Maestro Guitars: February 2010

Hi,

Here is a brief overview of the K&K pickup models that we carry. Will post reviews/videos as soon as i can source them out.

Regards,
Isaiah

Twin Spot Internal ( $129 with installation)

The Twin Spot Internal is a twin-head piezo transducer that is designed for internal mount in acoustic guitars and other instruments.

The twin-head system has distinctive advantages towards the single-head transducer: The positioning at 2 spots results in a more balanced sound structure. The frequency range is broader. The small heads with only 1/2" diameters allow an unobtrusive installation. In addition, small areas at the instrument can be reached.

The Twin Spot Internal comes with an endpin jack for internal mount. The jack can be mounted from the outside so no soldering is necessary.

Pure Mini ($220 with installation)

The Pure Mini is a passive system for steel string guitar, with three pickup heads and an endpin jack. It is a transducer system only and does not include a battery or on-board electronics. Don't be fooled by the sound of some competitors' "thin sounding" passive systems--the Pure Systems are definitely different. They sound full and rich and have sufficient output to drive most amps and PA systems directly!

We recommend the Pure Mini pickups for all acoustic guitars as a first choice. Direct installation with superglue gel is required for optimum performance but the system is still removable without damaging the guitar (you may damage the pickup though).

This pickup system will fit ANY steel string acoustic guitar! It features super balanced, flat sound transmission, warm woody tone without any quack and superior dynamic range all over the guitar's frequency spectrum. This pickup won the silver medal in the 2006 worldwide readers' poll of Acoustic Guitar Magazine. Our customers tell us that the Pure Mini's output is louder than any other passive pickup on the market.

Pure Classic ($270 with installation)

The Pure Classic is passive system for classic guitar, with four pickup heads and an endpin jack. It is a transducer systems only and does not include a battery or on-board electronics. Don't be fooled by the sound of some competitors' "thin sounding" passive systems--the Pure Systems are definitely different. They sound full and rich and have sufficient output to drive most amps and PA systems directly!

Installing the Pure Classic

The Pure Classic is designed to be installed with superglue for optimum sound transmission. For the players who do not wish to do this we also supply a special extra thin double stick tape for peel-and-stick removable installation. Pickups mounted with this tape require a preamp. The peel-and-stick installation cuts off a little bit at both the low and high end plus the output is reduced by about 30% compared to the superglue installation.

Pure Archtop ($180 with installation)

The Pure Archtop is a twin-head transducer with cable harness and endpin jack. It includes a 2' feeder wire for easy installaion and all necessary installation materials. It is ideal for natural and true to your instrument amplification of Archtop and Jazz guitars.

The Pure Archtop can be combined with a magnetic pickup via a Dual Channel Pro ST preamp. The included stereo endpin jack is wired to the tip terminal so that a magnetic system can be wired to the ring terminal (or vice versa - technical know-how and soldering is required!). This combination will give exceptional life and brilliance to the guitar's sound and is, in our opinion, the ultimate in high class jazz guitar amplification.

Pure Maccaferri ($180 with installation)

The Pure Maccaferri is a twin-head piezo transducer for internal installation in Maccaferri guitars. This pickup sounds very natural and is, in our opinion, the most true-sounding solution to amplify a Maccaferri guitars on the market today.

The Pure + Pre-Phase combines a Pure pickup with the Pre-Phase Minatue Pre-Amp

The Pre-Phase provides truly astonishing sound quality. The signal path is very direct and we use only close tolerance grade A components. This means no loss of harmonics. The addition of the phase switch is one of the most important tools for live sound amplification of any acoustic instrument.
The light weight of the Pre-Phase will not affect the acoustic tone of your instrument, and the battery life is 500+ hours, which equals about 1 year on average use.
The volume control wheel allows for convenient adjustment during performance. With the Pre-Phase you should be able to plug your acoustic guitar into any amp or PA directly. Simply use the EQ on the amp or Mixer channel to adjust your tone:
Your unplugged acoustic guitar resonates in a given phase. The amplified sound needs to match this phase! Out of phase sound feedbacks, has phase cancellations on some notes and sounds quacky and tinny overall. Phase problems cannot be sufficiently solved with EQ. Any amp/PA/effect-unit/preamp may or may not flip the phase, the only way to be sure that your guitar is in phase with the amp-sound is a phase switch in your signal chain! In our opinion a phase switch is the #1 control for any amplified acoustic
The endpin-jack can be easily mounted from the outside so no soldering is necessary.
All Pure Pick up models (mini. classic, archtop and macferi) are available with the K&K Pre-Phase Minature Preamp at an additional $135

UltraPure Mini ($350 with installation)

The UltraPure Mini is an active system for steel string guitar. It comprises a three-head bridge plate pickup, an onboard preamp with soundhole access, an endpin jack, and a Velcro mounted 9-volt battery holder. The pickup is based on our time-tested Pure Mini, which excels at amplifying the natural tone of your guitar. The UltraPure Preamp offers precise 3 band EQ as well as a gain control to finetune bass, mid, treble and gain.

Our goal was to build an acoustic guitar transducer system that does not sound as harsh and percussive as the common state-of-the-art saddle transducers do. We were looking for a warmer, more "microphone-like" tone with the ability to achieve the high-gain-before-feedback characteristics of saddle pickups. After thorough testing we concluded that surface transducers positioned directly underneath the bridge inside the guitar body represent the ideal solution by yielding an excellent response from the guitar top, while minimizing feedback problems.

Installing the UltraPure Mini

Installing the preamp requires no destructive alteration to your instrument. The preamp is mounted inside the guitar at the edge of the soundhole, using a super-strong neodymium magnet (that is attached to your guitar with Velcro), giving you convenient access to the volume slider during performance. Just pull the unit out a bit and adjust the EQ and gain trimpots with a miniature screw driver. This needs to be done only once to perfectly balance your guitar in respect to the amplification system you are using.
The 1/2" diameter Mini pickups will fit ANY steel string acoustic guitar. Direct installation with superglue is required for optimum performance but the system is still removable without damaging the guitar (you may damage the pickup though).

UltraPure Classic ($399 with installation)

The UltraPure Classic is an active system for nylon string guitar. It comprises a four-head bridge plate pickup, an onboard preamp with soundhole access, an endpin jack, and a Velcro mounted 9-volt battery holder. The pickup is based on our time-tested Pure Classic, which excels at amplifying the natural tone of your guitar. The UltraPure preamp offers precise 3 band EQ as well as a gain control to finetune bass, mid, treble and gain.

Our goal was to build an acoustic guitar transducer system that does not sound as harsh and percussive as the common state-of-the-art saddle transducers do. We were looking for a warmer, more "microphone-like" tone with the ability to achieve the high-gain-before-feedback characteristics of saddle pickups. After thorough testing we concluded that surface transducers positioned directly underneath the bridge inside the guitar body represent the ideal solution by yielding an excellent response from the guitar top, while minimizing feedback problems.

What are the advantages of the Pure pickups over undersaddle pickups?

The special Pure surface transducers transmit a significant portion of the soundboard because they are not as close to the strings as an undersaddle pickup. An undersaddle pickup mostly amplifies the sound made by the guitar strings. There will not be much difference in sound if you play a cheap $50 guitar or a handcrafted $5,000 instrument. With the Pure Western pickups, not only are each of the three transducers designed to pick up a specific string pair, but they also "listen" to the sound of your soundboard. The transducer elements are not under pressure and therefore do NOT sound percussive or harsh or quacky no matter if you play hard or soft. The Pure Western reproduces all strings nicely balanced. Undersaddle pickups often have problems with string-to-string balance. Unlike undersaddle pickups which passively often sound thin and trebled-only, the passive Pure Western puts out a nicely balanced, warm, full range signal.

Some disadvantages of undersaddle pickups:

•Hard, percussive tone, because it is under high pressure.
•Picks up mostly strings and hardly any sound from the soundboard.
•Chance of unbalanced individual string-loudness can result in work-intensive balancing procedure.
•Needs special preamp to compensate for the hard sound.

How safe are the Pure pickups with feedback?

Due to the location on the bridge plate under the bridge, feedback resistance is comparable to undersaddle transducers, though the under-the-saddle pickups still have the edge here. Technically, a pickup installed in or on the bridge plate is a lot less likely to feedback than one which is attached to the open sound board. The 1/8" (or less) thin sound board can act like a diaphragm and vibrate along with loud sound-signals from speaker cabinets. This is the kind of booming low end feedback you experience on an acoustic guitar. The thicker bridge area is a lot harder to be set into vibration from an outside source simply because of its mass. In our tests with both, steel string and classic guitars equipped with an under-saddle pickup plus a Pure pickup, we were able to achieve about the same gain-before-feedback with both systems, but of course an under-saddle pickup with their very "direct" and string driven tone cuts better through a loud mix.