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"Official" Carvin and Kiesel Club - Part 3

#2,561
I just pulled the trigger on a PB5 build which I am super excited about. They were able to do a custom trans white color and match the headstock.
Just out of curiosity the mm style pickup was not recommended like the jazz or the soap bar humbucker. Any idea why? Does it not mesh well with p spilt coil?
 
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#2,563
happychicken said:
I just pulled the trigger on a PB5 build which I am super excited about. They were able to do a custom trans white color and match the headstock.
Just out of curiosity the mm style pickup was not recommended like the jazz or the soap bar humbucker. Any idea why? Does it not mesh well with p spilt coil?
Click to expand...

It might just dominate the blended sound. Just a guess.

I can tell you though that I’ve had a few PJs that the stronger bridge pickups seem to change the blended sound into something different completely while the more standard J pickups keep more of the P sound but with more scoop and filtering from having two pickups.

What did you go with?
 
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#2,564
PotsdamBass8 said:
It might just dominate the blended sound. Just a guess.

I can tell you though that I’ve had a few PJs that the stronger bridge pickups seem to change the blended sound into something different completely while the more standard J pickups keep more of the P sound but with more scoop and filtering from having two pickups.

What did you go with?
Click to expand...


I went with the humbucker s
 
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#2,569
happychicken said:
Thanks that’s encouraging! The only thing will be matching the soap bar size if I have pups replaced I’m picky
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I thought the soapbars were a standard size? Maybe MK-1? I thought I had looked at one point and the nord soap bars would have fit. I might be wrong. If they don’t, I would still recommend contacting nordstrand to see if they can make something up. They were very accommodating when I worked with them.
 
#2,570
PotsdamBass8 said:
I thought the soapbars were a standard size? Maybe MK-1? I thought I had looked at one point and the nord soap bars would have fit. I might be wrong. If they don’t, I would still recommend contacting nordstrand to see if they can make something up. They were very accommodating when I worked with them.
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According to the pickups section of the web store the Carvin soaps are 4.25" long x 1.25" wide x .75" high. The route should be a solid match for the very popular Bart P2 shape (or the slightly smaller MK shape) which I think is technically 2 hundreths of an inch bigger but shouldn't be an issue. There are a tremendous number of pickpus in that shape from Bartolini, Nordstrand and others.

Everything I've read suggests that Carvin pickups have improved alot over the years but they still don't necessarily have the reputation of being a premimum product. Very clever of Carvin to give us a soap in one of the most popular pickup sizes.
 
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#2,571
happychicken said:
Thanks that’s encouraging! The only thing will be matching the soap bar size if I have pups replaced I’m picky
Click to expand...

There's a V59K owner that put Aguilar Super Doubles on his and demo's it on Youtube. I wanted to ask him about if the Aguilars were drop-in, easy change over, but it looks like the guy posts his videos and moves onto the next project without replying to the comments.

I have single coil radius on my Kiesel, and I live in the 50-50 blend at church because of the hum. Fully to either the neck or bridge, the hum is too noticeable. At some point, I plan to put in the Super Doubles.
 
#2,572
I went and watched that guy with the soapbars...interesting sound but its so hard to hear the real quality on you tube for me. However now it got me thinking maybe there is something I can do to possibly upgrade the pickups in my bass ( my avatar). where can you go from what I have already though...I don't know if there is anything substantially better to go in there that would fit without mods...
 
#2,573
FYI - Kiesel's pickups are about 1mm less in length and 1mm less in width, than Nordstrand's P2 shaped covers. Kiesel's routes are also tight. I had to sand down the finish from the inner edges of the routes, to get Nordstrand BigRigs in a P2 shape, to fit into my Icon 5.

While it is a doable Project: if you know you want Nordstrands in a Kiesel and you have a Kiesel model which you already love, I would send the Nordstrands to Kiesel and have them build the bass with the Nordstrands. Small adjustments to the routing is something they will do, for pickups which you send in.

I do not know about the fitment for other brands, such as Aguilar or Bartolini. I am very intersted in the Aguilar Super Doubles, but my Icon is 17mm string spacing. Regular people can't get custom spacing from Aguilar.
But Nordstrand will build all sort of custom stuff. They were also FANTASTIC to communicate with and worked fast. 1 week to build the pickups and then get them in the mail. They even sent me a blank pickup cover for testing fitting, no charge.

If you don't want to mess with any routing and need a custom size pickup cover, I would ask them about the option of a what they call a "Raw" pickup. They basically use a harder bobbin material, to shape and build a custom pickup shape. It wouldn't look as "clean" in a solid color or metallic finish. But, it allows you to get Nordstrands in just about anything and does still look fine. However, I think it would great in a Raw tone finish, natural clear, Tung Oil, or Antique Ash Treatment. Someday when I order another Kiesel, a raw tone or AAT is highly likely, for me. So, I might actually get "Raw" pickups anyway, for that look.
Raw Pickups

Toptube said:
Here's a new, crappy cellphone shot of my Alnico III BigRigs. Maybe someday I will actually do a sound demo...
View attachment 2887146
Click to expand...
 
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#2,575
Yeah I hate to be negative I feel like I am pre judging the pickups and preamp before I personally experience the sound from my rig. I do also like the bart preamps but I also like the Aguilar OBP3 is it? Now I am reading there could be a phase problem between whatever p pup and soap bar pup I put in. This is getting complicated
 
#2,576
happychicken said:
Sorry I went with the soap bar. It was between that and the j but the sound guy in my chuch would shoot me if the bass hummed. If they offered a phantom coil jazz I would have done that
Click to expand...

The Carvin/Kiesel J-99A is very quiet for a single coil. I get almost no hum out from it unless I within 2 or 3 feet of a noise source such as a fluorescent light.

Eilif said:
Everything I've read suggests that Carvin pickups have improved alot over the years but they still don't necessarily have the reputation of being a premimum product. Very clever of Carvin to give us a soap in one of the most popular pickup sizes.
Click to expand...

Yes, the newer Carvin pickups are decent. My 1990 LB-70 came with the H50 stacked humbuckers. I believe it was the only available pickup at the time. They sucked. I replaced the neck pickup with the SD basslines stacked dual coil. Huge improvement. I later replaced the bridge pickup with the J-99A. I consider the J-99A comparable to the SD in both volume and clarity. Not sure if you consider SD basslines to be a premium product, but they are definitely better than many brand's factory pickups.
 
#2,577
happychicken said:
Yeah I hate to be negative I feel like I am pre judging the pickups and preamp before I personally experience the sound from my rig. I do also like the bart preamps but I also like the Aguilar OBP3 is it? Now I am reading there could be a phase problem between whatever p pup and soap bar pup I put in. This is getting complicated
Click to expand...
I don't think you'll have a phase problem per se. I mean as I understand it, part of the sound of any multi coil pickup system is there is some phasing and filtering.
 
#2,578
It's here! AC50! I finally own my dream bass! Got it used but it has all the specs I wanted.

(Claro?) Walnut top
Mahogany Neck/Body
Chambered body
Ebony unlined fretless board
Tamarind Wood knobs
Tung oiled neck and body

View attachment 2890804
View attachment 2890805
View attachment 2890806

I don't know what kind of strings those are, but they are to die for!

It's light as a feather.
 
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#2,579
Ben B said:
The Carvin/Kiesel J-99A is very quiet for a single coil.
Click to expand...
I agree. I have an XB-75 with a j-99 in the neck spot and the mm at the bridge. Last gig I did was the first time I ever had any hum and it was because as standing right next to two neon beer signs. I usually blend them and it sounds great. My 20+ year old LB-75 is noisier but it has two jazz pickups so I just blend the noise away.
 

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