Acoustic Pickups & Amplification Systems

Amplifying you ukulele

ukulelePickups.shtml | Updated: 02-Jul-2009 - 12:08

Pickups - Amplification Choices

Pumping up the volume.

Related Information and Links

Check out the Guitar Amplifiers page for some good solutions for amplifying your ukulele.

Active vs. Passive System

Active pickups have a circuit that needs battery power. Passive pickups need no additional power.

Passive pickups send a low power, week signal and sound very bright. Passive systems need an external preamp. Active pickups have this preamp built into the circuit. At a miniumim an active systems will have a volume and maybe tone or EQ controls. Passive systems might have a volume and tone control on the instrument but typically do not.

A passive approach gives you more external options for a preamp. The tone controls on your amp, P.A. and any outboard gear will perform better then the onboard preamp.

An external preamp converts an “passive” systems to “active” and greatly enhance tone and volume.

Soundboard Transducer - a pickup that sticks to the top of the instrument. Either on the inside or the outside of the instrument.

Under Saddle Transducer (UST) - As the name suggests, this pickup is placed under the saddle in the bridge slot between the saddle and the bridge. It is a thin ribbon like element that pickup the strings vibration. A small wire connects the pickup to the endpin jack. This can be used with and active or passive system.

Pickups & Preamps

Active and passive piscks and pickup systems for amplifying your ukulele.

B-Band Ltd
Konttisentie 8 B
FI-40800 VAAJAKOSKI
FINLAND
Phone: +358-14-332-9050
Fax: +358-14-332-9001

USA
B-Band, Inc.
10909 Vanowen Street, Suite 300
N. Hollywood, CA 91605 USA
Phone (main): (818) 508-9412
Phone (sales): (818) 508-6685
Fax: (818) 508-9413
Email: sales@b-bandusa.com

Links

Harmony-Central user reviews: B-Band

Shoreline Music has a great selection of the top brands of pickup and preamps and loads of information.

Dean Markley
Dean Markley Strings, Inc.
3350 Scott Blvd., #45
Santa Clara, CA 95054
USA
Toll Free: 1-800-800-1008
phone: 1-408-988-2456
fax: 1-408-988-0441

Duncan Turner Acoustic Research
5427 Hollister Ave
Santa Barbara CA 93111-2345 tel 805.964.9610 fax 805.964.9749

Links

Harmony-Central user reviews: D-TAR

information-lite.png Info click here to view more info

(from their site) -

D-TAR (de-tar): 1: n The logical union of the world's leading pickup builder and the world's foremost authority on acoustic instrument amplification. 2: n The new company whose motto is: "with respect to acoustic tone"

Fishman Transducers, Inc.
340-D Fordham Road
Wilmington, MA 01887
978-988-9199 | fax 978-988-0770

Links

Harmony-Central user reviews: Fishman

 Info click here to view more info

( from listing's site ) - For over 25 years, the Fishman name has been synonymous with technical innovation in acoustic amplification. Fishman pickups and preamps, toneshaping products and amplifiers are the essential tools acoustic musicians, performers and sound technicians rely on to accurately amplify the natural tones of acoustic instruments.

Shoreline Music has a great selection of the top brands of pickup and preamps and loads of information.

K&K Sound Systems, Inc.
PO Box 626
Coos Bay, OR 97420
(541) 888-3517
1-800-867-6863
Fax: (541) 888-4846

Links

Harmony-Central user reviews: K_And_K_Sound_Systems

Shoreline Music has a great selection of the top brands of pickup and preamps and loads of information.

L. R. Baggs
483 N. Frontage Rd.
Nipomo, CA 93444
Phone (805) 929-3545
Fax (805) 929-2043

Links

Harmony-Central user reviews: L. R. Baggs

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LR Baggs Para DI

The Para Acoustic D.I. is a studio-quality direct box, featuring a five-band equalizer with tunable notch and midrange controls, adjustable gain and phase inversion. Our proprietary Quasi-Passive EQ circuitry is totally transparent and allows control over voicing without sacrificing tone -- a big advance over conventional equalizers. In short, the Para D.I. Is engineered to bring out the best in any pickup.

This is the DI/Preamp that I'm using with my ukuleles.

Shoreline Music has a great selection of the top brands of pickup and preamps and loads of information.

Mi-Si Electronics Design, Inc.
178 Crescent Road
Needham, MA 02494
office / fax: 617.795.2146
cell: 617.943.0414
fax: 617.795.2146

Links

Battery-Free Technology for Acoustic Amplification

Listing Info click here to show or hide more info

( from listing's site ) - Mi-Si Electronics Design, Inc. (pronounced “My-Sigh”) was founded in April 2004 by an experienced team of engineers with a passion and a drive to make music technology better - for both artists and music lovers. Although new to the marketplace, Mi-Si’s engineers bring an arsenal of expertise and more than 25 years experience in the amplification field, developing exciting and revolutionary electronics specifically designed for acoustic amplification.

Pick-up the World
722 E. Francisco St.
PO Box 450
1206 Herbert Ave.
La Veta, CO 81055
719-742-5303

Links

Harmony-Central user reviews: Pickup_The_World

Shoreline Music has a great selection of the top brands of pickup and preamps and loads of information.

Schatten Design
367 Ottawa Street South
Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2M 3P3
(519) 742-3862 fax (519) 742-1843
toll free (877) 633-0177

Links

"The Dualie" for Ukulele Dual Element Acoustic Soundboard Pickup

Shadow Electronics
Shadow Elektroakustik
Peter-Händel-Straße 2
91334 Hemhofen
Germany

Links

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SH NFX-UK

The SH NFX-UK is a Nanoflex  undersaddle pickup with preamp for ukulele. The installation is done in seconds - without any modification to your instrument.

Tech 21
1600 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
212 315 1116
212 315 0825 (Fax)

Links

Harmony-Central user reviews: Tech 21

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