Suggestions for installing acoustic guitar pickups and preamp

[janmulder]

At the risk of confusing you even more ... there is also the Dazzo pickups and Trance to consider.

As was said above, all of these pickups have there (*extremely loyal*) fans so be careful of excessively enthusiastic ravings about one particular pickup over all the rest. The fact is, there are many good pickups out there to suit evry budget and usage.

Also be careful of youtube demos ... they often do not give a very accurate indication of what a pickup will sound like. Especially videos like the LR baggs promos ... they have had their sound tracks go through extensive post recording production ... EQ, compression etc.

Bye the way, the K&K is available with internal preamp and EQ... my link above is an example.

[janmulder]

... one more point, you should have a look at Doug Young's excellent pickup comparison site.

[Ethan_D_Smith]

@emmsone why do you like the anthem sl over other anthem series products? Besides the blend knob what is the major difference? The anthem doesnt have a preamp does it? Okay so Taylor ES is out. So k&k vs anthem what is yalls opnion then? K&k has no preamp anthem doesnt either? K&k is pickups and anthem is mic a pickup. Am i right about this?

[emmsone]

Originally Posted by Ethan_D_Smith

@emmsone why do you like the anthem sl over other anthem series products? Besides the blend knob what is the major difference? The anthem doesnt have a preamp does it? Okay so Taylor ES is out. So k&k vs anthem what is yalls opnion then? K&k has no preamp anthem doesnt either? K&k is pickups and anthem is mic a pickup. Am i right about this?

The Anthems (both SL and full) do have a preamp, its located in the endpin, but the Anthem has no 'tone controls', I think you may be confusing the 2 here.
I've played around with both the SL and the full anthem. On the full anthem, once the mix/blend between mic and UST was set as you like, you'd only use the volume wheel anyway, the SL basically does the same thing, but you use a small screwdriver to set the mic level, once thats set at your preferred level, you don't need to adjust it anymore so the smaller, simpler, cheaper SL seems like a more logical option to me, less likely to accidentally change settings. The full Anthem also has a phase switch and battery check button, both handy but not a dealbreaker for me by any stretch of the imagination.

Correct, the K&K has no preamp included, K&K have both internal and external ones available, but you have to buy it separately.
Correct, simply put the K&K is just a pickup and the anthem is a mic+pickup in one system. However the pickups are of different types and have different characters. K&K do have this mic+pickup system too, the Trinity Pro system, but you need to add a preamp to that too.

If you do a search for Anthem vs K&K on here, or just read any of the many other pickup recommendation threads, you will find numerous pros and cons of each systems as these are 2 of the most debated pickups on here, a bit more reading might give you a bit better expectation from each.
When comparing the 2, the first thing to remember is that yes, the K&K does not come with a preamp, but is plenty useable without one, you can add one or a number of choices at a later date if budget or option paralysis is a concern. The Anthem is quite a bit more expensive initially but once its installed you're good to go.

[Ethan_D_Smith]

Thats a lot of good information. I think i was confused on the preamp and tone controls thing but its cleared up now. So ill either go with the k&k or anthem. As for eq, do they have something that you can put in the soundhole to adjust the eq (like the anthem knobs) or something that goes over the endpin jack that has eq knobs or something?

[kaos]

Originally Posted by Ethan_D_Smith

Thats a lot of good information. I think i was confused on the preamp and tone controls thing but its cleared up now. So ill either go with the k&k or anthem. As for eq, do they have something that you can put in the soundhole to adjust the eq (like the anthem knobs) or something that goes over the endpin jack that has eq knobs or something?

I prefer the external preamp, eq, and tuner. The controls are on the floor, so a disadvantage is not having access to the controls mid-song. The advantages are 1) One setup for all your guitars. 2) No battery inside the guitar. 3) You can try different setups without doing surgery on your guitar. 4) Easier installation.

Bob.