LR Baggs I-Beam versus K&K Pure Western Mini

[Etienne Rambert]

I-Beam

 

 

K&K Pure Western Mini

 

 

 

Baggs: Warm, resonant sounding. I give it an 8/10.

 

K&K: Bright, accurate, clear but a little harsh. I give it a 6.5/10.

 

But I don't know how much depends on the guitar they are installed in.

***

 

I A/B'd Mr. Binh-designed Cedar-top cutaway with its I-Beam plugged in against

my 1988 Gruhn/Walker-designed Guild D60 with its K&K plugged in.

 

I'm not sure how much of this is due to the guitars involved.

But I much prefer the sound of the Baggs to the K&K.

 

The K&K seems to be more accurate & brighter.

But it lacks warmth. In fact, it's accurate to the point

of being a little harsh. I would need to at least EQ the

K&K to get it to sound right to my ears.

 

The Baggs has a nice warm sound. I wouldn't need

to EQ it at all. But the guitar I installed it in has a nice warm

sound too. Red Cedar top & Cambodian Rosewood B&S.

 

The Guild D60 is bright, clear & has a strong low-end. Ebony bridge.

Mr. Bin's red Cedar top cutaway is a warm-sounding guitar. It also has

an Ebony bridge.

 

A/B'ing them acoustically, I prefer the Guild's acoustic tone.

Although both are really good-sounding guitars.

 

But plugged in, I definitely prefer the LR Baggs on Mr. Binh's guitar

to the Guild's K&K.

I could make a recording if you want to hear both pick-ups.

But I wonder to what extent if the difference in guitars

causes the difference in pick-up sound.

 

Would it be a waste of time considering the difference in the guitars?

 

In the future, if I'm buying UST pick-ups,

I'll choose the Baggs over the K&K Western Mini.

 

D60 with K&K

 

 

Mr. Binh's Red Cedar top Cutaway Dread (the Grey Goose)

 

[garthman]

USTs beat stick-on transducers every time.

[revive]

USTs beat stick-on transducers every time.

 

 

Aren't both iBeam and K&K PW SBTs, essentially stick-on transducers, not USTs?

[rhancox]

I have the JJB pickups, which are similar to the K&K, in my 12-string and my 6-string. They can produce a little too much bass if you strum too hard. I don't necessarily hear any overly bright or harsh sounds compared to being unplugged.

 

I know that's not your comparison, plugged vs unplugged. My point is the pickups don't seem to introduce any harshness.

 

What that in mind, my totally "blowing it out my arse" opinion would be each pickup is reproducing the natural sound very well. Not that your Guild is harsh, rather that its brightness is being emphasized by the pickups, to the point (maybe) of seeming harsh.

[garthman]

Aren't both iBeam and K&K PW SBTs, essentially stick-on transducers, not USTs?

 

but whatever: USTs > stick-on bugs.

[Yamaneck]

Everything. As does the installation.

[panhandler]

I would go with the Baggs. I have K&K installed in one of my guitars and it requires much EQing to sound good and not muddy. JJB's are a step up from K&Ks.

Fishman rare earth dual soundhole P/U is great too.

[LiFeStArTs@40]

I would go with the Baggs. I have K&K installed in one of my guitars and it requires much EQing to sound good and not muddy. JJB's are a step up from K&Ks. Fishman rare earth dual soundhole P/U is great too.

 

On the Fishman. I bought the Fishman soundhole pick up and really like it. At $139 it isn't cheap but I love the sound and I've been easily moving it from git to git. It sounds very natural.

[guitarcapo]

USTs beat stick-on transducers every time.

 

 

I disagree. USTs usually sound quacky and like rubber bands to me. They DO have a higher output (and fewer feedback problems)... but the tone sucks. You get none of the tone of your nice guitar's soundboard coming through. It's like nails on a chalkboard to me no matter how it's EQed. I'm always amazed when I see professionals on stage playing through those with that "sproingy" sound. Are they even listening to what's coming out? Soundboard transducers are usually easier to get a balanced output with all the strings too. None of that headache making sure the pressure is exactly even under the saddle to all of the crystals.

 

Between the K&K and the IBeam...I have to say that the IBeam has a lower output, but maybe slightly better tone without any equalization. But both can be EQ'd pretty nice to something great through a good preamp/equalizer like the Baggs Para DI... and I like the higher output of the K&K...especially when I'm mixing it with an onboard mic like I do with my custom guitar amplification systems.

[seagullplayer77]

I believe the iBeam has a preamp built into the strapjack. I'd be willing to bet that's why the LR Baggs pickup sounded warmer than the K&K. Maybe LR Baggs took the liberty of adding some sort of tone enhancement circuitry to the preamp .

 

Since the two pickups are installed in two different guitars, any sound clips you post wouldn't really be a fair apples-to-apples comparison of the pickups.

 

It looks like your Guild has a spruce top . . . perhaps the natural brightness of the spruce is overemphasized by the K&K pickup?

[rhythmguitar28]

There's an Ibeam Active and an Ibeam Passive I believe. The passive version is meant to be used with a preamp while the active has one built in. I got scared away from trying the Ibeam awhile back when I was considering it due to a lot of people mentioning feedback problems with it. So I tried the K&K mini and wasn't that happy with it initially. Worse yet, I accidentally ordered the full size version as well which was even worse. Recently I tried a JJB Prestige 330 with his smaller disks and have been fairly impressed so far.

[Guitar Hack]

I have one of each. I prefer the K & K Western Mini. It's more accurate in sound reproduction. The I-Beam has a slightly muffled tone to it.

[Yamaneck]

I had an I-beam for awhile, in a dual source system; it was really pretty good, but incredibly finicky about placement. Suffice it to say, that the dual source has been gone for several years, replaced by a K&K PWM.