UltraPure Western

UltraPure Western Systems use the same Pure Western Mini or Standard Size pickups as the passive Pure Western systems, but with the addition of an onboard preamp.
The UltraPure Preamp installation requires no destructive alteration to your instrument, no holes to cut! The preamp is mounted inside the guitar at the edge of the soundhole, using a super-strong neodymium magnet (that is attched to your guitar with Velcro), giving you convenient access to the volume slider during performance. This versatile unit offers precise 3 band EQ as well as a gain control to finetune bass, mid, treble and gain. Just pull the unit out a bit (remember, it is held in place by a strong magnet) and adjust the EQ and gain trimpots with a miniature screw driver. This needs to be done only once to perfectly balance your guitar in respect to the amplification system you are using.

The UltraPure Western is an active system for steel string guitar, with 3 pickup heads, preamp with soundhole access, endpin jack, magnetic mount preamp, and Velcro mounted 9 volt battery holder. It comes with a mounting jig which makes installation of the pickups a breeze, detailed instructions and glue included.

Two UltraPure Western models are available:

• UltraPure Western Mini - We recommend the Pure Western Mini pickups for all acoustic guitars as a first choice. Direct installation with superglue is required for optimum performance but the system is still is removable without damaging the guitar (you may damage the pickup though). The Mini pickups have a little less output (about 80%) than the Pure Western Standard, but the UltraPure Preamp entirely evens out this slight difference due to it's noiseless circuitry. This pickup system will fit ANY steel string acoustic guitar! It features super balanced, flat sound transmission, warm woody tone without any quack and superior dynamic range all over the guitar's frequency spectrum. This pickup won the silver medal in the 2006 worldwide readers poll of Acoustic Guitar Magazine.
  
• UltraPure Western Standard Size - for removable installation - We recommend this pickup system with larger transducer heads if a removable installation is desired or for personal preference. It has a little more output than the Mini system, features extra strong bass response, pronounced midrange and it has a tad stronger high end. This is why we find it a great choice for 12 string guitars with their heavier tops and bridges. With direct superglue installation, the Pure Western Standard Size has maximum output stregth. The removable installation provides about the same output level as the Pure Western Mini with direct superglue installation. Please check for the bridgeplate size of your guitar before you order.
  Click here for an original size diagram of the Pure Western Standard Size.

The Pure Western Standard Size can be attached and safely removed without any damage to instrument or pickups. Our special polyester "on tape" mounting system guarantees safe adhesion plus easy removal. Stick the tape to the bridgeplate first and superglue the pickups to the tape. If you want to remove the system simply pull off the tape with the pickup discs on it.

Advantages of the UltraPure Western Systems: The special Pure surface transducers transmit a significant portion of the soundboard because they are not as close to the strings as an undersaddle pickup. An undersaddle pickup mostly amplifies the sound made by the guitar strings. There will not be much difference in sound if you play a cheap $ 50.00 guitar or a handcrafted $ 5,000.00 instrument. With the UltraPure Western pickups, not only are each of the three transducers designed to pick up a specific string pair, but they also "listen" to the sound of your soundboard. The transducer elements are not under pressure and therefore do NOT sound percussive or harsh or quacky no matter if you play hard or soft. The UltraPure Western reproduces all strings nicely balanced. Undersaddle pickups often have problems with string-to-string balance.

How safe are the UltraPure Western Systems with feedback? Due to the location on the bridge plate under the bridge, feedback resistance is comparable to undersaddle transducers, though the under-the-saddle pickups still have the edge here. Technically, a pickup installed in or on the bridge plate is a lot less likely to feedback than one which is attached to the open sound board. The 1/8" (or less) thin sound board can act like a diaphragm and vibrate along with loud sound-signals from speaker cabinets. This is the kind of booming low end feedback you experience on an acoustic guitar. The thicker bridge area is a lot harder to be set into vibration from an outside source simply because of its mass. In our tests with both steel string and classic guitars equipped with an undersaddle pickup plus the Pure Western or Pure Classic, we were able to achieve almost the same gain-before-feedback with both systems, but of course an under-saddle pickup with their very "direct" and string driven tone cuts better through a loud mix.

 

UltraPure Western systems are now available with the "Vintage Jack." Fits any standard 1/4 inch endpin hole, no drilling required. The standard Brass Vintage Jack will add $80 (not discountable) to the pickup price. Other exotic wood styles are available at extra cost, please CALL to special-order a Vintage Jack pickup system.

Read what our satisfied customers have to say about this product.

Pure Western Mini Manual (1 MB)

Pure Western Standard Manual (170 KB)

UltraPure Upgrade Manual (58 KB)