Yet another Taylor ES vs. ??? thread!

[PorkPieGuy]

Originally Posted by Taylor Guy

Anyone want to chime in on their experience w/ the K&K in a Taylor?

I'll chime in. I love my K&K in my Taylor GC8. It sounds very natural, but fingerpicked and strummed. It's relatively easy to install because the endpin does not need to be reamed out (Taylor has already done this...even on the acoustic models). If it had it my way, I'd put a K&K in all of my acoustics if they already didn't have decent pickups in them already. I guess my only issue is that it can feedback if played at high volumes. I've only experienced this whenever I played it through my wife's bass amp. I'm sure with some decent EQ'ing from someone that actually knows what he's doing would help greatly with this. A soundhole cover would probably remedy this as well. Otherwise, it's a great pickup, and I highly recommend it.

[Carbonius]

Originally Posted by Taylor Guy

Anyone want to chime in on their experience w/ the K&K in a Taylor?

Hi there. I am a little late to the party but I have K&K and Taylor experience. I GREATLY prefer the K&K. The signal is VERY strong. My soundman had to lower the gain a lot on the board as it was clipping. First time I tried it I ran it through a Spectrum DI as it was all I had. No image as images don't work with K&K well at all. I really wanted the ability to switch phase in case that was an issue and also some eq. I have since incorporated my POD HD500 and that works pretty good. No amp sims of course, compression, eq, reverb (controllable with expression pedal), then volume boost and delay when I want it. Nice thing about the HD500 is that I can set the input to 10m to match the K&K impedance. Some find the impedance mis-match a bother (like when playing through a baggs para di), some do not. It can creat extra bass I believe, which explains why many say the K&K is so bassy.

My first experience playing with the K&K live was the best experience I have had plugged in so far.

My method of installing the K&K is only good if you NEVER want to use the ES again, as there is no going back after what I did.

You do not need special manufacturing or parts to install the K&K, you just need to take apart what you already have. Again, there is no turning back. You can actually use the existing enpin assembly with a minor mod. You need to increase the strap jack hole by about 1/16 and the K&K jack will go right in there. After that, stuff the battery box with some foam so it doesn't rattle. Then you pull out the preamp and rip off the preamp pots with pliers. To get the preamp off, it will look like you need special tools after you take off the knobs but you don't. Some patient and VERY careful use of a flat-head screwdriver works fine. You can then stick the knobs back in the hole so it looks like something is there.

If you want to go all the way, you need to take off the neck to get the Main pu, there may also be a single magnet in the neck a little ways from the pu. This will void your warranty and probably is not necessary. I however wanted as much ES as possible out of my guitar due to how much disappointment and grief it gave me.

Here is EVERYTHING pulled out, note the 3 knobs section separated from the preamp.



Here is the enpin assembly taken apart. It is held to the body with some small screws (careful not to strip them). You can unplug the enpin assembly from the preamp, or just snip wires. Then you use pliers on the strap pin part to unscrew it (mine was too tight to undo by hand). You need to snip some wires on the endpin assembly to get the circuit board completely off.



My guitar still looks like it has the ES unless you look inside (where the preamp was) or at the strap jack which is now chrome.

[Taylor Guy]

Thanks for the info both of you! Can someone explain the impedance issue to me? I have read that this can be problematic with the K&K, but I don't fully understand. Can someone give me a rundown on what preamps would pair well with the K&K as well? I am thinking of either a D-Tar Solstice, and Avalon U5, or was considering the Venu or the Radial PZ Pre (or equivalent). It sounds like I would need to consider this impedance issue when looking at it though?

[PorkPieGuy]

Originally Posted by Taylor Guy

Thanks for the info both of you! Can someone explain the impedance issue to me? I have read that this can be problematic with the K&K, but I don't fully understand. Can someone give me a rundown on what preamps would pair well with the K&K as well? I am thinking of either a D-Tar Solstice, and Avalon U5, or was considering the Venu or the Radial PZ Pre (or equivalent). It sounds like I would need to consider this impedance issue when looking at it though?

I don't know a lot about preamps, but I wish that I did. Whenever I've played with my K&K live through a PA, I just used a powered DI and let the soundguy do his job. I've always been pleased with the sound.

[se7ent7]

Come on guys, No Lyric mention!?
It is simply the best pickup out there for natural sound. Sure it may require some EQ, perhaps more than the K&K, but when that's set, it's set.

Listen to the clips on Doug Young's first Lyric post (the really long one), he has some sound clips of the Lyric in a Taylor 914.