K&K Twin or Mi-Si?

rasputinsghost

rasputinsghost

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Hey all,

I'm thinking about what pickup to install in my Kamaka Tenor - I know Mi-Sis are used extensively here but the guy who's going to install it is warning me against it as it's designed for guitar. He recommends a K&K twin and if i want a preamp I can buy an external one. What do you guys think I should do? If I go passive, what are some good preamps I should look at?

Thanks!
 
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Firstly, your friend is wrong - the MiSi is indeed initially designed for guitar, but Mike at Mainland wouldnt fit them at the store if they didnt work (considering his superb customer care)

For me though, I do find the MiSi expensive - I went K&K, but I really dont think you need the twin for a ukulele - I just went for the Big Shot (single pickup) which is what the Magic Fluke Co. fit to Fleas and Flukes.
 
Thanks! His reasoning is:

"This is an LR Baggs pickup that is designed for guitar. Not recommended for uke. I highly recommend the K&K twin spot internal. We mount it inside on the underside of the bridge plate. It sounds like you have a microphone in front of the uke. Also changing the battery would be very difficult internally on a uke. You would have to cut a access hatch in the back of the uke."
 
While the Mi-Si is designed for a guitar, many people, including ukulele performers such as Gerald Ross, have had them in ukes with good results. I have 3 ukes with Mi-Si and while I hardly ever use the pickup, they do sound pretty good to me when I do plug them in. The main drawback of the Mi-Si, in my opinion, is that there are electronics that can potentially fail (like all electronics) and it could be a hassle to replace or fix it.

I've never used the K&K twin spot but based on what I've read about them, they should work very well and should be a little bit lighter (though the Mi-Si really isn't heavy at all). I think I read that Mya-Moe recommends the K&K over Mi-Si even though they can install both. I don't know the rationale behind it though.

I think the choice comes down to whether you want your pre-amp inside the ukulele or outside.
 
The Misi is battery powered but needs no battery hatch - its a capacitor built in to the jack.

The K&K needs no battery either, so the battery argument is a null point whichever you choose.

I still think the K&K twin is overkill though.

I agree on the pre-amp - far better to spend money on a decent actual amplifier - I use a Marshall AS50Soloist acoustic amp and it is as sweet as a nut
 
I have a Roland Microcube but in theory I want to go to some open mics here in NYC and play some, or maybe some busking. That's all. Why do you think the Twin is overkill?
 
because the twins ARE designed for instruments with larger sound chambers like guitars - a single spot pickup on a uke should be fine.

That said - the twin will work also, and may be a slight improvement, but its all about costs and diminishing returns.

Microcubes are fun, but having posted what I did above, you may want to think about a DI box pre amp if you want a nice tone.
 
Yep - they stick inside onto the soundboard - near the bridge area - on the twin, one on each side.

Actually for the benefit of the OP, there is another difference to be aware of

The K&K spot pickups, as they are attached to soundboard, have the tendency to pick up more "other" noise, such as an arm moving on soundboard than an under saddle piezo. I have also read that they are a touch more prone to feeback.

I only picked the k&K because it was going in a fluke with a one piece saddle. Had I been considering for a uke with removeable saddle, whilst I may have avoided misi on price, I think I would have still looked at passive under saddle device.
 
rasputinsghost said:
Thanks! His reasoning is:

"This is an LR Baggs pickup that is designed for guitar. Not recommended for uke. I highly recommend the K&K twin spot internal. We mount it inside on the underside of the bridge plate. It sounds like you have a microphone in front of the uke. Also changing the battery would be very difficult internally on a uke. You would have to cut a access hatch in the back of the uke."
Click to expand...

I didn't see this post before. To me what I've highlighted above is a red flag. The Mi-Si's biggest selling point is the fact that it has a battery-less internal pre-amp. If he did not know this, I'm not sure how much stock I would put into his opinion.
 
I think that is the view we respondents are politely coming to - I agree

I think the OP's advisor is talking out of his hat

To the OP - you can go beyond this thread - search the forums, there are plenty posts about people fitting pickups.

MiSi is common, but so are others, including K&K.

The battery issue is a non point as I said earlier.

Are you paying this chap to install - its not very hard to do yourself, then your only cost is the device itself
 
rasputinsghost said:
Thanks! His reasoning is:

"This is an LR Baggs pickup that is designed for guitar. Not recommended for uke. I highly recommend the K&K twin spot internal. We mount it inside on the underside of the bridge plate. It sounds like you have a microphone in front of the uke. Also changing the battery would be very difficult internally on a uke. You would have to cut a access hatch in the back of the uke."
Click to expand...

This is a huge red flag for me. How much does this guy really know about these products? MiSi pickups are being used by a lot of people for ukes now - Chuck Moore uses them too, I believe, though I think he uses a fishman pickup element. Anyway, the whole point of these things, besides their quality, is that they use a capacitor instead of a battery - they charge through a special charger that plugs in the jack. No battery doors. If he doesn't know that, it might be wise to move along to another person who knows his products better...
 
My wife and I perform regularly. We both have Mi-Si pickups in all of our performance ukes (Pono Tenor, Rick Turner Compass Rose, 2 Pono Baritones, Oscar Schmidt Baritone) I swear by them. They sound fantastic, no batteries, don't pickup any inadvertent arm or wrist movement across the lower soundboard and they were easy to install. They reproduce the sound accurately and yield well to equalization when necessary. Gerald Ross turned me on to them and I never looked back.

In fact, I like the Mi-Si so much that I actually replaced the custom made D-TAR Timberline 18v. active pick-up that was in my Turner Compass Rose Tenor with a Mi-Si (apologies, Rick!)

Thanks,
 
I have a misi installed in my mainland i cannot comment on the other brands but i can say the misi gives out an accurate sound is easy to install and gives off no excess noise from the body. I use the same amp as pauljmuk it sounds incredible through that
 
My only comment about the MI-Si is we tried installing one in my KoAhola Pineapple Sunday, it did not sound right at first, my Luther diagnosed the problem, the LR Baggs element is a little too large for the Pineapple saddle so he attached a Fishman Matrix element to the MI-SI preamp instead and it sounds great
.
 
Landshark said:
My only comment about the MI-Si is we tried installing one in my KoAhola Pineapple Sunday, it did not sound right at first, my Luther diagnosed the problem, the LR Baggs element is a little too large for the Pineapple saddle so he attached a Fishman Matrix element to the MI-SI preamp instead and it sounds great
.
Click to expand...

I had a Mi-Si installed in my Pineapple Sunday at the KoAloha factory and it sounds fine. I have noticed it's a bit quieter than my teacher's pickup/preamp system though. In other words I have to turn the volume up higher on the amp itself to get the same output.
 
misterpk said:
I had a Mi-Si installed in my Pineapple Sunday at the KoAloha factory and it sounds fine. I have noticed it's a bit quieter than my teacher's pickup/preamp system though. In other words I have to turn the volume up higher on the amp itself to get the same output.
Click to expand...

That's to be expected (the part about it being quieter than the one with the preamp). A preamp is just a small amplifier which boosts the signal before it gets to your big amplifier. Some preamps also have volume and tone controls, of course.
 
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