#1
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Curious about ultratonic
My anthem on my Goodall is wonking out and I’m looking for a replacement. Something that is non invasive would be nice - curious about the ultratonic pickup.
Does it have the same impedance mismatch problem as k&k if I use it with a or baggs venue di? Is it easy enough to install for me to order online and install it myself? I heard that you can also pair something like a magnetic pickup with it, how does that work? Thanks. |
#2
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James May frequents this subforum, so he may show up soon to answer this question.
You might want to contact him directly: http://jamesmayengineering.com/contact/ Completely guessing, but I imagine it is very similar in impedance. However, James is a clever designer so it wouldn't surprise me that he had improved on THIS aspect as well.
__________________
-Gordon 1978 Larrivee L-26 cutaway 1988 Larrivee L-28 cutaway 2006 Larrivee L03-R 2009 Larrivee LV03-R 2016 Irvin SJ cutaway 2020 Irvin SJ cutaway (build thread) K+K, Dazzo, Schatten/ToneDexter Notable Journey website Facebook page Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art. - Leonardo Da Vinci |
#3
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My recollection is that the required input impedance is comparable to a K&K. I don't know for sure with his new single piezo strip, but I assume the same still holds. I would ask him.
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"Lift your head and smile at trouble. You'll find happiness someday." |
#4
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I highly recommend the conversion for K&Ks & am considering installing the standard Ultra Tonic in one of my other guitars. It already has an endpin jack so I won't need to have a guitar tech drill it first, so I may try the install myself. Would love to hear more from James May & others that have done the install themselves for advice. Looks doable, though. Frank |
#5
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The K&K impedance thing is a little complicated. Because of the location, the K & K installation results in a very hot and boomy low end. They often recommend using a lower input impedance, say 100k to 500k, in order to highpass the pickup response thereby rolling off the low frequencies. This is a Band-Aid.
The Ultra Tonic, on the other hand, has the low-frequency problem fixed at the source, so it doesn't need any kind of high pass filtering to limit the low frequency response. It works equally and perfectly well into any impedance from 500K on up. And I should add, this was not a trivial engineering problem when you factor in the passive volume control. Regarding installing an Ultra Tonic yourself, this is certainly possible. The critical factor will be your ability to position the sensors accurately. If you use my suggestion of the magnets as described in my installation instructions, it should go pretty smoothly.
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James May Audio Sprockets maker of ToneDexter James May Engineering maker of the Ultra Tonic Pickup |
#6
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Not really being schooled in electrical engineering I hope this question isn't just plain dumb. I've acted on the advice of folks that seem to really understand things like "impedance matching" & that's why I selected the Buffered Bypass on the Polytune3 to insure an impedance load of 1 MegOhm for the K&K rather than bypassing it. That's all like a foreign language to me but that's exactly the advice I was following. So my question to you is, ideally, should I continue to use the Buffered Bypass feature of the Polytune3 with my Ultra Tonic converted K&K or should I instead set it on True Bypass? Frank |
#7
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If you are in true bypass mode, then it depends on what's after the tuner. If whatever it is has an input impedance of 500k or more, you'll be golden. Having the active buffer is fine too of course.
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James May Audio Sprockets maker of ToneDexter James May Engineering maker of the Ultra Tonic Pickup |
#8
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I had a real "interesting" experience once when plugging my guitar with at K&K into a DI that had a really low impedance like that. I've since upgraded to the UltraTonic. Until I get the ToneDexter trained (again . . . had some install issues with the UltraTonic that are now hopefully resolved), I still carry an EQ pedal just to make sure the impedance is high enough (and I also use the EQ to improve the sound). |
#9
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Take care, Frank |
#10
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That’s great to hear James ! |