K&K Sound Pickups and Preamps • Shoreline Music

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Muriel Anderson
Pierre Bensusan
Howard Emerson
Jaquie Gipson
Dougie MacLean
Franco Morone
The Waybacks

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K&K Sound has been making acoustic instrument pickups, triggers, and transducers for years, making a name for themselves among pro drummers, vibe players, saxophonists, and more. They've now turned that expertise to making acoustic guitar pickups, and their efforts have paid off handsomely—K&K pickups are warm and accurate, hotter than any passive pickups we know of, and non-invasive like the best soundboard pickups. Our customers rave about these pickups, but they're not the only ones: K&K is building up a list of impressive pro endorsers, notable among them recent Winfield winner John Standefer.

K&K guitar pickups have in the past come in two versions: "Classic" for nylon-string guitars, and "Western" for steel-string acoustic guitars with the Western models available in either standard or mini sizes. K&K has recently eliminated the word "Western" from its pickups for steel string guitar, so the Pure Western Mini is now just the Pure Mini, and the Pure Western Standard is now just the Pure 12-String:

K&K Acoustic Guitar Pickups:

Pure Pickup - If we were to judge the caliber of acoustic guitar pickups simply by customer response, then the K&K Pure Mini would be the hands-down winner. Our customers simply love this pickup, often coming back to order 3 or 4 more after installing one for the first time. Like the B-Band AST and the PUTW #27, the K&K Pure pickup secures to the underside of your bridgeplate, inside the guitar. Although it's officially a passive pickup, it generates a high output, using 3 pickup heads (4 for the "Classic" version), to capture the warmth of your guitar with remarkable accuracy. These pickups are designed to be super-glued to the soundboard, but K&K also ships them with adhesive nylon strips, so you can experiment with placement first, if you so choose. It is worth noting, too, that while the smaller version of the Pure pickup (the "Mini") was originally designed for use in smaller instruments, K&K is now recommending it for all permanent installations of the Pure in 6-string guitars. For 12-string guitars, be sure to order the Pure 12-string (formerly the Pure Western Standard). You can hear this pickup at one of the links on our MP3 page.

Meridian Microphone - K&K's latest offering is a great solution to the problem of amplifying your guitar with a microphone. As I've said elsewhere on this website, the inside of a guitar is, in all honesty, no place for a mic. But in our quest for the airy tone that only a mic can provide, we guitar players make internal mics work by blending them with undersaddle pickups, or maybe using soundhole feedback busters. Another solution is to use a clip-on lavalier mic—some of the most natural-sounding recording I've ever done has been with a $25 lav mic from Best Buy clipped to the soundhole of my guitar. In fact, Dougie McLean uses this exact technique in concert (presumably with a better mic than the one I've used). The Meridian is similar to this latter approach, but it uses a much better microphone, and its design is a dramatic improvement. The mic clamps to the body of the guitar around the neck, and points at the strings and soundhole from the outside of the guitar. This captures the movement of both top and strings, as well as air from the soundhole, giving you all the tonal advantages of an external microphone, coupled with the mobility of an internal mic or pickup. As long as your monitors aren't too loud, this is a great way to get natural tone onstage. The full Meridian Pro System comes with a preamp, but it can also be purchased with just the microphone.

Pure Pickup with Volume Control - After a long wait, K&K has finally jumped on the soundhole-volume-wheel bandwagon, and it's a welcome upgrade for those who want some volume control onstage. This model comes all pre-wired, so no soldering necessary. The package includes the Pure pickup, jack, and volume control (as with all Pure models, we recommend the Mini). Also, this is a passive system, so no preamp included. Click here for a picture of the volume wheel in place in a guitar soundhole.

Ultra Pure - The K&K Ultra Pure uses the Pure soundboard pickup, but gives it an internal preamp. The preamp has a pair of tone controls, and hides just inside your soundhole, kind of like the old Baggs Dual Source remote control, but in this case it's entirely inside the soundhole. So, while the Pure w/ volume gives you passive volume control, and the Pure w/Pre-Phase (described below) gives active volume control, the Ultra Pure's preamp also includes tone control, making it the most full-featured of K&K's single-pickup onboard systems.

Trinity - This system blends the K&K Pure pickup system with an internal gooseneck microphone, and is mixed externally by a K&K belt-clip preamp. It's also available without the preamp (the "Solo") if you already have an outboard blender, or you can order a Trinity Upgrade Kit if you already have the Pure pickup installed in your guitar and just need the mic and blender. It's worth noting two things about this pickup: First, it has the potential to produce absolutely stunning tone. When you listen to some of the recordings linked to on our MP3 Page, you'll likely be blown away by what you hear. However, the combination of a microphone and a soundboard pickup is a recipe for feedback in louder stage situations. So I tend to recommend this pickup for either recording or use in smaller solo settings, perhaps acoustic duos. Not loud stages.

PowerMix - The K&K PowerMix systems take all of K&K's best electronics and stick them inside the guitar. So, for example, the PowerMix Pure uses the Pure pickup and the Fantastick undersaddle (both included in the package) and blends them with an onboard, internally-mounted preamp. The PowerMix Trinity does this one one better by including the mic that is part of the standard K&K Trinity System.

Other Pickups - We have expanded our offerings to include K&K pickups for other instruments. Even if you don't play acoustic guitar, you can still take advantage of their same great soundboard transducer design. Whether it's a banjo, or piano, or standup bass, K&K delivers just about the purest, richest, most acoustic tone you'll find anywhere.

K&K Preamps:

Pre-Phase Preamp - While K&K's Pure pickups sound great on their own, they really do sound best with some sort of preamp. One of the easiest ways to add a preamp to your K&K signal chain is with their new Pre-Phase preamp. It's really bare-bones—mostly just a battery added in-line—but it gets the job done. The Pre-Phase also adds a phase switch and a little thumbwheel soundhole volume control. Available as an add-on, or packaged with a Pure pickup.

Pure Preamp - This is a beltclip preamp specifically designed for use with passive Pure pickups. While it doesn't have the robust feature set of the Pure XLR (listed below), its low cost and matching impedance make this a great choice for use with any of the Pure pickups that don't already have onboard preamps.

Pure XLR Preamp - This latest offering from K&K takes the guts of the standard beltclip Pure preamp, but adds an XLR out and phase switch. This gives it features much closer to the Baggs PADI, but with the added benefit of matching the impedance of your Pure pickup.

Dual Channel Pro - This is a nice little beltclip two-channel mixer, with basic EQ controls and a blended mono output. It's very similar to the K&K Trinity Preamp (which is also available as a standalone preamp), but while the Trinity preamp is optimized on one channel for a microphone, the Dual Channel Pro is intended for blending two pickups. The ST version of the Dual Channel offers both blended and individual channel outs. Given this greater flexibility—at no extra charge—I tend to recommend the ST over the regular version.

K&K Guitar Pickups

Description

Price*

Pure Western

Unique soundboard pickup; mini version recommended for all 6-string guitars

Meridian Pro Microphone System

External mic for guitar. Includes clamp, wiring, preamp, and carrying case.

$294.00

Meridian Solo

Standalone Meridian microphone. Includes clamp, wiring, and carrying case, but no preamp.

$139.30

Pure Mini + Pre-Phase

Pure Mini pickup with pre-wired internal battery/preamp. Includes phase switch.

$142.10

Pure Western w/volume control

Pure Western plus soundhole-mounted volume wheel. Passive.

Pure Classic

Like Pure Western but with 4 pickup elements. For classical guitars.

$107.80

Ultra Pure Western

K&K Pure pickup with internally-mounted preamp. Mini version recommended.

Trinity Western

Pure pickup, internal mic, and outboard beltclip preamp/blender. Mini version recommended.

Trinity Classic

Pure pickup, internal mic, and outboard beltclip preamp/blender. For classical guitars.

$278.60

Trinity Solo Western

Pure pickup and internal mic, pre-wired to stereo jack. This is just the Trinity without the external blender.

Trinity Upgrade Kit

Internal mic and outboard beltclip preamp/blender for upgrading from the standalone Pure pickup.

$183.40

Powermix Pure Western

Pure Western pickup with Fantastick undersaddle and internal blender. (mini recommended)

Powermix Pure Classic

Pure Classic pickup with Fantastick undersaddle and internal blender.

$291.90

Powermix Trinity Western

Pure Western pickup, Fantastick undersaddle and Trinity mic, all blended internally.

Gold strap button

To match gold hardware on certain guitars. Free with any K&K guitar pickup purchase.

K&K Preamps

Description

Price*

Pre-Phase Preamp

Internal battery/preamp for K&K guitar pickups. Includes phase switch.

$62.30

Pure Preamp

Beltclip preamp, impedance matched for passive K&K instrument pickups.

$81.90

Pure XLR Preamp

Also best with K&K pickups; adds XLR out and phase switch to standard Pure preamp.

$147.00

Dual Channel Pro

Dual channel beltclip preamp. For mixing two pickups.

K&K Pickups for other instruments

Description

Price*

Bass Max

Contact pickup for wedge mount in bass bridge

$96.60

Double Big Twin

Jazz bass contact pickup with one pickup head per string

$102.20

Bass Master Pro

Dual source bass system, includes Bass Max, Double Big Twin, and two-channel beltclip mixer.

$279.30

Bass Master Rockabilly Plus

Dual source bass system, includes Bass Max, single-head bridge transducer, and two-channel beltclip mixer.

$241.50

Pure Piano

Contact pickup for piano soundboard.

$84.70

Violinissimo

Contact pickup for violins. Fits under bridge.

$86.10

Banjo Twin

Contact pickup for banjos.

$84.70

Mandolin Twin Internal

Contact pickup for mandolins. Installed internally; terminates in standard 1/4" endpin jack.

$84.70

Mandolin Twin Fusion

Contact pickup for F-hole mandolins. Includes Carpenter jack.

$114.10

Pure Archtop

no picture

Contact pickup for archtop guitars.

$67.20

Pure Floating Bridge

Contact pickup for floating bridges.

$84.70

Pure Resonator (biscuit bridge)

Contact pickup for biscuit-bridge resonator guitars.

$67.20

*All K&K pickup prices include free shipping anywhere in the US. CO residents add 2.9% sales tax. Please see our Shipping page for additional shipping information.

K&K Pure Western Guitar Pickup