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Old 01-23-2020, 09:36 AM
Temcat Temcat is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2012
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Default Submarine Pro pickup: my personal disappointment and potential application

Not so long ago I bought a Submarine Pro pickup (https://www.submarinepickup.com), which is a hex pickup with per-string mini-switches that, in theory, allow you to send the signal from each string to one of the two outputs or turn the string off completely. I intended to use it for sending the signal from the A and low E strings to an octave pedal. I used to own the previous, two-string version called simply Submarine, but sold it due to poorly designed attachment options.

Unfortunately, I found Submarine Pro unusable for my purpose. The problem is that the signal from the D string is present despite its switch being OFF or set to send the signal to a different output. At about –18dB (as measured by me) relative to the strings turned ON for the channel, it can be heard when plugged in directly (although not really that prominent so it may not be noticed right away) but is especially evident with octave pedals, and I've tried several of them.

I tried moving the pickup more to the bass side as far as it would go but it still didn't provide enough separation. I also tried to move the pickup to the back of the soundhole, but it didn't make an audible difference in terms of the bleed, and this pickup position gets in the way of my playing anyway. Pickup height and gain are not the problem here, either. The manufacturer suggested that I got a lemon, but to be honest, I find it hard to believe that a problem of this kind can be specific to a particular item and not the design itself.

I think that Submarine Pro can still be useful at least in the scenarios where you need to have different EQ and compression for the bass and treble strings. In that case, I don't think that the level of bleed I encountered is critical—moreover, it may well be beneficial in that it provides a smooth transition.

As for me, I sent the pickup back a couple of weeks ago and have received a refund notification today (though the funds haven't yet arrived in my account).
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Old 01-23-2020, 11:10 AM
rschultz rschultz is offline
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I looked into that a few years ago, thought I could do an octave pedal on just the E and A or something like that. Decided against it.

Saw Tommy Emmanuel not too long ago, he gets some crazy bass out of his performance. I think he brought in a pair of huge subs, and must have some signal processing to boost the bass like that. Sounded awesome!
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