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  #1  
Old 10-09-2011, 06:48 AM
wezzywest wezzywest is offline
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Default Which pick-up/

Hi, i have just taken delivery of a Martin 000-18ge Ambertone!!! Yehahhh!! Anyway i am thinking of buying a Roland AC-33 AMP. What pickup would you recommend? Myself i was think of a K&K Western mini. I am also after the least intrusive pickup for this bguitar.
Thanks.
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Old 10-09-2011, 07:23 AM
Joseph Hanna Joseph Hanna is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wezzywest View Post
Hi, i have just taken delivery of a Martin 000-18ge Ambertone!!! Yehahhh!! Anyway i am thinking of buying a Roland AC-33 AMP. What pickup would you recommend? Myself i was think of a K&K Western mini. I am also after the least intrusive pickup for this bguitar.
Thanks.
You're bridge is glued in. That would effectively eliminate an under-saddle pickup solution and narrow your choices considerably.

You're somewhat limited to SBT and mags or some combination there in.

That's such a magnificent acoustic guitar I'd personally be hesitant to super-glue in the K&K. If it were me (and I know it's not ) I'd look for a) a pickup system that is completely removable ie: Fishman Rare Earth Blend, Baggs M1a or the Duncan Mag-Mic, ect, ect or b) look for a cheaper guitar to go out and gig with.

Last edited by Joseph Hanna; 10-09-2011 at 07:59 AM.
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Old 10-09-2011, 08:05 AM
wezzywest wezzywest is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna View Post
You're bridge is glued in. That would effectively eliminate an under-saddle pickup solution and narrow your choices considerably.

You're somewhat limited to SBT and mags or some combination there in.

That's such a magnificent acoustic guitar I'd personally be hesitant to super-glue in the K&K. If it were me (and I know it's not ) I'd look for a) a pickup system that is completely removable ie: Fishman Rare Earth Blend, Baggs M1a or the Duncan Mag-Mic, ect, ect or b) look for a cheaper guitar to go out and gig with.
Thanks for that, i think i will take your advice and look at other pickup options. I have looked at the Fishman as well, so i will do a bit more research. Thanks again.
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Old 10-09-2011, 09:31 AM
JimLin JimLin is offline
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I have a b-band AST installed in one of my Martins and it sounds really nice. The b-band attaches to the underside of the bridge with an adhessive (not superglue), but can be easily removed (unlike the k&k/jjb pickups). I also tried the JJB 330 (basically a k&k copy) with good results. The JJB required quite a bit of eq tweeking to get it to sound good and with my setup, the b-band has a slightly better sound. The b-band comes with an active internal preamp which has a preset eq, but still requires a bit of additional eq tweeking to sound it's best.

For me, the advantage of the k&k/jjb pickups is it doesn't require an internal preamp/battery which is especially nice if you plan to add an internal mic or second pickup. After comparing the two systems, I removed the JJB and ordered another b-band. FWIW, I also have a fishman aura I use with other guitars (all of which have an understaddle pickup), and while it does an acceptable job, I find the b-band just sounds better overall. And as always ... YMMV.

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Last edited by JimLin; 10-09-2011 at 02:20 PM.
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Old 10-09-2011, 02:18 PM
Martijn Martijn is offline
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The K&K Mini Western isn't an undersaddle pickup: http://www.kksound.com/purewestern.html
So it doesn't matter that your bridge is glued in place; you can use it in your Martin. The K&K pickup sounds beautiful, I'm considering to replace my current pickup system with this one.
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Old 10-09-2011, 02:26 PM
Joseph Hanna Joseph Hanna is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Martijn View Post
The K&K Mini Western isn't an undersaddle pickup: http://www.kksound.com/purewestern.html
So it doesn't matter that your bridge is glued in place; you can use it in your Martin. The K&K pickup sounds beautiful, I'm considering to replace my current pickup system with this one.
Yep Martijn!! I don't think anyone said it was My point is/was having played several 000-18GE's during my summer pilgrimage to great acoustic guitar shop's is that indeed that particular guitar rose to my top 5 in magical, luxurious, tone machines and that undoubtedly if I would have purchased one for myself I'd have a VERY difficult time permanently "gluing" anything to it's innards.

Also..where I agree that a K&K system can sound wonderful it is by NO means a plug-in play PU. It's clearly subject to low end messes and feedback at higher levels. I realized for me (and in my situation) in order to make it work would take a genuine commitment of time and energy. That's cool but to commit to that with a guitar that lives and die's on it's miraculous un-plugged sound somehow seems diametrically opposed.

YMMV

Last edited by Joseph Hanna; 10-09-2011 at 02:32 PM.
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  #7  
Old 10-09-2011, 04:52 PM
alexevans917 alexevans917 is offline
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I'd say Pure Mini or M1a. Both are not too destructive to your guitar (although if you superglue the Pure Mini instead of using double sided tape or something, then it could be messy), and get pretty great reviews all around.
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Old 10-10-2011, 02:20 AM
GibbyPrague GibbyPrague is offline
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I recently bought a used Fishman rare earth blend from an AGF member. Very happy with the ability to blend mike and pickup, use it on my vintage CW with great results.

On all my other guitars I have a fishman matrix infnity combined with a fishman aura spectrum DI for a brilliant mike live tone.

So rare earth if on a budget, the infinity / spectrum combo if youre willing to spend a bit of cash.
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  #9  
Old 10-10-2011, 05:39 AM
Joseph Hanna Joseph Hanna is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GibbyPrague View Post
So rare earth if on a budget, the infinity / spectrum combo if youre willing to spend a bit of cash.
The OP has a Martin 000-18GE Gibby. The saddles are permanently glued into the bridge. One could of course get a router and blast the saddle out but gosh.... what shame that would be on such a brilliant little tone machine. Ain't enough "this pick-up sounds better than that" on earth to make me wanna drill into a Martin GE.
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Old 10-10-2011, 03:16 PM
JimLin JimLin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna View Post
The OP has a Martin 000-18GE Gibby. The saddles are permanently glued into the bridge. One could of course get a router and blast the saddle out but gosh.... what shame that would be on such a brilliant little tone machine. Ain't enough "this pick-up sounds better than that" on earth to make me wanna drill into a Martin GE.
Yeah, definitely not something I would do. FWIW, I found the K&K/JJB style pickup with a decent eq sounds everly bit as good as my Aura Spectrum for strumming and fingerstyle. For single note lead work, I find the K&K/JJB style pickup sounds better than the Aura ... But that's me.
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