Acoustic pickup blend system for Guild D35

[tpedroso]

Hello,

Posted this on the Guild forum as well, but since it's not brand-specific here it is:

Been mostly an electric player for the past few years, but recently took up the acoustic again. It's proven a fantastic tool to write new stuff on and I'm contemplating integrating it on my live sets with the band. I'll be receiving a 1979 D35 next week and have been doing extensive research on pickup systems. Because I have an electric setup comprised of 2 electrical guitars, a large pedalboard going into a 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue, I've been looking at acoustic setups that'll fit an electric rig. I know it's not the cannon, but I've seen it done with good results.

So far the best I've found combine a sound hole mounted passive magnetic pickup with an under the bridge transducer (like the K&K Pure Mini). My only experience with acoustic pickups was with a cheap Artec magnetic humbucker and it was really nothing to write home about.

This stereo setup:



by Ryley Walker is - to my ears - the best sounding system. I'm thinking of trying something along these lines, but mono (a bit like John Butler does with his acoustic rig):



But I do have lots of questions:

1) The sunrise magnetic pickup (passive) is hard to find in europe. Found a shop in the UK but it's on the pricey side. Has anyone had experience with this unit?

2) I would need to blend both signals coming from the guitar into 1 mono signal. The flow I was thinking would be:

a) Magnetic -> Pedalboard -> blender (input A) -> Amp (mono)
b) Transducer -> blender (input B) -> Amp (mono)

Thinking about using the K&K Dual Channel Pro Preamp as a blender https://www.thomann.de/pt/kk_dual_ch...pro_preamp.htm But it seems the EQ afects the mono output (no independent EQ for each input signal). Has anyone had experience with this unit? The Radial Tonebone Pre looks more rugged and has a great featureset but is way above what I'm comfortable paying for this project.

Anyone here using this type of layout?

Thanks in advance.
Tiago

[AndyC]

I'm using the K&K pure mini with the DiMarzio Black Angel mag pick up - and it's a great combination. I have them configured via a Grace Design Felix preamp, but that's a very pricey option. I've also had great results using a Bose T1 Tonematch as a preamp.

Whatever you decide to do for preamping / blending, the K&K / DiMarzio Black Angel is a fabulous combination.

(And the Black Angel gives you phase control as well).

[tpedroso]

Originally Posted by AndyC

I'm using the K&K pure mini with the DiMarzio Black Angel mag pick up - and it's a great combination. I have them configured via a Grace Design Felix preamp, but that's a very pricey option. I've also had great results using a Bose T1 Tonematch as a preamp.

Whatever you decide to do for preamping / blending, the K&K / DiMarzio Black Angel is a fabulous combination.

(And the Black Angel gives you phase control as well).

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of the DiMarzio Black Angel. Sounds really good on the demos. Even combined with the piezo from the same series.