Dazzo vs. Ultratonic vs. K&K

[Gordon Currie]

Originally Posted by smossy

How does dazzo do with high stage volumes?

Not particularly well, a bit better in my experience than K&K.

If I was playing in high stage volume situations, I would go straight to Ultratonic. I don't think there is a better SBT with feedback resistance.

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

Not particularly well, a bit better in my experience than K&K.

If I was playing in high stage volume situations, I would go straight to Ultratonic. I don't think there is a better SBT with feedback resistance.

Lr Baggs HiFi?

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by Petty1818

Lr Baggs HiFi?

LR Baggs reduces feedback with nifty multi band compression. The Ultratonic is passive and has a phase cancellation circuit. I think Ultratonic works fabulously at knocking out feedback and it’s adjustable per guitar. And, did I mention passive? Yes, I think it’s the best SBT for high volume stages. If I played high volume stages and larger audiences, I would use the UT with a ToneDexter 2. As it stands, I probably won’t be selling out any auditoriums or arenas anytime soon, so K&K for me. ;-)

[guitarman68]

In my experience the Dazzo is as feedback resistant as the UltraTonic. Both are significant upgrades to the K&K concerning overall sound and feedback rejection. Schatten HFN can be very nice sounding, especially in more bass heavy guitars. It has some tendency towards bass weakness so it's not my preference for balanced sounding guitars. I still use all the four mentioned pickups in my guitars and have very good results. But after years of experience with different SBTs in different guitars I mostly succeed in narrow the choice down. And living in Europe makes the Schatten and K&K much easier available than the Dazzo and UltraTonic.

[smossy]

Thanks so much everyone! I appreciate all the great feedback. I think I'm leaning towards the ultratonic - although by all accounts the Dazzo has pretty universally great reviews as well.

I don't play with drums or anything like that, but it's a five-piece bluegrass band, all plugged in and DI'd, so it can get fairly loud.

I don't have the tonedexter, but I have a Grace Felix and would add an internal mic - been using the DPA4061 lately, so hopefully that would pair nicely with the ultratonic and give it some more air.

I've heard Hawktail live and their guitar player uses the ultratonic (or some variant of a James May pickup). I know he pairs it with a Bartlett mic too - but it sounds pretty amazing.