We have found a company that produces some nice pre-amps along with some great sounding film-transducers and condenser mics which make for very elegant active systems for koras.
Installation is easy, no soldering, everything plugs together, after-market installs are no problem. Controls are mounted inside the soundhole, only one hole required for the jack (if you want to run the cable through the soundhole, you don’t even need that). The entire system is housed inside the body of the instrument. Very good installation instructions included.
Pickups can be mounted under the bridge for a clear, bright sound or on the body of the instrument for a warm, mellow sound. The dual input pre-amps let you blend both signals together.
Email us for more info and availability, info@kumbengokoras.com
We are currently using these three models of pre-amps:
A1.2N:
single input, uses transducer pickup, with volume control
85.-
A2:
dual input, uses 2 transducers or transducer and condenser mic, stereo output (you can connect a stereo cable and split the signal at the amp for two inputs, one from each pickup)
130.-
A2.2XOM:
dual input, uses two transducers, volume and crossover control(signals are blended onboard), mono output
130.-
Available Pickups:
AST 1470:
good general purpose pickup, good highs, good low
47.-
DST:
bigger, good low end, we use it with A2.2XOM pre-amp in combination with AST 1470
57.-
AG-Mic:
clip-on condenser mic, can be used w. A2 pre-amp in combination w. AST 1470 or DST
67.-
Daniel Berkman plays a 24-string deluxe model kora from Kumbengo Koras.
The first half of the video is accoustic only, at about the 2.00 min mark I turn on the amp. Obviously not studio quality, but it shows roughly what the pickup does. The system is B-Band A1.2 pre-amp w. AST1470 pickup, the amp is a Fender Keyboard 60, the mic is the camera mic on a Nikon D3100.