Opinions of K&K Pure Macaferri pickup?

Tele295

Does anybody have any experience with this pickup system? I like the thought of an added mic (Trinity System), with no holes drilled in the top a la the Bigtone

http://www.kksound.com/puremacaferri.html

Here's the K&K blurb, too:

The Pure Macaferri is a twin-head piezo transducer for internal installation in Macaferri guitars. This pickup sounds very natural and is, in our opinion, the most true-sounding solution to amplify a Macaferri guitars on the market today.


How is the Pure Macaferri installed?

This pickup is installed inside the guitar underneath the outer edges of the mustaches. On special request, we can combine this pickup with an internal guitar microphone for a Macaferri Trinity System (please call if interested).

The Pure Macaferri is designed to be permanently affixed with superglue. The installer needs to be able to fit his/her hand into the soundhole to reach the area underneath the outer edge of the mustaches. This can be quite difficult if the soundhole is small. However, I was able to get my hand into the small soundhole of the guitar shown below. Once I got my hand through the hole, it was actually not too difficult to glue the pickups to the desired spots.

The endpin-jack can be easily mounted from the outside so no soldering is necessary.

gitpicker

I have one in one of my guitars and it's ok. I know some guys that just love these but I think it's just pretty good. In general I think it's as good as a piezo pickup gets. Mine seems to be very midrangey though which I don't like but in another guitar it could be better perhaps. On it's own I think it's not bad but not great BUT I've never been real happy with any piezo pickup so that's my disclaimer. I do prefer it over a bigtone though.
Anyway 2 cents

Edit: I have the pickup only, not the trinity system.

Tele295

Doug, that's why I liked the added internal microphone to take the edge off the piezo. I have a similar setup in my Guild F47, and the blend of mic and piezo gives a real nice sound.

Buco

I don't have experience with "pure mac" but I tried their "pure floating bridge" and I liked it.
Nice acoustic sound, not too piezo sounding at least to my ear, got pretty loud before feedback (although friend I was with claimed that wouldn't be loud enough for a loud bar) and one thing I loved but has nothing to do with guitar sound is you get this wonderful percussive sound by tapping your finger on a body of guitar.
Maybe biggest plus for this pick up is breeze of install and no modifications to your guitar whatsoever. This was borrowed pickup I wanted to try out but I think this is what I'll be getting when I start performing.

richdaigle

Doug do you think it might be a good mix with a pro70 mic???... lately been blending my pro70 and a big tone into my compact 60(works pretty sweet) and I'm thinking the K&K price is alot nicer then the Big tone and a blend might get the job done on my latest Selmac build.

Dr. Hall

I have the Pure Maccaferri-Trinity system installed in my Dell'Arte Hommage oval hole, and it's stunning how natural and full it sounds. The K&K Pure Maccaferri is a nice piezo on its own through an AER (or just about any other decent acoustic amp I've tried it with), but add the Trinity microphone and blend it with the K&K Trinity pre-amp which allows significant eq and gain adjustments and you'll have the absolute best of both worlds, crystal clear mic and woody-hollow soundboard piezo with no quack. The system in my guitar is feedback free, even at very loud volumes, because I can cut the offending frequencies with the pre-amp and leave the AER settings flat. I set the pre-amp for 100% mic and about 25% piezo, simply because the mic sounds so good and the piezo simply adds some bottom end. I've also run straight to PAs and had absolutely holographic sound for those gigs.

As for installation, it was not difficult to get my hand inside the sound hole, and my only nervous moment was having to drill the large end-pin jack hole. It turned out fine. The two piezo discs are glued in under each mustache, and I positioned the mic about where an Audio-Technica clip-on mic would be positioned if clipped inside the sound hole (because I like the sound I get with my A-T clip-on too).

I installed the Pure Maccaferri piezo without the mic a while back in my Gitane DG-320, and while it sounds fine on its own at low volume, I like to blend that with the Audio-Technica clip-on mic for a more natural sound.

Big Tones and Schattens have never sounded good to me, and the A-T mics are great (for low-volume gigs) but not as full as the blend of the piezo and internal mic. So, the K&K Pure Maccaferri-Trinity system is stellar in my opinion, and you don't have two cables hanging off your guitar while playing.

I noticed too that on the cd of the Rosenberg Trio (Live at Samois), Eimers's website gives details about Stochelo's set-up on the guitar he used. It was a blend of internal mic and piezo using what looks like a K&K Trinity pre-amp. Check Eimer's site out and the K&K site out and see if you don't agree.

Hope this helps.
-Stefan

Dr. Hall

P.S. Just in case mty review was a bit too glowing, rest assured that I don't work for K&K, but I am truly in love with their products.

I've also used their simple stick on "Big-Shot" piezo disc with a nylon string classical and with my Gitane DG-320 (before I did the internal installation), and in a more limited way, low volume, stuck just below the treble mustache, that sounds good too and is very inexpensive.

Anyway . . . .
-Stefan

Fingers

Thanks for that review...it was very helpful. And thanks to the OP for the heads up on this pickup...I personally had not heard of it before.

This concept is like the LR Baggs I-Beam which is more for regular acoustics. They sound great also.

I could not find the entire system at the site... the glue on piezo and the Trinity mic. Do you have to piece it together and if so which components? Also do you place a preamp in line or run straight into the amp you use?

Thanks.

Dr. Hall

You have to either order the Pure Mac & Trinity Mic upgrade seperately and do the wiring yourself, or contact K&K ahead of time so they can wire the mic and piezos together for you. On the website it says:
"On special request, we can combine this pickup with an internal guitar microphone for a Macaferri Trinity System (please call if interested)."
Or you can just e-mail them like I did.
-Stefan

Dr. Hall

As for the Trinity pre-amp, you plug a 1/4" stereo cable into your guitar (one comes with the Trinity system), run that from guitar into the pre-amp, and then a standard 1/4" goes from the pre-amp to the amp. The stereo cable allows for the two signals (mic and piezo) to be seperated by the pre-amp. If you just plug a standard 1/4" cable in, then you just get the piezo signal. The pre-amp runs on a 12-volt battery, and I'm finally on my second battery after quite a few gigs with it over the past year. I think a battery is supposed to last 40 hours or so. The pre-amp has a belt clip, though I usually just lay it on the amp or on the floor or on my music stand (when I remember to bring one), and it's made of tough metal so no worries there. The one thing about the Trinity pre-amp that might piss some folks off is that you have to open the box, set the eq and gain (seperately for each signal) with a small screwdriver (one is supplied), and then close it up, leaving only two volume knobs to deal with once you're on the gig. It doesn't take much to set it like you want it, and then you're not fussing with it on the gig. I like that because I have it dialed in the way I want it before I get to the gig, and then all I have to deal with are the individual volume levels of mic and piezo. If I need a bit more eq shaping once I'm on the gig, I can use the amp's eq knobs, but that's only happened once or twice where I've cut the high or boosted the low ever so slightly depending on the room.
-Stefan

gitpicker

Hi Rich,

To answer your question I do use it in conjunction sometimes with the at831b mic and yes it's a good combination. Sounds awesome together. I run the combo through a Schertler. Otherwise the mic by itself through a PA is super.