Jinder Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 Hi all, I'm interested in doing away with all the batteries and crap in my guitars and putting in some passive pickups (I already have a K&K in my '67 J45 and would look to put a passive Fishman undersaddle in my SJ100 as an experiment) and having a proper high quality Pre/DI on my board with an FX loop to run my OD, delay and looper in. The Red-Eye seems the perfect solution but I've had no hands on experience with them. Can anyone chime in with some real world testimonials? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buc McMaster Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 I have one and use it when doing open mic sets, plugging into a PA system. I do not use it with my Schertler combo amp. It does work fine with the combo amp but doesn't add enough to the sound for me to want to bother with a gadget in the signal chain. Direct into a house PA it does warm the tone just a bit and provides consistent impedance matching from joint to joint. The adjustable boost is handy at times, adding a little high end magic if the house system is a bit dark sounding. A pedal tuner does mute the output when placed in the Red Eye effects loop and the XLR out is great for systems that have a remote board. Can't think of a single negative on this one.........a solid, useful piece of gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorrisrownSal Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 I use one. For playing live with a K&K I think it is a necessity. Love the boost. And the box warms the tone up. Extremely well made and easy thing to have in your gig bag. The other units have so many bells and whistles, and frankly those never get used by me. The K&K doesn't need much eq in my J50. Just the warmed tone ands the boost. So... everything that Buc said... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 I use and love the simplest version, the Dee-Eye: Sound is fabulous with my K&K, imho. As for choosing the simpleton version, I've decided that I only want tone adjustment at a single point in my signal chain: amp or PA, depending on the gig. This helps me to minimize disagreement with the sound guy, who is usually me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbpark Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 Everyone absolutely raves about these Red Eye preamps and say they really are a match made in heaven with a K&K. I've also been looking for a quick, super simple and easy solution for open mics, which is what brought me to considering the Red Eye, but there's no EQ with the Red Eye. I have a Radial PZ Pre, but know that I probably wont be able to tote that to every open mic, and/or wont have the ability to spend the time to dial in/EQ a nice sound because you're basically given your spot to play, you go up there, you plug in, and you start playing. So how do the Red Eye work in this type of situation? I was thinking about just getting the small, belt clip K&K Pure preamp because it has EQ. I can just set it up beforehand and just pull out some of the mids, which seem to be what most K&K's need, then go up there, plug in and get to playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Br1ck Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 If you like the sound coming out of your guitar, you will like the RedEye. If the sound coming out of your guitar sucks, you will not. I use Dazzo pickups in every guitar I have. The pickup frequency response is tailored to each guitar so what comes out just needs clean linear boost and impedance matching. The RedEye does this as good or better than most. It does have a treble control. If you have to EQ the hell out of your pickups to get anything close to a usable tone, you will hate the Redeye. The key, right from the designer's mouth is the linear nature of the pre. Most preamps have crappy gain sections that need lots of EQ. The RedEye excels at matching impedance to smooth out a piezo's harshness. As far as open mics go, no one gets the time to do any EQ tweaking anyway, so you need to like what is coming out of the guitar. If you do, the RedEye is great. If all you get is a quarter inch jack, you can use the effects out to the PA, though the sound won't be as good as using the XLR output. Nifty LED that lights up when you plug in to show you have battery life, and it can be powered by phantom power through the XLR. I don't leave home without mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbpark Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 If you like the sound coming out of your guitar, you will like the RedEye. If the sound coming out of your guitar sucks, you will not. I use Dazzo pickups in every guitar I have. The pickup frequency response is tailored to each guitar so what comes out just needs clean linear boost and impedance matching. The RedEye does this as good or better than most. It does have a treble control. If you have to EQ the hell out of your pickups to get anything close to a usable tone, you will hate the Redeye. The key, right from the designer's mouth is the linear nature of the pre. Most preamps have crappy gain sections that need lots of EQ. The RedEye excels at matching impedance to smooth out a piezo's harshness. As far as open mics go, no one gets the time to do any EQ tweaking anyway, so you need to like what is coming out of the guitar. If you do, the RedEye is great. If all you get is a quarter inch jack, you can use the effects out to the PA, though the sound won't be as good as using the XLR output. Nifty LED that lights up when you plug in to show you have battery life, and it can be powered by phantom power through the XLR. I don't leave home without mine. I don't have to "EQ the hell" out of my J45TV with a K&K in it, but it does need some of the mids cut to make it sound its best, as did the other acoustic I tried that had a K&K in it before taking the plunge and having on installed in the J45. Basically both required the same mid-range cut. I've also experienced this with other pickups in other guitars like the LR Baggs Lyric, but that needs even more EQ. Guess that answers my question though. I'm not looking to spend that much on a box that reproduces EXACTLY what the K&K produces without any EQ. I'll save some cash as well and go with the $99 K&K Pure Preamp. I can just show up to an open mic with a bit of mids cut with the K&K Ppure, and still just take their 1/4" cable and plug in and go. It's just for open mics. For any other situation I have a Radial PZ Pre that works amazingly well with the K&K and sounds incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duluthdan Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 I don't have to "EQ the hell" out of my J45TV with a K&K in it, but it does need some of the mids cut to make it sound its best, as did the other acoustic I tried that had a K&K in it before taking the plunge and having on installed in the J45. Basically both required the same mid-range cut. I've also experienced this with other pickups in other guitars like the LR Baggs Lyric, but that needs even more EQ. Guess that answers my question though. I'm not looking to spend that much on a box that reproduces EXACTLY what the K&K produces without any EQ. I have LYRIC in a J-45 TV. For me its always been just 'plug-n-play', Sounds great thru most small PAs I've encountered. Sounds like the Red-Eye would be a mice simple piece to have for the K&K Mini equipped J-50, or even just the Dee Eye as JT suggests, Don't actually need one much anymore, its been over a year since my last Barn Jam thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbpark Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 I have LYRIC in a J-45 TV. For me its always been just 'plug-n-play', Sounds great thru most small PAs I've encountered. Sounds like the Red-Eye would be a mice simple piece to have for the K&K Mini equipped J-50, or even just the Dee Eye as JT suggests, Don't actually need one much anymore, its been over a year since my last Barn Jam thing. I've had Lyrics in three guitars so far; J45 Standard, D28 Standard and a 000-15M. I experimented with different placements of the mic in each guitar for the best sound, and could get all three guitars to sound great with the Lyric, but only after quite a bit of EQ with every single one, and like I'm experiencing with the K&K, it sounds just ok with no EQ, but can be made to sound incredible with just a little tweaking of the EQ< especially pulling out some mids and just a touch of lows. The Lyrics in every guitar required a lot of more EQ though, and they all were pretty quick to feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted May 8, 2017 Author Share Posted May 8, 2017 Thanks for the thoughts, all! Sounds like the Red-Eye is just what I'm looking for. With the FX loop and the boost, does it place the boost at the start of the FX loop change, or does the boost raise the volume post-loop return? I'd need to run a looper and an OD in the loop so would need the boost to be at the head rather than the tail. In pickup terms, a K&K in a Gibson will always sound best with a little mid cut to my ears. I've had a few and this is always the case for me. However in a very transparent guitar such as my old D18 I could run it flat or thereabouts if need be. It would still sound a bit honky but not as much as in a Gibson with the naturally more prominent mids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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