Shadow Electronics, known for its Shadow pickups, was founded in Germany in 1971. Its founder, Joe Marini, was a well-known guitarist in his home country, leading blues and jazz bands and appearing regularly on numerous television and radio shows.While he had an extensive track record as a renowned professional guitarist, he also possessed a deep interest and expertise in electronics, having built guitar amplifiers as early as his teenage years. Thus, Shadow pickups were developed through the combination of his perspective as a guitarist and the engineering that brought his vision to life.
In the early 1970s, he introduced “Doubleplay,” a system that blended an in-bridge piezo pickup with a magnetic pickup. By leveraging the strengths of both piezo and magnetic technologies and having them cover the frequency ranges the other couldn’t capture, it enabled tones that could not be reproduced with a single pickup. This “Doubleplay” system has been carried forward to the present day and is still in production in an evolved form.
Furthermore, through blended systems that incorporate microphones, the company has successfully reproduced the tones of a wide range of instruments—from guitars to violins, mandolins, double basses, and even folk instruments—and has grown into a major brand that now manufactures over 1 million pickups annually.
■ NanoMAG
A magnetic pickup that seals even the active circuitry within a compact size measuring 6 mm thick and 5 mm wide. Mounted at the end of the fingerboard, it delivers a sound with low noise and high resistance to feedback.
Suggested retail price: 25,200 yen
■ Nanoflex
An in-bridge type pickup. While piezo pickups typically placed under the bridge pick up string vibrations from above, the Nanoflex—thanks to a combination of multiple piezoelectric materials—offers sensitivity not only upward but also downward toward the bridge. This allows it to incorporate not only the string vibrations on the bridge but also the tones from the top and bracing into the sound.
Suggested retail price: 22,050 yen
The Sonic Doubleplay preamp system allows you to mix the tones of the Nanomag and Nanoflex.
Suggested retail price: 47,250 yen