K&K Pure Preamp

I bought the K&K preamp after several months playing my steel string acoustic guitar with only a passive K&K Pure Mini pickup. I'm totally happy with the pickup on its own when I play at home and can dial in the sound on my own amp. But as I've started playing at more venues and in different environments sometimes the sound comes out all wonky and I'm at the mercy of the sound person to un-wonkify me. Or, even worse, me trying to do it myself if there's no sound person. And then when switching between playing styles I'm again at the mercy of an attentive sound person to adjust the levels. I had considered and tried out some other, more sophisticated preamps but decided to just go with the one specifically made for my pickup. I've only had about two hours fiddling with it since I got it, but I think this preamp is gonna be just the thing. I know sound is a style and taste thing, so let me leave it at: the preamp gives my signal a surprising amount of warmth, gravitas and volume, as well as plenty of room to adjust the levels from the box. I felt like I was three inches taller and could bench press 80 more pounds as soon as I started strumming through the little guy. The only not-so-totally-awesome thing about the whole system was the 'product manual,' which was comically terse and uninformative for a music newbie technophobe like me. Especially since you gotta open the preamp up and do minor surgery on some unlabeled stuff inside to get it set up correctly. Maybe two more paragraphs of text and a little sticker or just a picture would have done the trick. However, what saved its bacon was the K&K customer support system. I got connected with a guy within 2 minutes of placing the call and he patiently walked me through the entire setup process, answering all of my questions and giving me more background when I wanted it. He even started speaking r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w-l-y when it was clear I had little to no idea what I was doing. But when we got to territory I was familiar with he was also able to talk to me in Normal Voice. So, a great product with great customer support. Just a little thin on the destruction manual.9-month update (12/30/13): I pretty much never play outside of my home without bringing the K&K Pure Preamp along. I like it more and more as I get more experience using it with my own solo setup and the other systems I most often plug into. I only have one minor design complaint: The main volume knob spins very easily, so when I have had the unit clipped to my belt or back pocket while playing the friction from my shirt or sweater brushing against the knob as I move around has accidentally turned the volume way up or way down. It's happened enough times for me to stop using it clipped to myself at all. I'll leave it on the floor next to me or over by the amp, which kind of negates the ease-of-adjustment-during-a-set thing without some jury rigging.

Love the size and the controls for volume and simple tone controls. My piezo pickup has never sounded better. I wish I knew about this little gem a long time ago.The other struggle I had was with the small headphone amps that plug into the guitar. They sound awful. Instead I bought a headphone adapter so that I can plug my headphones directly into the K&K preamp. Works/sounds great!

I've had a K&K Pure Western pickup in my Gibson J45 for several years, and it sounded great all by itself so I never got around to buying a preamp for it. Recently I acquired a mandolin and wanted a pickup in that, so of course I looked first to K&K and selected their new 'Twin Internal'. This newer p/u seems to require a preamp, so I purchased finally purchased the K&K Pure. And it works great! My mandolin (just a Loar VS220) sounds better amplified than natural. And while I was very happy with the Gibson w/o a preamp, that also sounds even better with the preamp.It dawned on me a bit late, but this will give me more control over my own sound at the open mics I play at. I have had trouble with feedback and general boominess going direct to PA's in the past and am looking forward to seeing how much this unit helps there. The only thing I'm worried about is that the 9 volt battery just barely fits, and I'm worried I'm going to break a capacitor replacing the battery one of these years.After using for a month, an update. Don't leave a short cable inserted in the input source, it drains the battery. I see now that the KK website docs tell you this. Also, they could've done better with the way you access the inside to replace the battery. A slightly larger screw that you could turn with a dime would be the bare minimum improvement, but anything that doesn't require me to carry an extra, small slotted screwdriver around in my bag would be a step up.