Ruokangas’ Valvebucker Mk2 could be the most expensive pickup yet

Ruokangas, a Finnish boutique manufacturer brand, has unveiled the Valvebucker Mk2 – a tube-equipped pickup that could be the most expensive ever made.

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The pickup will not be sold as a single unit and only comes factory fitted into the brand’s range of guitars and basses, adding a mighty $2,200 on top of the cost of an instrument. This latest version of the pickup is equipped with military-grade triode and pentode NOS tubes and comes with a lifetime warranty.

Its first gen launched back in 2018 and quickly gained publicity due to being the first and only vacuum tube-powered active pickup system ever for electric guitars. However, the new Mk2 upgrades are:

• Available now for four and five-stringed Ruokangas basses
• Available now for seven-stringed Ruokangas guitars
• Completely new visual design
• A redesigned floor unit features a balanced output (works as a DI box) as well
• The floor unit is now always matched in colour with the instrument

Further features include a sensitive magnetic pickup capsule, a tube-powered proprietary preamp circuit, and a floor unit is included to connect the Valvebucker to the rest of your signal chain. Just the one pickup is said to offer “a wide variety of sounds”.

At the release of the first edition of the Valvebucker, company founder Juha Ruokangas said of the innovation (via GuitarWorld), “The truth is, the world doesn’t need more guitars. There’s already so much. What a liberating thought – it has freed me to explore the unknown – new soundscapes and perspectives.”

He concluded, “That’s what the Valvebucker is about – it sounds unlike anything else. Most people will never want or need it. But those few whose lives the Valvebucker will change – you make it all worthwhile.”

For more information, visit the Ruokangas website here.