K K Pure Mini acoustic pickup

smigeon

I have an old "beater" acoustic - a Grand Suzuki W150 dread - which although it's cheap and battered I really like the sound of for playing around the house. It sounds very "seventies" to me.

Well I just finished installing a K&K Pure Mini pickup in this guitar because I though I might use it to do some strummy vocal duo songs in the gap between sets with the band. As many of you will know, the Pure Mini pickup has three disc-like transducers that you superglue to the underside of the bridge plate inside the guitar; it uses an endpin jack for output and is completely passive: no battery, no volume control, no nothing. Completely invisible install. 

It was slightly ticklish getting the transducers glued in the right place and I've still got superglue all over my fingers, but I'm really chuffed because it sounds great! And so far I've only tried it through a (presumably mucho-sub-optimal) Roland JC40. Even with this it sounds very close to the acoustic voice of the guitar and is beautifully balanced. The dynamics of the guitar seem to work exactly the same as they do acoustically, so it's very natural to play.

I plugged my Boss WL20 wireless bug into the endpin jack, so I can walk around playing unencumbered by trailing leads. Fun. Only slight issuette is that my strap doesn't fit easily over the endpin strap holder (as discussed recently in a thread on here called "Strap lock with endpin jack?")

I'm looking forward to trying it with the band through the PA. I was assuming I'd need a preamp (was thinking of the K&K XLR Pure preamp) but maybe I don't even need that...

mgaw

used them for years and love them, simple but effective and sound great    good score  if you decide to go down the pre amp route , which I would , I have an Orchid Electronics one here you could have for a small amount

TheBigDipper

I have these in two guitars. The advantage of having a separate preamp (I've got the K&K XLR Pure myself and it's fine) is you stop being dependent on the impedance you're getting from whatever you plug it into. I found Fishman acoustic amps to be fine without a  preamp, but I've previously had problems with PA inputs, DI boxes and recording interfaces. The guitar sounded dull into those and the preamp solved that and the two together sound great. Enjoy!

crunchman

I use one into our PA at church without a preamp.  Works fine.  I do use an Active DI box.

Lewy

Another Pure Mini devotee here. I use the Pure XLR preamp but have heard good things about the Orchid boxes too. I do find I need to dial out a LOT of mid range to get it sounding right to my ears but I like that big scooped dread sound. 

smigeon

mgaw said:

used them for years and love them, simple but effective and sound great    good score  if you decide to go down the pre amp route , which I would , I have an Orchid Electronics one here you could have for a small amount

I had a look at the Orchid website but couldn't find much technical data. I was especially looking for info on their preamp's input impedance because the K&K people reckon a very high impedance (which is a good thing for most acoustic pickups) is not so good for the Pure Mini as the pickup already has a lot of bass, and a high impedance preamp might over-accentuate this. Their own Pure preamp has an input impedance of 1Mohm.

The Orchid also seems to lacks bells and whistles that some of the competitors have, like a phase switch, sweepable mids, feedback busting notch etc. Generally, I'd look for a combination of good sound and robust build and tend not to not prioritise bells and whistles so much. But I'd be interested to hear what you and others think of such features...??

Lewy said:

Another Pure Mini devotee here. I use the Pure XLR preamp but have heard good things about the Orchid boxes too. I do find I need to dial out a LOT of mid range to get it sounding right to my ears but I like that big scooped dread sound. 

Yeah, me too! Actually I restrung my Grand Suzuki, while I was installing the Pure Mini, with a set of Elixir Phosphor Bronze 12s that I had lying around. In the event, I wish I'd been better prepared and ordered a set of my usual 80/20s in advance. 80/20s seem to really suit this guitar and nail that great scooped dread sound. I'll go back to them on the next change.

mgaw

Orchid matches the K&K impedence recommendations perfectly at 1mohm if I remember correctly....all I know is it sounds the business, I dont play acoustic out at all now ps its this one

http://orchid-electronics.co.uk/acoustic.htm

I would heartily recommend it

smigeon

mgaw said:

Orchid matches the K&K impedence recommendations perfectly at 1mohm if I remember correctly....all I know is it sounds the business, I dont play acoustic out at all now ps its this one

http://orchid-electronics.co.uk/acoustic.htm

I would heartily recommend it

Thanks. I’ll have a ponder. Am I right in gathering from the website that it is *only* phantom powered (i.e., no battery option, for cases where there’s no phantom power)?

crunchman

smigeon said:

mgaw said:

Orchid matches the K&K impedence recommendations perfectly at 1mohm if I remember correctly....all I know is it sounds the business, I dont play acoustic out at all now ps its this one

http://orchid-electronics.co.uk/acoustic.htm

I would heartily recommend it

Thanks. I’ll have a ponder. Am I right in gathering from the website that it is *only* phantom powered (i.e., no battery option, for cases where there’s no phantom power)?

Looks that way.

There are ways around that if it's an issue:

https://www.studiospares.com/Microphones/Phantom-Power-Supplies/Behringer-Micropower-PS400-Phantom-Power-Supply_380820.htm

Magpie

I've used many brands in the 50+  years I've been playing and I've finally settled on one of these. Tone aside (which is great) it's such a relief to use a passive and not have to remember to unplug the jack between sets so as not to run a battery flat. For my next one though I'll buy the one with the mic to pick up the strings to give the extra sparkle (even though it'll require a battery).