[jseth]

Consider a set of Dazzos... I have had both the Anthem SL and the K&K in separate guitars. Never did get a decent tone from the K&K, not with the PURE XLR preamp and not just into my AER Compact or my Bose T1 mixer>Bose L1 Model II. Like the Anthem when it was plugged in; sounded fine; I kept the Anthem in my 2 stage guitars for nearly 10 years, so I must have thought that they sounded good!

Never had much feedback trouble with either pickup, unless I was being an idiot and ignoring the basic rules of amplifying acoustic guitars... like not having enough distance between the guitar and the sound source, or having the guitar's soundhole pointed at the sound source, or just plain trying to have the sound source too loud for the space...

I now have Dazzo pickups in my 6 and 12 string guitars. When I had those Anthem SL pickups taken out of my guitars, I was truly shocked by how much better the guitars sounded, and how much more volume they had, unplugged. The Dazzo doesn't change the volume or tone of the guitar while unplugged, and it sounds head and shoulders above the K&K or the Anthem. I get no piezo "quack" from the Dazzo, and I really like that there's no battery inside my guitar, nor a pre-amp.

For my purposes, I use my Bose T1 mixer as a "mute switch", and to control volume on the guitars, so I didn't worry about not having any volume control inside the guitar. The SunnAudio preamps were designed with the Dazzo in mind, and they sound superlative! Expensive, though.

The Dazzo is actually fairly easy to remove, either for re-positioning or removal - and they can be taken out and re-used, unlike the K&K. One thing to note is that when I had to remove a K&K, the superglue on the bridgeplate was nigh on to impossible to get off, whereas the epoxy used for the Dazzo actually comes off cleanly - a little scary to have to use brake fluid cleaner, but it was fairly easy and not damaging at all...

There are various choices with the Dazzo; I play a Goodall Concert Jumbo, and have a set of 60's in that.... I believe the Dazzo in my 12 string (same basic size/shape) is a pair of 70's. Teddy Randazzo makes the Dazzos, and is available to assist in choosing the correct number for your guitar and your needs.

I haven't gigged with the Dazzos, thanks to the pandemic, but I was really pleased when they went in the guitars - I had my Bose rig set up to "dial in" the position of the pickups when they went in the guitars, and they sound glorious!