Krivo Micro Manouche Pickup

I HATE piezos, but have found them to be a "necessary evil". I play an Eastman acoustic archtop with a K&K piezo and have tried many different ways to remove the quack and achieve a more "acoustic" live sound. For the last few years I've been using a Tonedexter preamp, which definitely helps get it a little closer. I've also started running one of the new Source Audio EQ2's thru the effects loop of the TD, using the software to surgically remove any sympathetic ringing before it hits my amp (Schertler Unico) - like I would in my DAW when recording. I've tried miking the guitar in conjunction to get at least a little natural sound, but that only works for very small gigs due to feedback issues. I use Elixer Polyweb coated phosphor-bronze strings (warm, mellow, reduced finger noise) and was intrigued by the Krivo Micro-Manouche as it was designed to be more balanced for acoustic strings . I'm blown away by this thing! It sounds way more acoustic than I thought it would and the tone is so nice and warm. Yes, it is a different sound than a good microphone in a studio, but it's a great sound. There's no need for my preamp or EQ pedal anymore. The top end is nice and smooth - it almost sounds like its got an old Pultec EQ on it or something. Also, as an added bonus, when I stop playing it is dead quiet like there's a noise gate on it. It's also a lot louder than a piezo, so you have more headroom for a loud environment. We put it on my rhythm players tenor archtop and it was the same thing - his tone was the best we've heard it thru an amp. Our upright bass player is now looking into the bass pickup. I really love keeping my guitar in "acoustic mode" and just being able to stick the Krivo on for a show and have a tone I love - which actually makes me play a little better because I'm not cringing and cursing in my head. The soundboard on my archtop is a lot further from the strings than on my old GJ guitar, so I am going to create a wooden shim for it to get it a little closer to the strings for added volume, but no big deal. I know that chasing tone can lead you down a huge rabbit hole, but I hope this review might help. As always, Michael is a huge help and gets things here quickly!

Submitted by: Brandon Campbell on 05/10/2024 10:49:08 AM