Ok I’ll be that guy.
I just got a 79 D-19 with a K&k in it...this is my first time around with K&K. I have had it about 2 weeks and have been running it through its paces with my solo rig.
I’m not singing any serious praises. It works fine, but like all transducers (so far) it can sing like a duck and does not enjoy an aggressive playing style. I am using either a K&K pre or a GE-7. Both work, to solve the impedance issue. They sound OK but were essential as the mismatch became a real issue going direct; creating weird artifacts.
Not since my 96 Fishman matrix have I been this disappointed. I did have high expectations based on feedback from other players.
In the end it’s the profound quack with a relatively light attack that turns me off about this setup. I have been able to work around it, somewhat, with some EQ and a weird sounding acoustic resonance features from BOSS, but it’s just not natural. Are they ever?
I have had much better results with single and dual source sound hole pickups: Sunrise, Duncan Active Mag and a couple others, each all worked better for my aggressive style.
I’ll do a few shows with this but will probably get a sound hole in her before to long.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wadcutter
I had a K&K installed in my HD28 immediately after I bought it and I have not had one lick of trouble with it in the 20 years it’s been in there. I have to admit however that when I had it installed I really didn’t know much about pickups and still don’t. It just seemed at the time that whenever I read about someone talking about the pickup in their guitar it was invariably a K&K so I decided to go with it. Just curious is K&K the “gold standard” for pickups or are there other better options these days? Sure can’t complain about mine.
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