I agree. K&K is easier to deal with, a little less intrusive, less STUFF attached to the guitar, no battery... My problem with K&K is that I have trouble when plugging it into some devices. Take a POD HD500 for instance. No matter what I do, it seemingly clips the signal. However the signal doesn't distort, it just goes dead for a bit. It made me think I had a bad K&K install. But when I bypass the HD500 I can wail on the guitar with no issues. Tried it in sound systems and my Digitech Trio+ with no issues at all. Maybe an Impedance mis-match with the HD500??
So the "plug and play" nature of the Anthem is enticing... however I LOVE the tone of the K&K. Especially the thick and rich bass. I have never heard another pickup system produce such nice bass. That right there is the big trade off, since the Anthem's bass is ALWAYS handled by the piezo. Not one guitar store around here has an Anthem installed, so I can't test it out. I listened to many online videos and it does sound pretty good. Just a bit hollow when compared to the miced tone, but not bad at all.
This guy does a very good review on 2 guitars, with an A B to the miced tone on both with various playing styles.
As far as K&K prep, you don't have to have them do it. They told me a competent tech (key word there) could do the install. Then they offered to prep the area to make future install easier. They don't sand prior to making the guitar, it's done after. As such, anyone could do it. They even said they would talk with my local tech to advice him. Great guys at Emerald!!
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Originally Posted by Tom2
I will always go passive. No battery operated guitars for me. There are plenty of outboard preamps with volume and tone controls that sound at least as good, accept the output of passive pickups, and won't die in the middle of a show.
Also, as someone who has mixed live sound, I don't like it when musicians have volume and tone controls that directly affect the live feed. From the stage, they have no idea how it sounds to the audience. If vocalists used mics with volume and tone controls, I'd lose my sanity.
I recall Emerald requesting that you inform them if you intend to buy an acoustic only guitar and install a k&k later, so they can sand the contact points during manufacturing.
The Barbera system that Evan is about to receive is also passive, and it's built into the saddle instead of being mounted under it. Looks interesting.
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I know what you mean, ran both sides of sound (musician and soundman). A distorted keyboard from someone cranking their volume mid set is always nice
. I've also been the guitar player standing there for 5 minutes, waiting for my signal to be muted so I could unplug, while everyone stares at me wondering why I'm still up there. So I started running a volume pedal at all times, with the heel set to 100% off. However, I ALWAYS had the volume pedal at 100% on for sound check. I don't want my signal distorted to the audience. I could also add some manual tremolo effect when I wanted to. Nice when live and the tempo shifts a bit.
The Barbera system is interesting, but I really wonder about having it on a steel string guitar. From what I have read and seen, you can't file a Barbera saddle. That's probably why it's a lot of classical players using them, much less intonation adjustments in general (not all though).