Please Explain Pickups To Me

_Silly_Me_Sitting_Here_

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Hey, guys! I'm hoping that someone can explain pickups to me - like I'm a 5-year-old.

I'm buying a baritone ukulele & I'll definitely need a pickup for it. I'll be purchasing from Hawaii Music Supply & they offer a few different pickups. A couple are cheaper passive picks (K&K, Pono for Pono brands) and a couple are active pickups (MiSi Trio, LR Baggs). And, despite all my "googling," I can't - for the life of me - figure out what all of this means.

So, what is the difference between the passive and active pickups? Let's say I'm going to an open mic night w/ just my ukulele in hand. The guy hands me a plug & I plug it into my ukulele. In this scenario, which type of pickup should I have?

I'm eyeballing a Pono at the moment, so the (cheaper-ish) passive Pono is an option. But, the Misi Trio is only $50 more. And, for another $50 there's the LR Baggs. But, which one would work best in a real-world, open-mic situation?

Thanks a TON for the help!
 
I'm not an expert and don't have direct experience with all the models listed, but in general terms "passive" just means it does not need a power source and "active" means it does need a power source (battery) to operate. The power is used to modify the signal before it leaves the uke. This could take the form of boosting the signal, filtering noise, EQ'ing, etc. It is not always the case that "active is better" though. With either, you'll be better off playing through an external preamp box at the open-mic night to give you more control over your sound (tone and volume) instead of being completely at the mercy of the sound guy (and I say that as a sometimes sound guy).
 
Thanks, Jim!

So... From what I'm understanding, if I use a passive pickup, I actually need to have an *additional* piece of equipment (an external preamp box) whenever I go out w/ my uke. But, with the active pickup, I can just plug and go (assuming the sound guy knows what he's doing)?
 
Thanks, Jim!

So... From what I'm understanding, if I use a passive pickup, I actually need to have an *additional* piece of equipment (an external preamp box) whenever I go out w/ my uke. But, with the active pickup, I can just plug and go (assuming the sound guy knows what he's doing)?

Either way you'll be miles ahead with a pre-amp or digital interface. I run with a Behringer ADI21. Not expensive. Good quality. And you're always prepared.
 
Either way you'll be miles ahead with a pre-amp or digital interface. I run with a Behringer ADI21. Not expensive. Good quality. And you're always prepared.

Does this mean you've got a passive pickup installed in your uke (which makes the preamp necessary)? I'm just thinking.... Ugh. Another thing to lug around? Would it even fit into my uke case? If I go with the Misi Trio/ LR Baggs, it's just "plug and go," right?

Thanks for the insights!
 
What PB said. You can plug and go with either. It's more a matter of how much control you want on your end.

So.... If I bought the cheapest passive pickup (K&K BI), I should be okay - even without a separate preamp box? I don't suppose anyone has an opinion about the K&K Big Island spot? I sure like the idea of saving that extra hundred bucks I would have spent on the MiSi Trio.
 
Hi _Silly_Me_Sitting_Here_!

The difference between passive and active pickups is shown below.

upload png

I think passive is lighter than active and good for our ukuleles.
 
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So, what is the difference between the passive and active pickups? Let's say I'm going to an open mic night w/ just my ukulele in hand. The guy hands me a plug & I plug it into my ukulele. In this scenario, which type of pickup should I have?

If you're rolling up with just a uke and you want the best sound you can get out of the plug, you want active. Passive will work, but without the preamp, it's a stab in the dark whether you'll have a decent sound. It takes a good soundman and some luck.

So.... If I bought the cheapest passive pickup (K&K BI), I should be okay - even without a separate preamp box? I don't suppose anyone has an opinion about the K&K Big Island spot? I sure like the idea of saving that extra hundred bucks I would have spent on the MiSi Trio.

I had one (or something very similar) for many years in my Kamaka. Swapped it for a MISI and it was like night and day. So much better for performing. If you want a "natural" sound, the K&K might be a tad better, but you'll be fighting feedback and arm noise for eternity. If you can afford it, I'd get the active option.

IMO, the LR Baggs is a superior pickup. But the MISI is great too.
 
I had one (or something very similar) for many years in my Kamaka. Swapped it for a MISI and it was like night and day. So much better for performing. If you want a "natural" sound, the K&K might be a tad better, but you'll be fighting feedback and arm noise for eternity. If you can afford it, I'd get the active option.

IMO, the LR Baggs is a superior pickup. But the MISI is great too.


Ugh... I was hoping to get away with cheap (K&K). The ukulele I'm buying only costs $275 & it just seems insane to spend $200 for the LR Baggs pickup (as it's more than half the cost of the ukulele). If I were buying a higher end ukulele, I'd absolute want the best pickup. But, I'm having a really hard time justifying that kind of money for a "cheap-ish" uke. The Misi is a tad cheaper, but it's still around $160.

And, this "arm noise" doesn't sound good at all. Hmmmmm...
 
I would listen to Brad (Hippie Guy). Don't let the name fool you - he knows what he's talking about. :)

It sounds like you are wanting the best setup for playing live. Brad has given you two good options and some good reasons to avoid the passive in your situation.

I understand what you're saying about the cost of the pickup vs cost of the uke, but they are serving two different purposes. You chose the Kala mahogany for playability (thinner neck) and warm tone. I'm pretty confident it will play well and sound good acoustically. Great. But with the pickup, you want it to sound good amplified and LOUD - and that's a very different thing.
 
I understand what you're saying about the cost of the pickup vs cost of the uke, but they are serving two different purposes. You chose the Kala mahogany for playability (thinner neck) and warm tone. I'm pretty confident it will play well and sound good acoustically. Great. But with the pickup, you want it to sound good amplified and LOUD - and that's a very different thing.

Thanks, Jim. You make some very good points here. It sounds like taking the "cheaper" way out could really backfire on me. *sigh* I guess I'll consider that MiSi after all. :)
 
Here's my 2 cents.
Go with the K&K. Look for a LR Baggs "GigPro" preamp.
It is easily carried and gives you tone & volume control.
I use the preamp with all my pickups. I have twin spots, big spots and MiSi's.
The preamp can be used on any ukuleles you will acquire in the future.
 
I only know a little about pickups. When I had pickups installed in my Kamaka tenor and Kamaka baritone, I had LR Baggs 5.0 pickups installed because (1) Brad likes them and (2) they're the only pickups Chuck Moore installs in his ukes, and either of those reasons was good enough for me. When I had a pickup installed in my Beau Hannam tenor guitar, I had a K&K passive pickup installed because Beau Hannam, the instrument's builder, recommended it. I also bought a $200 LR Baggs preamp for it, although I plugged in once without any preamp at all and that seemed fine. From what I've gathered, K&K, which gets sound vibrations from under the soundboard, is better for replicating the most acoustic possible sound with electronics (that's why Beau recommended it for a steel stringed instrument). LR Baggs gathers sound vibrations from the bridge and is said to have a slightly more "electric" sound.

My first question would be, why do you want to amplify? If it's just for the sake of being able to run your ukulele through a speaker, then maybe a K&K wouldd work for you, provided the cable distance from your uke to the soundboard/speaker is short (sound deteriorates over distance). If you're planning to perform, then you may want to spend some real money (i.e, passive pickup plus preamp, or active pickup like the LR Baggs 5.0) to maximize the quality of the amplification, even if you end up spending approximately what your ukulele is worth.
 
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I buy ukes with built-in preamp, tuner and active pickup, or I install them myself. I want the control of the volume and tone at my fingertips, and the tuner is that much more convenient. I buy them direct from China for about $15 to $35, because I can't find them here in the states. I have two ukes at the moment with no pickup, but have the preamps waiting to install. I had a passive Fishman installed in one uke, but it didn't have enough output, so I replaced it with an active system.
 
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Lots of good info here already, but this same topic has been discussed many times previously. A search might help you since nobody has yet mentioned the impedance mismatch that occurs when running a passive piezo pickup directly into an amp or PA system.

Pointing Google at the forum as per this link: https://www.google.com/search?sclie....11&ei=4A9qWNniBIaSmQGrrLKoBA&emsg=NCSR&noj=1

Is going to show you these lengthy discussions.

Having worked as a sound engineer, this is not something you can simply ignore and hope for the best, for doing so OFTEN yields unpredictable and unsatisfactorily results, i.e., it will sound 'bad' and 'tinny' and suffer the piezo 'quack' due to the impedance mismatch in effect acting as a high-pass filter (like an EQ) with near total loss of all audio frequencies below 400hz, which for ukulele sounds like you are playing through a tin can for a speaker.

TL;DR: cheap passive pickup = bad sound = 'buy cheap, buy twice'

My recommendation is to go with an active system with a built-in preamp (Mi-Si, or Five.O) or a passive system (K&K, JJB, Schatten, Fishman, etc) and add an external preamp, at a minimum of the Behringer ADI-21, or LR Baggs Venue DI or Para DI, or Radial PZDI, or Radial ToneBone DI.

I understand the concerns over cost, but if you cheap out on your pickup system, you are going to offend the audience with brittle and harsh tones that do not represent the best possible ACOUSTIC sound of your ukulele.

I have walked out on concerts and shows with bad sound. Sometimes the sound man running the PA can only do so much, as in 'garbage in = garbage out'

Just my 2 cents from 30+ yrs of audio engineering experience. :)
 
The least intrusive setup, short of just playing into a mic, is probably a Kremona UK-1. You loosen the strings and slip it under them at the tie bridge. It will quack like a mother duck. That can be dialed out with a DI (here I am touting the Behringer ADI21 again). It also sits pretty proud of the bridge and I've worried about snagging it and breaking it. It goes about $70 and the DI is about $30. No installation cost because the UK-1 is external to the uke.

If sound quality is what you're after go with LR Bags or MiSi. If you're trying to keep to a budget then this may be a good choice.
 
My only experience is with the MiSi, however, I read all through everything I could find on here, and then asked more questions before I had it installed. The MiSi is active, has a rechargeable capacitor instead of a battery and you can recharge it in thirty seconds. That makes it light. I don't have the soundhole knobs and I just adjust everything at the amp, which makes it even lighter. It is a very clean setup, without any control panel planted in the side of your uke. I think that it is worth the money just for the simplicity of the whole thing. You don't even know it is there until you use it. It truly is a plug in and play setup.
 
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There is another option, which would be less permanent and also provide a more natural sound: a temporary quality microphone inside the soundhole, like these: http://www.bartlettaudio.com/collections/instrument-mics The instrument's body will shield it from outside noise. I just bought one for my parlor guitar, which might work just fine in a baritone ukulele also (here is a video of someone demo-ing it on guitars and a tenor ukulele).
 
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