Passive pickup recommendations

Hello,

I'm looking for a decent passive pickup that will do the job but isn't too pricey. £50 or there abouts (or under) price wise. Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance

How about one of these? https://kksound.com/products/bigislandspot.php

kkimura said:

How about one of these? https://kksound.com/products/bigislandspot.php

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One of my favorites, Uke sounds like a Uke not a guitar.

I was actually looking at the k&k big spot! So I'm happy it's comes up as a good one.

At that price - do a search for the Artec passive - I have one in a solid body custom build - it's very clean!

prb035 said:

I've read some good reports about these http://jjb-electronics.com/our_products.html

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The ukes I've bought that already had pickups all have the KK Twin Spot. KK has a good reputation.

https://kksound.com/products/twinspot.php

I hope you know that there is no free lunch with piezo pickups. An active pickup is just a passive piezo with an onboard preamp and a passive piezo is just a pickup needing an outboard preamp for it to work properly.

anthonyg said:

I hope you know that there is no free lunch with piezo pickups. An active pickup is just a passive piezo with an onboard preamp and a passive piezo is just a pickup needing an outboard preamp for it to work properly.

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Thanks! Already in hand but I appreciate the info

bazmaz said:

At that price - do a search for the Artec passive - I have one in a solid body custom build - it's very clean!

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Will do, thanks!

anthonyg said:

I hope you know that there is no free lunch with piezo pickups. An active pickup is just a passive piezo with an onboard preamp and a passive piezo is just a pickup needing an outboard preamp for it to work properly.

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Yes and no - an active pickup indeed does a lot of the amplification on the uke, and usually EQ too. A passive does nothing. Whether you need an outboard pre-amp though really depends what you are plugging into. If you are plugging into a mixing desk etc , then yes, you will really benefit / need a pre-amp. If you are plugging into an acoustic amp, then you won't - because the amp effectively becomes your pre-amp

I far prefer passive pickups myself

bazmaz said:

Yes and no - an active pickup indeed does a lot of the amplification on the uke, and usually EQ too. A passive does nothing. Whether you need an outboard pre-amp though really depends what you are plugging into. If you are plugging into a mixing desk etc , then yes, you will really benefit / need a pre-amp. If you are plugging into an acoustic amp, then you won't - because the amp effectively becomes your pre-amp

I far prefer passive pickups myself

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Baz is absolutely correct here. I use a K&K passive pickup, an inline preamp connect to the mixer, or no preamp when directly connected to the powered speaker. I don't care for active pickups either.

There are preamps and then there are preamps. There is passive and then there is passive.
The issues with needing a preamp isn't just about boosting the signal as its also about impedance matching. A preamp right at the pickup inside the instrument can be very useful for boosting signals before they go down the cable yet there are any number of poor quality preamps out there built into instruments. If you go external preamp then its usually a good idea to have the preamp on a short cable from the instrument (even wear it on your belt like a wireless pack) and then the longer cable to the amplifier/desk.

Some piezo's can have quite a hot output. I have a foot stomper with a twin spot piezo in it and it usually needs to be padded before it goes into a mixing desk because its soo hot.
Impedance mismatching can lead to some quirky/thin sounds coming from your instrument so there are multiple issues to consider with piezo pickup systems.