Flea Electronics - K&K vs. B-Band

Hi All -

I've recently acquired enough scratch to get a tenor flea (yay!). I pretty much have it all figured out, except for the pick-up options. A forum and google search didn't really produce anything stellar, so I figured I'd put it out to the general body of UU -

What's the deal with the flea pick-up options? Are they any good? Is the B-Band worth $100 more than the soundboard transducer? Where do they install the jack? (Hopefully not on the bottom, otherwise how would it be able to stand on its own?)

Thanks, and happy strumming!

Not much help but I am totally happy with the K&K pickup on my Fluke but no experience with the B-Band. Also the jack is located on the right side of the 'ukulele about 1.5" from the bottom and 1" from the soundboard so it hangs straight down while playing, no interference for standing up.

Ahnko Honu said:

Not much help but I am totally happy with the K&K pickup on my Fluke but no experience with the B-Band. Also the jack is located on the right side of the 'ukulele about 1.5" from the bottom and 1" from the soundboard so it hangs straight down while playing, no interference for standing up.

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Good info! Out of curiosity, what do you use the transducer for? Live playing? Recording? A place to hang your strap? I'm curious because I am looking for a reasonably good recording uke, and I want to get a flea anyway, so why not take care of both requirements in one instrument? Either way, thanks for your help. =]

I've got the K&K on my tenor Fluke. It picks up a lot of rubbing against the body, but you can only hear that if you're not actually playing. It is very accurate reproducing the sound though, and it generally doesn't require a preamp. I'm happy with it and don't think I'd spend the extra cash for the B-Band.

alec534 said:

I've got the K&K on my tenor Fluke. It picks up a lot of rubbing against the body, but you can only hear that if you're not actually playing. It is very accurate reproducing the sound though, and it generally doesn't require a preamp. I'm happy with it and don't think I'd spend the extra cash for the B-Band.

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I see...thanks for the tip. I'm still mulling this all over in my head; it would be so much easier if I could actually try one of these out before I bought it to see what was up, but I suppose there's no point in complaining about that now.

I guess the next logical question would be...does anyone have a sound sample? =]

FromTheWayside said:

Good info! Out of curiosity, what do you use the transducer for? Live playing? Recording? A place to hang your strap? I'm curious because I am looking for a reasonably good recording uke, and I want to get a flea anyway, so why not take care of both requirements in one instrument? Either way, thanks for your help. =]

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Oops you said Flea, and mine's a concert Fluke. The jack has no button to hang a strap, and it's not in a good location for a strap anyways. Bought my Fluke used via Craigslist and it came with the K&K pickup already installed. I bought my amp after I got this 'ukulele, a Danelectro Honeytone Mini which suits me perfect when I kanikapila with friends. I never thought I'd like a electrified 'ukulele but this Fluke has really opened my eyes, and even inspired me to get a Eleuke electric solid body pineapple 'ukulele which I have not been able to put down since I got it.

You'll get a louder cleaner sound from the BBand than the K&K. Piezos mounted on or under the soundboard will always sound somewhat hollow and distant. They also usually pick up a little more body noise. Piezos perform best under pressure. When they're mounted on or under the soundboard there's no pressure on them. Also most of these are dots which give an uneven sound. If you mount them under the strings, you really need two to pickup each string well. If you put them back behind the bridge, again they will sound more distant. I mounted a big Barcus Berry piezo under the soundboard near the bridge of my flea. It's got a fairly good sound and picks up each string well, but still lacks presence.

The BBand, which is an undersaddle and is best put-on at the factory (since the bridges are riveted on and really can't easily be removed to install a pickup later), has the pressure of the bridge pushing down on it. This gives it more volume, presence and evenness. You'll pay more, but if you're looking to record, it will be worth it.

That all being said, you need a little warning that pickups don't sound as natural as a mic will. I have a custom BoatPaddle uke and had MiSi Acoustic Trio mounted in it. This is one of the nicest sounding undersaddle pickups you can put in a uke. I love it, but find myself using a mic for more of my recordings to pick up the rich tone of the body. Piezos, or any transducer are best at picking up the sound of the strings and usually don't capture much of the character of the body of your uke well. What they're great for is life performances.

My experience with ukes and guitars makes me like the sound of the K & K better - more natural to me.
UST's have a "quack" - at least to my ear - it can be eq'd out to some extent, but I hear it.

The plus side to UST's - less prone to feedback.

I would not record with either. When you isolate them like that, they just do not sound as good as a mic.

my Flea jack:

Damn Harpdog, that looks just like my uke! I had to check the case to make sure it wasn't missing. (I have a recurring nightmare that Deech will take it and give it to someone more deserving than me.)

The BBand I heard didn'tn sound too ducky. Also the MiSi Acoustic Trio has absolutely no quack. They designed the preamp just for the Baggs piezo they use and it sounds incredible.

jkevinwolfe said:

Damn Harpdog, that looks just like my uke! I had to check the case to make sure it wasn't missing. (I have a recurring nightmare that Deech will take it and give it to someone more deserving than me.)

The BBand I heard didn'tn sound too ducky. Also the MiSi Acoustic Trio has absolutely no quack. They designed the preamp just for the Baggs piezo they use and it sounds incredible.

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I'm pretty sure that's my flea - it was the seller's picture. The mango color is pretty dark on mine.

I would love to play one of the UST's you mentioned.

If you go with the less expensive piezo (which I did with my Tenor Fluke), you'll need some kind of EQ or preamp. The signal by itself sounds okay, but you'll be much happier if you have the ability to tweak it. Mine is great for me, since we own our own PA system. But if I usually were playing it through somebody else's system, I'd probably want to have more control of the sound, so I'd probably want the more elaborate pickup system.

PS - I got my Fluke from the same seller - I recognize the foliage in the background!

jkevinwolfe said:

You'll get a louder cleaner sound from the BBand than the K&K. Piezos mounted on or under the soundboard will always sound somewhat hollow and distant. They also usually pick up a little more body noise.

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+1 on the body noise - I was getting a low rumble sound with a cheaper undersoundboard transducer I was using and found it was the sound of my fingers moving ever so slightly on the fret board. What I did was buy a GHS A-137 internal guitar mic. It is too big to use effectively inside the ukulele, but on my Boulder Creek, I ran the business end of the mic out the side hole (BC has a small offset top hole and a side hole as well) and up over the top pointed towards the top soundhole and it works really, really well, with none of the excess noise and, after a bit of tweaking, no feedback. Only $48 at Elderly Instruments, who still have them, but I think GHS has discontinued them. And, no, I do not work for Elderly or GHS.

Now, having said this, I say the best way to amplify ukulele, outside of a good mic of course, which I agree is best, is an undersaddle transducer, but one professionally installed as they are tricky to do. I do not like the way the undersaddle part gets in between the bottom of the saddle and the bridge as you lose a bit of sound when you play acoustically, but when amplified it makes no difference (beware of cheap factory mounted transducers, as they often have a big gap between the bottom of the saddle and the bridge, which is not good plugged or unplugged).

By the way, if you've got tons of money to spend, check out the K & K Meridian mini mic on a gooseneck, which mounts on a removeable bracket on the side and comes over the top. That is at about $300, and there is another one out of Germany, the DPA 4099G, that looks even better, but priced at $600.

Sorry for the long response, but I've been reseaching this amplification issue for a while now.

All the best,
Mike

All the best,
Mike

So wait, if mic'ing is the best way to get the most sound out of the uke, would it make sense to skip both and just get a mic to record the uke? One such as the...Shure SM57?

FromTheWayside said:

So wait, if mic'ing is the best way to get the most sound out of the uke, would it make sense to skip both and just get a mic to record the uke? One such as the...Shure SM57?

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Yes, but the downside is you are stuck in basically one position and also every time you set up, you have to watch out for feedback, which is going to be problematic with any mic. If you plan to play and stand in one place or sit, a mic would be a good way to go, but I would advise, out of all the choices, an undersaddle transducer, but to do that right you need a pro install. By the time you pay for all that, you could get a Lanikai S-TEQ like I have with built in electoronics that work well for the $200 or so total price of the instrument. In fact, I always get major compliments on the tone of my S-TEQ when I play out with it. But if you love your Flea, and I certainly understand that, I'll bet you could get an onboard undersaddle system installed for around $200. Bottom line - go with a mic if you play in one place, an undersaddle transducer if you want more stage freedom.

Mike

FromTheWayside said:

Hi All -

I've recently acquired enough scratch to get a tenor flea (yay!). I pretty much have it all figured out, except for the pick-up options. A forum and google search didn't really produce anything stellar, so I figured I'd put it out to the general body of UU -

What's the deal with the flea pick-up options? Are they any good? Is the B-Band worth $100 more than the soundboard transducer? Where do they install the jack? (Hopefully not on the bottom, otherwise how would it be able to stand on its own?)

Thanks, and happy strumming!

Click to expand...

I went back to your original post - so you have an option on this, right? K & K makes good stuff, but go witht he B-Band as I have never had good luck with a soundboard transducer on a ukulele - the instrument is just to small and it pikcs up too many vibes. OK, after three tries, I finally gave you a diret answer. Mike

lambchop said:

Yes, but the downside is you are stuck in basically one position and also every time you set up, you have to watch out for feedback, which is going to be problematic with any mic. If you plan to play and stand in one place or sit, a mic would be a good way to go, but I would advise, out of all the choices, an undersaddle transducer, but to do that right you need a pro install. By the time you pay for all that, you could get a Lanikai S-TEQ like I have with built in electoronics that work well for the $200 or so total price of the instrument. In fact, I always get major compliments on the tone of my S-TEQ when I play out with it. But if you love your Flea, and I certainly understand that, I'll bet you could get an onboard undersaddle system installed for around $200. Bottom line - go with a mic if you play in one place, an undersaddle transducer if you want more stage freedom.

Mike

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The Lanikai S-TEQ is a great value!!!

lambchop said:

I went back to your original post - so you have an option on this, right? K & K makes good stuff, but go witht he B-Band as I have never had good luck with a soundboard transducer on a ukulele - the instrument is just to small and it pikcs up too many vibes. OK, after three tries, I finally gave you a diret answer. Mike

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I guess I should have clarified in the original post, but I would be buying this new from FMM, so any pick-up I would get would be factory installed. Also, I don't really have to worry about live performances since I am not in a band, and I don't plan on gigging the instrument. Really, the pick-up would just be for the convenience of recording. If the mic could do the same thing, but do it better, I would rather go that route because I don't have to worry about live gigs. I love that I have so many choices...

luvdatuke said:

The Lanikai S-TEQ is a great value!!!

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+1 on that. I just love it! Action is low, no buzzing, tone is great, electronics are wonderful, looks beautiful. Always best to hand pick, however, as one other stock model played as well but its electronics were not as nice - no idea as to why. I got mine with the Belcat (or Belkat) electronics for $189, although I got it for much less because I traded a fretless bass as partial payment as well. Mike

Not to add confusion, but consider the PickUpTheWorld under saddle pickup. It is passive but NOT piezo. I found it to be more true to the natural sound than the piezo I tried.