#Bedroom Level# Tube Amp, Is it possible. These pickups still deliver the same tone but are much more reliable and easier to manufacture. And Danelectro continues to build the reissue Danelectros around the lipstick pickup platform. SBUK It would be hard to describe in words just how bad they were. etc.) The pickups are hot a great pairing with my Engal Powerball, Mesa Roadking and Carvin V3 all modern high gain amps. WebReviews Kent Armstrong Vintage Series 6 Shooter PAF Style Humbucker Pickup This pickup design has sweet, soulful tones with a warm bass, punchy mids, and a bright, jangly treble response. Paste as plain text instead, Assuming they do, it is curious how so many people automatically rip out the stock Epi pickups and replace them with (you guessed it) Kent Armstrongs. Matthew Bellamy of Muse used the "Motherbucker" In his first few custom guitars. Just youtube "Stockholm Sydrome Glastonbury" You'll get the idea, It was strung with Les Paul Signature strings (009). What would you guys recommend fro the bridge of a Les Paul if I want deep bass, solid mids, and sweet(smooth) highs. Based on what I read on this forum there seems to be a lot of variability in the stock Casino P-90's. Thanks one and all, that's filled in a lot of blanks for me, and hopefully others. It sounded pretty good. Among its other design factors, Danelectros magic can be traced straight to the highly unique pickups that Nathan Daniel designed. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. I put Kent Armstrongs in my much-reviled epiphone LP about a year ago and found them to be a good pickup and much improved over the stockers (obviously). It was definitely an improvement over the stock pickup, which itself was not a bad pickup. While scores of guitarists got started on these plywood powerhouses, most would move on to something more reliable as their playing progressed. I currently have one of their mini-humbuckers in the neck of my Tele. L5 CES started in '53, had p90s, soon got staple pickups, then Carvin or Kiesel Alan Holdsworth HH2 In my case, a 30 minute job involving a certain amount of swearing. The lead "Vintage" pickup was less chunky sounding than a Burstbucker 1 but creamier than an Antiquity. There was a set in a D'Angelico I just traded. They seem very open with a good output; they don't seem to colour the sound of the instrument as much as the Barts (which appears to be the general consensus)and somehow seem more balanced sonically. No more actual lipstick tubes! All times are GMT-7. In fact, you were doing that on the vid and it was good. Unfortunately for many years these sorely needed pickups - made by Dan Armstrong & Son never materalized.". These custom-made covers allow them to be manufactured in many different sizes and fit the most popular pickup routes like Strat pickups. I like the WD Kent Armstrong pickups very much. I was talking with my luthier the other day abound building an archtop and he was also saying he could put a BK Stormy Monday as a floating pickup even being a regular-sized humbucker. These new pickups allow you to completely equalize the string balance through height adjustment of individual polepieces. Copyright 2023 Seymour Duncan. I have three MB-3 pickups to rewind. Mike, thanks for the feedback (no pun intended). Just an opinion but the early ones are great. It will still fit and fasten to any other archtop that is replacing a floater. The PAF is OK but the Distortion kicks but. Up solos the neck pickup. That neck pup on its' own with a little treble rolled off on the tone control would give you a warm mellow full sound, especially if you pick at the bottom of the neck. Alnico 3 with Formvar wire. Looking for the ultimate Jazz/Fusion Allrounder Guitar, The "capacitor trick" on a Superblock US: 3 values compared (with audio), Looking for some Wisdom on Mini Humbuckers. TDPRI, short for Telecaster Discussion Page Reissue, is the leading online community and marketplace for Telecaster guitars. do Wasn't so keen on the bridge which is hot @ 15k. Perhaps the most famous use of vintage Danelectro tone is the surprisingly clean-yet-crushing riffs on Led Zeppelins Kashmir. Jimmy Page proved that a Danelectro could punch way above its weight class when paired with a mammoth bass tone. I have the Tele bridge pickup and it's OK, but not great. Using the middle pup with either gives you something inbetween which I didn't like much. There are millions of jazz basses out there, much fewer SB basses. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again. I have mentioned in previous posts that my tech had claimed that the stock P90 pups in my '56 Gold Top Les Paul and Zephyr Blues Deluxe (see my sig.) It may not display this or other websites correctly. link above. I would be interested in you comments about the Benedetto swap. Ive found using a bridge Seymour Duncan Vintage Mini hum in the neck position of my Tele, gives me a warmer, darker No, I agree, with shells it's a lot easier and in some cases sounds richer. I think the laminate top really inhibited the projection and the volume of the guitar in a pure acoustic settingmy Gitane D500 is so much LOUDER than any acoustic I've ever used. Super Block United States. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. He has a Classic 57 mounted as a floating humbucker That could be a great solution! Someone tell me if this is right, please add corrections? I have no experience of his full size humbuckers but have always thought his fender singles were real good and a lot of people speak very highly of his P90s. Roy and Sid worked together on the project on a no-compromises basis - the finest mahogany body, a quilt top that Paul Reed Smith himself suggested they use for the project and so on. JavaScript is disabled. i dont like the idea of a guitar having a battery too toy-ish IMO. They sounded decent. WebKent Armstrong is one of the foremost electric instrument pickup designers in the music industry. When I first got the guitar my standard procedure was to swap things for. Today theyre specifically designed for the pickups. The, not so good, PUs may be great to other folks. I have the Tele bridge pickup and it's OK, but not great. I have another Tele with an SD AlNiCo II pickup that I prefer over the Kent Armstrong. Wa Every one of my archtops (5) has a Kent Armstrong 14-pole PAF humbucker. Jazz guitar players are less interested in output and the unique voice pickups can bring to their instrument. I have one of his "hot-rails" type tele bridge pickups in my thinline and that is an amazing sounding pickup, not to mention the nicest made pickup of this type that I have seen from ANYONE (it even has a chrome plated grounding plate on the base), and that is one of his "mass-produced" pickups. I replaced it with a Dimarzio Tone Zone and have been happy as can be since. They sound very authentic for P90's and when used in That's the only first hand experience I have with Kent Armstrong pickups. You must log in or register to reply here. Was not knocked out by the tele set I had. Most people consider Kent's jazz Pickups to be the best in the world and who are we to argue? dude i love that guitar! Check out any vintage Zep live footage, and youll see what we mean. Most of the time I played with the middle one set to zero volume. The Kent Armstrong Humbucker on the Eastman AR371ce measured about 8.7K Ohms at the output jack. Down solos the bridge pickup. I've got them in two guitars of my own. Not a good comparison as the Kent Armstrongs you mention are his factory wound models.To pit them against a Bare knuckle that is a hand wound at 3 times the price.Have you tried any of Kent's hand wound models? I didn't like the Duncan I had in the bridge though and opted for a GFS Vintage Alnico Tele and was actually super impressed by it. They also make a set of Rory Gallagher pickups that were made to replicate the original Rory pickups provided by his estate. Display as a link instead, KA's are available in double creme though and come standard with 4 wires if you're into coil tapping and in the UK they're extremely cheap and I think quite a bargain. Inside the pickup, the improvements continue. the I've been using Kent's m214 - m215 pair of humbuckers as well as the wpu10 - wpu11 for over 14 years now in nearly every custom that I have built because they blow away Seymour Duncan's Mayhem set and you can't beat the price nearly half as much. Kent goes on to describe "It just didn't seem right to me. When searching for the right single-coils for his guitars, Daniel knew they would have to be easy and inexpensive to manufacture. He also has a line of Korean-made pickups that are very good for the price, but they're not in the same league as his hand-wound stuff. select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. Various humbucker models including PAF style and higher output ceramic humbuckers, standard Tele & Strat pickups, lipstick tubes, high gain metal pickups, Jazz, P90's, Firebird, LP Deluxe you name it. Then you can dial the middle one to zero. Jangly, chiming, clear, and detailed are often used to describe their singular voice. JavaScript is disabled. I'll have to get around to trying it in a "real" guitar one of these days. It is the bridge model of the 4/5 string soapbar. I'll hafta get some of Telenators PT-90's. Quality-wise they are in between stock Epis and the more expensive Seymours and Gibsons. hi im thinking about buying new pickups for my black beauty and i came across kent armstrong pickups on ebay are they any good compared to standard epiphone ones? Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. For reference, lets take a look at our (retired) Danelectro Lipstick Tube pickup. Maybe more like a Ford fusion, then say a Holdworth type thing. WebKent Armstrong Hand Made Johnny Smith floating Pickup. All of these modern updates have done nothing to quell demand for lipstick pickups, new and old. In fact, modern guitarists such as Phoebe Bridgers still swing Danelectros over their shoulders quite often. To start viewing messages, He is a very good friend and a good guy also. We understand the questions. This company advertises that they have the hand wound Kent Armstrongs: http://www.oneflightupguitars.com/kentarmstrong.html. Well by looking at the list of players that he's made pickups for, he should be **** good. too many fuzz pedals to buy first! It really brightened the sound but the guitar needed that. Talk with your fellow tone freaks on the web's liveliest (and friendliest!) The cheaper type are made in the far-east while the more expensive ones are USA made. And.they sounded way different too. I just purchased an El Rey4 and I find the original pickup kind of listless. They make many, many pickups. This is the links to the two: http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/Rocker_Humbucker_Gold_Cover_HRG-1, http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/Rocker_Alnico_Humbucker_Gold_Cover_HRG-1A. Well by looking at the list of players that he's made pickups for, he should be **** good. It is only available as a side-mount (pickguard mount) due to varying neck sizes from manufacturer to manufacturer. Lipstick wiring is also a contributor. They make the Mexi Standard that I've had since 1998 sound so good I play it as first choice on a lot of gigs now. WebKent Armstrong has long been the best jazz pickup designer in the industry. Your IP: I put a Vermont Armstrong P-90 pickup in my Ampeg AMG-100. Santa Barbara, California. http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/PAF_Style_Chrome_Cover_HPAC-1, http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/Rocker_Alnico_Humbucker_Chrome_Cover_HRC-1A. Post up some sound files, I'd love to hear them. So if you are in the market for these old-school models, we recommend finding a broken-down Dano from the 50s or 60s and pulling the pickups out yourself. LOL. Assuming they do, it is curious how so many Alnico magnets are the traditional 50s/60s Gibson/Fender standards and generally have a warmer fuller tone than ceramic. What's the opinion from those And not only did these metal tubes give his pickups a unique look, but the metal cover helps shield the electronics and mellowed the otherwise ice-picky sound of his design. JavaScript is disabled. Below are pictures of this model of pup as well as the Casino, as listed on the WD website: A site named "Dan Armstrong - A Man and His Guitars" outlines the history of Dan and his son, Kent, and their manufacture of guitars and pickups. Any users out there? I've known that these two types of pick-up magnets existed for a while now, what is the difference between them and what are the tonal characteristics of each? ive heard both good and bad bout kent armstrong, but the overwhelming majority says good. Well, this time he has outdone himself. You won't find the distortion on the WD website though. thanks. son. I just fitted a tele bridge pickup and it's great. I don't think they're anywhere near the Rolphs but I can't be arsed to swap them between guitars to do a real comparo. http://www.kentarmstrong.com/KentContact.html. Hijacking my own thread:doh: Is there any better bang for the buck in a new guitar than this. Up until now, I have had no other verification of this claim, until he directed me to the WD Music website (as milospilo has provided the link above). Kiesel Guitars: Allan Holdsworth Signature. WebFor Sale First Edition 2003 Ibanez JTK1 JetKing w/ Kent Armstrong PAF Humbuckers in Transparent Black Red Sunburst Finish. The neck model was built Reverse Wound / Reverse Polarity from the bridge model for hum-canceling operation when using both pickups. This explains why I wasnt as concerned with the Epiphones tone. This pickup is only 3/8 thick but sacrifices nothing in terms of Indeed, the Kent Armstrong lipstick pickups on Scheff basses sound strong and clear. I can tell you for fact that the Stock P-90's in my 2004 Casino were not even close to the Kent Armstrong P-90's I replaced them with. However, there are some people who want even more flexibility in this style of pickup, so Kent has brewed up something new and even more versatile. I can cast beige ones but adding the colour decreases my working time. No wonder I didnt like it. Judging by their use on low-end guitars I assume they're cheaper to make. I'm actually thinking of up grading. before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. I love the look of 3 humbuckers, but the extra one does little sonically. Alan Mearns - incredible Bach arrangements / playing. Anyone have any experience with them? It's got the M213K PAF at the neck and a M214K Distortion at the bridge. I contacted Kent Armstrong himself about the pickup thinking maybe I'd just have him make me new one and here was his I've had Kent Armstrong pick-ups in my sheraton for about 15 years. From years of modifying and designing special recipes for his customers, Kent People still mistakenly use 0.022uF/22nF/22000pF or 47nF caps on anything, but even a 22nF is really too dark on mid level inductance pickups for fundamental note definition up the entire neck. If this is your first visit, be sure to But during the electric guitar boom in the 1950s, he added the original Danelectro and Silvertone guitar to his lineup, again with the starter-budget guitarist in mind. Between the warmth and adjustability, you just can't beat this pickup. The reason I asked here is I know I'll get good info I can trust, you go through a lot of chaff before you find something really useful trawling. The cheaper type are made in the far-east while the more expensive ones are USA made. Not horrified, but bowled over with mediocrity. WebThe Rocker cleans up nicely and is warm, even in an alder/maple set up. But he is the ideal example of repetitiveness, and also extreme rythmic monotonity, which is interesting to Good info, I kinda want to check out a newer one from the custom shop. Lipstick wiring is also a contributor. Great price. At this point, I do not know if Kent Armstrong supplies Epiphone with other OEM pickups in addition to these P90's. I don't have one but I use the capacitor in my ToneBlock 202, and I do have the treble up higher than I used to. If this is your first visit, be sure to I have the Tele bridge pickup and it's OK, but not great. I have another Tele with an SD AlNiCo II pickup that I prefer over the Kent Armstrong. do kent armstrong do alnico 2s? I wanted to have some time with the guitar before I went with the swap but at the next string change, I'll change out the pickup. i dont know anything about those models mentioned, but just a word of props for Kent Armstrong, he is a super nice guy and makes a quality product. They are here to help. it does not have that upper mid spike and is much more PAFish? This is probably a dumb question to a lot of you but I'm still relatively virginal guitar-wise. Very well built pickups, that sound good also. I want to do it unobtrusively and I don't like piezo pickups, so I'm planning on getting a floating pickup and making a new pickguard to mount it. And like the Rhoads fan mentioned above, the split tones are excellent, and not that weak-ass puss-o-matic tone which is the usual result of split coils. select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. Powered by Invision Community. But the pickups arent the only reason Danelectro guitars sound the way they do. Sam Sherry, Thanks for your response. Gotta find that pup and find a guitar to install it in soon! The magic is in your fingers. My Epi originals had a passive resistance of about 14.5K Ohms!!!!! these prices are pretty reasonable i think. This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. I have to admit I have only seen and heard the import stuff from Kent Armstrong. I've had several KA PUs. Posted March 1, 2021. anyhow, i've had 2 or 3 of those on guitars i've owned and they are thin and overly bright. I use it with the series parallel switch and with 13.5k output, it works well in passive mode. custom pickups into a 1994 Gibson Les Paul Standard. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7c0631601a9af2e4 I wasn't a huge fan of the noiseless P90's I briefly hadthere was a big volume imbalance. The variability might have worked in your favor. Middle position, your stock Epi neck pup, 3. I thought it sounded terrible. The neck pickup produces a surprisingly authentic jazz tone with . But the name is much more accurate than many players realize. I tried the humbucker sized P90s. It would be hard to describe in words just how bad they were. Maybe I got a bad set but they were the muddiest mo Does anybody really play bebop these days? The middle pup doesn't do much tone-wise on a 3 pup LP so the stock Epi pup is fine in my view. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. If you have any other questions about lipstick pickups, lipstick pickup construction, or lipstick wiring, dont hesitate to get in touch! At this point, I do not know if Kent Armstrong supplies Epiphone with other OEM pickups in addition to these P90's. thanks for your help. If it's a 3-humbucker guitar I strongly recommend the following : 1. link above. This page was generated at 01:08 AM. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. I had a 12 polepiece nickel covered Kent Armstrong in the neck position of a double humbucker Tele for a while, and it was a very sweet sounding humbucker. Danos usually feature a 3-way toggle switch. What I did not know was the extent of the Kent Armstrong catalog. It's just magnets and wire at the end of the day. 67 AB165 BF Bassman "restoration" complete. The downside was that you could get close to a Strat sound, and you could get close to a humbucker sound, but you couldn't nail either one. Danelectros had a unique sound that no other guitar could capture. SnoMan97December 17, 2008 in Electric Guitars. VPB Hot Rod Series Hot Twins Split Pickup For Fender Precision Bass This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies. I think it could do the whole fusion thing, but I have not really ran it like that. This is fairly hot for a jazz guitar. WebDescription Reviews (0) Description This is a low output humbucker that is reminiscent of the early Gretsch FilterTron pickups which are used for rock, country and rockabilly. Announcing the all new jazz pickup line! the only ones I didn't like were the stacked humbuck hot output.. way too dark for my taste. This pickup is vertualy brand new. The customer changed his mind and went with a Different Armstrong.
