LR Baggs M80 Vs M1 Pickup [Difference & Which is Better]

In the making of guitar pickups, LR Baggs comes into the front row with its magnificent collections like M80, M1, and many other pickups. These pickups only have a special feature to make your guitar strings sound better.

But variations in the making are obvious. And that’s why you will see people comparing LR Baggs M80 Vs M1 to learn their differences. Even though both these magnetic pickups serve the right purpose for your acoustic guitar, they vary slightly vary from each other in different aspects.

The Primal Difference:

There are reasons people choose one pickup over the other. One of the differences lies in the sound quality these two pickups provide. Whereas LR Baggs M80 pickups can bring versatility in the tone because of its unique construction with M1 suspension, LR Baggs M1 alone cannot provide such versatility and gives off a warmer sound. The former excels in the feature of “3D Body Sensitivity too”.

A fair comparison table will be more convenient for you to understand.

Comparison Table:

LR Baggs M80 & M1 Pickup Reviews:

A pickup is best known for its magnetic structure. And LR Baggs does not compromise in this sector. You will find both LR Baggs M80 and M1 pickups are worthy and capable. But you will not get enough information about them until you explore them individually.

About LR Baggs M80 Pickups –

If you are a musician with modern taste in the devices, LR Baggs M80 pickups are exactly for you then. These pickups are great in size and fit into the soundhole of your electric acoustic guitar pretty snugly. The bridge-plate onboard microphone of the M80 pickups provides an alluring sound.

Also, because of the magnetic feature, these pickups can generate the advanced technology of “3D body sensitivity”. With this amazing feature, the strings of the guitar vibrate accurately to produce the right tone for the song.

This feature also controls the other parts including the neck, top, back, and bridge of the guitar. Besides, the humbucking lower coil and adjustable polepiece features assist the sound to be more precise sound without any humming or buzzing sound. You can also have control of the volume, and set of active and passive with the onboard switch.

Things We Liked About / Pros:

• The pleasure of precisely made pickup with an organized configuration
• It fits in the soundhole without complaining because of its easy installation method
• Comes with segments of multiple batteries, adjustable polepieces, and top-notch magnetic feature
• Advantage of getting a “3D body sensor” for the free-floating humbucking coil feature

Things We Didn’t Like About / Cons:

• It might seem a little pricy

About LR Baggs M1 Pickups –

LR Baggs is unfulfilled without their M1 humbucking pickups. This brand makes this particular M1 series pickups with a twist. Because the M1 pickup comes with significant support, the sound it produces has a high-frequency resonance big time.

The adjustable polepieces of the pickup also assist to achieve the right frequency. These magnetic soundhole pickups are yet made in a very simplistic manner.  With plastic housing, the M1 series looks pretty cool and has high endurance.

But the active and passive versions of M1 pickups sound slightly different. While the former causes humming, though it is top-notch in features, the latter causes no such problems. Rather the latter sounds warm and woody. However, a built-in preamp enhances the sound quality of the M1 pickups. The setting of clamping makes it convenient for you to fit this pickup into the soundhole of your guitar.

Things We Liked About / Pros:

• The plastic housing is simple and provides the best energy
• Significant support helps the pickup eliminate the buzzing sound and produce a “woody” sound
• Can achieve a higher resonance of the frequency with its humbucking magnetic feature
• Adjustable polepieces, the convenient shape of the battery, and the volume controller heightens the quality of the pickup

Things We Didn’t Like About / Cons:

• The active and passive versions are a little different from each other

Main Difference Between LR Baggs M80 Vs M1:

Both LR Baggs M80 and M1 magnetic soundhole pickups carry significant qualities. They are preferable for bass or electric acoustic guitars. But a musician wants specific differences between M80 pickups and M1 pickups even though they belong to the same LR Baggs brand. The dissimilarities will save up a lot of energy in choosing the right pickup for your guitar.

1) Sound Quality –

Music is all about sound. The better the sound, the more it makes sense. And pickups are meant to enhance the sound quality of your electric guitar to make it sound more beautiful. LR Baggs happens to manufacture M80 pickups to provide versatility in sound quality.

You can produce a hell of different tones using the M80 pickups. But this quality is pretty limited in LR Baggs M1 series pickups. You will only get a warmer sound and less versatility from these pickups.

2) Easy Installation Process –

Many players have put their eyes on LR Baggs M80 pickups because of their easy and quick installation process. You just need to tuck it into the soundhole of your electric guitar and without facing any trouble it will just be stuck in there.

Conversely, LR Baggs M1 pickups are not that flexible in that way. You might have to face some trouble during the installation process into the soundhole of your electric guitar.

3) 3D Body Sensitivity –

This 3D Body Sensitivity is an amazing feature that LR Baggs provides in its upgraded series of pickups. With this exceptional feature, these pickups help to cut down and eliminate noise, buzz, and hum from the nearest body part of your guitar. And thus they make the right and mesmerizing tone.

LR Baggs M80 pickups have the improved version of this 3D body sensor and 40 percent of the sound is ensured by this feature. On the other hand, LR Baggs M1 has this feature but it’s not as improved as the former one. And in this case, only 20 percent of the sound is ensured by this feature.

4) The Ability to Amplify Sound –

An improved pickup participates in enhancing and amplifying the sound too. LR Baggs provides pickups capable of doing so. But the way an LR Baggs M80 can amplify sound, an LR Bagg M1 cannot do it in that way.

The reason for it is that LR Baggs M80 can sense body frequency to 40Hz, while LR Baggs M1 can sense only to 1KHz. Because of this huge difference, the former amplifies sound more impressively than the latter.

Price:

Because LR Baggs M80 comes with an updated feature and sounds better than any other LR Baggs pickups, it is obvious that these will cost you more than LR Baggs M1 pickups.

So, which is the better LR Baggs M80 & M1 pickup?

From the differences, it is now clear that the LR Baggs M80 pickup is more reliable. It comes with every feature that an LR Bagg pickup has but with extra additions and sound amplifying ability. The difference in sound quality between an M80 and an M1 is evident.

But LR Baggs M1 pickups are also worthy. They are cost-effective and serve their purpose dedicatedly. Besides, they have almost every feature of M80 pickups moderately.

FAQs –

Question: Is a LR Baggs M80 a good bass?

Answer: LR Baggs M80 pickups are good for bass. But for that, you need to install them to the bass guitar properly. As not all pickups can support bass guitar, you have to be careful regarding this. An M80 pickup sounds amazing with its perfect instrument.

Last Updated on December 30, 2022 by Perry Garner