School Me On Acoustic Preamps

[Creekside Guitar]

I tried the red-eye with two different K&K equipped guitars and two different amps and was not happy with the results. All it really does is boost the signal and add some treble.

I now use the Headway EDB-2 and it has made a huge difference for my sound. The biggest help is the two different mid knobs, low-mid and hi-mid. These allow you to dial out those droning mid range tones that are ever present with most K&K equipped guitars.

You can also use it to run out to a house PA, which also sounds great. It runs on a 9v so it is super portable as well. Lots of variables involved here, but the EDB-2 has been a great choice for me.

[archerscreek]

If I was going to buy one preamp I'd make sure it had sweepable mids. You don't have to use it, but it's there if you do need it. I have a OOOC that doesn't seem to need it and two dreads that benefit from it. I went with the Fishman Platinum Stage.

I was and am intrigued by the Red Eye and other simplified preamps if I absolutely knew they worked for a particular setup at a particular venue given their convenience.

[Puerto Player]

You may want to look at a Mesa Rosette Acoustic DI. Everything you could really want with some of the best sweepable mids anywhere.

[GuitarLuva]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

Forgive me for jumping in on the thread... But I'm considering a Schatten and am torn between the passive and active systems. While I have a small Baggs GigPro preamp I am often in a house system so not sure if I should just buy the passive be done? I do not own an acoustic amp but a bass amp (Gallien-Krueger MB112).

So if you (and the OP) wouldn't mind, please school me too on the right way to go should I invest in a Schatten pickup. TIA

It's always a tough decision to decide between active and passive. I love having a passive pickup, no batteries to worry about and less junk inside your guitar. Active gives you onboard volume and tone controls which some people like to have. I personally don't care for tone controls onboard but I did miss the volume control. Here's what my final solution is, and I actually just ordered another Schatten HFN passive yesterday from Cosmo music for $104.99. I'll be wiring a simple 500k thumbwheel to the passive pickup, I've done this to one guitar already. That way I have a passive pickup and have my volume control onboard, which is a personal preference. Like JonFields said if you're using something like a Fishman acoustic amp you do not need a preamp and I can confirm that the passive Schatten going to a Fishman amp sounds amazing. I also have a Tonedexter but I don't use it when I'm going straight into the amp as it's not needed (just changes the tone not necessarily making it better). The Schatten sounds enough like a mic on its own. If I were going to an open mic or something I would take the simple and cheap (but awesome) Behringer ADI21 along with me just in case. SBT's like K&K, JJB, etc really benefit from the Tonedexter as it adds the mic sound to the overall tone, the Schatten HFN is good enough without it. That's just my opinion of course so in the end you have to decide what will work best for you.

Edit: I forgot to say that I also set the EQ flat on my Fishman amp with the Schatten HFN it's really a plug and play combo.

[varmonter]

If you have the bucks i would spring for a grace
design preamp. If not K&K makes thier own
preamps built specifically for thier puckups.
I have a kk pure xlr pre that i will never
sell . It sounds that good. They come up used
all the time.
https://reverb.com/p/k-and-k-sound-p...ds&hfid=520255
Input impedance can make or break your sound
sometimes. especially with a passive kk that
seems to like 1mgohm.