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Originally Posted by Gintaras  Its basically the tone controls for the K&K pickup |
There's a bit more to it than that......
Using an active preamp with the K&K pups (there's actually three separate passive transducers wired together into one output) can sometimes give a dramatic improvement on your tone, depending on the instrument. While the pickup by itself is often powerful enough to drive a high-impedance input directly -
if you use a guitar cable no longer than 10' - , using a preamp paid off very well with my flat-top 6-string: much more sensitive dynamics ("touch sensitivity"), and the already good tone was noticeably better
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it is an external box and can be clipped on your belt
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This is the lowest-cost option. IME moving up to the Pure XLR preamp is well worth the extra ~$50 for a couple of reasons:
1 - One of your output options with the Pure XLR is to use the preamp as an active DI, sending a nice clean low-impedance signal directly to PA mixing board. This can be very useful whenever you play a venue that has PA support. You also have the option of running it on phantom power - a potential life saver if you don't carry spare batteries in your gig bag
2 - The high-impedance output is still useable even if you send the board a LoZ signal through the DI jack, thus you still have the option of using an onstage amp of some kind for a personal moniter that is completely under your control. This can sometimes be the best of both worlds: the FOH engineer has total control over how you sound in the mains and you have total control over what you hear onstage
3 - The Pure XLR has a phase reverse switch that occasionally comes in very handy. Phase cancellation is something better explained by more knowledgeable folks than me, but suffice it to say that if it is happening, you're not going to like what you hear. The advantage to the Pure XLR is that the remedy literally takes about two seconds, plus A/B comparisons are just as quick and easy
4 - For my 2¢ worth, the very compact K&K Pure belt-pack preamp seems like a good idea but doesn't work out as well in practice as you might think
First off, the control knobs are tiny and can be very hard to see and use quickly and effectively - especially onstage
Secondly, having the thing hanging off your belt means that the output jack on the unit is pointed straight down, and thus presents the constant danger of your guitar cord pulling out at a Very inconvenient time. Go ahead, ask me how I know this......
Having spent quite a bit of time using both onstage, IME the added benefits of the Pure XLR over the belt-pack version more than make up for the higher price. Finding a good place for the thing onstage isn't as big a hassle as it would seem at first, the output and control options are a definite improvement, and having human-sized controls with labels that can be read at a distance is a big plus
FWIW
Shoreline Music has the best prices I've ever found on K&K gear, hands down - the prices you see on the catalog pages of their website are
shipped within the Lower 48 states. I'm a repeat customer and have been consistently impressed with both their prices and service
