Question about pickups and preamps

[JLT]

I just bought two of the JJB Prestige piezo pickup units (3 pickups for the guitar, 2 pickups for a mandola). These are supposed to be clones of the K&K Pure mini pickups. JJB recommends using a K&K Pure Preamp with them, since the input impedance is 1 Mohm and they say you're not supposed to go over 4 Mohm and most of the less expensive preamps are 10 Mohm or greater. However, on the Unofficial Martin forum
(http://theunofficialmartinguitarforum.y ... v0tKV5Rd7d ) there's a discussion about whether the output impedance (said to be 10 Kohm) is too high to be used on most amps. From what I can noodle out, the preferred preamp is the K&K Pure XLR, with an output impedance of 100 ohms. But that unit is over $150, which I can't afford ... the plain Pure preamp is already stretching the budget at around $90.

I'm really a newbie at all this amplification stuff, so I figured that I'd ask the folks here about what their experiences have been with this setup. I really don't have more than $100 to spend on a preamp right now, but with the open-mike stuff I'm doing now, I need at least some way of controlling the volume away from the amplifier itself, and if I'm switching back and forth between the guitar and the mandola on stage, the EQ knobs might come in handy, too.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I have installed 3 of those JJB 3 piezo pickups and I love them, and, I don't use a preamp on my own guitar, just run it to the amp.
My guitar sounds just like it does unplugged, just louder which is just what I want. I am getting ready to order another for the current guitar I am building.
Jesse has a set up with a volume and tone control, did you consider that from him?

Kevin

[JLT]

Jesse has a set up with a volume and tone control, did you consider that from him?

Kevin

I did consider it but felt that I might need more tone shaping than a single tone control. And I wasn't sure if I wanted to drill more holes in the guitar than I needed to.

In retrospect, though, I think that the unit with the controls might have been the way to go.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Swap it out, Jessie is really easy to work with at JJB