ibeam active vs. K&K Ultra pure

[Chumley]

Have narrowed it down to these 2 pickups based on cost and features to put in my 12 year old takamine N-10 Cedar acoustic.

Any opinions either way?

 

Thanks

GC

[Cldplytkmn]

the ultra pure is the trinity without the mic right?? someone correct me if i'm wrong...

 

i would go K&K... i have a cedar Tak with an active iBeam and a cedar tak with a K&K Trinity... the one with the iBeam will probably never be plugged in again.

[onetubetone]

K&K all the way!

[valleyguy]

I have also narrowed my selection down to these two.

 

Cldplytkmn: I don't think comparing the K&K Trinity to the I Beam active is fair. The Trinity has a mic and an AST and can blend the two with what appears to possibly be a better preamp, The I Beam is just the AST with a Preamp. If you turn off the mic on the Trinity, that may be a fairer comparison. How does the Trinty fair in that case?

 

You may have seen these, but in case you have not, check them out:

 

Shoreline

Check out the Pick Up The World and B Band, both highly touted on this site. Also has a page of MP3s to listen and compare.

 

 

Doug Young

Good comparisons here

 

Let me know what you do and how happy you are with the results. Where would you buy it and will you install yourself?

[Cldplytkmn]

valleyguy... thanks for reminding me to correct myself... I know that the trinity is a more advanced system and its not on the same level as the iBeam... But i have played the pads straight without the mic ALOT, and the tonal quality is just better overall. I feel like i got the best sounding system i've heard WITHOUT touching the mic... you bring in some mic and... mmmm... but thats beside the point. I think the iBeam is a great pickup, but it didn't stand up to strumming on my cedar topper... sounds great if you play with the EQ alot though... i use a 7 band EQ Pedal and it dialed in the iBeam nicely. I just think the pads sound better and require less 'tweaking' than the iBeam to sound natural.

[valleyguy]

Thanks for the poop Cldplytkmn. Is your tag ColdPlay Takamine?

 

By the way, I listened to your songs and loved the sound of the acoustic (nice songs, also). Is that the Trinity? Did you record that yourself? Use a preamp, eq?

[Cldplytkmn]

you have correctly deduced the origin of my nickname...

 

also, as far as what was used to record what... that depends on which tune you're talking about

[valleyguy]

Chumley, sorry to have hijacked your thread.

 

Cldplytkmn:

 

Radio (the best song) sounds like the K&K, very nice sound, it's what I'm looking for. The rest sound like they are all miked, not quite the bottom end.

 

How about a little info on how they were recorded

[Cldplytkmn]

Radio was my AN10 through a Neumann... so that pretty much explains that. haha...

 

by 'the other ones' i'm assuming you mean the other on the link in my sig.

 

invincible was my old Tak GS330s through a couple rare earth mics... low end not very good, but also the guitar didn't have great low end either, so i can't blame the mics.

 

'tomorrow was a lie' is my hummingbird through my computer mic... with vocals at the same time... so not much goodness there sonically...

 

'about a girl' is the same set up, but with my AN10.

[valleyguy]

Thanks for the poop. The Neumann kinda says it all............ I'd love to have one. You should try recording you K&K to the PC.