Quote:
Originally Posted by Br1ck
OK, here's the deal.
The marketplace wants a one size fits all product like the K&K. A K&K will sound OK in almost anything. Slap them in, play and be happy. Never going to be really good IMHO, might need a preamp with a bunch of EQ to sound decent. But, and I feel the same way about the Taylor pickup systems, they will plug and play and not be horrible like an under saddle pickup.
Teddy is not playing around with his frequency responses. He is specifically tailoring different pickups for different applications. Where you would put the same K&K in a parlor or a dread, you put the right response Dazzos in the individual guitar you have. I have two PONO parlor guitars identical in all but one way. One is a 12 String. The set that was perfect for the six was too bassy for the 12 so they got a different set.
In addition to frequency, Teddy is using a wood casing in addition to his original, for a slightly different tone, and you can now get an onboard pre with the exact impedance match for Dazzos. So not only do Dazzos inherently sound better due to the three dimensional pickup sensors, but you get the proper frequency response match for your guitar, and the exact impedance input if you go the pre amp route.
Now all of this is worthless if you are the kind of player who shows up to an open mike with K&Ks and plugs directly into a board with 600 ohm input impedance and thinks it is marvelous. I hear the harsh piezo tone like this all the time. Simple impedance mismatch. Many if not most players are ignorant of this most basic issue. That's fine if they don't care.
Dazzos are for those who do. Yes, more trouble to consult with Teddy to get the right set, but a willingness to do so will be rewarded. Run Dazzos with a Dazzo pre or a RedEye, and you can pretty much forget about EQ issues. They are a rich, acoustic sounding set up. I'm not chasing the Holy Grail, but I do want to sound pretty good.
And there is another thing. Teddy Randazzo pickups will never be a final product. I don't believe they will ever reach a finished state which people with the financial resources want to ever be willing to back a high production venture.
Teddy will be incrementally improving his pickups until the day he dies. And I don't believe you could ever convince him to give up control of the building of them either.
K&K minis will continue to dominate the pickup market because they work for many, many people. Dazzos will always be a one man shop IMHO, with word of mouth marketing and a web page to match, but oh, do they bring a smile to my face.
Six guitars and counting.
|
I do agree that a lot of people want a one size fits all solution. However, for me, I am totally fine with Teddy tailoring his pickups to specific guitars. I have never had an issue with that. My issue is that he doesn't really make it clear on his website (terrible by the way and really no excuse for it), what bass responses work best with different body shapes. A few people who have posted on here about how great Dazzo pickups are actually had Teddy install them, which not only means that they get placement correct but that Teddy can experiment with the bass response. For someone like me who lives in Canada, the thought of installing his pickup, experimenting and then having to send it back for a new bass response is just a bit much.
With that said, I know what I just wrote will come off as me criticizing Dazzo pickups. However, that's not my intent. I just felt as though your post was more of a sales pitch that led me to respond this way. I am generally interested in these pickups but I would really love to know more about the epoxy used and how it compares to super glue. I honestly don't mind experimenting with placement but I have two concerns.. one, I have no idea how hard or easy it is to remove the epoxy and start over and two, I was wondering if he had settled on a bass response which he seems to still be working on.