JJB pickups in an OM? Your thoughts?

[Charmed Life Picks]

I'm becoming a quick convert to the OM sized guitar.

I recently acquired a hard-to-find Epi Masterbilt OM and will be dropping in a JJB pickup. Just curious of your experience.

I didn't want to spend a lot of $$$$ because this is a knock-around instrument to play out at open mics and crowded jams where I rarely take my best guitars.

Thanks,
Scott

[roylor4]

Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks

I'm becoming a quick convert to the OM sized guitar.

I recently acquired a hard-to-find Epi Masterbilt OM and will be dropping in a JJB pickup. Just curious of your experience.

I didn't want to spend a lot of $$$$ because this is a knock-around instrument to play out at open mics and crowded jams where I rarely take my best guitars.

Thanks,
Scott

I use the JJB Prestige 330 in both of my regular gigging guitars. You'll need a preamp, but they are very good sounding pickups - very natural. I use a cheapo Behringer ADI21 preamp with mine and get very good tone. They are FAR superior to any UST on the market.

[kaos]

Check how much room you have on the bridge under the saddle. If you have the room I would suggest the 20mm transducers for an OM. More bass and more gain. The 15mm should definitely fit ... if not the K&Ks are ~12mm.

Btw, Jesse is awesome at JJB. Extremely accommodating.

[Nick84]

I have a 15mm JJB 330 on the way to go in my 000 Sigma. I’m hoping it sounds as good as the JJB in my Big Baby. The body size and depth is similar so I’m sure it will.
I’m also using an external Preamp although you could get by without at a push.

[Wuchak]

I put the prestige 330 in my OM-28v. Sounds stunning. I can turn up the loudbox and the amplified sound blends with the acoustic so cleanly and naturally that you can't tell what is coming from the guitar vs amp. No preamp is required but I have a K&K Pure beltclip one to use that sounds amazing. I have another prestige 330 here to put in my OM-21.

[BT55]

You can’t go wrong with the JJB’s or K&K pickups. The only issue is that you’ll probably also need a preamp. Add up the price of the preamp plus pickup and you’re in the range of an in guitar system such as a K&K Ultra Mini.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks

…Just curious of your experience.

HI CLP

I had a JJB installed in a friends OM, and it did not have as hot an output signal as my K&K pickups in my OMs (I own 2 K&K equipped OM guitars) by quite a margin (the JJB was substantially quieter). And when I pushed the signal to match the K&Ks, it got muddy sounding in the low mid area, and shrill in the trebles.

I'd agree with those here who say you will want a preamp to boost output and to balance the tone for a JJB. That's going to run between $90-200, $150 bringing a really decent amount of choices into sight.

That is not necessarily so with K&K Pure mini pickups. They are only 12.5mm (instead of 15mm) which is nearly a 20% reduction in size, with a sizable boost in output.

I've mixed several K&K pickups for open mics without preamps and they can be made to sound very guitar-like without a preamp from even a moderate sound board. My experience (which you asked about) both as player and sound man is I can make a K&K sound better than a JJB with far less work and adjustment.

I use preamps with all my K&K equipped guitars (4 of em), but having as hot an output as it has, I've played in quick-gig situations with just the K&K plugged into a passive direct box sending an XLR to the board, and it's sounded just fine.

[jonfields45]

I've installed JJB 220's in low end OM sized guitars with good results. Overall I've must have installed approaching two dozen SBTs for various friends probably 2:1 K&K to JJB. Not surprisingly never both in the same guitar so I have no real apples to apples feedback. For me they are both close enough that I consider them interchangeable. However, for a more valuable instrument and as you can see below, I always go with the K&K. I have a bad habit of selling my guitars after a few years of ownership and the name recognition is worth the extra money.

As far as preamps are concerned, for top dollar I fully recommend the Red-Eye, but the bottom of the line Behringer ADI121 is also excellent for next to free. If you're not too finicky you can plug either a K&K or JJB directly into most amps and nearly no mixers, but sooner or later you will need that preamp for impedance matching.

[varmonter]

The kk pure xlr is quite a good pre and designed
for the pickup. i use that pre still.But mostly
use a felix nowadays. Spendy but that thing
sounds good. But the pure xlr is very versatile.
i use bass mandolin and guitar and can get
a decent sound out of all ..even the pbass.
And it will fit in larger guitar case compartments.

[stevecuss]

Some JJB pickups reportedly have lower output than K&K which may become an issue depending on your gain staging needs. Many folks don't have this issue, but it gets raised frequently enough to be worth mentioning. I personally don't think the money savings is worth it, but if I were putting something in a budget guitar, I might spring for a JJB.

The bigger issue, IMO is the superglue. With our ever evolving pickup technology, I'm a fan of solutions that can be removed and replaced without issue. Its a long shot, but putting, for example, a Trance, where a JJB or K&K used to be can be problematic.

And yep, I'm a Trance guy, so take that for what it is worth. (I'm a fan, not an endorser.)

[gfirob]

Surprised nobody talked about the K&K and Tonedexter combination. Combined price of $500 ($100 more than K&K and Redeye), but IMHO best acoustic sound available and it includes a tuner and boost. Not a budget option but if you want the guitar to sound like it is playing through a mike, that is the way to go.

[Mandobart]

I've installed JJB PPS-200's in close two 20 instruments - violins, violas, mandolins, mandola, octave mandolins, two mandocello's, several guitars, a banjo, resonator mandolin and upright bass. Coupled with a decent impedance matching preamp, they all sound great through a PA. When used through a good acoustic amp (high Z input for use with piezo p'ups) you don't even need a preamp. I use the smaller 15 mm heads on violin and viola, 20 mm on everything else. These pickups will absolutely work in any OM sized guitar.

About preamps - their purpose is really not so much to boost the signal as it is to match the high output impedance of the piezo pickup (around 10 Mohm no matter what brand) to the low input impedance of the mixer board. The great majority of sound problems with piezo's is simply due to impedance mismatch. I've used K&K and JJB's, and without setting up instruments to measure the mV output of each there is no way for me to discern a difference in output.

[Charmed Life Picks]

Thanks so much, everybody. I apologize for my late response. I haven't been getting notifications on this thread.

sm