#1
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Martin M-36 Dual Pickup setup
Hello,
I'm looking into installing a pickup system for my Martin M-36. I'm going to be playing with a band. I strum for most of the time. I'm looking for pickups that will help me cut through the mix. I'm thinking of installing a dual-pickup system with the K&K Pure Mini and the Sunrise. I was thinking of running both pickups through a Dtar Solstice preamp. I like the fact that both pickups have great reviews and both will leave the guitar unscathed - no extra drilling required for the installation. Has anyone have any experience with both pickups installed in the M-36? I can't find any resource that demos both pickups in this guitar. How would you setup your guitar for a live band? One caveat is that you can't drill additional holes into the guitar. I know that it's a trivial subject and there are debates about this all over the web and I realize that there are people who would opt to drill a hole for an undersaddle piezo pickup, which I respect. I'm more than happy to discuss that topic on a different thread. But for this project, I'd like to keep the guitar as close to factory condition. How would you go about it? |
#2
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Unless you have a professional soundman running the board for your band, I wouldn't try this with the K&K... they aren't extremely sensitive to feedback, but in a full band environment, I don't think they'd perform as well as you'd like...
The Sunrise, I think, would be fine, as would most UST or soundhole (magnetic type) pickups. Depending upon the UST you have, you may or may not need that Solstice in the signal chain, unless you truly need a DI box to run through a snake to the mixing board... (Ooops! Just read the "no UST drilling" part of your thread...) You might check out one of the Seymour Duncan Mag-Mic pickups; mounts in the soundhole, has a mag pickup and a mic, with the facility of blending the two signals plus a volume control... of all the sound hole pickups I tried, I liked this one best. I was not so fond of the M series from Baggs... another option might be the Trance Audio Acoustic Lens system, the mono one (I believe you can have the preamp outside the guitar, in lieu of mounting it inside... One of our members is Doug Young... besides being a really good player, he also writes articles for different magazines and does a bunch of pickup reviews... on his website, he has (literally) dozens upon dozens of soundclips with different guitars, different pickups, many in combination, always with a similar piece played through a couple really good microphones... it's a great place to start your search! By the way, I like the K&K in a lot of situations, and have one in my Goodall Grand Concert... but I wouldn't think of using it in a full band at any sort of volume levels... Oh, and Hey! Welcome to the Acoustic Guitar Forum! Just noticed it is your very first post!!!
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"He's one of those who knows that life is just a leap of faith. Spread your arms and hold your breath, always trust your cape..." "The Cape" (Guy Clark/Jim Janowsky/Susanna Clark) Last edited by jseth; 12-03-2015 at 11:20 PM. |
#3
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Thanks for the insight, jseth. I'll check out the Mag-Mic and start from there. Doug Young's website is a good resource as well. Thanks for sharing that. Below is the link for those who are in the same path as I am.
http://www.dougyoungguitar.com/pickuptests/ |
#4
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The K&K alone wouldn't be the best choice for a full band. However, there's no reason why a K&K and Sunrise set up wouldn't work out well. You could get the feedback resistance from the Sunrise and natural tone from the K&K. Tom Petty for example uses the Lr Baggs beam and M1 and they get very loud.
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#5
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When I think of "cut through the mix" pickups I don't think of either the K&K or the Sunrise. Both of those pickups strike me as solo/duo player type systems. For a band situation I think of UST or LR Baggs M1(A). In a band it's more about texture than about hi-fi nuance, in my opinion.
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#7
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I have the K&K and Sunrise set up in my Larivee OM-9. I use it in both a band situation and solo and never had any issues. I think they compliment each other very well. I haven't used this set up with a Solstice but have used a Solstice in the past and don't see any reason you wouldn't be able to eq and balance the different outputs to get the sound you're looking for.
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Everyone, thanks for the wonderful feedback. I'll definitely look into the M1A as well.
The reason I picked the Pure mini and Sunrise is partly because they're passive pickups, along with the fact that they sound good. I've used active pickups in the past and I tend to forget that they have batteries, especially during a performance. I've been caught plugging in just to find out that the pickup needs new batteries. I understand that it's not an excuse, but I'd like to eliminate that in the equation as much as possible. It would be ideal for me to have an active pickup that's phantom powered. In regards to the K&K and Sunrise, I was planning on using the Solstice to EQ them. I've heard that that people use this pickup combo and crossing over the bass of the Sunrise with the treble of the K&K with desired results. This solution also reduces the feedback from the K&K. It sounds like the tone that both pickups produce is dark and won't cut through the mix? What are some preamps you use for dual-pickup setups? |
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#13
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Cross,
I'm going into a Sunrise SB-2 with the Sunrise going out to the board and the K&K going to a K&K pure xlr preamp then to the board. I could probably get away without the K&K preamp but I like having the ability to tweak the sound close at hand. p |
#14
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As an addendum I just read your post about the bass of the Sunrise and the treble of the K&K. Interesting because I like the shimmer of the Sunrise (the Sunrise preamp definitely intensifies this) and the bass response of the K&K.
p |
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Tags |
dimarzio angel, m-36, martin, sunrise |
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