I can't call this a review but I did have a look at the new Shadow pickup about one month ago at the big music expo in Shanghai. It's a trade show type event not unlike the NAMM show in the states, except most of the manufactures represented are Chinese, with some execptions. Never seen so many Chinese traditional stringed instruments in my life, along with many double basses and other western style stringed instruments, ranging from very good (Shen) to very poor quality. The Shadow was mounted on one of the very poor quality basses, a plywood that was not set-up well and had bad strings. The amp provided was very bad too. All this on a very busy and noisy trade show floor. I was dissapointed not be be able to give the pickup a fair try in this environment, so I only played for about a minute or two. It sounded very electric and boomy at the same time, but the bass and amp seemed more to blame than the pickup. It's got a pre-amp with volume control and a tone control that rolls off highs. It sounded best with most off the highs rolled off. I wish they had a better bass to demo it with, because with the bass and amp provided, it sounded pretty bad. As to it's features, the dual elements mounted under the bridge feet reminded me of The Realist, but they appear to be a bit thinner. The look of the tailpiece mounted pre-amp really bothered me, it's encased in an el-cheapo looking plastic case, maybe to save weight. It's vibe is kind of "space-age" looking, in a tacky sort of way. It's not something my bass would want to be seen in public wearing, all that silver colored plastic! Maybe it might be better hidden behind the tail-piece, but then it might be hard to reach the little volume and tone knobs, they are very small. In all fairness though, it might sound great on a proper bass and amp. Too bad they didn't have it presented in that manner at the show that day. Really a shame...
