New Toys

UKKO™ Contact Drum Mics by B-Band

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UKKO Contact Drum Mics by B-Band One of the coolest NAMM Show demos was at the UKKO/B-Band booth. A drummer inside a booth played hard and his sound was reproduced on a set of Bose L1 Model II stereo speakers. Outstanding sound when you consider there were no visible mics apart from a pair of overheads. In addition, each drum could be solo'd with complete sound isolation from the other drums.

UKKO contact mics attach, without modification, using an innocuous adhesive to the shell wall inside of each drum. The same Emift® film used in all B-Band instrument pickups is utilized and each drum's pickup connects to a separate pre-amp module. The included UKKO pre-amps, (separate, especially-tailored pre-amps for snare, toms and kick), when attached to the drum, look like another piece of chromed drum hardware. They are 48-volt phantom powered, have a dipswitch to adjust the tone of the hot output signal, and have three different mounting options.

UKKO Contact Drum Mics by B-Band We installed the basic kit ($599 MSRP) with five mic/pre-amps--kick, snare, and three toms--into an old Gretsch kit and found the sound quality good--lots of attack and tone with nearly zero sound leakage from the other drums in the kit. We chose the included rubberized drum rim mounting clamps for the pre-amps and mounted the kick drum pre-amp using (but not blocking) the drum's air hole.

It is obvious that for live sound, the UKKO system is a godsend for drummer and FOH mixer a like. You'll get near studio quality drum sounds instantly using only overheads at any venue. Visibly, the stage and the kit's look will be dramatically improved. Additional pre-amps/mics for larger kits are $129.99 each. Check www.b-band.com for pricing and loads more information or call 818-508-9412.



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