Shadow SH 4020- A

Very good system, installed as a replacement for broken Fishman Presys Sonicore. Made just a little adjustment for the pre slot, because this one is little bit longer than Presys. There are 4 bridges included in different heights, there's no need to adapt original bridge, just swap it, done. Very handy.
Sound very natural and balanced, the stereo option is pretty cool. I'm thinking about installing it on another guitar. It's not heavily complicated to install, but some tools and knowledge is required, you risk to ruin your precious guitar!

I am a gigging musician and this system was preinstalled in my main gigging guitar which I purchased 6 years ago. I recently had some noise problems and reduced signal level from my guitar. Usually this is caused by ware on the Jack socket, but with it being a sealed unit and with the special PCB connector for the preamp on the other end of the cable, I was unable investigate or replace with a standard part. Not being 100% sure this was the cause, and not wanting to replace the entire guitar, I decided to replace the whole shadow system for the same one. Features and sound-wise I couldn't be happier with the Shadow system currently in the guitar, it sounds really great and the built in tuner is invaluable.

Upon receiving the new system from Thomas, I immediately noticed some small differences with the preamp unit. The plastic felt cheaper, it seemed lighter and the feel / movement of the rotary knobs aren't as nice / positive as the old unit. After installing the new system, I noticed my top E was a much lower volume. Note that this system has 6 separate channels - 1 for each string. I first thought this most likely the under-saddle pickup with a dead segment. I stripped the guitar down a couple of times again and swapped out the components one at a time with the old ones as a process of elimination. It turns out the fault is with the new preamp unit. My old jack socket was indeed the original problem. I have now salvaged my beloved guitar with a combination of old shadow parts and new ones, therefore I haven't returned the product to Thomann. However, I would have been really upset if I bought this unit for a new install in a guitar.. especially since you need to cut a hole in the top for the preamp. I suspect that Shadow have economised on Production over the years to maximise profit, cheaper materials, PCB etc and clearly the Quality Control isn't protecting the consumer. A real shame to loose the edge by skimping on quality, because the design and sound of the system is really good.

Seit über 30 Jahren spiele ich Akustikgitarre, meist mit relativ lauter Rockband, auch mal alleine, immer öffentlich.
Alle 5 Jahre hatte ich neue Pickups fast aller bekannten Hersteller und war immer mässig begeistert. Ging halt nicht besser. Mit dem Shadow Hex System bin ich endlich angekommen. Erstklassiger, direkter und trotzdem natürlicher Klang meiner Martin HD28 und meiner Larrivee 00. Die Möglichkeit, die Saiten einzeln im Pegel zu regeln ist der Hammer. Über die Bedienung kann ich wenig sagen, da ich den Preamp mit Klett an den Halsstock befestigt habe. Wollte einfach kein Loch in der Zarge :-) Die winzigen Stellpotis der 6 Saiten sind aber etwas fummelig zu bedienen, macht man aber auch nicht ständig. Beim Einbau brauchts handwerkliches Geschick, den geschlitzten Steg in der Breite per Sandpapier an den Slot anzupassen, ist nicht ganz leicht. An Montagematerial ist alles dabei, was benötigt wird, die Wertigkeit aller Komponenten ist trotz Kunststoff hoch, die Stecker kontakten sicher. Hammerteil.