Shadow Sonic Nanoflex

JULY 2007 147
incorporating active electronics in a
minimum of space,” says Shadow. “The
pickup is protected by an epoxy layer,
and the silver-platinum shielding will
provide, together with the active
electronics, a low impedance hum-free
output signal.”
Sonic preamps
These four Sonic preamps are intended
to be stuck, via three affi xed adhesive
pads, to the under-side of your
soundboard allowing the minimal
controls to be accessible through the
soundhole. Each is very lightweight –
helped by the coin-type batteries – and
housed in a moulded black plastic case;
functional in looks rather than pretty.
The Doubleplay is the largest and,
while all have a pretty similar
‘footprint’, the Basic is the thinnest in
depth and least obtrusive.
Fitting an under-saddle pickup can
be tricky but here it’s not beyond the
confi dent novice requiring only a small
hole to be drilled, at a slight angle,
through the end of the saddle slot for
the cable. The saddle too must be
reduced in height, but only marginally
due to the thinness of the pickup.
Fitting the end-pin jack is again a little
tricky and needs the right tools. While
the Nanofl ex and output jack probably
should be professionally fi tted, the
NanoMAG couldn’t be simpler – it does
just literally stick on the end of the
fi ngerboard – and so long as the
underside of your soundboard is
smooth, and there are no braces in the
way, attaching the preamps inside
should be simple too.
SOUNDS: Using a Lakewood M-32
pre-fi tted with the Nanofl ex and
NanoMAG pickups we could evaluate
each of the preamps and the
performance of each pickup.
With the Doubleplay installed,
the Nanofl ex produces a good
representation of the Lakewood’s
modern zingy tone. It’s even across the
strings with plenty of – we’d say too
much – high end and generous bass
that can be tailored by the tone control,
which on this preamp is really just a
bass control as it doesn’t affect the
high-end. There’s a pleasant amount of
body thump from the pickup too, and
only minimal piezo-like nasal ping.
The NanoMAG is noticeably louder,
bigger sounding and more bluesy.
Whereas the Nanofl ex is ideal for
strumming and modern fl at-picking, the
NanoMAG adds body for fi nger-picking
and lead lines. The further up the neck
you go the sound gets more electric,
but still with some acoustic-like
sparkle. The top E sounds a little quiet
compared to the fuller B string, and as
you bend the B towards the G-string
there’s a subtle lift in volume. It’s
something to be aware of. As a result of
SHADOW SONIC PREAMPS WITH NANOFLEX & NANOMAG PICKUPS
FROM £119- £199
ACOUSTIC
SHADOW SONIC
NANOFLEX PREAMP
As Sonic Doubleplay
except…
PRICE: £169 (inc
Nanofl ex pickup)
TYPE: Under-
soundboard preamp with
active under-saddle
pickup
DIMENSIONS: 71 x 46
x 26mm deep
CONTROLS: Volume,
bass, treble, phase invert
switch
CONNECTIONS: Input
for Nanofl ex pickup,
output
BATTERY USAGE:
0.8mA, 250 hours
SHADOW SONIC
NANOMAG PREAMP
As Sonic Doubleplay
except…
PRICE: £159 (inc
NanoMAG pickup)
TYPE: Under-
soundboard preamp with
active magnetic pickup
DIMENSIONS: 71 x 46
x 26mm deep
CONNECTIONS: Input
for NanoMAG pickup,
output
BATTERY USAGE:
0.8mA, 250 hours
SHADOW SONIC BASIC
PREAMP
As Sonic Doubleplay
except…
PRICE: £119 (inc
Nanofl ex pickup)
TYPE: Under-
soundboard preamp with
active under-saddle
pickup
DIMENSIONS: 75 x 49
x 16mm deep
CONTROLS: Volume,
tone
CONNECTIONS: Input
for Nanofl ex pickup,
output
POWER: 1 x 3V lithium
cell (type CR2032)
BATTERY USAGE:
0.25mA, 1,000 hours
SONIC NANOFLEX TEST RESULTS
Build quality
Fitting
Sound
Value for money
■ WE LIKED Easy to fi t; very transparent
tone; dual EQ
■ WE DISLIKED Nothing, it does what
you’d expect
SONIC NANOMAG TEST RESULTS
Build quality
Fitting
Sound
Value for money
■ WE LIKED Ditto Sonic Nanofl ex
■ WE DISLIKED Ditto Sonic Nanofl ex
SONIC BASIC TEST RESULTS
Build quality
Fitting
Sound
Value for money
■ WE LIKED Easy to fi t; acceptable sound
■ WE DISLIKED Treble control very wide;
slightly clouded mid-range
From top left clockwise: Sonic Doubleplay,
Sonic Nanofl ex, Sonic Basic, Sonic
NanoMAG
We tested the
preamps with
the Nanofl ex and
NanoMAG pickups
GIT291.rev_shadow 147 18/5/07 08:26:40