I have performed a few times now with my new violin pickup and am very excited about the warm, natural sound quality it produces. I have also been enjoying the freedom it gives me to move with the music rather than worry about standing still and keeping the violin a steady distance away from a mic. It is called “The Band” and is a product of Headway out of the United Kingdom. The Band basically looks like a bicycle inner tube and straps around the body of the instrument just behind the bridge. Inside the rubber under “The Band” logo are the pickups which literally pick up the vibrations of the body of the instrument. This gives a more natural sound than many other pickups which either fit into, or are built within the bridge. Since a vibration produced when a string is plucked or bowed reaches its maturity within the body of the instrument it only makes sense that this is the desired sound to be captured.The bridge is merely that, a bridge to the inner chamber of the instrument. The Band needs no pre-amplification. One can simply plug it into any amp or PA system and play.
"The Band" really speaks for itself. People have been coming up to me after performances to comment on the rich, expressive sound. I have been requesting that sound engineers try recording "The Band" as well as using their mics and all have mentioned (often with surprise) how good it sounds. Several I have worked with have ended up using the tracks recorded with "The Band" in finished mixes. I have even tried plugging “The Band” directly into my computer for recording in GarageBand and have had great results.
