RMC Polydrive II preamp (perfect for Blackbird or other RMC-equipped uke)

no longer for sale.

No longer for sale.

Oh, I don't even understand this...LOL

bonesigh said:

Oh, I don't even understand this...LOL

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Janet,

It is a preamp specially made for the very special RMC piezo pickup saddles, which are one saddle per string, which isolates the sound from each string as a discrete signal, as opposed to all other pickups for acoustic instruments, where the sound from all four strings are just mashed together.

Think of four singers each in a separate room, each with their own microphone, going into a different CHANNEL on the mixer, which is like these RMC pickups and what this preamp can do, vs. All four singers with their hot, smelly breath on each others faces into a single microphone, into a single CHANNEL on the mixer, which is like, every other piezo-type pickup on the planet.

The reason for this is because the preamp via it's 13-pin output, sends the audio signal of each string INDEPENDENTLY to a MIDI converter, which takes the PITCH it receives and converts it to MIDI signal so that you can PLAY ukulele, but have the SOUND of a piano, or any other instrument, and ALSO with the use of computer or iPad software, have the software transcribe your playing to TABS or even standard notation, in REALTIME, and in addition to ALL that, this Polydrive preamp and similar systems from Fishman, Roland and GraphTech are really awesome preamps and will sound like night and day improvements from nearly EVERY other preamp on the market.

No, I am not endorsed by RMC, and the seller here has no idea I am posting this message.

Just sharing what I know about this technology,

Hope this helps!

-Booli

For Janet and anyone else, most ukes have a saddle that is a single piece of material, whereas the RMC piezo saddle pickups (and associated wiring) which are NOT listed by the seller here are actually FOUR INDIVIDUAL saddles, one per string and the signal from each is carried on a discrete pair of wires for each saddle pickup, thus isolating the sound of each string.

One such use of these saddles can be seen in the Godin MultiUke below, picture taken from the Sweetwater web site:



Blackbird used to offer the RMC piezo saddle pickups as an upgrade for the Carbon Fiber BTU ukulele, but as of now I do not see it on the web side, maybe it is a 'special order' item.

Liquidayno said:

*There is a Godin Multiuke for sale for only $400 in the Classifieds right now!

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Thank you very much for the plug...!!!

Wow, thanks Booli. Terrific explanation for a tech dweeb like me! Now, if only I had a Clara or Multi uke