K&K Twin vs. AKG C1000S

[mandowood]

Hey y'all- I've done some searches and read up on both the pickup and the microphone, but I was hoping to get a direct comparison from some of you more experienced folks out there.

I need some electronics for playing in church and with a band- any opinions? advice? which do you prefer? Thanks for your time...

[EdSherry]

Entirely different kettles of fish, IMHO. I love the AKG C1000, and use it a lot in live performance and recording. But it's a mic, not a pickup. Big difference is that pickups essentially yield the same volume (depending on how hard you play; the harder you play, the louder it is), while mics give a volume that depends not only on how hard you play (the acoustic sound at the instrument) but also how far away you are from the mic (that pesky "inverse square law" thing).

The downside of using a mic is that you have to be very conscious of how far away from the mic you are. Conversely, the upside is that you can control volume/dynamics by moving into/away from the mic.

IMHO, the main reasons to use a pickup rather than a mic is that a mic leads to unacceptable feedback given your playing volume, or that you hate to be "tied down" to playing in a particular physical location vis-a-vis the mic. The main reason for using a mic is that the tone of a good mic is difficult (if not impossible) to achieve with even the best pickups.

IMHO, if a mic works for your situation, I prefer mics over pickups for tone reasons. Obviously, YMMV.

Best of luck.

[Rob Gerety]

Or you could use both and blend them.

[mandroid]

AKG offers a C411, their soundboard transducer type contact Mic , they go outside and are removable .
one version for Phantom power , another for belt pack battery. belt pack can run a lavalier mic of theirs too.

The C1000 is a pretty hot small diaphragm end address microphone works at about a foot from it OK they can run off a 9v battery too so mixer power is not required , but will run off Phantom if available.

[Fishel]

If "church" means a boomy hall, then the pickup might be a better option, even though the mic will give a nicer sound.

I use a small (lavalier-size) condenser mic strapped to my right wrist with 1" elastic. For f-hole mandolin, I move the mic to the top of my wrist and twist it a bit toward the f-hole. Picks up well, except in very loud noisy situations. Has that microphone quality, but close enough to the sound source to minimize feedback.