The Rare Earth Blend features a humbucking pickup with a miniature electric condenser microphone prewired. The benefits of combining a string sensitive pickup with an internal microphone are well known among professional musicians. In this case, the magnetic pickup delivers a balanced, high resolution signal, and is especially good at reproducing the initial attack (transient) of a guitar string. The onboard microphone captures the natural resonance of the guitar's sound chamber. Combining these two ingredients results in true acoustic tone with the power and projection to compete in modern high volume performance settings. You can blend the pickup and microphone with a small rotary control located underneath the pickup and easily accessible through the sound hole.