How do the pickups work on the Huge Tracey kalimbas?
The pickups are piezo-electric devices with a 1/4 inch jack. Plug them into an amplifier with a guitar chord. For recording, I prefer the sound you get with a microphone, as the pickups don’t get very much of the air sound (ie, the wah and vibrato), but mainly the vibrations of the wood. OK, I guess the pickups get about 20% of the wah wah sound. If you want to use an effects processor, or if you want to be heard over the band, this is a good way to go. The pickup does not influence the straight acoustic sound in any way. For $12-$20 extra, I think it is definitely worth it. After my third shipment of kalimbas, I recognized that the good folks at African Musical Instruments (AMI) have greatly improved their pickups. What is improved? No more short-outs, and better placement of the pickup to get more of the high notes.
