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  #76  
Old 01-11-2021, 02:35 PM
Br1ck Br1ck is offline
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Originally Posted by alohachris View Post
Aloha Friends,

First, living in Hawaii, let me say that I have never seen nor installed any of Teddy's dazzling-sounding DAZZO pickups. I HAVE successfully installed over 75 K&K mini's over many years for friends. And have also removed K&K's from more than one guitar & put them into others without any breakage issues or performance loss. BTW, I'm not pitching K&K pickups here.

I have heard AGF friends rave about Dazzo's over the years - mainly the ones that were installed by Teddy himself. I have also heard many stories of Dazzo installations by players not yielding quite the results they'd hoped for. In fact I think that Dazzo's have not taken off in the marketplace as well as their sound warrants because of their reputation for being finicky & fragile to install & difficult to find the sweet spot on the bridgeplate. Perhaps that's the reason why Teddy hit the road so hard doing & teaching installations for groups of players & repairman. His design requires more consumer education.

Additionally, I have heard online recordings of Dazzo's that sound excellent, the best & most acoustically realistic of any pickup's I've heard for playing out live. Bravo Teddy!

However, in seeing the diffculties that my friend Rodrigo Pandelo has had in Brazil with his installation, I still think that installing Dazzo's vs. K&K's are 'apples & oranges' for ease & success. K&K's installation instructions are almost idiot-proof & easy to follow. Apparently, Dazzo's are more problematic. I mean c'mon, moving the pickups around while the glue is curing? What does that do to the joint?

In terms of Rodrigo, it's really frustrating to have his Dazzo install fail because it may be a whole year before he gets Teddy's new #60 for his HD-28 - the mail situation in Brazil being so slow & also often a rip-off. So I feel for the guy & think his problems came from unclear instructions & the finickiness, fragility & even the shape of Dazzo pickup's in general. PUTW had similar installation issues with tape & adhesives.

Part of it I think, is that Teddy leaves open the door for too many adhesive options. With K&K, it's a drop of FRESH medium viscosity superglue - Period. Boom - done! With the Dazzo it's tape, or Loctite epoxy gel (which often aged in the package before people even got to use it for installations) or other glues. Teddy should just say "Superglue, That's it." IME, installing many kinds of SBT pickups for over 45 years including Trance Amulets, FRESH superglue (Titebond medium is my favorite) works best for the installation & the sound of most. Why not with the Dazzo?

And hearing about people C-clamping the pickups while gluing is laughable. Haven't you players seen how guitar braces are "glued in" using a go-bar deck? Similarly, all you need for pressure gluing in a pickup is a finger OR a flexible "stick" & caul the shape of the pickup itself to lightly wedge into the guitar's back while the glue cures. With the K&K install, all you need is to hold the three small circular pods in place with your finger for a coupla minutes while the FRESH superglue goes off.

Why are the two Dazzo's shaped as they are, large & triangular? And now that Teddy is offering wood surfaces, are they better than the plastic surfaces for glue joints? It's unclear, especially for players who are not used to working through a soundhole, moving the pickup around with glue curing, or lightly handling a razor to take the pickup off & try for a better position as Rodrigo did without success.

Maybe the only way Teddy Randazzo should fully guarantee his great pickups is to have a qualified, practiced repairman install them rather than have poor, remote players like Rodrigo inadvertently break his fragile #60 & then have to wait a whole year for a new one.

As I said, I don't know zit first-hand about those Dazzo installations, though I have read Teddy's instructions & experiences. But I have also heard many stories of how the installations have failed. Help me out here. What would you do in my deferential friend Rodrigo's situation? (Me? I'd simply get a cheaper K&K mini or other & match it up with a DPA 4060 internal condenser mic, control the two through a great dual-source preamp like the Felix & be done with it. Why wait for more potential failure? The very talented Rodrigo gigs all the time & needs a reliable SBT now, not in a year. Sheesh!

alohachris
Sure you can get a set of K&Ks installed, but you still have a pickup that IMHO, sucks. I bought a D 35 a year ago that had K&Ks in them. They sounded so bad to me that I went into Gryphon and asked them if they were malfunctioning. The first thing they did was go into the amp room, plug in and BEFORE playing a note, they turned the bass down as far as they could. Then they futzed with all the other EQ controls and got what I'd call a usable tone. Now from running an open mic, I've heard scores of K&Ks, and truth be told, most players just don't care about tone. They don't even own a preamp. If the guitar makes sound they are happy.

But after plugging Dazzo equipped guitars through a SunnAudio DI set flat, and needing no EQ whatsoever, and getting a fine tone out of any of them, I will tell you the trouble is worth it. Many won't care and that is fine, but K&Ks are a poor substitute, but like I said, I've seen firsthand that many players with $5000 guitars just don't seem to care, just like I don't care if a car can take a posted 45 mph turn at 70. And do not assume that Teddy wants to be a gazillianare. He'd have sold out long ago. He's a guy on a mission to make the best pickups he can. Business guys run for the hills when he tells them he is constantly revising his pickups in pursuit of tone.
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  #77  
Old 01-12-2021, 10:11 AM
euraquilo euraquilo is offline
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Default Dazzo impedance matching

Quick question (because I have tried searching and can't find it anywhere)...

What input impedance does the Dazzo pickup want to plug into? I own an LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI (10MΩ), a BBE Acoustimax (2.2 MΩ) and a couple Fishman preamps (both 10 MΩ).

Dan
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  #78  
Old 01-12-2021, 10:37 AM
SpruceTop SpruceTop is offline
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Originally Posted by euraquilo View Post
Quick question (because I have tried searching and can't find it anywhere)...

What input impedance does the Dazzo pickup want to plug into? I own an LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI (10MΩ), a BBE Acoustimax (2.2 MΩ) and a couple Fishman preamps (both 10 MΩ).

Dan
I mentioned my Steel Guitar Black Box with its 1 MegaOhm pickup impedance to Teddy when he asked what I would be using the Dazzo system with and he started to mention something about a higher impedance and I started talking about the other devices I had and he didn't quite finish his remark. Teddy did mention that he uses or has used Dazzo systems with the LR Baggs ParaAcoutic DI with good results. I've used my Dazzo with the Steel Guitar Black Box and an LR Baggs Acoustic Session DI with its 10 MegaOhm input impedance and the Dazzo sounded good with either. Was there a difference in tone? I'd have to do another comparison but all three of your preamps would likely have ideal input impedances for a Dazzo system.
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  #79  
Old 01-12-2021, 03:30 PM
euraquilo euraquilo is offline
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Originally Posted by SpruceTop View Post
...I'd have to do another comparison but all three of your preamps would likely have ideal input impedances for a Dazzo system.
Thanks for the info.
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  #80  
Old 01-14-2021, 04:03 PM
Br1ck Br1ck is offline
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I had a Black Box when I played steel guitar, so you can vary the impedance to suit you ears as long as you can dial in a 1 meg ohm impedance.

When I got my first Dazzo, Teddy had been using the PARA DI , but had just started recommending the RedEye. I A/Bd the two and found the RedEye to be much better. Sometime later, he had a new prototype he had me try that was audibly better than the RedEye. It was the SunnAudio DI. They work hand in hand. I had SunnAudio make me a blender in a box for an open mic I help with. It made every guitar sound better and we use it for everyone except the guy who has a favorite preamp setup with effects.

I later bought a SunnAudio Stage DI that lives in a guitar case.
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  #81  
Old 01-14-2021, 04:16 PM
Vancebo Vancebo is offline
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Originally Posted by Br1ck View Post
I later bought a SunnAudio Stage DI that lives in a guitar case.
This is one of the requirements when the company first set out was to be able to build boxes that were small enough to put into a guitar case. The MS-2 does not. Someday, I am hoping for a single channel version that will.
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Guitars by: Collings, Bourgeois, Taylor
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  #82  
Old 01-20-2021, 03:30 PM
Oregon Donor Oregon Donor is offline
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May I piggyback this thread with a question of my own?

I play a 1998 Taylor 310 that's got a K&K PM inside, and I've decided to take the plunge and swap it for a Dazzo. I've got a tech who can uninstall the K&K and I've touched base with Teddy on putting them in touch when it comes time to do so. Teddy had asked me to take a picture below the saddle of my guitar to get an idea of what 'size' Dazzo to go with for bass response, but I dropped the ball on getting back to him in a timely manner (if you read this Teddy please pardon me! Life just got busy). So I thought I'd post a picture of my guitar and see if anyone had any recommendations? Thank you in advance!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKSColPD...=1ffh7r58tw1op

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC1bVAoD...=115n3c51welm6

Last edited by Oregon Donor; 01-20-2021 at 03:32 PM. Reason: Links to photos will not embed
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  #83  
Old 01-20-2021, 03:55 PM
SpruceTop SpruceTop is offline
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Originally Posted by Oregon Donor View Post
May I piggyback this thread with a question of my own?

I play a 1998 Taylor 310 that's got a K&K PM inside, and I've decided to take the plunge and swap it for a Dazzo. I've got a tech who can uninstall the K&K and I've touched base with Teddy on putting them in touch when it comes time to do so. Teddy had asked me to take a picture below the saddle of my guitar to get an idea of what 'size' Dazzo to go with for bass response, but I dropped the ball on getting back to him in a timely manner (if you read this Teddy please pardon me! Life just got busy). So I thought I'd post a picture of my guitar and see if anyone had any recommendations? Thank you in advance!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKSColPD...=1ffh7r58tw1op

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC1bVAoD...=115n3c51welm6
I think what Teddy wants to know is the size of your Taylor's bridge plate. Being that you now have a K&K system installed, the Dazzos will fit. I'm thinking it's very likely in the realm of a "normal" size bridge plate in that it has enough open space between the bridge pins and the front edge of the bridge plate to accommodate a regular-size set of Dazzo transducers. A photo of the inside of your guitar focused on the bridge plate would be beneficial in determining for sure if enough space exists for a successful installation. It probably does and I'd recommend a set of #70 Dazzos for your Taylor.
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Martin HD-28 Sunburst/Trance M-VT Phantom
Martin D-18/UltraTonic
Adamas I 2087GT-8
Ovation Custom Legend LX
Guild F-212XL STD
Huss & Dalton TD-R
Taylor 717e
Taylor 618e
Taylor 614ce
Larrivee D-50M/HiFi
Larrivee D-40R Blue Grass Special/HiFi
Larrivee D-40R Sunburst
Larrivee C-03R TE/Trance M-VT Phantom
RainSong BI-DR1000N2
Emerald X20
Yamaha FGX5
Republic Duolian/Schatten NR-2

Last edited by SpruceTop; 01-21-2021 at 08:02 AM.
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  #84  
Old 01-20-2021, 03:59 PM
Vancebo Vancebo is offline
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The Dazzo aren’t about size but about balancing the voice of your guitar. Teddy’s Dazzos come in various Bass responses. In your Taylor dread, I would recommend a #60 or a #70. #70 will have a little more Bass.
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Guitars by: Collings, Bourgeois, Taylor
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  #85  
Old 01-20-2021, 06:05 PM
PANDAPANDELO PANDAPANDELO is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vancebo View Post
The Dazzo aren’t about size but about balancing the voice of your guitar. Teddy’s Dazzos come in various Bass responses. In your Taylor dread, I would recommend a #60 or a #70. #70 will have a little more Bass.
Indeed! The #60 was perfect for my Martin HD28. If the voice of your guitar is similar to that, it might be the one.

But I'd always recomend to talk to Teddy, since he's the one with most knoledge about it.
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2005 Martin HD28 with K&K Trinity;
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