Cougar
Enlightened Member
And I know darn little about pre-amps, pedals, DI boxes, and, well, lots of other stuff, too. But the K&K I had installed in my F512 just sounded pretty awful when just plugged into an amp. I'm not even sure what "quack" is, but regardless of settings on my amp, the output was just super trebly to the point of not even worth plugging in!
So I heard somewhere that the passive K&K really needed an external pre-amp. So I went looking for one of those. Jeez, I didn't know they could be so expensive! Many over $100, even up to $400! Just for a pre-amp? I guess I'm just generally a cheapskate, especially when I don't know the difference between a $100 pre-amp and a $400 pre-amp. I kept looking.
Then I saw this Behringer ADI21 V-Tone Acoustic Driver DI Pedal. For $39 at Sweetwater. Quite a mouthful of a name, but it was touted as "essential for your piezo-equipped acoustic-electric guitar. Replacing your artificial, lifeless sound with one that is rich, loud, and electrifying..." Well, for 39 bucks I figured I could take a chance on the thing.
I got it in the mail yesterday. It even came with the usual Sweetwater candy! I read the instructions, made the suggested settings for "folk," which I guess came closest to what I've been playing, plugged it in, tweaked it a little, and hey, I'm pretty happy with this cheap little box! It really tamed the piezo tone coming out of the F512 and sounded pretty darn good to my amateurish ear. "Rich and loud" was right! I'm ready to rock!
So I heard somewhere that the passive K&K really needed an external pre-amp. So I went looking for one of those. Jeez, I didn't know they could be so expensive! Many over $100, even up to $400! Just for a pre-amp? I guess I'm just generally a cheapskate, especially when I don't know the difference between a $100 pre-amp and a $400 pre-amp. I kept looking.
Then I saw this Behringer ADI21 V-Tone Acoustic Driver DI Pedal. For $39 at Sweetwater. Quite a mouthful of a name, but it was touted as "essential for your piezo-equipped acoustic-electric guitar. Replacing your artificial, lifeless sound with one that is rich, loud, and electrifying..." Well, for 39 bucks I figured I could take a chance on the thing.
I got it in the mail yesterday. It even came with the usual Sweetwater candy! I read the instructions, made the suggested settings for "folk," which I guess came closest to what I've been playing, plugged it in, tweaked it a little, and hey, I'm pretty happy with this cheap little box! It really tamed the piezo tone coming out of the F512 and sounded pretty darn good to my amateurish ear. "Rich and loud" was right! I'm ready to rock!