K&K Definity System with Definity Pre-Amp

MichaelHorowitz · March 2013

Cutting edge pickup technology from the industry's leading manufacturer!

martin b · March 2013

Has anyone tried one of these yet? Seems to me it could be a bit of a breakthrough, maybe giving some of the cut of a Bigtone with some of the body sound of an SBT. It's also simple and not expensive.
Michael, are these available without a preamp? Last thing I need here is another preamp!

MichaelHorowitz · March 2013

I haven't fully tested it yet but will give a report once I do. I don't think it will replace the bigtone as the exposed piezo element is most likely less resistant to feedback than the internally mounted piezo in the bigtone. But it will probably serve as a nice , low cost, non invasive pickup for lower volume situations.

M

MichaelHorowitz · April 2013

martin b wrote:

Michael, are these available without a preamp? Last thing I need here is another preamp!

Here you go:

http://shoppingcart.djangobooks.com/Ite ... ity-pickup

Ian Rossiter · April 2013

Just ordered mine,but w/o the preamp. Can't wait to try it out.

martin b · April 2013

Full report please!

Ian Rossiter · April 2013

It arrived today (thanks Michael!!) and I pointed the truck towards home and raced to try it out.
The pickup itself is waffair-thin, and somewhat flexible. It goes underneath the treble side bridge foot,with the cable pointing towards the bass side. The excess cable can be tucked underneath the tailpiece if need be.
The jack can be adhered to the top,side or even the tailpiece I suppose, but if you use ball-end strings,it might get in the way.
Intstalation is stupidly easy; slack off the strings, lift the bridge a few mm,and slide the pickup into place. Seat the bridge back into position, and run the cable/jack underneath the strings behind the bridge and secure the jack.
Boom,done.
I plugged directly into my interface,and recorded some stuff directly into the computer,no EQ,no preamp, no nuttin.
The sound was a tad piezio'y,and didn't sound like,say a K&K Pure mini, or the models in mandolin & Tenor banjo. But,mind you.. it IS a different pickup altogether.
You don't get the full,woody Tone of the other models,but it'd certainly do in a pinch. But, for as much of a nightmare as its been to get any local repairman/luthier to install a Pure Macafarri in my Petite Bouche guitars, it's great!! Sure,there's a compromise,but not a huge one.
I'm really lookin forward to plugging it into my acoustic amp tomorrow too.
More to come...

constantine · April 2013

Please let us know how it fares at high volumes

Ian Rossiter · April 2013

Ok,
So as Michael predicted, it IS somewhat feedback prone. I plugged it into my Acoustic amp and sure enough...she wants to howl!!
However, it can be dialed in to tame the FB with the notch filter on the amp. Also,as I suspected, the piezio'y tone gets pummelled when the pickup is used with a Pre-amp, and/or used with an acoustic amplifier. It sounds really good actually. But,so far, I think 2 things are a must with this system; 1- a preamp. (As K&K recomends)
2- some type of Notch filter,either on the Pre-amp or in your amplifier.
I'd also recomend some sort of Volume pedal or at least some way of shutting off the guitar. I'm using a Radial PZ-Pre on the floor,which has a Mute function so I think I'll be covered,but it's something you might want to think about. (Even a Boss TU-3 tuner pedal,which has the silent tuning feature. It may do the trick,with the added bonus of having a Tuner )