Ubertar Hexaphonic Guitar Pickups

Ubertar Hexaphonic Pickups
and polyphonic pickups for bass and seven-stringed guitar

single, dual and triple string pickups

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contact: paul@ubertar.com

Sound Samples:

Plus (HC-series) hexaphonic pickup:

HC-Series (AKA "plus") hex guitar pickup:

This clip (linked above) is of an HC-series hex installed in middle position of a Fender strat, recorded direct-- the hex signals go from the guitar to the breakout box to six channels of mic preamps to six channels of a sound card, and recorded to six tracks. Each track is panned hard left or right, so E, D and B are to one side, the rest to the other. Recording direct gives you the cleanest possible signal, with no mic bleed and no amp coloration... of course in the real world, you WANT that amp coloration... it gives warmth and life to the sound. So here's a version with the left side to one amp and the right to another. The right channel is a VHT Special 6, and the left is a Fender Champ.

BASS!

HC-Series (AKA "plus") quadraphonic bass pickups:

This clip (linked above) is of a pair of HC-series quad pickups in an Epiphone rock (jazz) bass.

NOTE: The sample is of all four strings summed to mono. The signals are combined to a single signal and sent to one amp. In this clip you will not hear the strings panned differently.

I played four short sections, each about 40 seconds. The first is a quad single coil in neck position. The second is a quad humbucker in neck position. The third is a quad single in bridge position, and the last one is a quad humbucker in bridge position.

The bass was played through a Yorkville Bassmaster 200, and recorded with an Electrovoice RE-20 mic. There is NO processing on the file... NO noise reduction, NO EQ, nothing.

It has two plus quad humbuckers installed, with a quad/mono switch for each pickup for each string, and a single coil/humbucker switch for each pickup for each string, for a total of 16 switches. It is not for sale, but I would entertain a crazy offer for a huge pile of money. :) This is my only bass, and I like it!

Standard and Plus Hex Single Coils, direct, re-amped, re-amped with fuzz:

These samples are of a simple chord progression, played first on an Epiphone SG Special with a standard hex single in bridge position, then on a NY Pro Telecaster with a plus hex single coil in bridge position. Both guitars ~~are available for sale~~ have been sold. There is no processing done to any of the tracks, other than normalizing levels and panning (the "full" versions are panned in a fanned-out pattern, from low E on the left to high e on the right.

First, here are all six strings together, recorded direct into the computer (guitar to breakout box to mic preamps to sound card to DAW):

direct_full.mp3

Recording guitars direct tends to be a bit lifeless sounding, so to give the sound some character, we "re-amp" the signal by sending it through a guitar amplifier. In this case, it's a Fender Champ, recorded with an Altec "birdcage" ribbon microphone a few feet from the amp:

champ_full.mp3

Hexaphonic fuzz (applying fuzz to each string separately) is a way to avoid intermodulation distortion. This means you get the fuzz distortion sound without muddiness. The individual notes are distinct, so the chords are clear yet still fuzzed. This sample is the signals re-amped through the Champ after going through a homemade fuzz pedal, recorded with the Altec birdcage again:

fuzz_altec_full.mp3

Here is another hex fuzz version, this time recorded with a Shure SM57 about an inch from the amp speaker. It's a bit more aggressive sounding than the Altec:

fuzz_57_full.mp3

Here are all the individual string tracks. Put them in your DAW and have fun!:

fuzz_altec_high_e.mp3

Please let me know of any broken links. Thanks!

Standard Hexaphonic Single Coil

Standard Hex Single Coil Sample 1

This is a standard hex single installed in bridge position of an Epi SG special. When I plug this guitar into my '57 Champ and crank it to 12, it's silent until I play a note. There is absolutely no noise reduction or processing done to this track other than normalization to get the right playback level.

Recording direct leaves the tone a little thin and sterile-- there's no amp warmth, and no room sound, so I'm going to re-amp the tracks and post that version too, so you can hear how it sounds through an amp.

*"recording direct" means plugging straight into the mic preamp/computer, rather than playing through an amp and recording with a microphone. I did this to avoid the bleed from one amp + mic to the other, so you can hear the channel separation.

Standard Hex Single Coil Sample 2

This one was by one of my customers. It's a(n early version) Standard hex single in bridge position.

Octaphonic Humbucker:

Octaphonic Humbucker

Here is a video by a customer with an eight string Agile Septor guitar. The coils (and sound) are the same as my hexaphonic humbuckers.

The samples below are of a pickup type no longer available, which was called "type 1". "Type 2" is now called Standard, and "Type 2b" is now called Plus.

Type 1/Turbo Box Sample 1

Type 1/Turbo Box Sample 2

These were done by a customer. You can hear how the turbo makes the type 1 sound bolder and more powerful.