K & K Sound Acoustic Pickups

$99.00 plus shipping and  installation. 

The Pure Pickup is our award-winning, signature pickup for acoustic guitars. Installed on the guitar's bridge plate, the Pure Pickup is the the best choice for achieving a rich, natural guitar sound -- even without a preamp!

Our customers tell us that it's the best passive pickup on the market, which means it's the perfect plug-and-play solution for the musician who wants a warm, full-range signal without worrying about cluttering up their instrument, adjusting onboard electronics, or having to remember to change the battery.

Available as:

• Pure Mini: 3-head transducer for steel string acoustic guitar
• Pure Classic: 4-head transducer for nylon string acoustic guitar
• Pure 12-String: 3-head transducer for 12-string acoustic guitar. The larger pickup heads produce an extra strong bass response and pronounced midrange that sounds great in 12-string guitars and is a good alternative for guitars with heavy spruce tops and maple bridge plates.

The Pure Pickup's position on the bridge plate provides the perfect balance of sound, picking up all the strings without sounding harsh or percussive and "listening" to the sound board to amplify the unique characteristics of your guitar. The result is a warm, full-range signal that represents the true character of your guitar.

For players who want more control over their signal, or need to achieve high gain before feedback, we recommend the Pure Preamp or Pure XLR Preamp. 

• Pure Mini: Direct installation with superglue gel is required for optimum performance but the system can be carefully removed without damage to your guitar (you may damage the pickup though). This pickup system will fit all standard steel string acoustic guitars.
• 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 installed with this tape will require a preamp because output is reduced by about 30% compared to the superglue installation.
• Pure 12-String: Because the pickup heads are quite large, please check the bridge plate size of your guitar before you order. Please refer to this original size diagram of the Pure 12-String. If the pickups do not fit, the Pure Mini is a good alternative.

$112.00 plus shipping.

The Pure Preamp is our time-tested external preamp, featuring +/-20 db bass and mid EQ -, and +/- 16 dB treble EQ controls plus an internal gain trimmer that allows you to adjust the gain from factor 0.5 (half as loud as input signal) to factor 10 (10 times as loud as input signal). This belt clip unit has been specifically designed for the frequencies of the acoustic guitar but it is also great for many other instruments.

The Pure Preamp features a special super wide band midrange filter, which is absolutely great in combination with the Pure Pickup. Its simple and noiseless circuitry provides unsurpassed clarity and power and the internal gain trimmer allows you to dial in the precise amplification factor needed for your instrument.

Frequency response is 10-30,000Hz. The bass control is set to roll off at 100Hz, the midrange at 1.5kHz with extra large bandwidth and the treble are set at 10kHz. Input impedance is 1 meg and the output is low ohmic. Battery life is about 180+ hours.

On the rear of preamp are two 1/4" jacks (input and output). The output jack also doubles as battery switch, when unplugged it disconnects the battery when not in use.

• Frequency response: 10 - 30,000 Hz
• Input: 1/4", 1 Mega Ohm impedance
• Output: 1/4", low impedance
• Bass: roll off @100Hz +/- 20dB
• Midrange: super wide band @ 1.5kHz +/- 20dB
• Treble: 10Khz +/-16dB
• Size: 2 ½” x 3”
• Battery Consumption: less than 1 milli Ampere - 9-volt – 180 hours

$189.00 plus shipping.

The Pure XLR Preamp has the same great sound and low noise circuitry as our best-selling Pure Preamp with the addition of a DI balanced XLR output and a phase switch.

The Pure XLR Preamp is specially designed to complement our line of Pure Pickups. However, due to its adjustable input gain and wide frequency range it will work with many more applications. The Pure XLR Preamp features +/-20 db bass, mid, and treble controls, plus an adjustable input gain control. Its noiseless circuitry provides unsurpassed clarity and power and the adjustable input gain allows you to dial in the precise amplification factor needed for your instrument.

The addition of the phase switch is one of the most important tools for live sound amplification of any acoustic instrument. Phase switches are usually marketed as a feedback-controlling device, but they accomplish more than just that. Every acoustic instrument projects sound waves in a certain phase. The phase that is projected out of the amplified speaker source needs to be "in phase" with the acoustic instrument's own sound waves or the result will not be optimal. If the amp projects in the opposite phase, the acoustic instrument will fight its own sound and no balanced tone can develop. Round and warm tone is only achieved when acoustic and amplified sound oscillate in the same phase. The Pure XLR Preamp's phase switch allows for instant correction of this problem.

An LED light indicates if phantom power is present. The unit can optionally be powered by a 9-volt battery, which will not be drained as long as the phantom power provides more than 10 volts.

Frequency response is 10-30,000Hz. The bass control is set to roll of at 100Hz, the midrange at 1.5kHz with extra large bandwidth and the treble are set at 10kHz. Input impedance is 1 meg. Output impedance on balanced XLR and 1/4" line out is 100 Ohm. The 1/4" line out can conveniently be used as a monitor out or for connection to a tuner.

Want to hear what a phase switch does? In this demo, you’ll hear a short melody line on my Martin DM with the Pure Mini and the Pre-Phase directly into my Fender DeVille tube amp (that's right folks - I like this one even for my acoustics!). All EQ is set flat, no effects. The first take is "out of phase," the second is "in phase." I used a microphone positioned in front of the amp to record the difference.

We purposely choose some notes which clearly indicate the trouble of "out of phase" sound. You may have experienced a similar phenomenon yourself. On the first take, the E (on the A string 7th fret) is badly out of phase, it rings rough, dirty and it feeds-back. With the proper phase setting in the second take everything sounds clean and balanced, with a fuller tone overall. All we did was use the little phase switch on the Pre-Phase.

The Trinity System is a dual-source pickup/microphone systems with an external or internal dual-channel preamp for guitars and similar string instruments. They consist of:

• Our award-winning Pure Pickup™
• The Trinity Microphone with integrated 5" gooseneck and 20-20.000 Hz frequency range
• The Trinity Pro Preamp, 2-channel external preamp with adjustable gain-volume-bass-mid-treble for each channel & phase switch for the microphone channel 
• 6” stereo cable

The Trinity System delivers an even more authentic tone than the Pure Pickup alone. The microphone adds extra air and shimmer to the overall sound, which is very desirable for the purely acoustic guitarist. The mic can be mixed in as much or as little as the situation allows. As a general rule, the lower the stage volume, the more mic can be blended in. This system is great for home recordings too!

The Trinity Upgrade System gives customer who already own a Pure Pickup (or a magnetic pickup) a chance to upgrade it to a Trinity Pro System. This upgrade is easily integrated with any of our Pure pickups and includes the Trinity Microphone, the Trinity Pro Preamp, and a 6-foot stereo cable.

The external Trinity Pro Preamp allows for individual sound adjustment of the mic and pickup. It is built using K&K's "silent filter technology" and our full size component philosophy. We use full size capacitors and other parts because we find they sound better than the miniature components in most of our competitors' preamps. This little preamp is extremely versatile and powerful and features easily accessible volume controls and internally adjustable gain/EQ controls with +/- 20 dB bass, midrange and treble filters (trimpots) for each individual channel, plus a phase switch for the microphone channel.

The Quantum Trinity System is our top-of-the-line pickup/mic combination. It features the Quantum Blender, our most powerful preamp/blender that has been specially designed with the Trinity System in mind. It has two fully independent channels that feature a specially tailored 3-band EQ, phase reverse switches, gain and volume controls. Mixed output options in both active-balanced and 1/4" line-level format, individual outputs, stereo and mono inputs, and effect loop. Channel one is switchable from mic to pickup impedance. All this, plus K&K's ultra low noise circuitry.

High-End Preamp/Mixers

Pure XLR Mach 2 Preamp | This preamp runs on an 18-volt circuit for high-powered performance. Features 4-band EQ with parametric, tuner output, mute switch, line out, DI balanced XLR out, and a phase switch

Quantum Blender | Two-channel, top-of-the-line mixer/preamp specially designed for the Trinity System. Fully independent controls for each channel, plus phase switch and effect loop.