What pickup did you put in your J45?

[JackB1]

Looking at all my choices for a pickup in my J45 and was wondering what others have done? Thinking about the Anthem, Anthem SL, the Baggs M1 or M9, the Rare Earth Blend, the Seymore Duncan Mag Mic.

I play mostly classic rock and am a hard strummer.

[jjrpilot]

I had the stock, active LR Baggs Element removed and had a passive K&K Mini installed, along with a new bone saddle. The bone saddle now sits with direct contact to the bridge. It increased the volume and punchy-ness and sounds so rich and warm. The K&K sounds so natural to my ears.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by jjrpilot

I had the stock, active LR Baggs Element removed and had a passive K&K Mini installed, along with a new bone saddle. The bone saddle now sits with direct contact to the bridge. It increased the volume and punchy-ness and sounds so rich and warm. The K&K sounds so natural to my ears.

Same here. I will say it's a little bottom heavy with the K&K, but the tone is more natural with none of that awful piezo quack. I usually have EQ capabilities so it's not a big deal.

[JackB1]

My J45 can sound a little boomy sometimes when amplified, so that is a concern. I need a pickup that doesn't make that worse.

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Same here. I will say it's a little bottom heavy with the K&K, but the tone is more natural with none of that awful piezo quack. I usually have EQ capabilities so it's not a big deal.

[Nick84]

I like the M80 over the M1. I have one in my Eastman dread and I’ve previously had a M1 & M1A and the M80 is superior IMHO

[JackB1]

What's better about it? Is it worth the extra $100?

Originally Posted by Nick84

I like the M80 over the M1. I have one in my Eastman dread and I’ve previously had a M1 & M1A and the M80 is superior IMHO

[SalFromChatham]

If you are going through something like a Baggs Venue DI, I dont think you get anything extra with the M80 over the M1 Passive. The Venue DI will boost the signal and you can control the EQ.

I use this with my Martin D15.

[Nick84]

Originally Posted by JackB1

What's better about it? Is it worth the extra $100?

It picks up more of the body. better bass response from the floating sensor. Install the M80 tap the body of the guitar. Install the M1 and tap the body. It’s a world away and it’s not something EQ can fix.

Don’t get me wrong the M1 is still a fine pickup

[SKYHIGH]

I had KK, Matrix, and Anthem. Currently have Anthem SL in my J45 and I like it. However For your purpose, I suggest the Fishman Matrix. In fact I sometimes think about going that route as it’s easier for me to dial in the tone I want including “boom” control.

Purely my opinion but I honestly don’t know why sooo many on this forum love the KK. Had KK in various different guitars in the past and was never satisfied.

[baw3]

I had the Fishman matrix put in my Taylor 810 that I used to own and I hated the sound of it. It didn't sound natural at all. A week later I took it back to my guitar shop here and had them put a K&K in it. It was amazing to me how much better it sounded with the K&K. I also bought the K&K pure mini pre amp to be able to adjust the sound to my liking and it works really good.

[Scatcat]

I removed the elements in my j45 and put the anthem sl. The sound is much more natural, in my opinion is an amazing pickup!

[Wade Hampton]

Skyhigh wrote:

Originally Posted by SKYHIGH

Purely my opinion but I honestly don’t know why sooo many on this forum love the KK. Had KK in various different guitars in the past and was never satisfied.

I suspect it’s because most of us on here are either amateurs or, like me, former full time musicians who have gone semi-pro in our dotage...

The K&K Pure Mini sounds great in low volume venues, and I have one in several of my guitars. In louder venues, I agree, the K&K doesn’t measure up as well. I have guitars with different pickups in them that I use for those gigs.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Tnfiddler]

I put a Fishman Matrix Infinity pickup in my 1995 810 and HATED it! Very artificial sounding pickup that I never got a good tone from.

[Wade Hampton]

Oh, we can play the “pickup that sounded terrible in my guitar” game all day long! I had a Fishman mandolin pickup that sounded like a demented, demonic dental tool; I don’t think I’ve ever ever heard anything quite so horrible in my life. When I first got my McAlister acoustic baritone guitar it had a Highlander pickup in it, which sounded pretty good but not great. After that I tried another three pickups in fairly rapid succession until I finally hit upon the correct combination on my fifth try, which turned out to be (drum roll, please) a K&K Pure Mini bridgeplate pickup with the K&K undersaddle pickup run through a K&K two channel blender.

I normally run it at around 90% bridgeplate pickup and 10% undersaddle.

Anyway, to answer the OP’s original question, when I owned a WM-45, which was a plain jane version of the J-45, I put a K&K Pure Mini in it.

Hope this helps.


whm

[Tnfiddler]

K&K Pure Mini in both my Bourgeois and D-41. I run them through a Boss AD-2 into a Dean Markley Ultrasound DI Plus and I'm really pleased with the tone I get.