BluesKing777 Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 A few current threads ask about K&K pickups.... So I recorded a little track with my Waterloo WL-14X, sorry no Gibson here with these pickups and this is like an old L-00. Now I like preamps of all kinds to give pickups a bit 'more'. The pickup gives you the 'electricity' and then the preamps are used to carve the sound a bit. So there are 4 tracks of the same kind of playing... 1. K&K direct to mixer, eq flat, no effects. 2. K&K through Tonedexter with the treble boosted from 12 to 2 o'clock. I may have added too much treble but find the K&K a bit dark normally and wanted to see (hear) what happens. Direct to mixer with eq flat but reverb/delay preset added. As bonus tracks while I was at it, I did the same sort of playing with the Baggs M1A installed in the soundhole...... 3. Baggs M1A run direct to mixer, eq flat, no effects. 4. BAggs M1A run to Fishman Pro Eq for eq!, To mixer with same reverb/delay preset as above. https://soundcloud.com/bk7-3/kkplustdplusm1a7 BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Wilson Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorrisrownSal Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 I doubt I'll ever get a tonedexter... for preconceived notions of mine on complexity.... but no doubt, the tonedexter/k&k combo is head and shoulders above the other clips. Very surprised. I'd love to here a comparison between the k&k/tonedexter and a K&K/ FireEye... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle fester Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Thanks BK! I agree w/ Sal w/ the K&K and Tonedexter combo being the most representative of pure acoustic. I'd be willing to bet any of the pickups with the Tonedexter would be pretty close though. BK - not to give you homework (but son, you are being called to the front of the class :) any chance you could splice together something similar example with the K&K and Baggs, but both with the Tonedexter? Sal - on complexity, I was reading on them - there's a step to set it up, but that step didn't seem too complex (play into a mic for 2 mins and save) other than that it didn't seem too difficult to get it right (BK any opionions on that)... The TD is a front runner on my wish list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle fester Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Thanks BK! I agree w/ Sal w/ the K&K and Tonedexter combo being the most representative of pure acoustic. I'd be willing to bet any of the pickups with the Tonedexter would be pretty close though. BK - not to give you homework (but son, you are being called to the front of the class :) any chance you could splice together a similar example with the K&K and Baggs, but both with the Tonedexter? Sal - on complexity, I was reading on them - there's a step to set it up, but that step didn't seem too complex (play into a mic for 2 mins and save) other than that it didn't seem too difficult to get it right (BK any opionions on that)... The TD is a front runner on my wish list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorrisrownSal Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Thanks BK! I agree w/ Sal w/ the K&K and Tonedexter combo being the most representative of pure acoustic. I'd be willing to bet any of the pickups with the Tonedexter would be pretty close though. BK - not to give you homework (but son, you are being called to the front of the class :) any chance you could splice together a similar example with the K&K and Baggs, but both with the Tonedexter? Sal - on complexity, I was reading on them - there's a step to set it up, but that step didn't seem too complex (play into a mic for 2 mins and save) other than that it didn't seem too difficult to get it right (BK any opionions on that)... The TD is a front runner on my wish list. I play in bars. Not quiet house concerts. Thats why the trepidation for chasing the perfect acoustic sound. As a matter of fact, I feel foolish, because I have a really nice little pedal board setup, and I am thinking of selling it all, and just either gigging with the Tak, or the K&K guitars with the Fire Eye. Oh well... a journey. The most important things for me are an easy reliable setup and breakdown without feedback and nuance issues. My partner tends to call me cindarella sal.... if we play from 8-11 (which means we finish at 11:20 typically), i want to take apart my mic, all the cords, the guitar, the pedals.... the backpacks... and be in my car in 15 minutes and out of there. That's why the ease of something like a Tak with no pedals, or a J45 with a Baggs Element VTC, or a K&K guitar and Fire Eye.... make a lot of sense for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted September 12, 2018 Author Share Posted September 12, 2018 Ha! Cinderella Sal! Love it! I’m with you though, haunted by my own determination to look stupid when first in a new band and had to take 4 electrics and a Dobro. Showing off. A guy told me I had nicer guitars and more than the shop he had been in that day. Hmm. But 1 gig a week is fun and everyone friendly and ha ha......then 2 gigs a week...then 5, then 3 residencies every week plus other gigs each week and 2 in one day and..and...and like, we are down to taking one guitar, amp and guitar lead. And nobody speaks to each other. Ever again. I have been very pleased with buying the Baggs M1A and M80. I would chuck that in my guitar of choice that day and take that to a gig. And my EQ box. So easy and I get the guitar I want to physically play. Best live guitar is the Matons, similar to the Taks but have better tone controls including sweepable mids to get rid of that doinky mid. But I wouldn’t always want to play my Maton, neck is fairly small, about modern Gibsonish and I’d want to unleash with the Big Vs. And Billroy, the Tonedexter is only designed to use with piezo pickups like K&K and Fishman undersaddle, Baggs Element. The soundhole pickups are magnetic and don’t work with it. Thst said, the Tonedexter is a very nice preamp/DI in its own right - turn the sound image stuff off and use the rest, nicely matched impedance for K&K! While some friends on AGF use the Tonedexter live, I think you need to assess the individual gig for EQ reasons.....a ‘whole’ acoustic sound can take up all the space, whereas the Baggs M80 can slot in with vocals and other players nicely....a more ‘trimmed’ to fit sound? The actual Tonedexter is easy peasy! What you do with it.....tricky. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buc McMaster Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 I admit to being tempted to get a Tonedexter, but then I am forced to consider the value of such a device for my application: open mic stages, doing 6-10 songs a few times a month. And then there's the simplicity factor, which is high on the list for such circumstances. The last couple times out it's been a K&K-equipped guitar and the Red Eye preamp, a very quick, easy setup that works very well. Other players in the house compliment the guitar tone and it certainly works for me behind the monitors.....really couldn't ask for more. Simple solutions that work are a players' best option in a live situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted September 12, 2018 Author Share Posted September 12, 2018 The Tonedexter is similar in ways to the Aura system. I have played out with the Aura years back in noisy bsrs and got nothing but compliments on a great guitar sound. But at the time I played guitars that were on the Aura list. Tonedexter allows me to make an Aura like file myself for my guitars that don’t have an Aura image - home brew! For example, Mr Fishman has no intention of putting a sound image online of my one off Cargill custom..... but I had a K&K put in and made a Tonedexter file. Great! BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle fester Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 I admit to being tempted to get a Tonedexter, but then I am forced to consider the value of such a device for my application: open mic stages, doing 6-10 songs a few times a month. I think I heard it said many times, most of the stuff we talk about will only be appreciated by us and maybe a very few others... I'd appreciate a Tonedexter :) - would make me feel I got the closest to the actual sound of my very special guitar, give me a shot of confidence. But only in my circumstances (aspiring to do open mics... here and there), probably not if I was a regular gigger, not really needed and ups the complexity. If I was a regular gigger but had the occasion I did want to kick it up a notch I'd like to have it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted September 12, 2018 Author Share Posted September 12, 2018 I think I heard it said many times, most of the stuff we talk about will only be appreciated by us and maybe a very few others... I'd appreciate a Tonedexter :) - would make me feel I got the closest to the actual sound of my very special guitar, give me a shot of confidence. But only in my circumstances (aspiring to do open mics... here and there), probably not if I was a regular gigger, not really needed and ups the complexity. If I was a regular gigger but had the occasion I did want to kick it up a notch I'd like to have it. I will go back a step... The Tonedexter is designed to improve the sound of piezo pickups, which on their own can sound harsh. It sounds like YOUR acoustic guitar through a mic. If you want to stay with a pickup system from the 70s instead of getting the sound you want, no skin off my nose.... BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle fester Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 I will go back a step... The Tonedexter is designed to improve the sound of piezo pickups, Is it only piezo pickups, or would it work with a Baggs? If you want to stay with a pickup system from the 70s Pickups, fashion, the 70s were all gooooooood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted September 12, 2018 Author Share Posted September 12, 2018 Is it only piezo pickups, or would it work with a Baggs? Baggs make all manner of pickups - undersaddle, stickons, soundhole. - the Tonedexter won't work as designed with the soundhole but works very nicely with the Element undersaddle. And this twaddle that you have read that no-one cares what you sound like live...don't believe it. For one, my friend and I may turn up to check the competition, so to speak. And if you plug that undersaddle direct to the mixer, we are leaving. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted September 13, 2018 Author Share Posted September 13, 2018 I was playing my beautiful Cargill through the Tonedexter with the same settings as above - treble turned up to 2 o'clock.ish. I pressed record and played a similar thing as before but with more strumming at the beginning. The strumming through Tonedexter is where it gets freaky real, I think. https://soundcloud.com/bk7-3/cg-td777z BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle fester Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 Hey BK, does the Tonedexter remove the need for a preamp (i.e. when used with a K&K mini)? Rgds- billroy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted September 13, 2018 Author Share Posted September 13, 2018 Hey BK, does the Tonedexter remove the need for a preamp (i.e. when used with a K&K mini)? Rgds- billroy Yes, the Tonedexter is a preamp/DI - you can bypass and turn off the sound image files and use just the preamp features. (not sure why anyone would do this, but there you are.) Tonedexter works with the Baggs Element - don’t you have this in your J45 already, Billroy? BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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