kinman pickups?

[royd]

does anyone have experience with these pickups? What are your thoughts?
roy

[Dave Paetow]

I like them a lot. A bit more compressed sounding than regular single coils, but the hum cancelling is well worth it.

[Chiba]

I have Kinman Woodstock+ sets in 2 of my guitars, 1 of which I played at band practice last night.

All the other guys in the band commented on how good my guitar (Strat) sounded, even the *drummer* :)

Great pickups, they sound like Strat pickups should - only without the incessant buzzing!

--chiba

[harryjmic]

I have a set of AVN 62's for strat and a set of AVN 48's for a telecaster. I love the sound of both, but I do have a slight hum with the lead pickup on the tele set. The strat set is dead quiet even at the highest gain setting. I would highly recommend these pickups to anyone interested in quiet pickups that sound like single coils, and to my ears sound better then single coils with higher gain. The string response is more even then single coils, I like everything about them. I will admit however I tried the same exact pickups with the guard attached in another guitar and didn't like the sound. I guess this what matching pickups to guitars is all about. Chris Kinman does have a lot to choose from so I'm sure you'll be happy.

[hemlock]

I have the Hank Marvin's in my Warmoth Strat and my other guitar player has Blues in his. Both sound great. They are the best noiseless Fender style single coils I have played. Haven't played all of them, though.

[908SSP]

I put a neck and middle in my Nitefly and an AirZone in the bridge. they balance very well with the humbucker and don't hum. They sound better then I expected so I am done looking.

[mattmccloskey]

they sound very good, but the blues set I had still did not have the tone of my suhr v60lp's or high output fralins, both which have more life and depth to the sound. I wish they sounded exactly like great single coils but so far the ones I have played didn't quite do it. They are the best of that type of pickup though.

[bspears]

Originally posted by hemlock
I have the Hank Marvin's in my Warmoth Strat and my other guitar player has Blues in his. Both sound great. They are the best noiseless Fender style single coils I have played. Haven't played all of them, though.

Ditto on the Hank Marvins

noiseless with GREAT TONE

[Unburst]

They are the best noiseless pups I've heard, they're are better pups that are true SC's but you have the noise issue to deal with.

[paddywhack]

...i have the VN56/58 setup in my 57 reissue Strat....i love em...they sound like Strat pups should.....chime, quack, crunch and growl....not real high output...they drive pedals real well and are super quiet...i am especially impressed at the usability of all 5 positions.....a very fine product by a fellow that is obsessed with tone....

[OldSchool]

I replaced the Texas specials in my SRV with Kinmans. Best move I ever made. I've owned that Strat now 13 yrs..........longest I've ever owned a guitar and I believe the Kinmans are a big reason why. :dude

[Jon Silberman]

Originally posted by Chiba
All the other guys in the band commented on how good my guitar (Strat) sounded, even the *drummer* :)

--chiba

Well, that's one strike against them.

:p

[burningyen]

The AVn Blues set is great if you're after a darker tone. They are the quietest pickups I own.

[mountain blues]

Originally posted by burningyen
The AVn Blues set is great if you're after a darker tone. They are the quietest pickups I own.

Agreed, and as always when discussing Kinman pickups, one must remember that Chris designed certain sets to have AGED TONE — rolled off highs, 'darker' tone, and overall lacking the crystalline tone of brand new Strat pickups. A lot of guys miss this fact, and then wonder why their pickups sound "off". The Woodstocks were the first 'non-aged' Strat pickups to emerge a few years ago, and then a lot has evolved since.

I love Kinman pickups. I currently have the superb Broadcaster and 60's Tele sets, and have owned many of the Strat sets. Chris is a really smart guy who has really come into his own.

[Dion]

I replaced the Texas specials in my SRV with Kinmans. Best move I ever made. I've owned that Strat now 13 yrs..........longest I've ever owned a guitar and I believe the Kinmans are a big reason why. :dude
I'd have to agree, replaced my Texas specials with the Traditional Mk-II set! Awesome sounding pickups!! I had Chris do mine with the K-9 switching option so I can get all three pups in parallel. That setting makes my Pinkmour sing like crazy! As if it didn't sing already!!:AOK

[david henman]

...i agree that they don't compare with genuine single coils. i'm not sure that noiseless pickups will ever come close to the real thing, although i have heard good things about the lace holy grails and the dimarzio area series.

that said, i have a set of traditional mk IIS in my strat plus. for now, they're not going anywhere. as noiseless pickups continue to improve, kinman will always be among the top contenders.

-dh

[urlkonig]

I have a "standard" set of Mark IIs in my strat, and soon will be putting a set of the 48 Broadcasters in a tele I'm building. To my ear, the Kinmans are the best of the "noiseless" SC -styled pickups. Plenty of quack in the in-betweens, lots of bounce individually.

That said, I have a set of Fralin Blues in my main tele that aren't going anywhere...they're just wonderful pickups. Amazingly quiet single coils as well -- when not standing in front of TV or CRT screen, or playing a room crammed with rheostats, that is...

[darrelherbert]

I've got a woodstock in the bridge of my strat and have been liking it alot. Can handle high gain sounds - and not too mid-rangey when clean. However, it is not as alive or dynamic as a true single coil and there is a somewhat compressed sound (feel?) to it. Best noiseless strat pup i've tried so far.

[BobB]

:AOK Had them for over 6 years. Noiseless and great tone. Ditto on the comments regarding the darker tone of the "aged" Kinmans. I will say though that after playing the Lyndy Fralins in my soon to be gone Grosh, that I like that additional sparkle. I may upgrade to the Woodstock unaged versions.

Bob

[GaryMcT]

v60lp + suhr backplate is unbeatable (to my ears) if you like true single tone. The 60-cycle hum is virtually gone, but I still get some higher frequency noise that you might not get with noiseless pickups even with a heavily shielded guitar. You get exactly single-coil tone though.

[Roe]

kinmans are the second best. suhr must be better.
the kinman strat blues pups don't sound like real strat pups to me - to aged, compressed, soft, middy and fat. std mk11 must be better than teh blues.
the 48b is a good pup. I'm quite satisfied with it.

[RGB]

I bought the Broadcasters and the No Solder harness a couple of months ago for my Tele and I couldn't be happier with the tone! Easy install, high quality components, and super quiet! #1 for me!!

[Scott Cioe]

A couple of years ago, a couple of friends and I did an A / B (and C) comparrison between the Kinman's, Fralin Blues and Bardin's.

The Fralin's sounded the most authentic and the best clean. The Kinman's came very close, and as noted were noiseless... We all agreed that if you wanted the closest to the "real thing tone", the Fralin's were the ones. If you wanted noiseless and played with any amount of gain, the Kinman's were the choice, and if you wanted a more modern, noiseless highoutput pickup the barden's were the way to go.

[clothwiring]

I've had 3 guitars with Kinman's in them. 1. My gold telecaster has AVN60's Tele pickups in it and they sound great in there. 2. A Stratocaster Deluxe I had MK-II's (with K7) in it, at first I loved them, as I got more and more strats to try out I didn't like them as much. I didn't need the K7 stuff, but the no-solder harness is very cool. 3. My Gigliotti GT had Broadcasters in it for a short period of time, liked them but Barden's sounded alot better in that guitar and when Barden reopened I put a set of those back in.

I recently finished a Stratocaster off with Dimarzio Area 61 and 58s and I honestly would say I like them alot better than my Stratocaster Deluxe with MK-IIs in it, much more alive and closer to vintage strat sounding. I'm pretty much a traditional guy as far as setups, the only thing I do is wire my Strats like the EJ strat (tone on neck and bridge, nothing on middle). Everybody who's heard the Strat with Area pickups has said that next to my 1966 Stratocaster it's the best Strat. (Disclaimer: The Strat with Area's also resonates well and that is contributing to the guitar's tone quite a bit.)

Anyway, I like Kinman, I'd like to try out some of the other Strat sets. I've had good customer service from Kinman as well.

[Nolatone Ampworks]

Hello all,

Anyone have experience with both Kinman and Suhrs SSC system for noiseless strat setup?

I'm inclined to thing that a tradition pickup with the SSC will give better vibe than a noiseless pickup, and you have the option to swap out the pickups.

Any input much appreciated.

Thanks,

Paul

[bjjp2]

Kinman Broadcasters turned my cheap Tele into a tone monster.

[Alainlafrance]

I have Marvin Kinmans on a Strat and they sound really great; maybe a little bit colder than the original ones, but maybe it's the absence of hum...

[CharlieNC]

what kinmans are:
noiseless

what kinmans are not:
single coil sounding pups

does this make them bad? not neccessarily

if you're okay with the latter then you'll really like these pups. i hated them because they didn't sound traditional enough to my ears. overall, a very musically balanced pickup, but they just didn't twang like a real single coil.

[jokerjkny]

honestly,

dont understand this whole "they dont sound like the real thing" deal. they sound real enough for me! heck, i have nearly every kinman made under the sun, and they all havent disappointed, i.e. avn blues, hank marvins red & blue, broadcaster, and have a set woodstocks going into another strat.

the hank marvins have the most carved rounded sweet stratty twang of them all, while my current '59, '59, SCn set in my '56 relic are by far the fattest, thickest sounding. the marvins are terrific cause you can use gobs and gobs of gain without losing definition from the hum and noise. literally a revelation once you run into a plexi at full bore w/ a CC2. ;)

bottom line, i was a fralin guy, and still am when it comes to my PAF needs, but the kinmans have allowed me to use my strats at higher volumes and gains, without the annoying hum. once you've gone kinman, its really hard to go back.

i have a suhr classic now w/ the V60LP's, and while it sounds nice, i think my fralins have more life.

here's a really old NYC tonefest video of the AVN Blues and a tophat ambassador. notice the first few seconds of the vid, where you hear the nasty single coil hum of the chapin tele. then notice how quiet the kinmans sound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmjnBW9IymQ

i have another video on a DVD using 'em live running a strat w/ a CC2 and a rental plexi. i'll see if i can dig it out.

[ASATClassic]

Years ago, I had pickup GAS. I tried Bill Lawrence, Dimarzio, finally worked my way up to Fralins. They all sounded good, but the GAS persisted. Then I tried Kinmans in my Teles. One set of each. That was over 3 years ago and I haven't given pickups another thought since. They are that good.

I have compared them to "true" single coils, and the difference is so slight, that I probably imagined it. Like someone else said, if you use any level of gain, the Kinmans are the choice. Also, if you're doing sessions or are gigging around, I think Kinmans are a great investment in your "professionalism". You don't want to be know as the guy with the buzzy guitar...

One other thought-don't expect your guitar to be 100% noiseless by putting in Kinmans. Mine wasn't. I also had to have the guitar compeletely sheilded before the noise/buzz was completely gone.

[DrSax]

i have had Kinman Woodstocks in for about 6 months, took me awhile to find all the sweet spots and tone characteristics, but finally i'm very happy with them. My favorite combo is the neck and bridge together, awesome tone! My guitar is completely noiseless and I'm loving it....