Shadow's NanoFlex-6 "Barn Door" System

guitaniac · #1 01-30-2011, 07:21 AM

This new NanoFlex-6 "barn door" system is pretty darn interesting. The NanoFlex UST system has a good rep to begin with, but being able to adjust the amplified level of each individual string is a great extra benefit. The stereo spread thing sounds pretty interesting to. Here's the 2011 winter NAMM vid from AG mag's YouTube site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A3z4NFNOXI

Gary

Doubleneck · #2 01-30-2011, 07:55 AM

I agree with each string having its own pickup. I have that with my new guitar with the Graph Tech Ghost system. Just make sense to me and it seems to work well also gives you a chance to do midi in the future.
Steve

mrmatt1972 · #3 01-30-2011, 08:06 AM

that is great! What a super use of technology and psychoacoustics.

mchalebk · #4 02-17-2011, 10:08 AM

Okay, I'm confused. The Nanoflex-6 was announced almost 2 years ago, but doesn't seem to be available yet? I find this pickup system interesting. Any idea when it will be available and how much it will cost?

mchalebk · #5 05-10-2011, 02:19 PM

The Nanoflex-6 has finally shown up on Shadow's website. It appears to be available with two different preamps. As far as I can tell, the only difference is that the SH 4020 version has the stereo pan control. Here are some links:

SH 4020 http://www.shadow-electronics.com/vi...ang_id=&id=279
SH 4010 http://www.shadow-electronics.com/vi...ang_id=&id=280

The list prices are shown as:

269.00 € ($387 US on 5/10/2011)
320.00 € ($461 US on 5/10/2011)

I'll be curious to see what the street prices in the US will be.

By the way, Shadow finally answered an e-mail and indicated that this will be available around the end of June.

guitaniac · #6 05-11-2011, 05:16 AM

Thanks for the heads up, Brian.

tochiro · #7 05-11-2011, 05:32 AM

The idea of panning the strings of one guitar in stereo seems weird to me because it's not what you hear acoustically.

mchalebk · #8 05-11-2011, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tochiro

The idea of panning the strings of one guitar in stereo seems weird to me because it's not what you hear acoustically.

I could see this feature being interesting for studio recordings. For live performance, I could see it being more useful for running the bass strings and treble strings through different channels, allowing for less reverb on the bass strings. This seems like it really might help focus the sound of the guitar. On the other hand, I'm not sure how much extra money I would pay for this feature.

Doug Young · #9 06-30-2011, 07:08 AM

Hi folks, I had a chance to review this pickup recently, in the latest Acoustic Guitar, and the video version is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHEFCeI541E

fun system!

mchalebk · #10 06-30-2011, 08:07 AM

Great review, Doug. I think you did a really nice job of showing the advantages of the system, in particular the stereo effects. The fact that you can use the Pan control to apply different amounts of reverb to the high strings vs. the low strings is really important to point out (in my opinion), since it shows how you can take advantage of the stereo output even if you use a mono sound system.

I just wish it was a little more affordable...

Mike_A · #11 06-30-2011, 09:01 AM

awesome review Doug! very very interesting pickup. do you think those slits on the custom saddle by shadow have significant improvement on the note separation? i have some spare saddles that i'd like to try to cut slits into and see if it improves my pickup sound.

Doug Young · #12 06-30-2011, 10:03 AM

I've heard of people splitting saddles like this on normal USTs, but I have no idea if it helps. Here's it's probably important so that neighboring strings don't create pressure on the wrong elements.

mchalebk · #13 06-30-2011, 10:48 AM

I had a guitar where the high E string had low output with the UST. I cut slits in my saddle and it fixed the imbalance. It seems like it also improved the sound (both acoustic and plugged in), but that could be an illusion.

rb1591 · #14 06-30-2011, 06:11 PM

First, this is a very good sounding UST and preamp. Great possibilities here. Reminds me again that:
1) UST's are still a very viable pickup choice for a number of reasons. This product is one more good reason.
2) A pickup can be very useful musically and not necessarily sound authentic ("just like my guitar but louder").

I really like the movement created by fingerpicking, the strumming effect and the two channel effects/no effects application.

However, $475 is a fairly steep. Anyone know what the street price is?

RB