pick-up & pre-amp

[bluemoan]

Hi,

 

A few months ago (october 2008), I asked for your help regarding the purchase of a good pick-up for my AJ (Fishman vs other brands). I finally bought the K & K Pure Western Mini and thanks to all of you, I notice day after day most of you gave me the right advice. Sounds terrific!

 

At the same moment I also bought the LR Baggs PARA-DI pre-amp. I didn't use it for months but recently decided to do it.

And... oups, the sound coming out of my amp (Marshall AS 50 R) rather reminds me Ritchie Blackmore than the sound of an acoustic guitar with pick-up! Nothing against R. B. of course but the sound is completely distorted, even with gain

turned down... I tried various adjustments but MY AJ still produces... hard rock music!

 

Does the K&K pick-up don't fit with LR BAggs preamp?

Is there a particular adjustment to do?

Am I really & totally stupid regarding electronic stuff ? (of course I am !)

Should I play hard rock music ??

 

Has anybody among you already met this kind of problem and can help to "fix" it ?

 

Thanks

best regards

gerald

[asmith9509]

Hi' date='

 

A few months ago (october 2008), I asked for your help regarding the purchase of a good pick-up for my AJ (Fishman vs other brands). I finally bought the K & K Pure Western Mini and thanks to all of you, I notice day after day most of you gave me the right advice. Sounds terrific!

 

At the same moment I also bought the LR Baggs PARA-DI pre-amp. I didn't use it for months but recently decided to do it.

And... oups, the sound coming out of my amp (Marshall AS 50 R) rather reminds me Ritchie Blackmore than the sound of an acoustic guitar with pick-up! Nothing against R. B. of course but the sound is completely distorted, even with gain

turned down... I tried various adjustments but MY AJ still produces... hard rock music!

 

Does the K&K pick-up don't fit with LR BAggs preamp?

Is there a particular adjustment to do?

Am I really & totally stupid regarding electronic stuff ? (of course I am !)

Should I play hard rock music ??

 

Has anybody among you already met this kind of problem and can help to "fix" it ?

 

Thanks

best regards

gerald

[/quote']

Have you checked the battery in your PADI? That seems like the most likely culprit.

[zeebee]

If you look in the FAQ section of the manufacturer's website, you'll see that the recommended load impedance for the K&K is 1M (One MegOhm). The Baggs, like the Fishman and most other preamps designed for USTs, has an input impedance of 10M which is ten times too high for the K&K and produces bass emphasis and treble loss. For accurate tonal balance, it should be provided with the correct load of 1M by the preamp or DI-box into which it is plugged. Many people don't seem to know or care about the importance of impedance-matching, and consequently have no idea what they're missing.

[mjg]

I've been using the K&K Pure Mini for years. Started with the PADI and had no problems at all. The PADI is a great unit. However, I wanted a bit more simplicity and a perfect impedance match to the pick up and bought the K&K Pure XLR. The tone is the slightest bit nicer but the simplicity of using it far exceeds the PADI. The only time I can foresee using the PADI again with my K&K pick up is if I encountered a venue with a ton of feedback. Although the K&K Pure XLR has phase inversion, as does the PADI, the PADI has notch filtering which provides even more feedback control. Still feedback has not been an issue for me yet.

 

I love the K&K Pure XLR but will never sell my PADI. I plan on using that for any UST equipped guitars in the future. Although I am a K&K fan, I plan on checking out the DTar Wavelength in another guitar for an application that required more cut.

 

I go straight to the PA and not an amp however. Still I don't think you should have any problems though...

 

Although the PADI and K&K Mini are not a perfect match, they still work well together. But...if the K&K is the pick up of choice, you may want to consider the Pure XLR for simplicity and a tad bit more natural tone. They are about the same price so you should lose much financially.

[bluemoan]

Hi mjg,

 

I was answering to Zeebee who said that the problem certainly came from the important difference of impedance between the K&K (1MegOhm) and the Lr Baggs (10MegOhm). This mismatch produces bass emphasis and treble loss.

...Then I certainly did a mistake on the keyboard and suddenly his post disappeared! (so sorry Zeebee!)

 

A few months ago, when I had to make a choice for a pickup, a member said that the pair K&K / Lr Baggs worked perfectly for him:

 

"It has plenty of volume by itself but since it is passive (no need for a 9 volt battery inside your guitar) I plug into a LR Baggs PARA DI box in front of my Genz Benz Shenendoah amp and it sounds heavenly!!! "

In your post, you say (you) "had no problems at all " and " Although the PADI and K&K Mini are not a perfect match, they still work well together. "

 

Do you think there is a solution except selling the PADI to buy another preamp with a better match (ie:K&K Pure XLR)? I just read this on the K&K website :

"If you use an LR Baggs Para DI Preamp, for example, you may experience an extremely high bass response with the Pure system which in return may lead to boominess. You should turn down the bass to compensate. ".

 

So, I'll try again, turning down the bass on the preamp as on the amp and i'll see the result and I"ll let you know.

 

Thanks for helping

regards

[mjg]

Hi Bluemoan:

 

Although I had no problems with the PADI, it was a bear to dial in the tone I wanted. You can tweak it to death... I play at church and once I found the settings I liked, I never touched it. However, if I changed venues, it took a while to dial in the tone for that setting.

 

Once you learn the PADI you should be fine. I am more of a player than tech so it took me a while. along with the bass, I found cutting the lower mids pretty effective as well. The sweepable mid controls are good once you understand them.

 

It's a nice unit and you'll be okay once you learn it. It is definitely a sensitive device.

Mike

[bluemoan]

Have you checked the battery in your PADI? That seems like the most likely culprit.

Hi Bluemoan:

 

Although I had no problems with the PADI' date=' it was a bear to dial in the tone I wanted. You can tweak it to death... I play at church and once I found the settings I liked, I never touched it. However, if I changed venues, it took a while to dial in the tone for that setting.

 

Once you learn the PADI you should be fine. I am more of a player than tech so it took me a while. along with the bass, I found cutting the lower mids pretty effective as well. The sweepable mid controls are good once you understand them.

 

It's a nice unit and you'll be okay once you learn it. It is definitely a sensitive device.

Mike [/quote']

 

Thanks a lot for helping (Thanks to Zeebee too),

 

In fact, the PADI and the K&K mini fit well together, even with the important impedance mismatch Zeebee was talking about. Distorted sound simply came, as asmith9509 said,... from the battery which was at the end of life. But the battery status LED still stayed on and wasn't flashing to "tell" the battery was low! I replaced the battery and everything seems to work perfectly. Sounds great and I am really impatient to be more comfortable with the settings to find the sound(s) I like!

 

thanks again,

best regards to you all,

Gerald

[mjg]

Hey Gerald... The impedance mismatch is not that severe. Careful with the gain on the PADI. Although the pick-up is passive, you don't need to crank the gain on the PADI to get a decent signal. Glad to hear it all worked out. Mike