krivo pickups

kungfumonk007

Anyone use these? How are they? How are they compared to say an Audio Technica mic? I mostly want a good rhythm sound in a medium sized venue.

Steveareno

I asked basically the same question a while back, about the new Krivo Nuevo and didn't get any replies. I'd like to try one on my archtop. They look pretty cool in the videos on YouTube. Nice and slim, light, easy to install, no muss, no fuss. I'm interested in the noise levels (buzzing, hum, etc). Maybe some Krivo users will chime in.
Swang on,

Craig Bumgarner

I've yet to get a decent rhythm sound out of any pickup of any kind, magnetic or piezo, including a Krivo. I use a mic when I want a good rhythm sound. My favorite pickup to date is the Peche a la Mouche, the lead sound is very good, nice and fat, has that late 40s Django sound with no EQ needed. But even the Peche a la Mouche is only fair for rhythm, at least for me. All the pickups I have tried have poor dynamic range so when they are right for lead, they are too loud for rhythm, so, when I use the Peche, I use it for leads only and turn it down to nothing for rhythm, either going unamplified which works well in a lot of places or add a mic on a stand if a large hall. The Peche has an onboard volume control which makes this fairly handy.

The Krivo I have is pretty good though it is a lot brighter, so I have to EQ it pretty hard to get the sound I like. One big advantage of the Krivo is they are very thin (physically), I got it to fit a guitar with too little clearance for the Peche. If your guitar has a fairly fat sound acoustically, it should work pretty well. They are also less then half the price of the Peche and much lighter. Because it is light weight, the stick on putty used in lieu of a clip like the Peche or Stimer works well and allows lots mounting options. I like the wood housing.

BTW, I run everything through an AI Clarus 2 w/ a RE-NY8 cab. Unlike pickups where I have tried more than a dozen options and am still not completely satisfied, I have never felt any need at all to use anything other then this amp/cab combo. Works great for pickups of all sorts and/or mic.

Just my opinion, there are lots of ways to amplify and I have changed my opinions many times over the last five years. What works for me, may or may not work for you. And vice versa.

CB

klaatu

The Benedetto S6 is one of the best archtop pickups around: http://tinyurl.com/87sauxf It does, however, require some installation, mainly attaching it to the pickguard and drilling a hole for the endpin jack. Some pickguards may require a bit of cutting to make it fit properly, which you might not want to do if it's a special vintage box. Still, it is an excellent pup. You'd want to specify whether you would use nickel or bronze strings, because they came in both flavors.

pinkgary

Can anyone recognise the pickup this guy's using. It looks like a magnet, but sounds great for rhythm. And judging by the setting he's playing in, it must go pretty loud without feeding back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS0fVa97 ... =autoshare

Steveareno

Thanks CB for the comments re/ the Krivo for archtop. I have an old Kalamazoo strung up with flatwounds. It's pretty dark sounding for an archtop, which I like. I've tried my Schertler Basik thru my little GDec Fender, on the Jazz setting and it sounds amazingly good. Also thru my Polytone MegaBrute, which also puts out a darker, fat tone which I totally favour. My GJ guitar is pretty mellow by GJ standards. The Krivo might be a little bright.
Swang on,

MichaelHorowitz

pinkgary wrote:

Can anyone recognise the pickup this guy's using. It looks like a magnet, but sounds great for rhythm. And judging by the setting he's playing in, it must go pretty loud without feeding back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS0fVa97 ... =autoshare

Hard to see, but looks like a black version of this:

http://shoppingcart.djangobooks.com/pic ... -tone.html

klaatu

Michael Horowitz wrote:

Hard to see, but looks like a black version of this:

http://shoppingcart.djangobooks.com/pic ... -tone.html

It is definitely hard to see, but when I pause the video, the emblem doesn't look the same.

martin b

That is indeed a Benedetti pickup, from France. He makes a number of different models, although I've not seen anything aimed specifically at gypsy guitars.

tacosandbeer

It looks like his Mini-JZ pickup, described in the catalog on his site, as "Resine Noise Mate Fixation Touche".

wildfire

http://youtu.be/u27xFXYSo9A

I tried a Lace Sensor pickup, which is actually a dobro pickup and it seems to be good to me. You can find them for about $70 on ebay. Though it really depends on what you mean by "good rhythm".