hottest passive UST/SBT pickup

[hat]

Any ideas on which SBT/UST pickup has the hottest output? I know that K&K is pretty hot, what about others?

[guitarman68]

Can't comment on UST because I use SBTs exclusively during the last 15 years.

K&K is the hottest, followed by Ultra Tonic, JJB, Dazzo, Schatten HFN - that is my experience. All are hot enough to give decent signal to any preamp I tried.
Variations in different responsive guitars and bridgeplate thickness and material can be remarkable.

[martingitdave]

K&K is the hottest signal passive pickup I've tried, by design. A passive UST would be unlikely to be any hotter. In fact, the K&K is sometimes hotter than other active pickup systems.

[guitaniac]

The Baggs LB6 has a pretty hot output. (It easily overdrove the Fishman Prefix preamp that I tried matching it with.) The old Baggs Hex pickup (which I have in a nylon stringer) is even hotter. The Barbera Soloist is also pretty hot.

[guitaniac]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

K&K is the hottest signal passive pickup I've tried, by design. A passive UST would be unlikely to be any hotter. In fact, the K&K is sometimes hotter than other active pickup systems.

By my own observation, the Baggs LB6, the Baggs Hex and the Barbera Soloist are all hotter than the Pure Mini.

I had a Pure Mini and a PUTW I/O UST in the same guitar at one time. When running to a 10 Mohm input impedance, the I/O UST was nearly as hot as the Pure Mini.

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by guitaniac

By my own observation, the Baggs LB6, the Baggs Hex and the Barbera Soloist are all hotter than the Pure Mini.

I had a Pure Mini and a PUTW I/O UST in the same guitar at one time. When running to a 10 Mohm input impedance, the I/O UST was nearly as hot as the Pure Mini.

Yes, those have 6 crystals rather than 1 for a normal UST or 3 on a K&K.

[GuitarLuva]

I think the Barbera Soloist is the hottest passive pickup I've ever tried. It's an in saddle transducer like the baggs lb6. Why you so concerned with a hot output?

[Randy Randle]

I use a K&K pure mini for my expensive custom "Kronbauer". It captures the sound in a more natural way than any other pickup, and it's fairly inexpensive. The passive output was already strong and I didn't really need a preamp. When I added a compressor pedal it acted similar to a preamp with volume control. I am really happy with K&K and highly recommend them! PS: have a pro tech install it for you.

[AeroUSA]

Originally Posted by Randy Randle

I use a K&K pure mini for my expensive custom "Kronbauer". It captures the sound in a more natural way than any other pickup, and it's fairly inexpensive. The passive output was already strong and I didn't really need a preamp. When I added a compressor pedal it acted similar to a preamp with volume control. I am really happy with K&K and highly recommend them! PS: have a pro tech install it for you.

Me too. It’s wonderful.

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by AeroUSA

Me too. It’s wonderful.

Will you be doing a video soon of the K&K? Also, what do you prefer about it over the HFN and how does it compare to the Anthem, which I believe you really like.

[jonfields45]

For me the biggest selling point of the HFN is no cyanoacrylate glue.

I've never put both into similar guitars and had them in my house at the same time. Therefore I can't give a fair judgement to their relative tone but my prejudice is the HFN is better sounding, but I think you would be hard pressed at a gig to tell the difference.

A ToneDexter would make all of them, including any UST, sound great.

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by jonfields45

For me the biggest selling point of the HFN is no cyanoacrylate glue.

I've never put both into similar guitars and had them in my house at the same time. Therefore I can't give a fair judgement to their relative tone but my prejudice is the HFN is better sounding, but I think you would be hard pressed at a gig to tell the difference.

A ToneDexter would make all of them, including any UST, sound great.

John makes a good point. The CA (super) glue works well with wood, but I didn't like the sound of the K&K super glued to the carbon fiber bridge plate of my Martin Modern Deluxe. Some might like it, but I found it lost some of the natural quality I was used to. Now that I am back to fully wooden guitars, the K&K is working as expected. Well. Frankly, K&K is easy enough for me to remove from a maple bridge plate that I don't worry about it.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by jonfields45

…I think you would be hard pressed at a gig to tell the difference.

Hi jon-f

Several years back Doug Young posted video of several (half dozen if I recall) pro acoustic players demoing and explaining their rigs. It included magnetic pickups, under saddle pickups, and sound board transducers…and several were dual source rigs. They displayed a wide diversity of on-stage acoustic amps.

All of them sounded great and were more than up to the task.

People want to hear music, not guitar authenticity.

I don't shy away from getting the best acoustic tone I can, which is why all my guitars have dual-source rigs (pickup plus internal mic and external preamp). Once I achieved a 'better-than-most' system which is easy to setup and operate, I stopped looking.

Audiences want to hear music, not equipment. And if we don't capture their attention in the first minute, they are digging out their cell phones and playing on FaceBook.

[Brent Hahn]

While I don't know if it's the hottest, the K & K Pure Mini is certainly hot enough.

[hat]

Originally Posted by GuitarLuva

I think the Barbera Soloist is the hottest passive pickup I've ever tried. It's an in saddle transducer like the baggs lb6. Why you so concerned with a hot output?

Not really concerned, just curious.