Double Bass Fishman BII Vs. K&K Pure Pre Amp.

[Mr.Bassist]

I've heard nothing but bad things about the B2 and its "cheezy" frequency modulation and no mid controls .....On the other hand not a bad thought over the k&k any opinions ?

 

[Francois Blais]

...its "cheezy" frequency modulation ..

Care to explain?

 

[cavemusic]

I've heard nothing but bad things about the B2 and its "cheezy" frequency modulation and no mid controls .....On the other hand not a bad thought over the k&k any opinions ?

I have a BII and a LRBaggs ParaAcoustic. The BII has worked okay for me but due to its lower cost, it certainly has fewer features. Good value for the money I thought - I haven't heard anything weird. Of course the LRBaggs is better but costs way more. You could also consider the Fishman Pro-Eq II or Pro-Eq Platinum.

 

[moles]

I've heard nothing but bad things about the B2 and its "cheezy" frequency modulation and no mid controls .....

I don't quite get it either. Referring to the pared down eq -? It's a simple, basic solution to load a piezo pickup with 10Mohm of impedance, with bass/treble controls thrown in as an added bonus. I figure 99% of those using it are going into an amp with a front-end preamp/eq section anyway - so really it's all you need right?

If not, there are other levels of tweakability in the higher priced Fishman pre's.

The K&K pre's have got some negative reviews. I have one and I happen to like it. It sounds different than the B-II - that may be as much to do with the lower impedance (1Mohm) vs the Fishman's. I found the B-II much "cleaner" sounding - and a bit flatter or possibly mid-scooped depending on how I was feeling about it that day. The K&K is a little bit growlier, bit more in the mids, but doesn't have that squeeeky cleeen hifi thing going on.

 

[Francois Blais]

...but doesn't have that squeeeky cleeen hifi thing going on.

Care to explain, please?
I don't get what you mean.

Thanks,
François

 

[moles]

Sure thing, Francois...

This was just my impression after using the BII for a few months, and then acquiring the K&K. I bought the Bass Max/clicky transducer network with the RAB+ preamp included, so my first use of the BII wasn't with the same pickup. I did use the BII in combination with the K&K pickup in mono - which essentially gives you a Bassmax - at a couple of gigs/rehearsals just to give it a whirl.

So keeping that in mind, I felt the BII had extended low and high frequency response compared to the K&K pre that I have. Again, maybe that's a result of the higher input impedance, but from what I remember the quality of the low end in the BII was a bit different from the K&K as well - a slight dip in the low mids maybe -?