L.L. Baggs Anthem vs. K&K Mini Pure on a Martin OM28

[GuitarLuva]

Originally Posted by The Kid!

Not much change at all. Maybe none. Hard to compare without recording.

That's awesome news if my ears can't hear a difference I care not! I'll be doing the same thing as you only I'll be using Schattens Artist preamp instead.

[The Kid!]

Originally Posted by gfirob

Well, if you want to hear the actual acoustic sound of that OM-28 (which I'll bet is pretty nice) then you should consider K&K mini's and a Tonedexter. Nothing compares to that IMHO.

Since the pickup is just a trigger, wouldn't any non invasive pickup achieve the same results? K&K, Schatten, Trance, Dazzo, etc?

[Jack Orion]

I've had both pickups in my OM28v and both have pros and cons in my opinion.

LR Baggs Anthem SL

Pros:

pretty much plug and play in my experience - maybe a bit of taming in the mids but otherwise worked well through a variety of systems and venues.

Feels acoustic - by this I mean I didn't feel as if I had to change my technique much was plugged in, still managed to convey my playing dynamics well.

Cons:

Battery - although I never got near the point where the battery ran out to be fair, just changed it twice a year to be sure

I think it did affect the unplugged tone a bit - but it was negligible. I had an Anthem in my Collings OM2h and when I swapped that for the K&K there was a noticeable change in the resonance and liveliness of the guitar but it wasn't as drastic a change in my Martin.

A bit 'airy' - after starting to use the K&K in my other guitars I noticed that the Anthem was a bit 'airy' - ie it could sometimes sound a little distant and didn't have the directness and punch of some plugged in systems


K&K Pure Mini

Pros:

Minimal - no batteries, no extra wires, just the transducers and the jack in my guitar

Doesn't affect the unplugged sound

Direct and Fat sounding - to my ear it has some of the 'dryness' of an undersaddle system but with no high end 'quack' - the top strings sound fat and full to my ears and the K&K has a very 'immediate' sound to it with plenty of dynamics.

Cons:

In my experience the K&K is feedback prone in the low end - I use a grace felix with it's notch filter to dial that out, and I now take soundhole plugs to gigs in case it still feeds back. A lot of the feedback issues have been down to bad rooms or inexperienced soundpersons and I don't really have any issue now I'm using the notch and soundhole plug, but it was an issue for the first few gigs until I got it dialled in.

A bit dry - the K&K is a piezo system and, to my ear, it has that dryness - now I actually like that as it's a nice immediate feeling pickup under the hand (ie it responds well to playing dynamics) but, if you prefer a more 'airy' or lighter sound then I think you need to add reverb (but not too much as it adds to the feedback issues if it's not well EQ'd)


In conclusion I now have the K&K in all three of my gigging guitars and I am happy with the sound - I've had to use a good preamp with them, and I still occasionally get low end feedback/boominess issues, but I have also had some people whose opinion I respect tell me that my guitars are some of the best sounding live guitars they've heard.

I was very happy with the LR Baggs Anthem for a long time, and have considered going back to it for my Martin to use as my 'troublesome gig' guitar and so that I have a plug and play guitar that doesn't need my Grace Felix to get it sounding it's best, but, as yet, I've stuck with the K&K.

It boils down to personal taste really - lots of people on here will say that the K&K is the bees knees and will sound fantastic plugged straight in with no EQ but that's not been my experience, whereas the Anthem is pretty much plug & play to my ears. I've gone down the route of sticking with K&K in all my guitars to make sure I have consistency of tone at gigs but I would not hesitate to equip a guitar with the Anthem again if I felt I wanted a plug and play system.

Hope some of that helps!

[mondoslug]

Hey this is a great post, thanks for putting up your findings.
I was looking at some older threads...I saw you mentioned having a Collings(Traditional) with glued in saddle, I'm assuming that's still K&K equipped?

Originally Posted by Jack Orion

I've had both pickups in my OM28v and both have pros and cons in my opinion.

LR Baggs Anthem SL

Pros:

pretty much plug and play in my experience - maybe a bit of taming in the mids but otherwise worked well through a variety of systems and venues.

Feels acoustic - by this I mean I didn't feel as if I had to change my technique much was plugged in, still managed to convey my playing dynamics well.

Cons:

Battery - although I never got near the point where the battery ran out to be fair, just changed it twice a year to be sure

I think it did affect the unplugged tone a bit - but it was negligible. I had an Anthem in my Collings OM2h and when I swapped that for the K&K there was a noticeable change in the resonance and liveliness of the guitar but it wasn't as drastic a change in my Martin.

A bit 'airy' - after starting to use the K&K in my other guitars I noticed that the Anthem was a bit 'airy' - ie it could sometimes sound a little distant and didn't have the directness and punch of some plugged in systems


K&K Pure Mini

Pros:

Minimal - no batteries, no extra wires, just the transducers and the jack in my guitar

Doesn't affect the unplugged sound

Direct and Fat sounding - to my ear it has some of the 'dryness' of an undersaddle system but with no high end 'quack' - the top strings sound fat and full to my ears and the K&K has a very 'immediate' sound to it with plenty of dynamics.

Cons:

In my experience the K&K is feedback prone in the low end - I use a grace felix with it's notch filter to dial that out, and I now take soundhole plugs to gigs in case it still feeds back. A lot of the feedback issues have been down to bad rooms or inexperienced soundpersons and I don't really have any issue now I'm using the notch and soundhole plug, but it was an issue for the first few gigs until I got it dialled in.

A bit dry - the K&K is a piezo system and, to my ear, it has that dryness - now I actually like that as it's a nice immediate feeling pickup under the hand (ie it responds well to playing dynamics) but, if you prefer a more 'airy' or lighter sound then I think you need to add reverb (but not too much as it adds to the feedback issues if it's not well EQ'd)


In conclusion I now have the K&K in all three of my gigging guitars and I am happy with the sound - I've had to use a good preamp with them, and I still occasionally get low end feedback/boominess issues, but I have also had some people whose opinion I respect tell me that my guitars are some of the best sounding live guitars they've heard.

I was very happy with the LR Baggs Anthem for a long time, and have considered going back to it for my Martin to use as my 'troublesome gig' guitar and so that I have a plug and play guitar that doesn't need my Grace Felix to get it sounding it's best, but, as yet, I've stuck with the K&K.

It boils down to personal taste really - lots of people on here will say that the K&K is the bees knees and will sound fantastic plugged straight in with no EQ but that's not been my experience, whereas the Anthem is pretty much plug & play to my ears. I've gone down the route of sticking with K&K in all my guitars to make sure I have consistency of tone at gigs but I would not hesitate to equip a guitar with the Anthem again if I felt I wanted a plug and play system.

Hope some of that helps!

[Jack Orion]

Originally Posted by mondoslug

Hey this is a great post, thanks for putting up your findings.
I was looking at some older threads...I saw you mentioned having a Collings(Traditional) with glued in saddle, I'm assuming that's still K&K equipped?

Yes the Collings Traditional still has the K&K - although the saddle's not glued in it is a true through saddle, unlike the saddle in the Martin which looks like a through saddle but is in fact a drop in one.

The Collings Traditional was the reason I moved over to the K&K in the first place - it just seemed like the only pickup that would work in that guitar without modification (or being a soundhole pickup) - the journey towards getting it sounding right was a bit arduous and involved a few different EQ options before I bit the bullet and went for the Grace but, once it was sorted, the guitar's performed really well and hence I went to the K&K on my other guitars in order to maintain consistency between guitars at gigs.