Need help choosing pickup for new Pono Uke

So I am elated to have a new Tenor Pono Pro-Classic Uke, solid cedar top, solid acacia sides coming my way this week from Mim's Ukes. She is doing the set up.

My next decision is to determine which pickup system to put in the uke since Mim does not do that (yet, she says). Any thoughts, ideas, comments would be welcome to help me figure out what the best pickup to have installed.

Thanks in advance.

I would recommend the MISI or lrbaggs five o pickups.

The five o's are more expensive but they are considered slightly better?

I love the misi trio acoustic. You plug it in to the adaptor and get 16 hours of play.

They do need to be I installed though by a qualified luthier, unless you are pretty good with drilling etc.

Maybe Mim can have it done locally for you before shipping? If not HMS does excellent installs and setups. They may have the same Uke you want and set it up with a misi for you.

I had HMS put a K&K Aloha twin on my AC and have no complaints. It's two pizos glued to the soundboard so no drilling into the bridge and messing with the saddle.
http://www.theukulelesite.com/accessories/pickups.html

Please note that it is a passive pickup so will probably need an external preamp (I have a LR Baggs Gigpro)

Any of the above or other quality pickup that does not involved cutting holes in your new uke (except for the endpin jack)

I had HMS install a LR Baggs 5.0 in my KoAloha tenor and it was divine. I like Baggs.

As far as I've seen, the Baggs is regarded as top dog around here. Rick Turner's work with/for D-Tar produced fantastic results, but it requires an external battery box.

I've got the Baggs.

Thanks all for the replies. So far, it seems that there are 2 top dogs - misi trio acoustic and lr baggs 5.0.

Yes I do know a qualified luthier to make the installation. Of course I will need to see what his preferences are and what he can get.

The misi is on par with the lrbaggs but it is $50 cheaper, and does not need batteries.

As much as I love and recommend Mim, you might be better off getting it from HMS Hawaiian Music Supply, as they are also on the top list of sellers and can definitely install the pickup and have a great setup as well.

Olarte said:

The misi is on par with the lrbaggs but it is $50 cheaper, and does not need batteries.

As much as I love and recommend Mim, you might be better off getting it from HMS Hawaiian Music Supply, as they are also on the top list of sellers and can definitely install the pickup and have a great setup as well.

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Thanks Olarte - Mim gave me a great deal. I know someone here in San Antonio who can do the install.

I actually prefer the K&K twinspot a tad over the Misi or LR Baggs. Two reasons: I think the Twinspot is the most accurate acoustic sound. The other two sound great and Baggs sounds divine, but to me they color the sound. Also, I like the maintenance free simplicity of the passive pickup. Any one of those three is an excellent pickup. I've got all of them on different ukes.

Olarte said:

The misi is on par with the lrbaggs but it is $50 cheaper, and does not need batteries.

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For those reading this thread, be careful with "on par". Price and features aside (some will call a capacitor a feature - MiSi certainly does), these are two very different pickups. Yes, they may share the same undersaddle, but the preamp is different, and this, IMO/IME is the crux of the decision. Some players actually like the Fishman quack, and I've heard of one artist in particular that uninstalled a Baggs Element for a Fishman Matrix (the MiSi pre is very Fishmany). I've also heard of another artist who wanted the Element specifically, and NOT the Five.0 in an `ukulele.

Note: the install of the Baggs is more finicky than say, a Fishman. I'd venture to guess that the MiSi would be similar to the Baggs. While I've not installed a MiSi, I've heard a few of them live. Fishman is a nice, non-eventful install, but it goes in much differently than a Baggs. Your installer will know this. If I had a choice of installs, it would be a Fishman. If I had to play through the instrument, Baggs for sure.

My suggestion - whatever pickup you have installed, get a Baggs ParaAcoustic DI for live sound. My `ukulele player in my group would tell you the same thing. His newest favorite setup: LRBaggs Five.0 into LRBaggs ParaAcoustic DI, XLR into mixer. Disclaimer: I'm an LRBaggs Dealer, so I'm a little biased.

To take away from the Bias, I heard one of Rick's DTar's at NAMM a few years back - awesome awesome pickup, TONS of headroom, no quack, no feedback. I think it was the Timber-Line. And the battery box is mounted in the instrument, with an option to outboard mount with a TRS cable (I may be wrong on this one). I didn't get the 18v benefit of the DTAR, until I converted my bass from 9v to 18v - completely different instrument. Of course the ParaAcoustic increases gain as well, but the DTAR does it by itself.

You've been given recommendations on different pickups, but all of these are blind. We don't know your application, which could help. For all we know, all you want to do is record, and that's why you want a pickup. Then you can pretty much disregard everything I said.

BTW - Aaron at HMS did a pickup shootout, with a few of the pickups mentioned here.

I can't find it now but ColMes from UU did a fabulous Utube video shootout of Baggs 5.0 versus MiSi--was it the Trio?-- with sound samples and all, in early 2013. As I recall, the Baggs won in spades. Audibly better (perhaps for some of the reasons mentioned by kekani and others).

katysax said:

I actually prefer the K&K twinspot a tad over the Misi or LR Baggs. Two reasons: I think the Twinspot is the most accurate acoustic sound. The other two sound great and Baggs sounds divine, but to me they color the sound. Also, I like the maintenance free simplicity of the passive pickup. Any one of those three is an excellent pickup. I've got all of them on different ukes.

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I second this comment.

I love passive pickup due to maintenance free, lighter weight, and more important, the sound. Because with a stand-alone pre-amp I could get a higher quality and cleaner sound.

I have removed the active pickup from my first uke and installed a K&K twinspot on it.

In answer to Kekani's question about my application - I am in two bands where I play uke (and various guitars depending on the band and venue). So, my application is to play out live. The venues are typically small in size seating 35 to 50 ish, and/or restaurant gigs with rooms in various shapes, sizes and materials.

All of this information is fantastic. I am leaning towards a passive pickup, to not have to worry about batteries (I have had one go out in a gig before), coupled with some sort of equalizer. I have a 7 band Boss EQ pedal that I use that will help with the sound, or I will pick up a Para DI. Of course I need to see what my luthier thinks as well.

Keep it coming.

I strongly recommend contacting JJB Electronics, and comparing their products with those of other makers. They're small, but build very high quality components.

stevepetergal said:

I strongly recommend contacting JJB Electronics, and comparing their products with those of other makers. They're small, but build very high quality components.

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Thanks Steve, I will.