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Old 02-15-2018, 09:13 PM
lacatedral lacatedral is offline
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Arrow Soundhole pickup microphone vs. K&K Pure Mini

Greetings, I'm intending to record classical and acoustic guitar for fingerstyle arrangements, as well for playing live.

I have a match pair of Rode M5, now I'm thinking about getting a pickup microphone. I'm not very familiar with the terms, but I reckon two types of contact microphones for the guitar, the ones that go in the soundhole and are larger, and the other one that resemble bottle caps (K&K mini).

I'm between a microphone for the soundhole like one of these:


https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar...undhole-pi-_JM
https://www.amazon.com/Sunrise-S2-So.../dp/B00KNAO1PC
https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar...-todo-tipo-_JM

Or a "bottle cap" mic like the K&K Pure Mini.


PS: The Taylor gs mini-e already comes with a pickup system if I'm right. Would you say that the addition, say, of a K&K Pure Mini improve the quality overall (also using a condenser mic)?
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Old 02-15-2018, 10:44 PM
Gordon Currie Gordon Currie is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lacatedral View Post
Greetings, I'm intending to record classical and acoustic guitar for fingerstyle arrangements, as well for playing live.

I have a match pair of Rode M5, now I'm thinking about getting a pickup microphone. I'm not very familiar with the terms, but I reckon two types of contact microphones for the guitar, the ones that go in the soundhole and are larger, and the other one that resemble bottle caps (K&K mini).

I'm between a microphone for the soundhole like one of these:


https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar...undhole-pi-_JM
https://www.amazon.com/Sunrise-S2-So.../dp/B00KNAO1PC
https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar...-todo-tipo-_JM

Or a "bottle cap" mic like the K&K Pure Mini.

PS: The Taylor gs mini-e already comes with a pickup system if I'm right. Would you say that the addition, say, of a K&K Pure Mini improve the quality overall (also using a condenser mic)?
For recording you'll want to use the Rode M5 pair.

For live playing - do you know what kind of venues you will be playing yet, or is this in preparation?

All the products you mention above, excepting the Rode M5, are NOT microphones.

The K+K is a piezo transducer and will work for both steel and nylon. The Sunrise and the others in the URLs are magnetic pickups and will NOT work on a nylon string guitar.

While magnetic pickups can sound good, they don't often capture the essential sound of an acoustic guitar.

Unless you are a sound whiz and closely controlling the venues and sound equipment for live performance, you will NOT want to use microphones on stage.

I would recommend the K+K as the sound quality is quite acceptable for live use (especially if you use a preamp or buffer to ensure that the input impedance is at least 1M ohm).

My partner has a GS mini-e. It is a piezo undersaddle element with some active electronics to condition and shape the signal. It sounds decent, but does require a battery that WILL die when you least expect it. I wish she had gotten the non-electronic version because I definitely prefer the sound of the passive K+K.
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