Hammond Dark Star Pickups

Not yet - but I have one in the house and am geting ready to drop it into this.

If you're interested, you should scope the Dark Star forum over at TheDudepit.com. Lot's of good info over there and some decent clips. I bought the DS3 based on a clip. I'm really thinking about an Ibanze Art Core as a host for one ... maybe my Rumblefish ...

The pickup in my P is a Lawrence P46. 250K pots, .1 mfb tone cap. Here's a clip

Clip is direct into the guitar input of a Tascam 788, no EQ no compression. This was done just to document the 'before' sound.

 

I just put together a Pbass with a single Darkstar. I love this pickup! It's warm and full with plenty of sizzle if you want it. I find that it responds better to finger attack than any pickup I've ever tried. It can go from warm and deep up by the neck to bright and twangy down by the bridge. Every note on the bass is full and rich.

click the pic for more

 

This bass is my only experience with the darkstars, so I can't say.

 

I hear really good things about them, but can't find info through Google. How much do they cost?

 

http://www.basspickup.com/ordering1.htm

 

Why is it every time I read about Dark Stars I think of Star Wars?

 

Don't know....

Are you thinking about coming over to the Dark side?

 

Hmm no ohh I know... Death Star | Dark Star ohh very close

 

Same as any other pickup in regards to location.
Closer to the neck - more bass, fuller tone.
Closer to the bridge - more mids.

Putting a bucker at the bridge with a DS? I don't know. Hasn't been tried yet that I know of although Guild had this configuration in the early '70s as they were running out of Bi-Sonics and bringing in the new humbuckers. They'd sometimes use both.
Here's an example but I think this is just a moded Starfire-I with the bucker added later.


I'd suggest using 2 Dark Stars RW/RPd if you're worried about hum.

 

How do the Darkstars do as far as single-coil hum? Is the hum worse then a what you get from a single j-bass pickup?

 

I have a single DS in my Precision. Noiseless and sounds great. I highly recommend

 

I am waiting on a darkstar to put in my fender mustang reissue. I have recently become a confirmed short scale player and can't wait to see how the darkstar sounds in my mustang because although I love the way it plays I'm not in love with the tone.

 

Not really but - it is a single coil so you can get some hum. You do need to do a thorough shielding job on any single coil instrument to avoid the hum - as best as avoiding it can be done.

A J has an advantage over a a bass with a single Dark Star - when both pickups are full up, you are noise cancelling. That isn't possible with just 1 single coil.

Here's my latest Dark Star bass project - and a good example of why I hate black basses, before and in process ...



Currently I'm doing a pickup surround that will raise the height of the pickup and cover the 'dog -ears' from the original MM style cavity. I'm doing that in clear pine which will get a few coarts of trans black stain. I'm going to install a wiring harness based on the G&L L-1000 control set. Volume, Treble cut, Bass cut, top mount jack. The cavity for the sidemount jack will get a cover made from B/W/B pick guard material. IF I cna find the proper rotary switch, I may do a variable hi-cut osrt of thing. Basically is would switch different cap values into the treble cut contol. Gotta find that switch though ... The bass already sounds great wich is a testament to the powers of the Dark Star - that pickup is way away from the strings. I need like .25 inch raise to get it in to position - and it still sounds good. Amazing ...

 

They sound and look fantastic. Someone on here had a Geddy Lee Jazz a while back with twin Darkstars. It looked fantastic and I'm sure it sounded killer as well.

 

I've got one in this Dudepit Lakeland and I'm very impressed with it. It retains the sweetness of a single coil but has huge output and bandwidth. It's also very responsive to your fingers. It's my first bass with a Dark Star but I'm looking at putting a pair of them into my D'Armond Starfire or Guild Starfire sometime soonish.

 

I slapped a Dark Star in this Squier.



While it IS 1000% better than the stock pickup (really no comparison), it still can't quite deliver the goods.

IMO, this is just a poor place to put a pickup.
Too easy to get lost in the mix.
The Varitone control helped too, but it's all just incremental.

I think the P position would kill, and that would be my recommendation, and my future plans for a different bass... or maybe even route this one!

The Dark Star pickup is good. Very rich and articulate sounding, but it's a tough battle to recover from this pickup position.

I don't recommend it. YMMV