I need someone with guitar knowledge!?!
Question:
I need someone with guitar knowledge!?
what exactly is a Shadow active 3-band EQ and pickup. i saw it in an acoustic guitar. what is it? how does it work? and can i plug it into an amp? be really specific here, i don't know nuch about acoustic-electrics. i really want to know if it hooks up to an amp!
Answers:
It is a simple piezo-electric pickup that is the same as most other acoustic-electric guitar pickups.
The word "piezo" (pronounced Pie-zoh or Pe-ay-zoh) refers to the piezo-electric crystal that generates a small electric charge in the presence of vibration. This phenomenon is called the "piezo-electric effect" and is the basis for all piezo pickups.
"3-band" refers to the EQ or equalization of the preamp. A preamp amplifies an electric signal "before" the amplifier. ("pre" means "before" ...hence pre-amp, ... before the amp.)
In this case, “equalization” is a misnomer for "tone control." An "equalizer" is a fancy term for the device that boosts or cuts high sounds or low sounds. The reason acoustic guitarists find this EQ (tone control) useful is not because it helps them sound better, but rather because it helps reduce feedback so they can play louder and hear themselves. A “3-band EQ” is really a tone control that affect three zones or “bands” of frequencies. Those three zones or “bands” are typically Low, Mid, and High.
“Shadow,” is nothing more than a brand name. It is a euphemism designed to make you believe it does its job quietly, "in the shadows." The idea is that any good preamp should be acoustically "transparent" like a clean pane of glass. You should be able to see through it, without seeing the glass itself. Well, that ideal is seldom achieved. “Shadow” may sound cool, but the name doesn’t improve its performance.
As a professional musician and experienced engineer, I can say that the Shadow preamp and pickup system is OK. It is not great. It isn’t much better or worse than most acoustic pickups.
Yes, of course, you can hook it up to an amp. However, it is an acoustic guitar, so it needs to be hooked up to an acoustic-guitar amp. Electric guitars do not have nearly the frequency range of acoustics, so the amps they use are not designed to reproduce the high frequencies of an acoustic instrument.
I hope this helps!