Headway The Band Cello Pickup

We've had a few headway bands for the cellists in our band /orchestra. We use them for sets where we have loud onstage noise from other instruments (drums, etc) as mics would mean that we would suffer feedback from monitoring. Basically the sound is OK - not amazing, but just OK. You definitely need to spend a few minutes taking out spikey frequencies - usually somewhere between 200-350hz and also roll off everything below 50hz. You also need to ensure that the band is on REALLY tight other wise it makes a horrible buzzing sound, but if you are prepared to do a bit work on the sound, then THE BAND is a really good way of amplifying string instruments in a band setting. We also use DPA 4061's and 4099's which have a much more natural real sound and I absolutely prefer the sound of the DPA's for the more acoustic sets we do or sets where we use backing tracks and have relatively low on-stage monitoring, but the DPA's lose out as soon as you add full band as they pick up everything going on whether you want them to or not, and they are so prone to feedback. Headways do not suffer this problem at all - you can turn up the monitors, get off stage in front of the PA and they just don't feedback, but without eq, the sound is often honky & boxy. Our answer is to have both, and I do recommend Headway's but do spend time on EQing them, in if you don't know how to, then ask someone - it's easy but essential. The glue on the velcro loses grip after a couple of years so we send them back to headway to fix, or find a mate with a glue gun. Overall, It's a decent cost-effective way of amplifying a cello, but there are better ways if you spend a bit more. T