Ultra Tonic Version 3 by JME
 

Alright, who's going to be the guinea pig? An interesting departure from the 3-4 individual sensors; not unlike the former B-Band SBT. Totally passive, minimally invasive, and I think James includes a stereo jack as he did in previous iterations. There's a "ring" solder point on the input jack pcb to add a second souce be it a magnetic pu or mic (power would be supplied via external preamp).

http://jamesmayengineering.com/how-it-works/

http://jamesmayengineering.com/wp-co...mplete-set.jpg

Wow - looks amazing. I love James' innovation.

I just bought an OM21 that will need a pickup, but the price is beyond my budget, but I love the concept.

I know I am a big Dazzo fan and all but I love the engineering (best way to describe it) of his products. The idea totally makes sense for SBTs. This alone or paired with a mic would be stellar I am sure.

I would totally give it a try if Dazzos weren’t already glued into my guitars. 😁

The v2 Ultra Tonic is fantastic. I’ve installed it in 2 guitars. I’ll be putting my order in for one of the v3 in a few days - to be installed on my D-28 MD!

This looks like an excellent iteration. I'm excited to listen to a demonstration of the new design.

That is a beautiful design and I may give it a go!

James, if you see this. Is it possible to attach two shielded Dazzo wires to your circuit board? This way I could try it out.

I am happy to answer questions!

You can attach another pickup to the RING connection by soldering it to the pad labeled R/P1 on the connector board. The shield would solder to the bottom side ground plane. It could be more than one wire, the pad is big enough for 2 or 3 at least. It's easy to do.

However, I'm concerned that the Dazzo mounting would be in about the same location the Ultra Tonic needs to mount, so wouldn't there be a real estate conflict?

Wow! That was fast.

I would keep the Dazzo instead of using your pickup and just use the Dazzo attached to the circuit board for the only signal source. Not dual source.

Just saw on the website, Ultra Tonic v3 is 33% off - $179 thru Jan 15. [emoji41]

Very cool design. I am excited to hear some demos of it. I have to admit that I was very excited at first thinking that the main sensor would be attached using tape and not glue. However, if it sounds great then I could stomach glue.

Ultra Tonic Version 3 by JME
 

I’m curious about how this would work with a ToneDexter on a classical guitar.

In my view, it is the cat's meow. Ultra Tonic by itself is pretty darned impressive, and you won't have feedback issues. With a ToneDexter, it takes the sound to the finish line. This is true of both nylon and steel string installations.

Will there be clips of this new system soon? Thanks!

Is the soundhole-mounted volume wheel ‘optional’, per se? It doesn’t look intrusive, which I really appreciate, but one less knob to worry about is always preferable for me. That’s one thing that drew me to K&K’s initially and then to the previous iteration of the Ultratonic.

Yes, working on it!

The volume control comes standard, but can easily be removed and jumpered around if not required.

FWIW, I was of the school that didn't think I needed a volume control at the sound hole. Until I had a conversion and now I am hooked. YMMV of course.

This one really does work well - it has just the right taper and of course the tonal balance does not change when adjusting the volume. (Both of these features are not trivial to implement.)

I've got one here just waiting for me to install - If only I didn't have so much to get done in the next week!!

I have a V2 in another guitar, and it is great!

For those who asked, audio demo clips of the Ultra Tonic V3 are now up on the site.

http://jamesmayengineering.com/video-audio-demos/

In actual practice, you'll probably boost the highs a bit (or use a ToneDexter), but these demos are straight into the recording interface with no EQ or effects. Unvarnished, so to speak.

That sounds really good. It definitely has that K&K quality to it but it sounds even more natural. It kind of reminds me of the Schatten HFN in terms of the mic-like quality but the V3 has the bottom end I like. I currently have a Fishman Matrix that I pair with the Tonedexter so I would have to remove it since the main transducer for your pickup would go over the hole where the UST wire comes out of the bridge plate.

Sounds good. I'd like to find a pickup that has good feedback resistance and doesn't require a lot of processing in a live setting. I understand this system weeds out troublesome frequencies. I have a nice Larrivee SD60 that's currently being set up, It'll need a good pickup system.