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veijo - Posted - 03/29/2012: 03:02:14
"The Banjo Twin pickup system is designed to reproduce the true banjo sound with very natural tone quality and with very little effect on the acoustic tone. The Banjo Twin works well in passive mode, especially if acoustic amps are used"
kksound.com/banjotwin.html
Has anyone tried these on clawhammer banjos?
How natural is the sound? In the picture it is on the inside of the banjo head
.....and I wonder how much noise it brings out.
SqeemNeason - Posted - 03/29/2012: 10:14:27
Looks like it's just two discs, unless I'm missing something major. You could make something similar for pennies on the dollar to try it out.
veijo - Posted - 03/29/2012: 10:31:36
So, I have K & K transducer microphone in my Collings 0002H guitar and it works excellent, What I'm asking is
does a transducer attached to banjo head change the sound compared to attaching it to the rim or tension rod etc
tasrev - Posted - 05/21/2012: 00:46:10
I've got the K&K twin set up on my Goodtime.
On the systems I've tried it on(a few PAs and some guitar amps) I've noticed a few things:
1. My Boss EQ7 pedal shoudln't be used - I now leave the EQ flat so I don't get feedback
2. The sound is somewhat natural but looses all the subtleties of hearing it acoustically.
I think a mic gets more dynamics
3. I don't know if it is the limited tone of the banjo itself, the head I had on it (standard) or my playing style, but I couldn't get much low end/warmth out of it.
I'll try again now I've changed heads but I think it's not going to change much, since it's a contact pickup instead of a mic.
4. It makes no difference to the (natural) sound of the banjo having them stuck on the inside
If you have any more q's let me know.
Edited by - tasrev on 05/21/2012 00:47:17
ronwalker49 - Posted - 05/21/2012: 05:04:27
I installed the system on the last banjo I made just like the instructions called for and didn't like the way it sounded....I removed one of the pick-ups and experimented with placement until I finally ended up directly under the tail piece...I tried pre-amps and compression, but the best thing I did was to learn not to make any added noise with my right hand...Here is a clip of of it straight into the board..
Edited by - ronwalker49 on 05/21/2012 05:07:30
Alex KKSound - Posted - 08/09/2012: 13:42:25
The Banjo Twin picks up the vibration (and sound) of the banjo head and it
will work with any picking style. Weather you hammer or pick, the pickup
will transmit it pretty much the way it is played. In the end it depends on
the player and how well he/she masters technique and tone.
Please listen to the podcast "Banjo" kksound.com/podcast.html
that Dieter recorded, the 3rd one from the top, with more information about
mounting and preamp topics.
Edited by - Alex KKSound on 08/09/2012 13:50:53
stanger - Posted - 08/13/2012: 23:42:55
I believe that all the present pickups are very accurate these days, and the biggest difficulty in getting a good acoustic sound depends largely on the amplifier.
And so far, very few amplifiers produce a very accurate duplication of the banjo's un-amplified tone. That's not to say a player can't get a satisfactory tone from an amp; it's only that it's almost impossible to get the banjo's natural tone.
I haven't kept up with amp development for quite a while now, but I'm sure the amps are steadily getting better. When I was playing out a lot, the amp I found that worked the best for me was a big honking' Peavey KB400 keyboard amp with a ported 15" speaker and a horn tweeter. It had active tone controls and a built-in BIFET preamp for each channel, and doubled as a one-piece PA for solo gigs. And it stood about 3/12 feet tall and weighed about 100 pounds. The first thing I did was to put casters on it!
I used a variety of pickups through it over the years. Each needed a tweak on the amp settings, but all of them, piezo or magnetic, produced a good, useable facsimile tone that sounded like a banjo.
While that amp served me faithfully for about 18 years, I think that if I ever want to amp a banjo again I'll look for only a lighter, smaller amp. I'm willing to sacrifice close-to-natural tone for lighter weight.
regards,
stanger
gtrbeej - Posted - 08/18/2012: 17:41:31
quote:
Originally posted by stanger
I believe that all the present pickups are very accurate these days, and the biggest difficulty in getting a good acoustic sound depends largely on the amplifier.
And so far, very few amplifiers produce a very accurate duplication of the banjo's un-amplified tone. That's not to say a player can't get a satisfactory tone from an amp; it's only that it's almost impossible to get the banjo's natural tone.
I haven't kept up with amp development for quite a while now, but I'm sure the amps are steadily getting better. When I was playing out a lot, the amp I found that worked the best for me was a big honking' Peavey KB400 keyboard amp with a ported 15" speaker and a horn tweeter. It had active tone controls and a built-in BIFET preamp for each channel, and doubled as a one-piece PA for solo gigs. And it stood about 3/12 feet tall and weighed about 100 pounds. The first thing I did was to put casters on it!
I used a variety of pickups through it over the years. Each needed a tweak on the amp settings, but all of them, piezo or magnetic, produced a good, useable facsimile tone that sounded like a banjo.
While that amp served me faithfully for about 18 years, I think that if I ever want to amp a banjo again I'll look for only a lighter, smaller amp. I'm willing to sacrifice close-to-natural tone for lighter weight.
regards,
stanger
Couldn't agree more!! The amp makes a huge difference. And they are making solid state amps much better sounding and cheaper now. A little bit of reverb does wonders also
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