K&K Sound Systems Pure Bass Acoustic

Installed on Olympia by Tacoma Thunderchief 4 string bass.

The pickups are installed under the bridge on the inside directly on the bridge plate.

Replaced the quacky, stock under saddle pickup. I really liked the tone of the bass unamped but really hated the sound of it plugged in. I had installed a Pure Western in my circa 1968 Yamaha 6 string and found that the K&K's reproduced the sound of the guitar, and was very happy with them.

Output level was equal to the replaced pickup

The K&K fixed any issues that I had with the undersaddle pickup.

It does pickup and reflect the sound of the instrument and any issues you have accousticly will not go away when it's amplified. A dead spot will still be a dead spot. However, the improvment in sound was what I was looking for.

I like these pickups so much that I've had a custom set made for an Electric Upright I play and I will be getting a set for the brand new Tacoma Thunderchief I've just purchased. No hesitation on installing these pickups in an accoustic or semi accoustic instrument.

Pickup features: Passive soundboard transducers
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Tacoma Thunderchief
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: None
Other pickups on guitar: None
Artists using this pickup: Damned if I know!
You musical style(s): Rock, Celtic-influenced folk, various bad noises.
Reason for pickup change: My Tacoma had no factory pickup, and I didn't want to cut a hole in the side for a preamp.

Perceived output level: In passive mode - approximately the same as my guitarist's Ibanez acoustic guitar's active pickups.
Tone: Completely natural, woody - not at all quacky. Sounds just like the unamped Tacoma.
Sonic evaluation: Have played this combination through a SWR Strawberry Blonde, my SansAmp RBI / Carvin power amp / Bag End rig and a G-K 400RB / Peavey 1516 rig. Sounds best through a clean amp. Dying to try it with a Fender Bassman 25.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:

Comments: I picked this up from Bob Gollihur (www.urbbob.com) based on the advice of others. At the moment, I'm using it passively - the transducers are pre-wired to a quality endpin jack. The output level is very impressive! I'll be using a beltpack preamp only to gain some tonal control options and a volume control.
Installation was very easy, and involves gluing two nickle-sized transducers to the underside of the bridgeplate. Total time to install was about 30 minutes, which included a cigarette break.
The sound is ideal! To illustrate, I played through my amp (set flat) from across the room while my friend slowly turned down the amp volume. I didn't notice any change in tone!
This is a great pickup - I plan on getting two more (for my 12 string and six string acoustic guitars).