Reduce transducer pickup honk

constantine

I recently installed a k and k pure macceferri pickup with crazy glue, exactly as indicated with the transducers at the end of the mustaches. I hear a honk sound on the D and G strings. Anyone know how to reduce this? My guess is that its part of the sound. I have heard other gypsy players have this exact type of sound with their transducers. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Dr. Hall

Maybe try an eq pedal or a decent pre-amp that allows you to eq the sound a bit and/or set the gain to the level that sounds best and see if that helps. I've found the K&K Pure piezos alone can be slightly bass-mid heavy and even a bit boomy in some rooms, especially without a pre-amp or decent eq (or decent amplification), but I've never noticed any "honking" per se. They are pretty hot signalwise, so perhaps a reduction in gain via a pre-amp could help you out. I now have the K&K Pure Maccaferri Trinity system in a couple of gypsy guitars (the piezos plus the internal mic with the K&K Trinity pre-amp which has gain and 3-band eq inside for each signal), and I'm getting incredibly natural sound and lots of volume, no honk at all, and no feedback when the speakers (either my AER or pa) are positioned properly. I find the Pure piezos by themselves are really nice for fingerpicking (ballads, bossa nova, folk tunes, etc...) even without too much eq in many lower-volume situations, but when I'm playing aggressive gypsy rhythm and lead stuff with a pick I usually like to use the pre-amp to dial the internal mic in at about 95-100% and dial the piezos back to 50% or so depending on the room.
-Stefan