Shadow SH900 NFX Sitar Pickup

My experience with sitars and their sound goes back 12 years.

THE SOUND
5/10
I was initially happy with the sound that came out of the pick-up, seemed clear and good bass response - however to bring out the bass strings and play on the lower register I had to adjust the 'blend' option mid-performance. Another downside was that the trebles came through very harsh. (might add this is quite a normal problem with contact mics) However I feel shadow's talk about having resolved issues regarding contact mics is unfounded.

I was even less impressed with the result of recording; too much emphasis on percussive elements of the pick/scratching and the piezo quack was apparent.

DESIGN
3/10
Integrated pre-amp with pickup is a nice feature. However attaching to the kaddu (main gourd) is not good. The position suggested is uncomfortable and insecure. I wonder if they even tested it?! When I tried to remove it to send for warranty, it took off the shellac and damaged my instrument.

RELIABILITY
1/10
The worst of all was during the middle of a concert the pickup started to emit popping and crackling sounds that were coming through at full volume. These horrible sounds disrupted the concert and I had to finish my concert acoustically. This was a disaster.

SUMMARY
Overall this pickup has personally cost me time, stress and resulted in the inability to follow through with performances. Whatever positives I encountered were heavily outweighed by negatives. I am severely disappointed.

Die Frage Mikroabnahme vs. Pickup stellt sich jedem früher oder später. Manche bleiben bei ihren ideologisch geprägten Vorurteilen und verzichten darauf, eigene (Klang-)erfahrungen zu machen. Mir bisher bekannte Abnehmer lassen auch zu wünschen über, sowohl was Klang, als auch, was praktikable Bedienung betrifft.
Ich verwende den shadow nun seit ca. 6 Monaten über eine Röhrenvorstufe und bin sehr positiv überrascht.
Getreue Wiedergabe, schöne Obertöne, knurrender Bass, breite Regelbarkeit durch EQ(Tone + Gain, Balance der 2 Pickups, Phase), sogar das bei manchen TA entstehende unangenehme Attackgeräusch bringt man weg.
Als ich meinen Lehrer in Indien besuchte, war der überraschenderweise ganz hin und weg und wollte den TA sofort haben.