Belt clip preamp for K&K pick up

[DownUpDave]

What clip on preamp would you recommend for a K&K equiped guitar. I know of the LR Baggs gigpro and the K&K Pure, I have no experience with either. Any others you like, pros and cons, what to look for, what to avoid etc.

I do have access to a LR Baggs Venue DI which I assume has the capability to do a better job, I could be wrong in assuming that. I like the idea of something small so please help educate me on these belt clip units

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by DownUpDave

What clip on preamp would you recommend for a K&K equiped guitar. I know of the LR Baggs gigpro and the K&K Pure, I have no experience with either. Any others you like, pros and cons, what to look for, what to avoid etc.

I do have access to a LR Baggs Venue DI which I assume has the capability to do a better job, I could be wrong in assuming that. I like the idea of something small so please help educate me on these belt clip units

Hi DUD

I own the K&K dual channel belt clip preamp (all my guitars have a K&K Pure Mini and internal mic), and it's a good little preamp. I do not know how it compares to the gig pro for quality. The gig-pro is smaller.

The Venue would be superior, and at $300 versus $100 it should be. The gig pro only has 2 band EQ, whereas the Venue has three band with sweepable mids, Parametric notch filters, and a mute switch. It has boost, phase reverse, and EFX circuit too. It has a tuner too, but it's pretty lame.

The limitation of the K&K belt clip preamp mentioned are you have to open them up to access gain and tone (gain is input volume), the batteries are internal, and they only have ¼" output (versus XLR). And the K&K is rather large for a belt-clip.

Unless you mess with volume and tone all through a gig (which drives sound techs nuts), a floor model is superior.

[DownUpDave]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi DUD

I own the K&K dual channel belt clip preamp (all my guitars have a K&K Pure Mini and internal mic), and it's a good little preamp. I do not know how it compares to the gig pro for quality. The gig-pro is smaller.

The Venue would be superior, and at $300 versus $100 it should be. The gig pro only has 2 band EQ, whereas the Venue has three band with sweepable mids, Parametric notch filters, and a mute switch. It has boost, phase reverse, and EFX circuit too. It has a tuner too, but it's pretty lame.

The limitation of the K&K belt clip preamp mentioned are you have to open them up to access gain and tone (gain is input volume), the batteries are internal, and they only have ¼" output (versus XLR). And the K&K is rather large for a belt-clip.

Unless you mess with volume and tone all through a gig (which drives sound techs nuts), a floor model is superior.

Larry, thank you for the detailed answer, it fills in a lot of questions. I appreciate the time you always take to help educate me whenever I post an inquiry about something. I will mess around with the Venue DI but there are sooooo many knobs and dials I don't know where to start.

I dont presently have a K&K installed but I have two guitars without pick ups and am thinking of getting one installed. The Taylors have the ES2 and work very good as just plug and play into my Fishman Loudbox

[llew]

Dave...I use the K&K Mini in my guitars and have had good results with both K&K's Pure XLR preamp and the somewhat newish Baggs Session DI. The Session DI has no tone controls but does have phase and both 1/4" and XLR outputs as well as a high pass filter and ground lift. Sweepable feedback filter, gain, volume, and saturation and compression. And a mute foot switch. Playing into either a Fishman Loudbox 100 or Artist 120.

[DownUpDave]

Originally Posted by llew

Dave...I use the K&K Mini in my guitars and have had good results with both K&K's Pure XLR preamp and the somewhat newish Baggs Session DI. The Session DI has no tone controls but does have phase and both 1/4" and XLR outputs as well as a high pass filter and ground lift. Sweepable feedback filter, gain, volume, and saturation and compression. And a mute foot switch. Playing into either a Fishman Loudbox 100 or Artist 120.

Thanks for the info Jim. The new Baggs Session DI looks very iinteresting, I will look into it further.

[lt20dbl]

i've been using a Fishman pro eq II for years. I have one of the newer Platinum pro pedal types and it's still in the box because everyone likes the sound of the older unit just fine.

[RustyAxe]

I've been using K&K Pure (not XLR) and it works great. When I need to I just drop a passive DI in the chain, but I've noticed no issues with runs to the board of 20 feet and less. Yes, you needs to open it to change the battery ... but I change the battery every six months or so (depending on how much I use the guitar). I have a couple of these preamps that I can't remember the last time I changed the battery.

I didn't like the cables coming out of the "bottom" of the unit when on my belt, so I just swiveled the belt clip 180 degrees.

[Cuki79]

If you need the preamp just for impedance matching (no need for gain or EQ), read that current thread:

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=519287

Basically an Xvive U2 will do the job adapting the impedance and work as a cable. You can't make anything more portable than that.

Cuki