For used-guitar resale value, I'd install a K&K over a JJB so as not to have to explain to a potential buyer why I didn't install the more well-known K&K when it costs only a few bucks more. I can't understand why some players want to save maybe $30 on the cost of a more well-known brand of pickup system (especially when they sound almost the same) when installing a pickup system in a $2000 or more guitar.

If you can't hear the difference, than save that $50

Personally, I ripped the K&K out of two guitars. There's a "tubbiness" to it that i don't care for, even with a decent pre, which helps. There's this midrange thing going on which I don't dig.

The JJB, Dazzo's, Ultra Tonic, McIntyre Feather, and Trance Amulet are all options as well, but I really like and have settled on the Schatten HFN Passive. Maybe a little less output than the K&K, but much more natural to my ears, and I can bump the signal with my pre or at the board.

With the Tonedexter, pickups don't matter as much, but there are times when I'm not bringing my whole rig out and I want something that sounds good as a stand alone pickup.

Has anyone else here done a direct comparison with the I2462?

I've installed them (twice now) when all I wanted was amplification, and I have gotten comments on how good my guitar sounds through a few systems. I know it's a good sound tech and system producing the final audio, but the tech must be getting something decent to work with from the I2462.

BTW, some of that tubbiness with the K&Ks can be eliminated by ditching the supplied mushy tape and going to direct-contact tape like Shurtape's indoor/outdoor carpet tape from Home Depot or:

https://www.amazon.com/ShurTape-Indo.../dp/B00L6TWD36

Be careful with this tape...I have been using it in the thickness-machining world for years, and if your surfaces are clean, it is STICKY!

Did you read my last post?
That will at least explain why I did it.
As far as explaining a pickup choice to a buyer, I have found that when it comes to selling an acoustic guitar, pickups haven't mattered one iota to either the interest in the guitar or it's value. YMMV.

Yeah, most cats will swap out to their preferred pickup anyway.

Another choice, just a bit more expensive, is the L R Baggs IBeam active. It is a bridgeplate pickup. I purchased mine and had it installed in my 0018V for $139. That was 4 or 5 years ago. It performs well and since it is active, it requires no additional pre-amp. But I don't use a pre-amp for my K & K's either.


I know several people who use the JJB and are quite happy with them. It really comes down to what ever a person likes and or wants.

The first transducer type pickup I put in one of my guitars was a K&K in my J-45. It sounds good however I feel like it is a little brittle on the high end. The next one I purchased was a JJB for a cheap Alvarez that I was gigging some with an decided to go with a JJB because funds were a bit tight at the time. Turns out I like the JJB better because it sounds more full and natural to my ears. It doesn't have the brittle high end that I was hearing in the K&K. Since then I have installed JJB pickups in all my guitars. The only one that doesn't have JJB is my Martin 000-17e and that's because it came from the factory with a good sounding Fishman pickup.

I have a K&K in my “cheapest” guitar.
It’s an old Alvarez 5013 Iton Horse.
I had it installed as I didn’t trust myself to drill the endpin hole.
I also asked the gentleman that installed it to use the superglue method rather than the sticky goop that comes with the pickup.
The sticky tape install is said to not sound as good, and as “minimally intrusive “ as the install is I went for permanent.
This guitar has always “punched above its weight class”.
The K&K sounds pretty amazing in it.
I play it thru a Radial DI, straight to the board. The audience is about 300-400 and that guitar pretty much always gets compliments for its tone.

I have one guitar that doesn’t have any pickup in it.
If I decide to put one in, it’ll be a K&K.

Sadly JJB doesn’t get the respect they deserve. They may be the newer kid on the block and don’t really advertise but their pickups are first class.

I put an I-Beam in my Eastman E10 00.
That is an underrated pickup, or at least not talked about.
I think it sounds very natural. It definitely has punch and it doesn't quack.

That's mainly it. Because they cut their prices so drastically, they don't have nearly as many resources like K&K and other p/u vendors. I've been very pleased with their pickups, and my luthier is impressed with them.

scott memmer

My experience is quite the opposite. My two last buyers said that the reason they decided to buy my guitars among many others was a good pickup professionally installed in both cases (it was a LR Baggs Lyric and LR Baggs Session VTC).
But if I had stock pickups installed, people would still buy them but they would say pickups don't matter because either they don't need them or can get a better one installed afterwards. That's not to say that the JJBs are the bad ones.

Thanks, RokDog for the explanation. Although I read several comments in this discussion, I broke off to post mine before getting down the list to read yours. :)

No problem, I've done that myself ...more times than I care to admit.