Dual source issue with M80 and K&K

[jacf]

Thanks for the input, folks. At the moment, the issue has been resolved by taking the M80 out of the equation and reinstalling the Fishman Blackstack. I really like the Blackstack as a pickup and since it’s passive, it’s pretty much set and forget - and in my main gigging guitar, that’s a big plus too. I’ll probably shift the M80 into my main backup guitar where I’ll just run it on its own and its ability to run active or passive will be especially useful. I think this is the best solution all round.

[varmonter]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

One caution before you buy an M80 thinking it's infallible -- they're pretty sensitive to physical "shock." They're meant to be extra sensitive to things like "musical whacking" on the guitar body, as many folks are wont to do these days, and they're great in that respect. The tradeoff being that they're also sensitive to physical things you'd prefer not to be heard. Like that shirt-cuff button, or in my case the point of the pick. I've had to learn how to be a lot more careful in that respect than used to be the case, and I've also had to shove the pickup as far forward in the sound hole as it will go to get it out of the way of my picking hand. The Baggs M1 is a lot more forgiving in that respect, and when the next windfall comes I'll probably switch.

there in lies its beauty.. the ability to
get some resonance from the body
gives it that great acoustic tone.
i dont think its anymore sensitive than
a kk. just that its in the soundhole and
not under the bridge. rap your pick on the bridge of a kk equipped guitar.
since its not a normal place to hit
your pick you dont hear it as often
its a bit of an adjust for sure..

[Br1ck]

Not that you can't make anything work, but I adhere to the theory that a system designed by one company is the way to go for dual source systems. The compatibility issues have been engineered out, hence the Anthem type systems. A friend has a Cole Clark three way that sounds great. It's the perfect gigging ax.

[rschultz]

I’ve used dual source setups for years... passive k&k on the ring, and an active pickup on the tip like an Anthem or Lyric or M80, etc. I’m actually going to take a Lyric out and install an M80 sometime soon.

Here’s the thing... you can't use the jack that comes with the M80 or (full) Anthem because it’s a mono TRS Jack. To do dual source with an active Tip, you need a TRSS stereo jack (Tip Ring Switch Sleeve). I’ve got a thread here that describes it with pictures... I’ll hunt around for it.

Anyway, if you try to do dual source with a mono TRS jack, then yes you’ll drain the battery... I’ve done it before.

[rschultz]

Here’s a thread I started 5 years ago about creating a dual source cable for active pickups like the Anthem or M80 (they come with the same cable)

Thread link.

[jacf]

Thanks guys, that was all very helpful. It turns out that my tech was on the ball and it was wired to a TRSS jack all the time. Theoretically, it should work but it now seems there's a bigger issue with my M80. I swapped it over to my J45 that has a M1A fitted. Both the M1A and the M80 use the same cable (I checked with LR Baggs to be sure) so it should have worked just fine. Bad news... it didn't.

It does work fine in passive mode and sounds nice but very quiet. However, in active mode, there's a low static-type rumble that seems to be there almost constantly, that isn't there when I plug in other pickups or even switch off the active element on the M80 so I'm pretty certain it's coming from the active circuit from the M80. To add to that, the volume control sometimes seems erratic, dropping out occasionally, and on occasions not working at all. I thought it might be related to the battery but after changing several different makes of battery, this doesn't seem to be the case.

Now all of this would be fixed by returning it to LR Baggs who, in my experience, have an excellent customer relations person dealing with these things. However, I'm in Edinburgh in Scotland and sending back a pickup to the US is an expensive and time consuming process. This is especially concerning where it's an intermittent problem. It's the way with these things that I'll send it several thousand miles back to LR Baggs and it will then work fine there, until they send it back to me. Such is life! In the first instance, I thought I'd see if anyone had any similar issues with the M80 and might offer clues to how I might be able to get it fixed over here. I'm going to post this to a new thread in general discussions and see if anyone else has any helpful advice.

Thanks everyone for your insight and input so far.