issues we face. Wear and tear, set up time, weight, ease of set up, sound check time, etc, it all adds up so very fast and at some point you're wondering if it's worth the hassle. We care about the sound more than the hassle so, I do mic comparisons whenever we switch anything and these mics really shine. And they're easy.To be clear about this, we are mic'ing acoustic instruments and trying to make them sound as natural as possible. We don't notch at all, we use lower gain levels and digital gates to avoid feedback. We don't like the sound of notching because it can get pretty loud and yet we still feel like we can't hear. So the mics we want have to reproduce the sound as naturally as possible. We want overtones, not just volume.These mics provide that, but what's key here is that they're also easy to adjust and get the position we need. Many goosenecks are heavy, short, flaccid, hard to get into a position and keep them there, etc. these things are practically weightless.Look me up under Qtango, we have lots of youtubes out there. I know sound and I do this all the time. These things would be cheap at $500 each. Buy one and give it a try. I'm sure you'll love it.

OK, Wish I would have gotten just a regular banjo pickup attached to coordinator rods. When I change instruments (Dobro) its a pain unhooking the wire from my belt.

Ordered a unit for my violin. The fiddle sounds so good through the Feather, and it also works as a microphone when I want to sing some harmonies! Also, when I emailed the company, Gregg got back to me right away. Very impressive! I used the "saddle clip" to attach the pickup to the tailpiece, by using it it in a reversed position, where I put the cable in the narrower slot, and used the wider slot to stick the clip to the tailpiece. (The clip with teeth seems to scratch the tailpiece, so you might not want to use it on an expensive violin outfit.) With the cable wrapped around the shoulder rest once, for more security, the clip holds on more securely as well. I used a 1/4 to XLR adapter to hook it up to the soundboard, and got enough volume out of it. But it also works well through a DI/preamp if you want to plug it into a 1/4 jack. (into an amp or an effect chain, for example.) In overall, I strongly recommend this pickup and this company. If it breaks on me in the future, I'll definitely order another unit as well.