Bassmanbob

I think BeLow, my compatriot from the UK, makes a very useful suggestion to contact KA and ask them to suggest a suitable pickup. I did exactly that while KA himself was still here in the UK. I spoke to KA personally and found him exceptionally helpful. I took his advice and was very pleased indeed with the result. The pickup is the very best of its type that I have ever used. It replaced a stock pickup on a Fender and was superior to what Fender had put on. I have taken it off and tried other pickups including Seymour Duncan and even a Custom Shop Fender pickup but the Kent Armstrong went back on and now stays there as a permanent fixture. Having been through that whole learning curve I am able to give an enthusiatic endorsement of the product BUT it would still be possible to buy the wrong KA pickup for your needs so I really do recommend that you speak to someone at KA - you may even be able to speak to KA himself.

I have only just signed up as a member of Basschat today and was delighted to find this link. Well done, that man, for posting it. Very useful as a guide to what one might try next. I have got back into bass playing here in the UK after an absence of many years and am re-discovering the joy of making music all over again. Once a bass player........... The one thing that this report did not address is the longevity of different strings and this is always a factor when making a choice of string to use regularly. I have been using LaBella but got fed up with the problem of core breakage which seems to plague them (the retailer confirmed that they are aware of this problem from customer feedback). Have been using D'Addario but have just found Elites which are marketed by the London Bass Centre. They have a rounder tone and last better in my opinion but different strings will always suit different players/instruments/amplification/musical genre etc and they are arguably the biggest cost of playing over any reasonable length of time, depending on how often you change them. The nature of sweat seems to change from one person to another and this will affect how a given type of string will stand up to use. Also, I find that certain amps are able to breathe life back into strings with a few tweaks more ably than some others and a decent instrument will help prolong sustain as strings begin the "fade". Good gear costs money but seems to allow some saving on strings so maybe it is not quite as expensive at it first appears. At least that is what I shall tell my wife the next time I want to upgrade my gear!