weak output: Shadow pickup

I got this lanikai ck-teq with the shadow pickup, tone and volume...its pretty weaksauce. On one of my mandolins the dealer talked to me about how due to some quality control issues, they arent always as loud as they can be.

Is that true? is there an adjustment I can make to make it louder? I cant see how that can be, but the output on my uke is lame-o at times. I can run it through a PA on the same channel as my guitar and have virtually nothing, then plug it into a fender amp on medium volume and have it be boomin loud as it should be. Ideas?

Is that an active system or a passive pickup. Not all pickups with tone and vol are active.

If it's an active system then first thing to do is check your battery. If the battery's good then check that the pickup is seated properly in the saddle slot.

It it's a passive pickup then, like most piezos, it is likely to sound pretty thin unless it goes through a preamp of some kind to boost the signal and maybe tweak the EQ and impedance.

When you put it into the PA, as well as controlling the channel level, see if you can up the gain.

it has a battery...it may need replaced. how do i check it in the saddle slot? can i just take the saddle out to see it or do i gotta go inside and play around with it?

thanks doood

replace the battery first... Ive thought I've had plug issues, preamp (pedal) issues, amp issues... and every time changing out my battery was all I needed to do. my clip on tuner and pickup use the same battery, so usually I'll just grab the one in my tuner and pop it in to test... also I don't feel so bad buyin them in 2 packs... Always good to have some spare cr2032s laying around

where do i get batteries for it? my tuners all take triple a's and this is one of them watch bat's

Depends. Take the old battery to the store, or note down the number written on it.

If it's the kind of thin circular battery with a diameter of about 1.5mm - 2mm then the most common size used in tuners and onboard preamps is probably CR2032. If it's one of the smaller diameter, fatter batteries then you really would be best getting that number.

In the UK suitable batteries are available from supermarkets, chemists (drug stores) and hardware stores - not to mention places like Maplins (kind of equivalent to RadioShack).