One endpin - two pickups - which cable?

[Nick84]

I’ve been messing around with my K&K equipped Eastman OM. I’ve added a Baggs M1 to the K&K and really like the results.

So much so that I’ve dropped the guitar off with a tech to have the M1 cable soldered to the ring of the K&K endpin.

I’ll have one endpin with two pickups going into my twin channel Orange Valve preamp.

The question is what type of cable do I need? Do I go with a TRS cable into a splitter box then two cables out of the box into each input of the preamp?

Or do I go with a Y cable straight from the endpin then a connection to each input of the preamp? Does this ideally need to be TRS also?

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Nick84

I’ve been messing around with my K&K equipped Eastman OM. I’ve added a Baggs M1 to the K&K and really like the results.

So much so that I’ve dropped the guitar off with a tech to have the M1 cable soldered to the ring of the K&K endpin.

I’ll have one endpin with two pickups going into my twin channel Orange Valve preamp.

The question is what type of cable do I need? Do I go with a TRS cable into a splitter box then two cables out of the box into each input of the preamp?

Or do I go with a Y cable straight from the endpin then a connection to each input of the preamp? Does this ideally need to be TRS also?

It depends on your preamp. Many preamps accept a TRS cable and route to each channel automatically. If not, and the preamp has only separate 1/4 inputs, then you need a Y-cable, TRS on one side, for the guitar, split to two TS jacks on the other end.

So this:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...s-insert-cable


Or just a "Stereo" TRS to TRS cable, depending on your preamp.

[Nick84]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

It depends on your preamp. Many preamps accept a TRS cable and route to each channel automatically. If not, and the preamp has only separate 1/4 inputs, then you need a Y-cable, TRS on one side, for the guitar, split to two TS jacks on the other end.

So this:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...s-insert-cable


Or just a "Stereo" TRS to TRS cable, depending on your preamp.

Thanks Doug, it will either be going to my orange preamp which has 2 1/4 inch inputs for each channel.

The other circumstances would be straight to two channels on a mixer or to two separate DI/preamps then to mixer. The one in the link looks like a good shout.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Nick84

The other circumstances would be straight to two channels on a mixer or to two separate DI/preamps then to mixer. The one in the link looks like a good shout.

Radial makes a couple of nice, fairly small, dual-channel DIs for the mixer case.

[Nick84]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

Radial makes a couple of nice, fairly small, dual-channel DIs for the mixer case.

Thanks Doug, I like the radial gear, what are the names of the small dual channel DI’s?

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Nick84

Thanks Doug, I like the radial gear, what are the names of the small dual channel DI’s?

Here's two:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...ent-direct-box

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...ent-direct-box

[Nick84]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

Here's two:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...ent-direct-box

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...ent-direct-box

I didn’t know they did a stereo JDI - a link to a JDI duplex came up from that also. With both pickups being passive and one being a K&K will there be much of an issue going from guitar to box to mixer for a quick setup?

I’m just looking and the input impedance is 150k. I don’t tend to get hung up on mismatching but the 150k seems very low for the K&K?

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Nick84

I didn’t know they did a stereo JDI - a link to a JDI duplex came up from that also. With both pickups being passive and one being a K&K will there be much of an issue going from guitar to box to mixer for a quick setup?

I’m just looking and the input impedance is 150k. I don’t tend to get hung up on mismatching but the 150k seems very low for the K&K?

That seems a bit low. are you sure that's right? You'll probably lose some low end, tho maybe not noticeable. I seem to recall the last time I experimented with K&Ks and impedance that 100K seemed like the point where I noticed. But with K&Ks you'd likely be better off with a preamp anyway.

[Nick84]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

That seems a bit low. are you sure that's right? You'll probably lose some low end, tho maybe not noticeable. I seem to recall the last time I experimented with K&Ks and impedance that 100K seemed like the point where I noticed. But with K&Ks you'd likely be better off with a preamp anyway.

From the Radial website it’s 140k input impedance for both the JDI and PROD2.

The K&K is plenty hot enough but the M1 is more of a worry running through a passive DI

[Mandobart]

I have a floating mag pickup (tip) and piezo SBT(ring) wired to a TRS jack on my Eastman archtop. I use a TRS cord to single TRS input on my Baggs Mixpro, which uses a regular mono (TS) output to whatever is next (my Carvin AG300 or house sound).

[Nick84]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

I have a floating mag pickup (tip) and piezo SBT(ring) wired to a TRS jack on my Eastman archtop. I use a TRS cord to single TRS input on my Baggs Mixpro, which uses a regular mono (TS) output to whatever is next (my Carvin AG300 or house sound).

I’m guessing you have to use the same EQ setting for both pickups if your going into one channel?

[Mandobart]

Originally Posted by Nick84

I’m guessing you have to use the same EQ setting for both pickups if your going into one channel?

The MixPro blends the two signals. The mag pu has volume and tone pots mounted under the suspended pickguard, so it can somewhat be adjusted independently.

But yeah that's the whole point of blending signals (two pu's, pu and mic, 2 mics, etc.) - allows you to run to a single output channel.

I also can (and have) run a stereo cable out of the TRS jack on the guitar to a splitter, then one mono cable carrying the tip (mag pu) to one channel on my Carvin AG300 and the ring (piezo SBT) to a separate channel, with each channel's independent eq and effects. Turns out that's not something I end up doing or needing very often.