|
|
Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 553
Location: Denmark | Out of curiosity I purchased a Shadow SH 066-9 Pickup to test. The Shadow pick up is labeled Made in Germany and supposed to be a good quality brand. The SH066 comes in different widths and the -9 is supposed to be a reasonable direct drop-in replacement for the original Ovation pickup. The wide one with end pins. All that is fine. It fits reasonably in the slot, a little looser than the original, the height is fine, but the radius seems a bit flatter than the original pickup, meaning that the outer strings have a little more height (½-1mm). Unless this disturbs you reshimming is not required. The shape of the ends - where the original pickup has the pins - is not quite as rounded and nice.
After restringing the intonation is fine as before. So considering the mechanical bridge aspect the SH 066-9 is quite satisfying.
Connection is a 1/8" mono jack which slips right in to the receptacle in the preamp. No problems.
The guitar I put it in has the FET-3 preamp.
Sound wise it seems fine although a bit more bright than the original which with the FET preamp has a very full sound. This difference I don't like. Also the output is very low, meaning that the signal-to-noise ratio is bad and all equipment has to be set specially. This I dont find acceptable. I didn't measure the output but a completely unscientific comparison with my Adamas (with fatter strings and tuned to D) indicated the same apparent sound level when the "Gain" control on the A's Optima was set to some 25%. It might work better with other preamps but I wanted to test the function with the Ovation preamp.
On the next string change the good old preamp will be reinstalled. I spent some money and gained some knowledge.
Would I recommend this as a replacement: No.
Others might have experienced differently so post on if You have something to add. | |
| | |
Joined:
December 2015
Posts: 287
Location: Katmandu | In my opinion Shadow Electronic pickups are but decent entry-level pickup solutions; they cannot compete at all with what Ovation has to offer in that field now or back then, be it in terms of sound, features, or even durability.
Just recently I had the entire electronics by Shadow of an Epiphone Texan reissue that I just bought replaced due to a really nasty ground buzz issue. | |
| |
|
Shadow SH 066-9 Pickup