I like the WD Kent Armstrong pickups very much. Thanks one and all, that's filled in a lot of blanks for me, and hopefully others. These are the Kent Armstrong pickups in my Soloist: The bridge pickup has a bright fendery tone, for a humbucker it. I just purchased an El Rey4 and I find the original pickup kind of listless. Fender has even offered several lipstick-equipped Strats right from the factory floor. There seem to be a plethora of newer 100 watt smaller floor based amps these days. I know for a while you could still get domestic KA pickups built custom direct by him and/or his sons - not sure if that is possible still today or if it is all via WD Music. Was not knocked out by the tele set I had. The variability might have worked in your favor. All are welcome, from seasoned pros to absolute beginners. To start viewing messages, 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. By And.they sounded way different too. I had an old discontinued KA Tele neck pick that sounded great in one guitar, but just so so in another, so I put it back in that one it sounded good in, and sold the guitar. You cannot paste images directly. 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. The vintage is real nice - sweet and full. Sources for Aria Pro II pickups Kent Armstrong Up solos the neck pickup. They weren't very good. Ceramic tend to have a "thinner" sound, but powerful ceramics give good metal tones when over-driven. Kent Armstrong Pickups tone forum. Not a new arguement but an interesting take. thanks for your help. 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. The neck model was built Reverse Wound / Reverse Polarity from the bridge model for hum-canceling operation when using both pickups. Indeed, the Kent Armstrong lipstick pickups on Scheff basses sound strong and clear. Kent Armstrong has long been the best jazz pickup designer in the industry. Never worry about fitting a pickup under the strings again! Cloudflare Ray ID: 7c0631601a9af2e4 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? Top 3: The Best Jazz Pickups by Seymour Duncan From the well setup action and the finely-cut nut, to the smooth polyurethane KENT ARMSTRONG Pickups?? I LIKE! | The Les Paul Forum You are using an out of date browser. These custom-made covers allow them to be manufactured in many different sizes and fit the most popular pickup routes like Strat pickups. And Danelectro continues to build the reissue Danelectros around the lipstick pickup platform. For reference, lets take a look at our (retired) Danelectro Lipstick Tube pickup. In my case, a 30 minute job involving a certain amount of swearing. On 28/02/2021 at 14:34, Tvrtastic said: Kent Armstrong has posted a little clip about his life. Privacy Policy | WebKent Armstrong - Any Good? It's like an on-board pre-amp boosting and distorting the signal. 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. 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 may be wrong, but i think that is one of the overseas "licensed" pickups, not handmade in Vermont. Then you can dial the middle one to zero. 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.) 1995-2022 Harmony Central, Inc. All rights reserved. They can be a little bit of figuring to roll off and clean up but once you find the sweet spot your good to go and you can't expect pristine creamy cleans from pickups of this output. P90's are normally ~8H -- nearly double the inductance of an average PAF. Only really good for heavy metal sounds, although if linked to an on/off switch can be good to switch from passive to active for screaming solos. I played a mates Bare-Knuckle p.ups the other day and they sounded AWESOME. I've never had any experience of KA humbuckers but the single coil pickups that japasul is considering are great and for the price of KA's I don't think that you can go too far wrong. You can post now and register later. I recommend them. When searching for the right single-coils for his guitars, Daniel knew they would have to be easy and inexpensive to manufacture. 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. Danos usually feature a 3-way toggle switch. Amazing humility saying built and repaired pickups for 50 years when he is the guy personally hand making the pickups for the amazing Ken Smith basses. This explains why I wasnt as concerned with the Epiphones tone. This is fairly hot for a jazz guitar. Click to reveal anyhow, i've had 2 or 3 of those on guitars i've owned and they are thin and overly bright. Pickups like our Lipstick Tube Strat pickup drop comfortably into most Fender-style pickup routes. Kent Armstrong pickupsany good? - Harmony Central Very nice guy. It had a nice tone, good Pretty much what the thread title says, anyone know if Kent Armstrong pickups are decent? It's just magnets and wire at the end of the day. well ive got a korean made epi which im guessing is about 93 95ish so would and upgrade to kent armstrongs be a good idea? It is true he never runs out of notes. Kent Armstrong makes a number of different hand-wound pickups and will do custom work as well. Armstrong pickups The Gear Page is the leading online community and marketplace for guitars, amps, pedals, effects and associated gear. this drumming Perhaps Ryan Burke of the 60-cycle Hum Podcast described it best, saying, they basically sound the way they look: Despite their penchant for clean sounds, theyre also a ton of fun with a cranked amp exuding a snarly breakup and a loose low end. I did not. 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. Alnico 3 with Formvar wire. I love the look of 3 humbuckers, but the extra one does little sonically. Well, this time he has outdone himself. Matthew Bellamy of Muse used the "Motherbucker" In his first few custom guitars. I put a Vermont Armstrong P-90 pickup in my Ampeg AMG-100. Really thin and very harsh. They sound very authentic for P90's and when used in Kent Armstrong humbucker removed from I 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 04-16-2008, 05:17 PM Well by looking at the list of players that he's made pickups for, he should be **** good. regardless, jazz pickups don't sound anything like MB pickups. Both these Kent Armstrong made in the USA pickups are far superior to what Eastman is selling on most of their guitars. We all do. Kent Armstrong Vintage Series 6 Shooter 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. Happy hunting! Most people consider Kent's jazz Pickups to be the best in the world and who are we to argue? 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. 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). the only ones I didn't like were the stacked humbuck hot output.. way too dark for my taste. You must log in or register to reply here. i wanted to have it rewired so it worked like a normal les paul but i could use the middle pickup on a push pull but i got told it would cost quite alot to do it. Sunny Coalville. So there should be a few good European Pickup builders Bare Knuckles, Haussel,etc? Armstrong or Rautia pickups are a much better way to go. All rights reserved. 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. Learning Jazz Improvisation - "Imitate, Assimilate, Innovate". I got the cheap ones (I was only 18 at the time) and was very pleased. At this point, I do not know if Kent Armstrong supplies Epiphone with other OEM pickups in addition to these P90's. He'll also custom wind you anything you want if you call him. has body but the upper frequency contour is really interesting. The extended cover allows for use with traditional 7 string arch-top electrics. Also, the bridge model had slightly increased output to better balance with the neck position pickup. At this point, I do not know if Kent Armstrong supplies Epiphone with other OEM pickups in addition to these P90's. humbuck size p90s.. and the vintage 12 pole humbuck. 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. So while many ended up collecting dust in basements, others found themselves on the worlds biggest stages and recording timeless rock n roll. It's got the M213K PAF at the neck and a M214K Distortion at the bridge. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. etc.) Is there any better bang for the buck in a new guitar than this. The Epiphone pickups measured 7.7K (neck) and 8.2K (bridge). Your previous content has been restored. Kent Armstrong Pickups 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. Just youtube "Stockholm Sydrome Glastonbury" You'll get the idea, the idea that the motherbucker is Broootal! I'd go for that configuration again if I had a 3 humbucker guitar. You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings. We are not able to accommodate order changes or cancellations once you have completed the check out process. 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? Some of the add-ons on this site are powered by. There was a Kent Armstrong humbucker of some sort in the bridge position of my US Masters when I got it. I thought it sounded terrible. Really thin I have a set of his humbuckers in my neckthrough semihollow. Kent Armstrong sells his pickups exclusively through WDmusic. SnoMan97December 17, 2008 in Electric Guitars. They offer authentic PAF tone, sounding open and warm while retaining excellent string to string articulation. For the past 25ish years he was THE top pickup rewind guy in the UK and only recently relocated back to the states (his pickup rewind business here continues to operate in his absence). If you have any other questions about lipstick pickups, lipstick pickup construction, or lipstick wiring, dont hesitate to get in touch! 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. Epoxy casting inside the cover allows for added coil to give a sweet mini-humbucker tone. They were meant to be used straight into a tube amp, although an OD pedal is ok. i think ill try and persuade my dad to rewire it for me. 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. I had a KA Hot 60s Tele Neck pup in a project that I did few years ago, sounded awesome. Always loved his drumming, but how about on guitar too, and singing.,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6IBeJMtpzY I've only tried his Firebird pickups & thought that, even though they seem like quality product, tonally they were very "polite" & lacking any personalityflat & not in a good way. I just ordered some Burstbuckers (#2, #3) on the strength of recommendations on this forum. Glad a better product exists from them but they need a top notch marketing person in the states. JavaScript is disabled. I have some KA's in a Benedetto Benny. do kent armstrong do alnico 2s? 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. I thought it sounded terrible. Inside the pickup, the improvements continue. To answer that question, well have to dig into their history, lipstick pickup construction, and their relationship to Danelectro guitars. Rewiring to 1 master vol plus a specific vol for middle pup should be quite cheap; it doesn't need any new / different components. I was happy with it. The tone is bright and detailed with a single coil type twang that also provides great crunch on Looks like you haven't made a choice yet. I use it with the series parallel switch and with 13.5k output, it works well in passive mode. Paste as plain text instead, too many fuzz pedals to buy first! The fit and finish of the year 2000 Fender American Standard Strat are excellent. Was put on a customers guitar and modified to fit a D'Aquisto see offset bracket in picture. WD Music's Kent Armstrong Humbuckers- Are these any I used the vintage in the neck and the HPAOR1 in the bridge. Theyre unique pickups, different from a Tele neck pickup, different from a Stratocaster single-coil pickup. Great pickups for jazz and classic rock tones, these pickups are the real deal. If I was having another Sei or similar built I'd have KAs in it. Note: This instrument has been modified from it's original condition. It may not display this or other websites correctly. The Kent Armstrong Humbucker on the Eastman AR371ce measured about 8.7K Ohms at the output jack. It felt wrong and so I told him that I wasn't interested." Daniel found he could source lipstick tubes from wholesalers for much less than standard pickup covers. I had my LP wired so that 1 volume pot was a master volume, and the other was middle pup only. Since I wrote that post I did some trawling and found some good references, also got on the humbucker page at GFS and copy/paste all the specs on the ones I'll get next windfall. They are here to help. no, i don't like those one bit. Mike, Any experience with this one? http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Pickups:_Guitar,_archtop/Kent_Armstrong_Suspended_Jazz_Humbuck Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. Posted March 1, 2021. Up solos the neck pickup. He is a very good friend and a good guy also. Opinions on KENT ARMSTRONG pickups - Seymour 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. Kent Armstrong pickups - any good? - Ultimate Guitar