• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

kent arnstrong hot lips?

#5
I wish I could offer specific advice, I have but no experience with hot lips. I do have plenty experience with Kent Armtrong VPB pickups. (Alnico 5's designed for P-basses). VPB's are very fine sounding pups, at a pretty modest cost. Kent Armstrong has a good long reputation as designer and maker of high quality devices. I would be inclined to take that chance with the "lips" on your Jazz bass. They could be exceptional. Moderate at the least. I doubt very much that there is anything substandard about the design...Let us know.
 
  • Like
Reactions: friendlybass
#6
W
bassliner50 said:
I wish I could offer specific advice, I have but no experience with hot lips. I do have plenty experience with Kent Armtrong VPB pickups. (Alnico 5's designed for P-basses). VPB's are very fine sounding pups, at a pretty modest cost. Kent Armstrong has a good long reputation as designer and maker of high quality devices. I would be inclined to take that chance with the "lips" on your Jazz bass. They could be exceptional. Moderate at the least. I doubt very much that there is anything substandard about the design...Let us know.
Click to expand...
come payday ill pull the trigger. Good to hear the guy is reputable at least
 
#10
SMG said:
While not positive, I think these are what Lakland used in the Jerry Scheff basses. Those basses sound great.
Click to expand...

Indeed, the Kent Armstrong lipstick pickups on Scheff basses sound strong and clear. But I don't know if they're the same pickups as those on the WD website. That said, other Korean Kent Armstrong pickups I tried sounded very good as well, so I would not hesitate trying them.

One thing to note, though, is the unusual pickup placement on Scheff basses, so samples and recordings won't quite capture what they do in other basses...
 
#11
I have a Scheff and these pickups sounded very chorusy, and no adjustment could fix it. Perhaps they just didn't mate well with the preamp. I replaced them with Fender Super 55's and that bass sounds great now. I dropped the Armstrongs in a passive fretless I built and they sound good in that bass.
 
#12
sikamikanico said:
Indeed, the Kent Armstrong lipstick pickups on Scheff basses sound strong and clear. But I don't know if they're the same pickups as those on the WD website. That said, other Korean Kent Armstrong pickups I tried sounded very good as well, so I would not hesitate trying them.

One thing to note, though, is the unusual pickup placement on Scheff basses, so samples and recordings won't quite capture what they do in other basses...
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll search out some info on them and hopefully give them a listen. Found this pic thanks to the club here.
lakland-scheff-fretless-jpg.1764718
 
  • Like
Reactions: sikamikanico
#14
sikamikanico said:
Indeed, the Kent Armstrong lipstick pickups on Scheff basses sound strong and clear. But I don't know if they're the same pickups as those on the WD website. That said, other Korean Kent Armstrong pickups I tried sounded very good as well, so I would not hesitate trying them.

One thing to note, though, is the unusual pickup placement on Scheff basses, so samples and recordings won't quite capture what they do in other basses...
Click to expand...
The original Dano lipsticks and the ones Armstrong winds have good reputations. The lower priced ones from Guitar Fetish etc. are likely anemic sounding since there could be literally anything (including strat pickups of all things) under the covers. I think the real deal Armstrong's are not exactly cheap
 
#15
I don't know where to find it, but I thought I had read that the pickups in the Lakland Scheff were stock Kent Armstrongs, which I assumed that "stock" implied the Korean made pickups. But then again, that is an assumption, and we all know that it means very little without talking to a real source. That stated, the Lakland Scheff sounds much more like a standard J then the old Warwick Fortress R&B with a single lipstick at the neck position and a double lipstick at the bridge. I owned a Lakland Scheff for a short time, I own a Warwick Forstress R&B and I own a 60's Dano Shorthorn and a 90's Dano Longhorn. The Warwick pickups are much closer to the Dano in sound, but without the "hollow" edge.
 
#16
SMG said:
I don't know where to find it, but I thought I had read that the pickups in the Lakland Scheff were stock Kent Armstrongs, which I assumed that "stock" implied the Korean made pickups. But then again, that is an assumption, and we all know that it means very little without talking to a real source. That stated, the Lakland Scheff sounds much more like a standard J then the old Warwick Fortress R&B with a single lipstick at the neck position and a double lipstick at the bridge. I owned a Lakland Scheff for a short time, I own a Warwick Forstress R&B and I own a 60's Dano Shorthorn and a 90's Dano Longhorn. The Warwick pickups are much closer to the Dano in sound, but without the "hollow" edge.
Click to expand...
The Kent Armstrong lipsticks are jazz pickups in lipstick covers.
 
#17
sikamikanico said:
Indeed, the Kent Armstrong lipstick pickups on Scheff basses sound strong and clear. But I don't know if they're the same pickups as those on the WD website. That said, other Korean Kent Armstrong pickups I tried sounded very good as well, so I would not hesitate trying them.

One thing to note, though, is the unusual pickup placement on Scheff basses, so samples and recordings won't quite capture what they do in other basses...
Click to expand...
Although this thread is a few years on now and I wish people who have NOT used things would stop answering the questions with NO experience with the item IN question. The Lipstick tube has no drop offs such as when bending a string, it remains consistent where as the Pole Piece Pickups Drop when not exactly below the string, in MY opinion. I have the Kent in a DIY Zebrawood NECK on my TeleBass and although I like the pickup , I feel that certain Woods come into play also with the sound you may be reaching for.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back