Need help from people with K&K Trinity fitted!?!?!

karlitofingers · #1 10-10-2012, 02:53 PM

Hi there!

I recently got the K&K Pure Mini installed and love it!!!

I play a lot of finger style and percussion all around the body of the guitar which the Mini does a pretty good job of picking up.

Not sure if I should now get the K&K Dual Channel Preamp to combine the Mini and the Under Saddle Transducer I already have, or upgrade to the full Trinity system.

I need to know how much of the body percussion the Trinity mic will pickup if I upgrade to the full Trinity system? Is it worth it for percussion?

Which picks up the most percussion and taps, the Pure Mini or the Microphone??

Many thanks!

Karl.

alohachris · #2 10-10-2012, 07:10 PM

Aloha Karl,

For mainly percussive styles, I'd simply match your K&K with a Sunrise or Seymour Duncan SA-6 Magmic magnetic soundhole pickup. You don't really need an internal mic for that style at all.

The Magmic has an onboard mic as well. Those two offer adjustable pole heights, something you will need to dial in the sound you want in a multi-source system that includes a magnetic P/U.

If you want to add a mic to the mix for fingerstyle, just add an appropriate (condenser or dynamic) mic to the other two. Turn it off when your percussing.

Of course, invest some decent $ into a great multi-channel control unit with great EQ (mixer, pramp, DI) to be able to blend & control the channels of your multi-source pickup system separately. K&K's preamps are not what you need, IMO.

Check out Doug Young's pickup comparison site for audio clues - especially above sample # 78. especially #'s 85 & 86.

http://www.dougyoungguitar.com/pickuptests/

Have fun experimentin', Karl.

alohachris

karlitofingers · #3 10-13-2012, 12:58 PM

Thanks for the reply!

What is it about the K&K preamps that you don't like? Controls on the inside?

Pretty much all the research comes down to the fact that the K&K pickups work best with the K&K preamps. Although if one is clued up with regards to impedance then I guess it doesn't have to be K&K.

I wouldn't have imagined a magnetic pickup picking up percussion on the guitar body?! But I've never used one.

Karl.

ljguitar · #4 10-13-2012, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karlitofingers

...Pretty much all the research comes down to the fact that the K&K pickups work best with the K&K preamps.

Hi Karl…
Actually that is not so. The research (at least the accumulated knowledge from dozens of K&K players/users on this forum) is that K&K work well with about any preamp.

And many of us use a passive K&K (no electronics inside the guitar) and external preamps. I personally own preamps from Baggs, UltraSound, DTAR, K&K, and Raven, and my gigging partner has preamps from Fishman (Platinum), and an old Baggs simple generic preamp.

Of all these, the K&K belt pack is my least favorite, and the others give me more controls, better access to tone adjustments, and less self noise.

There are many of the 'locals' using Baggs Venue, or other preamps as well with great success and wonderfully fat and full sound.

The internal K&K are absolutely my least favorite. You have no control on the fly over tone, and have to destring to change batteries. Less quality sound, and the trouble of batteries potentially dying inside? No thanks...

I own/use 4 guitars with K&K rigs, my gigging partner has 2 more, and in our church Worship teams we have more yet! On Sundays they are plugged into an UltraDI Max, or ParaDI, or Raven PMB, or generic knockoff of the ParaDi and they all sound great.

What I prefer about the other preamps is better quality, more access to tone control, better interfaces for going to PA or amps, and lower cost than K&K.

alohachris · #5 10-13-2012, 01:32 PM

Aloha Karl,

PM'ed ya.

alohachris

karlitofingers · #6 11-25-2012, 10:49 AM

Hello again people!

In short I still don't have a preamp yet.

I know that spending more money will get me a better preamp, but even the best and more expensive ones still don't have all the features together in one unit.

I'm not considering the Baggs mixpro but a couple of things are putting me off.

1. The mixpro doesn't have a dedicated mid EQ control but it has the 'trim control'/'low cut filter', I still don't really know how that will affect the sound of the Pure pickup. The Pure Mini will defo need to have mids cut and I'm not sure the Mixpro will even do that? What do you guys think?

2. Is it possible to take a 2x 1/4" TS to 1/4" TRS stereo jack so that I can connect both of my installed pickups to the input of the baggs? Note that I have 2 separate jacks in my guitar.

Many thanks

Karl!