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  #31  
Old 04-23-2017, 09:08 PM
dannyg1 dannyg1 is offline
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Originally Posted by dogdog49 View Post
If I knew the OEM's were generally overcharging I'd be right there with you. I'm just not sure that's true given I have no real idea of what their profit margins are after expenses, including putting large chunks back into R&D which companies like Baggs, who seem to come out with something that at least attempts to push the state of the art forward every year, must certainly do.
I missed this last post, hence the delayed reply.

How sure are we that there's big R/D going on? It seems to me that the Baggs Anthem that I own and in one guitar sounds remarkably similar to the decades old Baggs Dual that I own in another guitar.

Second point again, I'm not buying these things new because they're too expensive new. I will be buying a Trance Amulet Mono new pretty soon but that's because the pickup is impossible to find used, in pristine shape. This dual source (or these, for my newest guitars) are going to be used and of no financial benefit to Baggs, Dtar or Fishman.

Lastly, in the last week I found a really good deal on an M80 and bought that and used the money I saved on a new one to buy the import B band XOM 2.2 and a cheap rosewood magmic pickup from a no name company called BQLZR (or something like that. $33 so low expectations). The BQLZR is in my Guild now and is actually far better than say, a Duncan Woody. It has hot B and high E strings and no real pole piece adjustability for that so I'm working on bush fixes for that. The mic signal is barely there but it does function. I'm surprised the the pickup is a humbucking dual coil, as promised and is quiet. Signal is hot and it has a warm, acoustic character.

It will be useful, at least as a backup and it's much better than it has any right to be. Good looking too. Until it proves itself reliable and I can fix the string balance acceptably, I'll reserve overall judgement but for now, I'd say $34 well spent.

It's no M80, but it's better than OK.

Last edited by dannyg1; 04-23-2017 at 09:26 PM.
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  #32  
Old 04-23-2017, 09:18 PM
dannyg1 dannyg1 is offline
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This is what I bought:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B019S...236_SY340_QL65
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  #33  
Old 04-24-2017, 01:41 AM
midwinter midwinter is offline
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Originally Posted by dannyg1 View Post

Lastly, in the last week I found a really good deal on an M80 and bought that and used the money I saved on a new one to buy the import B band XOM 2.2

Earlier you asked how we'd bee burned by these knockoff bband pickups. Well, mine picked up radio signals from every iPad or iPhone around it.


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  #34  
Old 04-24-2017, 08:36 AM
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Originally Posted by dannyg1 View Post
I missed this last post, hence the delayed reply.

How sure are we that there's big R/D going on? It seems to me that the Baggs Anthem that I own and in one guitar sounds remarkably similar to the decades old Baggs Dual that I own in another guitar.

Second point again, I'm not buying these things new because they're too expensive new. I will be buying a Trance Amulet Mono new pretty soon but that's because the pickup is impossible to find used, in pristine shape. This dual source (or these, for my newest guitars) are going to be used and of no financial benefit to Baggs, Dtar or Fishman.

Lastly, in the last week I found a really good deal on an M80 and bought that and used the money I saved on a new one to buy the import B band XOM 2.2 and a cheap rosewood magmic pickup from a no name company called BQLZR (or something like that. $33 so low expectations). The BQLZR is in my Guild now and is actually far better than say, a Duncan Woody. It has hot B and high E strings and no real pole piece adjustability for that so I'm working on bush fixes for that. The mic signal is barely there but it does function. I'm surprised the the pickup is a humbucking dual coil, as promised and is quiet. Signal is hot and it has a warm, acoustic character.

It will be useful, at least as a backup and it's much better than it has any right to be. Good looking too. Until it proves itself reliable and I can fix the string balance acceptably, I'll reserve overall judgement but for now, I'd say $34 well spent.

It's no M80, but it's better than OK.
And the BQLZR is not a copy of anything. I was a high-end audio dealer for years and I remember when the Chinese entered the market almost everything they did was a close copy of a western product. But gradually they began to develop their own designs which often equaled or exceeded their western counterparts not only in value but in performance as well. Perhaps we'll see some of that happening here also. I hope so, as it ended up driving the whole industry forward. The Skysonic Pro 1 is a state of the art system that has no exact western counterpart, and even Belcat has a dual magnetic wireless pickup system out now called the SW400 + R1 that, although based on the Panamag, takes it a step further.

When the B-Band arrives I'll be curious as to how it performs and if you think it's an original or a copy.
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  #35  
Old 04-24-2017, 05:40 PM
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Do not buy B-Bands from China, they are many times forgeries, and any B-Band bought from Chinese sellers on ebay and others are not covered by B-Bands warranty. Check with B-Band for info. I was burned by a Chinese B-Band seller and so was forum member Midwinter. B-Band XOM systems are great pickups so buy the real deal from a licensed seller if your interested in one.
Thanks, didn't know about those forgeries. The B-Band is a very good pickup. I just saw a solo show Saturday night. The player had an older Alvarez with a great-sounding pickup. When I asked her after the show, she said "B-Band."

Here's a B-Band with a Shure out front as well. When playing solo I almost also add a mic out front. Hope this doesn't look too self-promotional.

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  #36  
Old 04-24-2017, 07:48 PM
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I was incredibly impressed with my B-Band. And then it sounded like it was picking up NSA code stations.

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Thanks, didn't know about those forgeries. The B-Band is a very good pickup.
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  #37  
Old 04-25-2017, 01:55 PM
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I was incredibly impressed with my B-Band. And then it sounded like it was picking up NSA code stations.
Geesh, that sounds like a scene out of SPINAL TAP.

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  #38  
Old 04-25-2017, 02:35 PM
dannyg1 dannyg1 is offline
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[QUOTE=midwinter;5317695]I was incredibly impressed with my B-Band. And then it sounded like it was picking up NSA code stations.[/QUO

Did you try to run a shield btwn the pickup leads and also the cable plug lead wires? Probably the cable plug but could be the preamp itself. I'll be on the lookout for this problem.
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  #39  
Old 04-25-2017, 02:37 PM
midwinter midwinter is offline
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[QUOTE=dannyg1;5318619]
Quote:
Originally Posted by midwinter View Post
I was incredibly impressed with my B-Band. And then it sounded like it was picking up NSA code stations.[/QUO



Did you try to run a shield btwn the pickup leads and also the cable plug lead wires? Probably the cable plug but could be the preamp itself. I'll be on the lookout for this problem.


I didn't have time to experiment and I don't have a #2 acoustic, so I yanked it and went with a JJB


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  #40  
Old 04-25-2017, 02:38 PM
dannyg1 dannyg1 is offline
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Hey Charmed Life,

Did you replace the stereo Shadow system installed standard in that Masterbilt with a B Band XOM 2.2?
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  #41  
Old 05-01-2017, 02:59 PM
dannyg1 dannyg1 is offline
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Hey Midwinter,

I received my black market B-band XOM 2.2 and looking at it and the way its packaged, I don't believe that its fake. I plugged it an, sans mounting to a guitar and it produces a very hot signal through to the amp (volume and tone at unity).

I specifically tested it next to my cellphone while on a call and only got antenna like signal through the foil ribbon of the vol/tone control, so that's what would need a shield, were the problem to come up on my install. All in all though, I'm seeing and hearing a functional pickup.

When I mount it, I'll report back on its sound. At the moment I have a full Anthem in one guitar, an older Baggs dual mic/ribbon UST, a Shadow nanomag/UST in another, Baggs M80, Fishman matrix VX with PUTW Quackbuster, Matrix VX alone, the BQLZR and a new Baggs Microduet pre I plan to pair with an LB6.

I can answer questions in direct comparison to those systems.
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  #42  
Old 05-01-2017, 03:02 PM
dannyg1 dannyg1 is offline
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I also have a Miniflex model2 and a fishman Ellipse blend.
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  #43  
Old 05-01-2017, 04:06 PM
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"Currently, pick up systems are overpriced and I'm not keen on being too loyal to an industry that's obviously overcharging."

Spoken, I'm sure, by someone who has NO IDEA what it costs to keep a business solvent.
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  #44  
Old 05-01-2017, 04:23 PM
dannyg1 dannyg1 is offline
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Originally Posted by TNO View Post
"Currently, pick up systems are overpriced and I'm not keen on being too loyal to an industry that's obviously overcharging."

Spoken, I'm sure, by someone who has NO IDEA what it costs to keep a business solvent.

Since you're obviously picking a fight, I'll give you one. Spoken by someone who has more money in pickup systems than most and has a pretty good idea of what they actually are worth. Pickups are somewhat like cable tv and internet service in that there are few purveyors to go to and not many realistically relevant upstarts.

Not good enough for you? Do you think K&k knows 'how to run a business' in the pickup industry? Here's a snippet from their website that told me all I needed to hear:

A COMMITMENT TO THE CUSTOMER: BY MUSICIANS, FOR MUSICIANS

A lot of customers ask us why the major guitar manufacturers (Martin, Taylor, Gibson, etc.) don't sell models with pre-installed K&K pickups. It's not that we don't get inquiries, but we usually turn them down. The big guitar makers are used to getting rock bottom pricing on the electronics they put into their instruments. When we deal with them, they usually ask for something in the range of 80 percent off the retail price. The bigger pickup manufacturers may meet those prices, but we don't. Why?

1. All our pickups are 100% made in the USA, with American labor

While other pickup manufacturers outsource their labor or part of it to cheap countries, like Mexico or Asia, all our products are assembled and made in Oregon. We pay a fair wage to our employees and we give good benefits. Our techs and assemblers are highly skilled and specifically trained and some of our employees are musicians too, so they appreciate being able to make a living doing something they love.

2. Our pickups are assembled by human beings, not by machines

Having pickups built by machines can save money, but the quality usually suffers when a pickup is designed to be mass produced robotically. We design our pickups so that they sound great, not so that a machine can easily put them together.

3. We don't hike our retail prices to give bigger discounts

The easiest way to allow for 80 percent discounts and still be able to stay in business is to raise the retail price. At K&K, we refuse to pump up our prices like that because we don't want to hurt individual customers.

The guitar manufacturers that we do work with are usually smaller companies with high-end instruments. These luthiers share our passion for great sound, and they don't compromise on their product."

Here's the link:

http://kksound.com/mission.php

If you have something cogent to add, please do. Otherwise.....

"

Last edited by dannyg1; 05-01-2017 at 09:45 PM.
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