Q:
I'm getting ready to amplify my violin for the first time. What pickup do you recommend?
A:
I have a variety of pickups: Eric Aceto, LR Baggs, StringAmp, and Zeta.
I like them all for different reasons.
Here are my thoughts, purely subjective, and based on personal experience of my own sound, and the sounds of other players. I do not endorse, nor have I ever been invited to endorse any of these products...
For the most bang for your buck, I recommend the Baggs (buy the preamp as well- I use it with all of the above pickups). This is a simple solution and a very popular pickup. It is installed in the bridge, as is the Aceto, which is more expensive and sounds somewhat better.
I also like the sound of the Realist (which fits under the bridge) and the Schertler. They both produce a relatively warm and natural sound. I think they both sound a little better than the Baggs.
The least invasive installations (you can remove them without moving or changing the bridge) are the Schertler & the Fishman. Also, I'm told that Barcus Berry has a pickup out that goes on and off the instrument with ease, but I've not heard or seen it. I'd stay away from the Fishman. in my experience, it produces a rather weak, tinny and scratchy sound. Schertler makes two pickups, one that sticks on the back of the instrument, and another that fits into the bridge, not unlike the Fishman. I like both the Schertler pickups. I recently removed the Aceto bridge from the instrument I play acoustically, and I'm not currently using it on amplified gigs. I think the Schertler will be my next pickup purchase- probably the one that goes on the back.
The Zeta is generally used on solid body instruments (the Zeta violins and some others), and produces a very specific electric violin sound- not ideal if you're just trying to produce a louder acoustic violin sound. I have an early Zeta 5 string 'jazz' violin.
For the loudest, cleanest, amplified violin sound (and by that I mean very loud acoustic violin, as opposed to the 'electric violin' sound I mentioned before), I like the StringAmp system. That's what I used on most of the Mahavishnu Project recordings, and I like it a lot, despite an occasional hum problem. It's the most invasive and complicated installation, though- you'd probably want to just buy a violin with the system already installed, as I did. It's also the most expensive pickup system I know about, but well worth it.
Obviously, it would be best to check out all of these options out via live performance or recordings, but since that could be difficult or impossible, I hope these observations are helpful.
If you're a Berklee student, we do have some of these products in the instrument library.
6/4/09