What's the deal with Dark Star pickups????

ever heard one?
www.basspickup.com

 

They have an extremely wide frequency response, they are silent, matched and give rise to a huge tonal variation. In short, they sound awesome. Sure they are ugly, but that's just a matter of taste...

 

People like their looks and sound. They're good pickups. I think soapbars are ugly and plain, but I just go on and am happy for people who like them and the basses that come with them, rather than start a thread about "OMG i don't like (something) how could you?", which is honestly how you're coming across (at least, from my perspective).

In short, people like their looks or their sounds or what have you. I like how different they are, and their retro looks. I like the chrome edges. You use whatever you want, and I'll be happy for you when you do. One of these days, I'd like to have a bass with Dark Stars. That's why Hammon, Bartolini, and Nordstrand are all in business, much like chocolate and vanilla ice cream.

It's just personal preference. What's your beef?

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That's for certain. I think they look fine. For me, playing bass has always been about tone. Appearance has nothing to do with tone. This one came with the Dark Star from Lakland.

 

NICE! Is it worth the $200?

 

Hehehe, you buy your pickups based on what they look like? That's kind of like choosing a pickguard based on what it sounds like.

 

Personally, Darkstars give me a woody!

(I'm talking tone of course

Does anyone know if you can get one in a Lakland Skyline Bob Glaub, or is that a US only option?

 

a work in progress - but it already sounds sweeet! far as looks go - I'm lookin for tone ... and as I have the J, P, and MM sounds pretty well in hand - other flavors are more interesting now ...

 

I don't mind the way they look too much, but I think the retaining bar would look better in black.

 

What, you purchase your gear based on how it sounds?

 

not questioning how good these sound, but i agree they are ugly, wether or not thats an important thing to the buyer or not.

 

They sound fantastic is the deal !
I enjoy the looks too and the height adjustement is great.

 

They look really nice in the right kind of bass. I have a set of DeArmond's which is a little cousin to the Darkstar and the tone you get from them is way more balanced than anything else I've used.... Works awesome for chording on a bass.

 

The deal is that they sound great. You don't like the looks, that's cool, but a whole load of people do. I wouldn't dismiss a pickup on the appearance alone.

Edit: Are darkstars not well regarded pickups now? They are very highly regarded around here, maybe you meant more well known or typical (Nordstrand and barts)? I'm sorry to pick apart your wording.

 

I will help you understand.

Most of us musicians (not posers) give more importance to what we hear, instead of being too picky about looks, i mean that if some instrument has something very good going on sonically, one can then be worried about the appearance, not the other way around. IMHO i would dump the good looks of my Spector and Fender Jazzes if somehow adding ugliness to them they would sound proportionally better. Heck...i´d play a solid turd with strings if it had THE tone i was looking for.

That is assuming that Darkstars looked ugly, personally i think that they look Hot Rod, and have that vintage vibe that says "Plug me into an SVT and unleash hell...", not everyone is in the market only for a super slick Fodera-type instrument (i love those too) , some of us also like that BadAss vibe that a P-Bass or J-Bass with DS pups has, they even make me think of a perfectly tuned Camaro or Mustang.

Even a fine manufacturer like Lakland offers them as factory options on their instruments, and also they have a bass that is built around the Darkstar concept, The Decade.

Hope this helps.

 

YES I would. and I'd laugh at the insecure metal head with the sore back and sore shoulder, but the ultracool heavy ass metal studded bass and matching strap :]

 

what model samick is that, that is NICE, how does it sound? what style of music do you use it for?