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guitarslinger

guitarslinger

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...when asking for opinions. But, a more knowledgeable group I do not know and I need advice. I'm repumbing my pedal boards trying to go from 4 to 3 one of which one will be for my Guild D50. It has K&k pickup and I run through an EQ and delay into a Fishman amp. Would I benefit from an outboard pre-amp in that chain? I like the sound I'm getting but I've heard a lot of comments here about how much better the K&K performs with one. What say all of you?
 
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evenkeel

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With the disclaimer that sound is very much a personal preference I'm of the opinion the K&K does sound very good as a passive PU, but the addition of a pre-amp will improve it. I've installed over a dozen of these in various guitars. Dreads, OM's, 6 and 12 strings. Parlors, even a uke. My personal favorite from K&K is the system that has a small onboard pre-amp, a volume control and a phase switch. I've also used guitars with just the passive Mini. Many do not like the idea of a battery inside the guitar. I get that, so a outboard pre-amp makes perfect sense. It's not just a volume issue. The signal coming from the guitar is not just hotter with a pre-amp, but to my ears has more clarity and presence. So the guitar sounds fuller even at lower volume levels. I'll also add I've run various guitars with the K&K thru a bunch of different PA's and amps. Passive speakers, powered speakers, various mixers, stick systems a'la Bose or Fishman. The K&K with the pre-amp has always sounded good.
 
guitarslinger

guitarslinger

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evenkeel said:
With the disclaimer that sound is very much a personal preference I'm of the opinion the K&K does sound very good as a passive PU, but the addition of a pre-amp will improve it. I've installed over a dozen of these in various guitars. Dreads, OM's, 6 and 12 strings. Parlors, even a uke. My personal favorite from K&K is the system that has a small onboard pre-amp, a volume control and a phase switch. I've also used guitars with just the passive Mini. Many do not like the idea of a battery inside the guitar. I get that, so a outboard pre-amp makes perfect sense. It's not just a volume issue. The signal coming from the guitar is not just hotter with a pre-amp, but to my ears has more clarity and presence. So the guitar sounds fuller even at lower volume levels. I'll also add I've run various guitars with the K&K thru a bunch of different PA's and amps. Passive speakers, powered speakers, various mixers, stick systems a'la Bose or Fishman. The K&K with the pre-amp has always sounded good.
Click to expand...

Do you use the K&K or some other pre-amp. There is an LRBaggs that looks good and comes in a pedal format.
 
The Retro Rocker

The Retro Rocker

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I have K&K pure mini, with volume control (passive) in 4 of my Guilds, and I run them into the K&K Pure Preamp (external Preamp w/ 9v) and then into my Fishman Aura Spectrum D.I. and then into my amp and into the board. Sometimes I don’t even use the amp or the Fishman, but I always use the K&K Preamp. You can fine tune the bass, treble, mids and gain and it corrects any ohm incomparably with other systems. And it sounds magnificent!
 
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Br1ck

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Onboard or not, you must run into a device with a 1 meg ohm input impedance. That can be as simple as a passive DI or as complicated as a Grace Felix. If I had one or two guitars, I'd use one of the onboard units from SunnAdio. If I had more, I'd use their Stage 1 DI. Best sounding unit I've heard. Haven't used my RedEye since buying it.
 
swiveltung

swiveltung

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Isn't your EQ really doing the preamp job now? However I would prefer replacing it with an acoustic preamp.
 
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lonesome picker

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I have K&K Mini pick ups in my '71 F-412 and '89 GF-55. Neither guitars came with any kind of pickups as built. I didn't like the idea of installing an internal pre-amp, so I run both guitars through my "mini stop box rack", the primary item being an LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI preamp. It works like a champ. I have run both guitars straight into a PA system, but I didn't like the sound. It was very dry and brittle sounding. The Baggs makes everything sound great.

BTW the rest of the "rack" (actually a "bag") consists of a delay, chorus, and reverb. I originally got this stuff to put behind the GF-55 when it had an under saddle piezo pickup. That pickup needed all the help it could get. The K&K has a much better, warmer sound, and the effects are for a very subtle use. I play a lot of open mics, and drag my "bag of magic boxes" along to make sure I sound my best. I can plug this stuff and know I will sound pretty good no matter how yucky the PA mix is.
 
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