Radial Dragster: What does it really do?

[sineas]

Came across a Radial Dragster:
http://www.tonebone.com/tbone-dragster.htm

Restore the full rich tone you lose when you plug your guitar into a wireless transmitter or other types of buffered inputs like those of effects, mixers, sound cards or recorders. Dragster's exclusive Drag™ control makes passive pickups think (and sound like) they're connected directly to a amplifier input by allowing you to precisely dial in the correct amount of impedance loading.

What does it do? How does it work? Does it really work?

Thanx

[TrooperFarva]

On passive instruments, there is a lot of interaction between the pickups, the instrument cable, and the amp. The input section of the amp, and the instrument cable, load down the pickups. If you use a wireless system, the pickups don't get loaded the same way. This tries to restore that. I don't know how well it works, I haven't heard anything.

Something like this isn't necessary on active instruments, because the on board preamp already loads the pickups.

[brianrost]

Impedance loading affects the frequency response of a passive pickup.

Think about turning down the volume on a passive bass cuts high end or the fabled "tone suck" when plugging into effects pedals. Now imagine being able to tune the response to taste.

It's not a gimmick but it is a subtlety.

[MichaelVee]

I looked at the Dragster for my passive basses, but then decided on the Seymour Duncan SFX-01 Pickup Booster. Not only does it allow you to change the tone with a three-position switches, but it's also a great signal booster. It's not as variable as the Dragster, but the three settings give you some different tones to work with.

I have plugged in a passive bass to the SFX-01, then from there patched into a Radial JDI. This is a very nice setup, because it allows you to boost the signal going into the JDI, a passive DI, and send a hotter signal to the FOH.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by sineas

Came across a Radial Dragster:
http://www.tonebone.com/tbone-dragster.htm

What does it do? How does it work? Does it really work?

Thanx

High impedance pickups suffer high-frequency losses in the cable, due to cable capacitance. Active on board preamps or belt/strap carried wireless eliminates those losses by eliminating long cables between the pickups and the first gain stage. This rig has the ability to mimic the high frequency losses of a long cable for those who prefer that tone.

[sineas]

So if I'm reading it right... this little thing works as advertised and should work well on both wired and wireless applications... yes?