I had the Baggs Anthem in my new D-18 repaired recently. It was making terrible popping noises. After the repair it was working fine. I went to a gig yesterday and played both mandolin and guitar through an amp. The mando sounded great. When I reached for the guitar and plugged it inthe popping returned. Same chordsame amp. The noise was constant and the tone turned into complete mud. I fought through the songthen put the guitar away. Plugged the mando inand all was well. I just played mandolin through the gig. 
Today I returned the guitar to the store and talked to the tech about the issue. He plugged it in and the noise was making itself known. He offered to put a brand new one inbut I wavered. Here’s why. I have a Baggs Anthem in my old D-28. It works pretty goodbut it has a bad habit of suddenly changing tone for a bitthen clearing upso I have developed real trust issues with the Anthem. I asked them to tear it out of my D-18 and replace it with a K&K pure mini. I’ve had three guitars with them and no problems. I expect some day I will do the same with the D-28.

Well that stinks. I'm glad I went with the K&K for my HD-28. I'm considering an M-80 for my Larrivee. Will have to look into its history. Thanks.

Did you use the Anthem systemincluding the Under Saddle Transducer (UST) as well as the microphone internal component?  Or just the mic component?

SoI went w/ the LR Baggs Lyric instead of the Anthemas I was not wanting to mess w/ an undersaddle wiream fine w/ the idea of an internal mic. 

All was fine for awhilebut then it died.  Wellit went 'wonky'poppingetc.  Got up w/ LR Baggsone of their techs expected that the preamp portion had diedsend me a replacementswapped out and sent the other back.  All was find for a few monthsthen did it again.   I thought maybe it was the house systemthat it was pushing a signal back through the DI that was killing itbut the tech was pretty confident that wasn't it; they sent me another replacement.  All's been well since then.  

ButI get ya.  You expect it to just workthen it doesn't.  Even once fixedyou wonder if it's going to happen again.    

I'm still using the Lyricand even contemplating another one for another guitarbutI've not made up my mind yet.    

kydave wrote: ↑

Feb 272023

Did you use the Anthem systemincluding the Under Saddle Transducer (UST) as well as the microphone internal component?  Or just the mic component?

It was about 85% piezo. Prior to any blendingI attenuated the mic using the provided tool to access the recessed knob. I find too much of the mic to be woofy and prone to feedback. I had a good sound going into the gigthen it went nuts. My theory is there are too many parts that can go bad on that system. 

UST pickups can be prone to wonkiness if the bottom of the saddle slot and the bottom of the saddle are not perfectly flat and squishing the UST equally all the way across.  That can cause the exact problem you described.

P.S. Always good to have mic and channel prepared as a fallback for your guitar if the pickup goes problematic.

DM3MD wrote: ↑

Feb 272023

I think you have a faulty system. There’s a wonderful dude over at LR Baggs names Caleb Elling. He makes himself known in the Baggs forums and will definitely stand behind his product and help you. If you call Baggsask for him.

I would recommend the Anthem SL system. It’s a combination bridgeplate mic and UST if you decide to abort the Anthem system entirely.

HoweverI really suggest contacting Baggs. They are an easy company to work with.

Thank youI’ve read that several placesbut having two - one that crapped out twice and another that abruptly gets muddythen goes backI just don’t feel I can depend on the Anthem. I don’t want to go into a gig wondering if it’s going to act up. LuckilyI was primarily a mandolin player on yesterday’s gig. 
To reply to Dave’s second pointI always carry an extra mic and standbut this was mid set and there was no time to start changing stuff out. 

Caleb’s the one who I was working with.  I really appreciated all his help.

Who installed the Anthem originallyand how long did it work without problems? Andwhat was the "repair" that was done?

I put one in my guitar recently and have used it only a half dozen timesbut it's been working just fine so far. There's very few moving parts so hard to see how it's any different than other dual-source or multi-sensor devices with a built-in preamp.