Applause for Kent Armstrong pickups!

[stflbn]

Originally Posted by Britbonic

So how do you know if you are getting the UK made ones? I was only able to find them on WD parts site. MM version was only $67. Is that UK made or otherwise?

Yes, the WD Music's are made overseas to Kent's spec's.


Not sure who else can get them made, but I know Brian at Low End Bass Shop can get request them made by Kent Armstrong as Kent makes pickups for their Low End basses.

My set in EMG 40hz shape were more affordable then Bartolini Quad Coils.

[emjazz]

Originally Posted by stflbn

Yes, the WD Music's are made overseas to Kent's spec's.


Not sure who else can get them made, but I know Brian at Low End Bass Shop can get request them made by Kent Armstrong as Kent makes pickups for their Low End basses.

My set in EMG 40hz shape were more affordable then Bartolini Quad Coils.

You can get pickups directly from Kent if you email him. I got his email from WD Music. The emailed it to me when I asked for it.

[Charles Farley]

Originally Posted by Mofo-Kang

Unless I'm mistaken, Kent Armstrongs are the ones Carl Thompson uses unless the client really wants something else. That's quite an endorsement right there...

I agree with you completely. I've spoken to Carl about this in the past. He likes Kent Armstrong pickups because they always seem to work and sound great. Having said that, when Carl came to work in New York as a younger man, he spent years in Dan Armstrong's shop setting up and working on the instruments of his heroes (Les Paul, Eric Clapton, etc). So, there may be a loyalty component as well.

Having said that, my 4 string CT has a soapbar Armstrong and it sounds fantastic.

[stflbn]

Thought I'd update this thread...

About 6 months ago I acquired another Schecter. A prototype CV-5 with J/MM configuration. Had horrible sounding Duncan designed pickups in odd non-standard sizes and a Duncan 3-band preamp.

I gutted this and asked Brian at Low End to get custom Kent Armstrongs made for this bass also. This custom pickup build took about a couple months, but the end result is stellar and i'm very glad I did it. Paired them with another Aguilar OBP-3. The two pickups are wired in series and the MM is now wired straight up as a series humbucker. Initially we had it wired Series/Single Parallel but I was always using it as a humbucker so I just streamlined that part and got rid of a switch.

Here's a few mp3 clips of practice playalongs of some of my bands original adult pop tunes with the Kent Armstrong pickups mixed in then solo'd. The bass is currently strung up with S.I.T. Silencers that are very nicely broken in and mellow. There's the expected increase of pop, zing and clarity when I swap out the S.I.T. Power Steels I keep on my HH Schecter.


Musicman in Bridge Position, treble cut about 30%

Both Jazz and Musicman full, bass & mid boosted about 5%, treble flat

Jazz in Neck Position, bass & mid boosted about 5%, treble flat


Hope this may help someone contemplating Kent Armstrong pickups. The next time I'm playing around with the HH Schecter with Kent's in it I'll try to do the same sort of clips with it.


Enjoy.


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[62bass]

Thanks. I like the combination of the jazz and MM pickup. I'm looking forward to your Schector clips. I'd love to hear the neck pickup soloed.

So far they sound like great pickups. Good pop band you have. Are you gigging a lot?

[stflbn]

Originally Posted by 62bass

Thanks. I like the combination of the jazz and MM pickup. I'm looking forward to your Schector clips. I'd love to hear the neck pickup soloed.

So far they sound like great pickups. Good pop band you have. Are you gigging a lot?

These clips are in a Schecter. Schecter CV-5 protype with J/MM pickup configuration.

My other is a Schecter Studio5 with custom Kent Armstrong humbuckers and Aguilar OBP-3. It's less versatile sound wise, but is hotter, punchier and actually in parallel mode can get pretty smooth and vintage sounding. I have D'addario Chromes on it right now rather than it's usual SIT Power Steels, just as a change of pace.

[scottm]

I'm glad to have read this thread, because I got a Kent Armstrong custom pickup being made for my next CB bass. I wanted a Quad Coil, but they don't make any. My builder was able to get Kent to string two dual coils together for him to put one large wenge pickup cover over. I have Aguilar preamp with Nordstrands on my two other basses, so this new pickup is going to be paired with an Audere Z mode.
I'm looking forward to hearing it.

-ScottM

[stflbn]

That's going to be a big powerful pickup if the windings on it are anything like the dual coil humbuckers Brian at Low End had him make for me. My HH Shecter is at least 25% louder than my J/MM Schecter. Both with Kent Armstrongs in them. I told Brian I wanted the HH hot and punchy and it is. :-)


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[scottm]

Originally Posted by stflbn

hot and punchy and it is. :-).

Cool, thanks for the info!
It is going to be a six string with a lot of maple and wenge, so that's what I'm going for.

Forgot to add, I'm hoping for the large size of the two pickups under one wood cover is going to give me the feel like I'm playing on a ramp.

-ScottM

[stflbn]

I'd love to hear it when y ou get it.

[scottm]

Originally Posted by stflbn

I'd love to hear it when y ou get it.

I'm sure I will try and post some clips of it in this thread when I get it. Cliff should start posting build pictures of it sometime in April.

Without de-railing this thread, check out Cliff's website.
http://www.cbbasses.com/

Note- that's one of my basses on his front page.

-ScottM

[Britbonic]

Originally Posted by stflbn

Thought I'd update this thread...

About 6 months ago I acquired another Schecter. A prototype CV-5 with J/MM configuration. Had horrible sounding Duncan designed pickups in odd non-standard sizes and a Duncan 3-band preamp.

I gutted this and asked Brian at Low End to get custom Kent Armstrongs made for this bass also. This custom pickup build took about a couple months, but the end result is stellar and i'm very glad I did it. Paired them with another Aguilar OBP-3. The two pickups are wired in series and the MM is now wired straight up as a series humbucker. Initially we had it wired Series/Single Parallel but I was always using it as a humbucker so I just streamlined that part and got rid of a switch.

Here's a few mp3 clips of practice playalongs of some of my bands original adult pop tunes with the Kent Armstrong pickups mixed in then solo'd. The bass is currently strung up with S.I.T. Silencers that are very nicely broken in and mellow. There's the expected increase of pop, zing and clarity when I swap out the S.I.T. Power Steels I keep on my HH Schecter.


Musicman in Bridge Position, treble cut about 30%

Both Jazz and Musicman full, bass & mid boosted about 5%, treble flat

Jazz in Neck Position, bass & mid boosted about 5%, treble flat


Hope this may help someone contemplating Kent Armstrong pickups. The next time I'm playing around with the HH Schecter with Kent's in it I'll try to do the same sort of clips with it.


Enjoy.


.
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Hey, thanks for posting. Great sounding pickups. Really interesting and valuable to hear both in context and soloed. Amazing how different they sound in each case. Thanks!

[emjazz]

I'm in a hurry so I can't listen to the clips until later....however I wanted to say that I just walked in the door and got my custom pickups from Kent in the mail....it took just over two weeks to get them....I've never heard of any company anywhere who is that fast..unreal....the pickups are also the best looking pickups I've ever seen. They really are incredible. I can't hear them until my bass is done in May but I have great expectations as I've loved Kent's pickups in the past.

[stflbn]

My understanding is that it all depends on if he has molds already for the general pickup or not. My EMG 40Hz Soapbar shaped pickups took about 2 weeks. My custom sized J/MM pickups took over twice that mainly because apparently one of the molds got broken in shipping.

Here's how my soapbar's look...


and my J/MM Armstrongs.


Actually I'd prefer if the MM didn't have the name stamped on them. Been contemplating doing some buffing to the face of the pickup cover to get rid of it, but hasn't been that much of a irritation thusfar.



.

[emjazz]

Sounds great....

Kent didn't have the right size molds for what I needed. I had Jon Maghini make a casting out of wood for me. He made it so the top was radiused. I sent the casting to Kent something like two weeks ago and the pickups showed up today...unbelievable. I wish that I could check them out but my bass won't be done (Ristola 6 string) until May.

[warnan]

i upgrade my tune twb6 mik with kent armstrong handwound pickups KS-6 and kent armstrong onboard preamp mm3 with a/c mode,i also add 2 on/on/on to get series/split/parallel. sound amazing especially the treble knob, it is more like a passive tone control, make the sound close to front..........great tone.
sorry for the pic i took by cell phone.

[Newguy84]

Originally Posted by rumblethump

Just finished my project bass with Kent Armstrong MM pickup

I am building a similar setup to what you have. I want to use the MM pickup paired with the P style split pickups. Is your MM pickup wired as active or passive? Do you have any sound clips? How much do they retail for?

Thanks in advance,

[jeffbonny]