K & K acoustic pickup

[tubenit]

My son-in-law has owned and traded quite a collection of nice guitars with some Martins and Larivees in that mix.

So,  I had a chance to play my son in law's Larivee OM-03 (?) using a passive K & K acoustic pickup. This has 3 disc's that mount under the bridge/soundboard  inside the guitar. No vol, no tone & no preamp straight into a tube amp.

http://www.kksound.com/puremini.html

http://www.kksound.com/pureprephase.html

I plugged it into the Carolina Blues Special (which is sort of a very clean version of a 5E3 topology with lots headroom). This is sort of a clean jazz amp with a dash of reverb.

It sounded fantastic! That's probably the best natural woody sounding acoustic tone I've heard thru an amp or PA.  The guitar plugged in sounded pretty much the same as the guitar unplugged.  I also heard it when he played it thru a PA with his band. Sounded good both ways. But I actually thought it sounded more natural thru the amp then the PA.

I am wondering if anyone has any experience with these?

I am also wondering if anyone has thoughts about getting an active pickup/preamp system or using a passive one with something like the L.R. Baggs preamp/D.I. ?

With respect, Tubenit

[G._Hoffman]

We sell about two dozen a year - they are really nice pickups, and my second most popular acoustic pickup (after the Fishman Matrix Infinity.)  I'm quite fond of them, though I think they need some kind of an external preamp if you are going to run much cable length off of them because the impedance is so high.  I haven't tried their preamps, but they have a reputation as being too hot and not particularly pleasant sounding. 


Gabriel

[tubenit]

Gabriel,

THANK you for the info and opinion!  I definitely value your thoughts and input on this. I was originally going to build a Tele with graph tech pickups and a magnetic BUT after listening to and playing this Larivee with the K & K, I'm probably going to go that route.

I was stunned how good it sounded thru a tube amp. Really amazingly good to my ears. Still very acoustic woody tone.

I'll probably go with another preamp system and use their passive pickup.

With respect, Tubenit

[John]

Gabe, how much cable is "too much"? I normally only run a 10' (or so) cord.

[G._Hoffman]

Gabe, how much cable is "too much"? I normally only run a 10' (or so) cord.

With any passive piezo system, I would put that as the absolute upper limit. 

This is why systems with built in preamps have become so popular.  The preamp can drive a cable a lot better than the pickups themselves. 


Gabriel

[John]

Good to know. Thanks!

[Justa]

I have one that is a few years old with 3 piezo transducers, internal mic and KK's external preamp.  I really didn't like it at first but after finally getting the preamp EQ set right and the proper balance between the mic and piezo transducers the amplified sound is amazingly accurate.  To set the EQ on my preamp you have to remove the cover to adjust the trimpots but I think the newer ones now have externally adjusted pots.

[bigsbybender]

For upright bass players, especially for the Rockabilly persuasion, K&K has become the most popular.  They are very woody sounding which is good for people the slap the strings against the fingerboard. The Hot K&K Preamps are popular for bass, but the goal isn't the most natural smooth sound. 

j.