Best uke pickup under $200?

For an up-coming event, I need a uke with a pickup. I have several ukes but none of them has a pickup at present. Ergo, I plan to buy & install an under-saddle pickup on one of my ukes. I seek your advice to help me decide which pickup to buy and which uke to put it on.

Premise: The amplified sound quality from a uke depends more on the quality of the pickup than it does on the quality of the uke.

Q1: Is the premise TRUE or FALSE?

Q2: If Premise is true, then $200 is the upper limit of what I can pay to buy a quality pickup. What are your recommendations?

Q3: If Premise is true, then I will NOT gain enough added sound quality by putting the pick up on my best/favorite uke. Instead I can put it on one of my *pretty-good* ukes such as my Kala 5-string cedar-top. Agree or disagree?

In case you were wondering: If Premise is FALSE, then I still can't bear the thought of drilling holes in my favorite uke. So I shall (sigh) put it on my Pono RTC PC.

Thanks for any help you offer, and --- Aloha from Hawaii (^_^)

There sure is a lot of talk about the MiSi pickup, which seems available from just about every reputable dealer for $150 or so.

Playing into a mic may also be an option, if there is a house PA system, just a thought.

I think Campbell is on to something. Maybe just use the house PA and get a mic/ or use theirs.
I don't like the idea of putting something between my saddle and the wood. Especially if you are not using it as a plugged in instrument all the time.
They make some soundhole mics that might suit your needs as well. Those are very temporary and should be well under your budget. I have seen them for $10-20usd on Amazon.

"Premise: The amplified sound quality from a uke depends more on the quality of the pickup than it does on the quality of the uke.

Q1: Is the premise TRUE or FALSE?"

False. Or more accurately "it depends what sound qualities you're after". If you're after the most faithful reproduction of the ukulele's current sound, a good external mic can't be beaten. If you're looking for something that projects well when amped, a UST might be the solution, but will sound quite different. If you want a richer sound you might prefer sound board transducers, but these can be difficult to amp live.

"Q3: If Premise is true, then I will NOT gain enough added sound quality by putting the pick up on my best/favorite uke. Instead I can put it on one of my *pretty-good* ukes such as my Kala 5-string cedar-top. Agree or disagree?"

Agree, if you're talking under-saddle.

"In case you were wondering: If Premise is FALSE, then I still can't bear the thought of drilling holes in my favorite uke. So I shall (sigh) put it on my Pono RTC PC."

As others have suggested, a MiSi requires minimal modification and won't ruin the look or sound of your uke.

Kekani said:

. . .Run through a ParaAcoustic DI/Venue and you'd be hard pressed to find a better setup at that cost to run live through almost any venue (no pun intended).. . .

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I have heard good things about LRBaggs at multiple places, at multiple times. OTOH, I have NO idea what a ParaAcoustic DI/Venue is.

Do you mean that, if I install the LRBaggs Five.O into my uke, that I wouldn't be able to just plug her into an amp & rip? Would I also need this DI/Venue thingey?
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Dan Gleibitz said:

...As others have suggested, a MiSi requires minimal modification and won't ruin the look or sound of your uke. . .

Click to expand...

Can you please give best MiSi model number for a uke, & a link to an online seller?