Venue DI with the K&K Pick Ups

Mking · #1 10-17-2019, 08:26 AM

I have K&K pickups in my Gibson J-45TV and Martin HD-28V. For the life of me I cannot get a good mix/sound using the Venue DI pedal. I have an Ultrasound acoustic guitar amp and I have the bass and treble controls at zero/flat.

Have any of you K&K pick up users had any success with this pre amp/DI pedal? If so please help. By the way, I seem to have better luck and tone with the Baggs Para DI.

llew · #2 10-18-2019, 08:07 AM

I se the K&K mini in most of my guitars. I have the K&K preamp but prefer the Baggs Session DI. I used the Venue with the K&K and it took a little longer to dial it in but got good results. The Session is smaller and fits inside my guitar case and does everything I need.

ljguitar · #3 10-18-2019, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mking

I have K&K pickups in my Gibson J-45TV and Martin HD-28V. For the life of me I cannot get a good mix/sound using the Venue DI pedal. I have an Ultrasound acoustic guitar amp and I have the bass and treble controls at zero/flat.

Have any of you K&K pick up users had any success with this pre amp/DI pedal? If so please help. By the way, I seem to have better luck and tone with the Baggs Para DI.

Hi Mk

I have several guitar playing friends who use the Baggs Venue with a K&K. It works great…and is basically the more modern version of a Baggs ParaDI, with a boost switch and tuner. I also use UltraSound amps and there is no need to leave the tone controls flat (unless the sound is already to your liking with them flat). Combined with a preamp, it only sounds more guitar-like.

It's a great preamp (there are many preamps which work well with K&K Pure Mini pickups).

vindibona1 · #4 10-18-2019, 11:58 AM

I like what LJ said. There is no shame in adjusting the EQ of your amp if you can't dial it in exactly on the Venue. Sometimes the amp or system can just fight your EQ box.

Athens · #5 10-18-2019, 12:08 PM

I don't have any experience with the venue, but I have used the Ultrasound DI Plus with good results. I use it with a Loudbox Mini.

The K&K seems to be heavy on the low end so I roll that off and bring the mids and highs up with the DI and on the Loudbox mini.

Mking · #6 10-18-2019, 12:58 PM

Thanks everyone. So I've run the gamut on pre-amps. I own the K&K XLR pre-amp, the Red Eye, the Venue DI, and just borrowed a friends Para DI (which I used to own but sold to get the Venue DI).

For some reason With the high and low mid controls On the Venue, I cannot get rid of the metallic mid sound to my liking. I can bring up the low and it sounds good finger picking but when I strum it just all sounds bad. Same with the K&K XLR. It has the EQ just fine but still mid range. The Red Eye is good, no EQ just plus and play and adjust the amp (I do love the boost switch), the Para DI. For me, sounds the best, very nice actually. However, I will go back to the Venue DI and manipulate it along with the amp bass & treble.

LarryJ, do you use your Ultrasound amp with the Shape toggle switch on or off?

Any additional pointers?

Mr Bojangles · #7 10-19-2019, 05:43 AM

I like my Behringer AD121 preamp with my K&K. It is cheap enough to try one out and see if it works for you.

ljguitar · #8 10-19-2019, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mking

…LarryJ, do you use your Ultrasound amp with the Shape toggle switch on or off?

Hi Mking

Off.

At most gigs, I run my stage amp about 4-5 feet behind me, waist high angled up at my head. It works fine.

BongoSTL · #9 10-19-2019, 11:47 AM

Tonedexter........ 😁😁😁😁🙃😁

DenverSteve · #10 10-19-2019, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mking

... For the life of me I cannot get a good mix/sound using the Venue DI pedal. .....

So....... what about without the pedal? I run my guitars straight into my mixer. I've never felt I needed extra assistance with K&K pickups. I would run it without the pedal and adjust, as necessary, with the amps settings.

Mking · #11 10-21-2019, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DenverSteve

So....... what about without the pedal? I run my guitars straight into my mixer. I've never felt I needed extra assistance with K&K pickups. I would run it without the pedal and adjust, as necessary, with the amps settings.

Going straight into the amp does sound fine. I just wanted more than the Ultrasound provides EQ wise. Also, I've had a couple of sound men tell me that without the pre-amp, they were close to running out of gain on the channel I was plugged into.

uriah1 · #12 10-21-2019, 12:19 PM

Both my 45s with kks seem to work good in all mine floor to board setups.

a)redeye
b)tone bone
c)soulmate

wish you luck

ljguitar · #13 10-21-2019, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mking

Going straight into the amp does sound fine. I just wanted more than the Ultrasound provides EQ wise. Also, I've had a couple of sound men tell me that without the pre-amp, they were close to running out of gain on the channel I was plugged into.

Hi Mking
If you go K&K out, into a Direct Box ¼" in then XLR out into a snake, you should not have any issues with a hot enough signal to a PA board, even passively. The K&K Pure mini is one of the hottest output pickups I've ever worked with. Were you sending line level signal via a Direct Box to the PA?

The reason for using an inline preamp is for the tone control, not merely signal boost.

I use UltraSound amps, and never go out of the UltraSound's XLR output BECAUSE I don't have as consistent results from the amp output as a direct box. It's just for my stage monitor (unless I'm in a really small coffee house or other small venue).

My typical signal chain is Guitar-->Preamp-->Snake (and stage Amp simultaneously)-->PA board.

This permits me to adjust volume, tone and effects on the stage amp without touching or affecting the house signal (which pleases Sound Techs greatly).. Techs do not like artists adjusting volume or tone on the fly if it affects the house (which they have taken the time and effort to adjust for best sound).

SalFromChatham · #14 10-21-2019, 06:38 PM

I agree with mking in that it is challenging to tame K&k pups with the Venue DI. I still have mine.

It’s challenging but not impossible. I had to dial back the mids in a large way. I typically ended up using my Venue DI for my other pickups, and using a fire eye red eye for my D18 with k&k.

peanutavalon · #15 04-23-2020, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi Mk

I have several guitar playing friends who use the Baggs Venue with a K&K. It works great…and is basically the more modern version of a Baggs ParaDI, with a boost switch and tuner. I also use UltraSound amps and there is no need to leave the tone controls flat (unless the sound is already to your liking with them flat). Combined with a preamp, it only sounds more guitar-like.

It's a great preamp (there are many preamps which work well with K&K Pure Mini pickups).

Is the impedance mismatch a major concern or is that just a myth about the venue? I have one and I use it with a fishman loudbox at home and it sounds great. I'm really wanting to try a grace audio Bix. Has anyone tried one yet with a K&K mini?