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  #1  
Old 10-18-2022, 03:37 PM
Hominid Hominid is offline
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Default Takamine preamp upgrade?

Hey folks, first post here. Glad I joined...

I have an ancient lawsuit Tak (EF-349C, built in 81) with the old brown TK-3 preamp. Other than some carpentry work to retrofit a newer one (TK-40?), will bridge pickup compatibility be an issue?

Thanks in advance.
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  #2  
Old 10-18-2022, 04:31 PM
SpruceTop SpruceTop is offline
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Originally Posted by Hominid View Post
Hey folks, first post here. Glad I joined...

I have an ancient lawsuit Tak (EF-349C, built in 81) with the old brown TK-3 preamp. Other than some carpentry work to retrofit a newer one (TK-40?), will bridge pickup compatibility be an issue?

Thanks in advance.
Having dismantled a 1979/1980 lawsuit Tak Palthetic pickup back in the day, and put it back together, as I recall it's pretty much the same design as the newest ones. Can you see if your pickup has a brown plastic housing (is that what I remember seeing?) or is it aluminum like the newer ones? Likely a new Tak preamp would/should work with your older Palathetic pickup as probably the impedances are about the same. I'd consult Takamine to make sure, though.
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Last edited by SpruceTop; 10-19-2022 at 07:21 AM.
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Old 10-19-2022, 05:38 AM
shufflebeat shufflebeat is offline
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My first Tak was an ef360s which had the old brown preamp on purchase. I changed it because the faders eventually started to get a bit noisy and unreliable.

Since then it's had two different preamp models, neither of them particularly special. The warmth of the bottom end was gone. The sound might be considered an improvement in a band situation but nothing I couldn't have achieved with mixer EQ.

I really wish I'd just had the old preamp serviced. The guy who did the work was quite keen to take it off my hands, now I know why.

Consider what problem you're trying to fix.
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Old 10-19-2022, 06:43 AM
Petty1818 Petty1818 is offline
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Originally Posted by shufflebeat View Post
My first Tak was an ef360s which had the old brown preamp on purchase. I changed it because the faders eventually started to get a bit noisy and unreliable.

Since then it's had two different preamp models, neither of them particularly special. The warmth of the bottom end was gone. The sound might be considered an improvement in a band situation but nothing I couldn't have achieved with mixer EQ.

I really wish I'd just had the old preamp serviced. The guy who did the work was quite keen to take it off my hands, now I know why.

Consider what problem you're trying to fix.
There's a Canadian band, Great Big Sea, who always used Takamine guitars and had great live sound. I remember reading an interview with them where they discussed how early Takamine preamps (late 80's - early 90's) sounded better than the modern ones. It's interesting that you too noticed this. I had always wondered if their statement was valid.
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  #5  
Old 10-19-2022, 07:54 AM
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ljguitar ljguitar is offline
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Hi all…
The old Takamine pickups are great (sound great). If the electronics are not 'sick-and-dying', I'd wonder if there is a need to change it out?





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