External Pickup ideas for covid uke jam.

fretie

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Its been a long time since I have actually played my uke in the presence and along with another uke player (well, make that close to one year ago, in fact). In the meantime I sold off my tenor that had its K&K pickup which I used to plug into my little lunchbox size amp.

Now a pal and I are dreaming of playing outside together in the spring when the weather warms up, plugging in so that we can hear one another while still being properly physically distanced.

Is there a reliable, sturdy, clip on type of pickup that I could attach to my Klos Carbon uke which would allow me to be amped outdoors?

What are you guys and gals using in a situation like this 'cause surely there's a player or two here on the forum that has worked out this covid uke playing challenge already.
 
I just picked up this Cling-On pickup. https://www.clingon.co/clingon-pickup. $70 on Amazon, mounts with magnets...
Totally non-invasive, easy, quick install. Sounds decent alone, sounds good with a preamp or eq pedal. I got it for using with my tenor Ohana and my nylon string guitar. Get a couple of extra magnets and it can be used with different instruments.
Hope this helps.
jricc
 
I just picked up this Cling-On pickup. https://www.clingon.co/clingon-pickup.
This is the only option if you include Star Trekkin' in your setlist. Mount it on the starboard bout.



If you're sitting far enough you can't hear each other acoustically you might want a mic to pick up your singing and an extra-long cable so you can put your amp by your friend and vice versa without intruding on others in the park.
 
I just picked up this Cling-On pickup. https://www.clingon.co/clingon-pickup. $70 on Amazon, mounts with magnets...
Totally non-invasive, easy, quick install. Sounds decent alone, sounds good with a preamp or eq pedal. I got it for using with my tenor Ohana and my nylon string guitar. Get a couple of extra magnets and it can be used with different instruments.
Hope this helps.
jricc

That looks quite simple and not too expensive. Thanks!
 
From all the ones I have used, the iRig Acoustic Stage does give the best results.
It's a mini microphone that clips onto your soundhole, and it produces a sound that is as good (or better) than internally installed pickups. It also comes with a pre-amp that the mic plugs into.

The drawback is that it's a bit more cumbersome to have a bunch of wires and gadgets hanging off you. But it is a pretty clever device that you can use on just about any instrument that has a soundhole. It's a godsend for my vintage guitar/uke where the luthier has advised against installing a permanent pickup.



The others that stick onto your soundboard get the job done, but they do compromise in the quality of the output.

Out of the external soundboard pickups, I found these to work the best. But it might take a while to arrive if you aren't in Australia:
https://www.peterman.com.au/music3/Acoustic_Guitar_Pickups

KNA also make some interesting pickups.

They have the kind that fits into your bridge if you have slotted bridge:
https://www.knapickups.com/en/guitar/uke-pickups/uk-2-pickup-kna
This is a pretty neat setup if you have a slot-bridge. However, the drawback is that you need to use a cable that is 1/4 on one side and 1/8 on the other side. They include it with the pickup, but it's a minor inconvenience since you can't just use a regular instrument cable. That being said, you can readily buy spare cables online.

They also have stick-on pickups too:
https://www.knapickups.com/en/universal
 
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I was going to say go the mic route. I've Shure M57. Stout workhorse kind of mic. You'll need a stand and XLR cable. Does your amp have an XLR input? There are better ones out there for a higher price. It does seem like there are some viable pickup options. Let us know what you pick up and how it works out for you.
 
By way of an update, I decided to go with the Clingon pickup that was suggested by jricc. It was out of stock in quite a few of the online stores but I did manage to get it from a music store in eastern Canada through Reverb.

As originally planned, I am using this on my Klos Carbon Fibre uke given its the instrument I wouldn't worry about taking with me outdoors to jam with a uke pal. In testing the cling on pick up indoors with my little lunch box amp, I am finding that it is just the solution I was hoping for. Not too expensive, very simple and unobtrusive to mount and with a much better sound that any other clip on pickups I have heard. To tell the truth, I can't really hear any difference between it and the K&K Twinspot I used to plug in. The pick up is clean, does not amplify extraneous sounds like the brushing of my arm against the instrument and offers a reliable method of amping my acoustic uke.
 
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