After a successful crowdfunding effort in 2015, UK singer/songwriter Pete Roe has announced a follow up to the Submarine pickup. Where the first model added extra dimension to two strings only, the Pro's six magnetic coils can pick up signals from each of a guitar's six strings. The player uses switches housed in the endpin jack to determine the route of the signals.
A standard electromagnetic pickup for a six string guitar sees magnetic poles positioned underneath each string, and a coil of wire wrapped around all six poles. The Submarine Pro has six mini pickups within its aluminum housing, with one coil for each string, and is able to isolate the signal from each string.
Roe says that since the mounting plate uses nano material suction pads to attach to an electric guitar, modification of the host instrument is not usually required, and the setup even serves to secure the Pro in place when installed in an acoustic guitar's sound hole. A supplied hex key can then be used to adjust the distance from the top of the Pro to the strings.
The signals from the Submarine Pro's pickups are routed to an amp or effects chain via its own cable, which ends in a modified jack with on/off switches. In mono mode, one of the two banks of six switches can be used to select which pickups output the signal. In stereo mode, the signals from each of the switch banks can be routed to different channels.
A player can, for example, send the signal from the low E and A strings to an octaver pedal for extra depth, and the rest of the strings straight to the amp. The combination is set by the player. The Pro can be used on its own, or in conjunction with the output from existing pickups on a guitar. Roe is planning to bring even more output choices to the Submarine platform in the future.
The Pro has been designed to keep noise from the host instrument or non-target strings to a minimum, with Roe saying that it is also "excellent at resisting feedback."
For this crowdfunding outing, the Submarine Pro is running on the UK's Crowdfunder platform until December 5. Pledges start at £99 (which converts to around US$130, though – as with the original – the Pro is not being made available to US players) and shipping is estimated to start in June 2018, assuming all goes to plan. The video below has more on the project.
Sources: Leviathan Instruments, Crowdfunder
