INTRODUCING L.R. BAGGS

Anyone looking for hand-crafted guitar accessories that will enhance your sound as well as your set-up need look no further than the L.R. Baggs range…

Lloyd Baggs started his eponymous company in a loft in downtown Los Angeles with little more than a hope and a dream, and, as Baggs would himself admit, no business sense whatsoever. But just a few decades later the brand has become one of the favourites in the boutique guitar market…

L.R. BAGGS - BAGGS TO THE START

Lloyd Baggs started out in the industry by modifying, refinishing and retuning classic Gibson and Washburn guitars… back in the days when normal people could afford them.

After finishing his first guitar in a California garage, Lloyd took it to his idol Ry Cooder and received his first commission. A few years later, it was during the recording of Ry Cooder’s Bop Till You Drop album that the L.R. Baggs transducer pickup was inspired. While in the recording studio, Lloyd spotted an exact Takamine copy of his home-made guitar, complete with a transducer pickup system.

After recovering from the shock of seeing a replica of his own instrument, he quickly became intrigued by the wonderful possibilites of the Piezo ceramic transducer pickup for the acoustic guitar. Realising he was on to something, Lloyd set to work on his own pickup, and so his self-titled company L.R. Baggs was born and its first product – the LB6 series pickup – released.

The pickup was a huge success and has since been in production for over 20 years, and continues to be the pickup of choice for such large-venue performers as Vince Gill, Phil Keaggy, Kathy Mattea and James Taylor.

L.R. BAGGS - MORE PRODUCTS = MORE FANS!

Over the years, L.R. Baggs continued to build on its reputation and found a strong following with the M1 soundhole pickup, counting legends such as Paul McCartney, David Gilmour and Coldplay as M1 devotees.

The company has since gone on to develop further groundbreaking pickups, more recently with the much-lauded Anthem and the Anthem SL. Nowadays L.R. Baggs produces pickups not only for acoustic guitars but also for violins, mandolins and electric guitars.

L.R. BAGGS - ARE TRENDS ELECTRIC

Branching out into the preamp arena, L.R. Baggs created the Venue DI for live work and the Para DI for studio-quality sound transfer. The company also released the GigPro and MixPro as smaller belt-clip options. These four products are staples among any serious sound engineer’s arsenal.

L.R. BAGGS - ACOUSTICALLY SPEAKING

Recently L.R. Baggs has made inroads into the acoustic amplifier market with the ARef (Acoustic Reference) model. The result of three years of intensive development, the ARef blends cutting-edge loudspeaker design, analogue and digital circuit technology and industrial design to redefine the way that acoustic guitar and vocals are amplified.

At the heart of the amp is a patented ‘Balanced Mode Radiator’, a loudspeaker that creates and radiates sound in a fundamentally different way. This groundbreaking innovation is the brainchild of eminent speaker designer Dr Graham Bank, and was specifically adapted for the acoustic guitar in collaboration with L.R. Baggs.

The ARef amp is a work of art both in terms of technology and its durable, lightweight, natural wood enclosure, making it an object of desire as well as useful accessory.

L.R. BAGGS - BAG A BAGGS

Our guitar team has an eye and an ear for great-sounding, hand-crafted guitar accessories and we should have a selection of L.R. Baggs products in action in the Absolute Music store by the time you read this! Drop in or give us a call to find out a bit more.

L.R. BAGGS - ALL OVER THE M1

One of L.R. Baggs’ most famous products is the M1 pickup, available in passive and active versions. The M1 Active features built-in Class A electronics, eliminating the need for external preamps, and it is compatible with any outboard gear. Its most famous fan is Coldplay frontman Chris Martin who uses an M1 in his acoustic guitar when playing live.