I'm still new to mandolin, and know that using a mic is probably preferred to pickups. But since I really like K&K pickups in my guitars, I was wondering if any of you have experience with K&K Mandolin Twin pickups--or what else you might recommend...

Thanks.

Yes, I have one installed in my F4 Schneider and consider them to be the best as long as you use their preamp system or something other than a Mackie mixer or p.a. mixer that is compatible. Good news, they will work with a p.a. mixer and sound okay in a pinch. Some pickups will not work well at all without a matched preamp.

I just got home from a little "vacation" up in the great North West. But should have one waiting for me over at Simon Fay guitars. I love the K & K in my guitars so I had him get me the Mando twin. Might have a report on it by the end of the week.
If I can get used to the time change and the HEAT back here in Fla.
Already miss Alaska.

I'd love to hear what you think, and what pre you would be going through.

And yeah, Alaska is great.

Guess I'll be waiting a bit for my Mando PU etc. Talked to Simon today and he has been up to his eyeballs trying to do taxes. So they are not in yet.
And I leave Wed. to go to the Moto GP up at Indy. So it will be after I get home before I can get moving on this one.

I don't have a separate pre of my own, was going to try it either straight into the Ultrasound, as I do my guitars, or even into the PA they use up at the little coffee shop I go to.

When it gets done, I'll give ya a full report.
Considering I can decide which mando to put it on?

I talked to Dieter at K&K today. They are revising the Mando Twin. You may want to check on which version you have ordered. The install will be different, and the possibilities for the jack out will be different. There is some information on the K&K Sound website, under the company blog. Take a look...

michael

WELL, I got my Mando twin yesterday and just now put it on the F Mando. Couldn't decide which one to try this one for a while.

The install is EASY. I am assuming this is the "older" version of the PU as it seems to be exacty what I saw on the website. Went on in a couple minutes. And the case does accomdate the jack if you leave it attached. At least my case seems to have plenty of room right at that spot.

Very first impressions through the Ultrasound are just so-so. Not a lot of volume at first, had to turn up a bit more than with my guitars.
And the sound is just OK at least through this amp. I'll try it out through a PA either tonight or Tues and see how that works. Getting quite a bit of hand noise and "percussive" sound in picking. I guess it's picking up every little sound that comes off the top ?

For the price and ease of install and removal, I would try it again. Is this a sound that I would prefer to use live ? NO ! Nothing beats a good Mando through a good mic .

A quick up date.
Today after the open mic I had the chance to plug the Mando in through the PA at the coffee shop. With just a minor tweaking of the settings, bascally adding a touch of bass and taking out a touch of treble, it sounded REAL good though the PA.

So in this setting with a half decent PA I think the K & K PU will work quite well on your Mando. I'll be looking forward to using mine a bit more in that venue now.

Great, thanks. That's good to know.