Anyone have experience with the K&K Pure Maccaferi Picku

Blue Drag

Just wondering if anyone has experience with this pickup (and if necessary, the Preamp)? It's certainly reasonably priced, just curious as to the quality level. It seems easy enough to install also (if your hand fits in a petite bouche).

asd123321

I would like to know does it make sense for the pickups to be installed away from where the bridge touches the soundboard. They say put them more towards the edge of the soundboard.

kimmo

A couple of years ago I tossed away my bigtone-bridge and had a K&K Pure Maccaferri installed.

Advantages:

More dynamic: the piezos inside the bridge don't really get louder, if you play harder. They just compress and produce this annoying rubbery quack (because it's just the string snapping to the bridge). K&K is attached to the top, so it takes its energy directly from the vibrating element – the louder you play, the louder it gets. This is the most guitar-like sound I've ever got from passive piezo. Not only did I get rid of the Bigtone, I also could throw away my volume pedal. It's simple and light – just two tapes attached to the inside of the top with some cord and a jack. No rattling, no loose screws, no batteries or pots or anything, which in time would give you headaches. You can switch bridges easily when needed. No holes in the top (although I already had one for the Bigtone). Cheap.

Disadvantages:

Maybe a little more prone to feedback than a Bigtone.

I mostly use a L.R.Baggs ParaDI (preamp, EQ, feedback notch filter and DI-box). That takes care of the feedback and you can use the EQ to further shape your sound to your likes. Although a piezo does never compare to a quality mic soundwise, it is very convenient. Just plug and play anywhere.

pinkgary

Disadvantages:

Maybe a little more prone to feedback than a Bigtone.

That might be understating it a bit, i saw someone demoing this to someone else, & the sound was good, authentic like, but he'd barely turned the amp up to the same volume as the guitar & it started feeding back!!!!


The para DI may well help with this, but still...

BluesBop Harry

Unless you play in situations where a mic can be used effectively, i.e teather with PA and soundman you're better off with a bigtone. I know it's far from the ideal sound but it's the most gig friendly the other options aren't as reliable though some might sound pretty good.

marciero

I thought the suggested placement (at end of the moustache ends) contributed to the sound being a bit upper midrangey. This can be addressed with eq. The volume was great for a passive pickup. Of course, I would always use some kind of preamp/eq. I also was not prepared to crazy-glue the installation, so I wonder how much that would have affected things. Did you guys crazy glue it?
At any rate, I did not give the pickup much of a chance. I always use a mic with that particular guitar, sometimes in combination with a Dyn G.

Mike

gitpicker

I have a K&K in my Favino and am about to put another one in my other guitar. While I have never found any piezo to be perfect, I have found the K&K to be as good or better than any other brands on the market (I've tried most everything). Also they're cheaper than many other piezos. The thing I liked too is that I used to play my guitar through a Phil Jones CUB a lot and since the CUB is a little underpowered, I found the K&K being glued (or double stick taped) to the top made it a bit "hotter" than the other piezos I tried so that part is great. With some EQing you can get a great sound. Only thing that's annoying sometimes is the signal is so hot, any brush or tap of the fingers on the guitar's top will be picked up too while playing but I've got around this I just float my hand more when picking now

I didn't like the sound when putting the contacts in the recommended location under the moustaches (at least on my guitar) so much on my D hole, so I moved the contacts closer to the brace below soundhole and it sounds way less mid-rangey now- quite good actually. In all I think it's a good product.

I have never tried the complete Trinity System with the mic though. I'd love to hear from anyone who has.

Doug

Dr. Hall

I'll chime in, K&K's Trinity system with the mic, piezo, and pre-amp through an AER or a p.a. system is absolute nirvana for me. I've posted my rave reviews in the past, so feel free to do a search and see what I've already said. Folks who get feedback from their K&K set-up must not be positioning speakers properly or using either a pre-amp or eq to help out. I simply don't have any feedback problems, even at pretty loud volumes. The simple K&K Pure Maccaferri is ok (that's whats in my old guitar, and it's fine), but adding the internal Trinity condenser mic and Trinity dual-channel pre-amp will give you what I believe is perfect amplified sound. I know I rave about K&K a lot on this forum, but, really, I don't work for them--I wish they'd pay a poor college professor for saying nice things about them!--just love the amplified acoustic sound I get from their stuff, especially from the internal Trinity mic with pre-amp.
-Stefan

marciero

I think eq can make a big difference. Even the channel designed for the Dyn G on the Schertler sounds not that great without additional eq. With the dual -source trinity you have the dual channel preamp with separate eq. (I think)

Mike

Tele295

I was working on my K&K Trinity system this weekend. It's very bright and requires a lot of EQing, and there are, of course, feedback issues with the mic and little bit with the pickup. The Trinity preamp is required to use the mic, and attaches to the preamp with a stereo cord.

However, if you use a mono cord (regular guitar cable), you just get the Pure Maccaferri transducer. So for fun, I just used a regular cable from the guitar right into the little amp I had in my living room (it's a bass/multipurpose amp) and it sounded GREAT! I think the preamp adds a little harshness and high end. I am therefore re-thinking this K&K set up, just using the Pure Maccaferri transducer right into the amp for live work.

I like having the mic for recording, so it will stay installed.

Jared Burrows

I use one of these on my own guitar and have installed them on 4 that I have built. I like them very much. I have tried a number of different locations and find that the closer I get them to the bridge 'feet' (on the underside of the soundboard of course) the better it sounds. I'm sure this will vary from guitar to guitar, but this works for the way I build 'em. A friend of mine installed one on his Park guitar, but didn't like it as well. There is a big difference between gluing them in and using tape. Glue gets you a much hotter signal and, to my ear, a more developed high and midrange sound. To me they sound lots better than bigtones and the easy changing of bridges is a very big plus.

I have had excellent results with these going direct into a Phil Jones Cub, an AI Corus, and Evans re200. Never needed a preamp for this pickup with any of these amps. Never had any problem with feedback really. My only negative comment would be that they can be a little heavy on the bottom end, but I find a little eq takes care of it.