DARK STAR DS-1

(About $250 for a pair) Huge single coil pickups in a vintage chrome casing. This pickup is a rare find ??? a revival of a true classic pickup ??? the Hagstrom Bisonic ??? that not only pulls off vintage sounds very well, but also meets plenty of other needs. I will commend you to read the previous review for features and history of Fred Hammon???s development and small-company operation except to congratulate Fred myself. Dark Stars are more expensive than many other pickups, but they are wound by Fred in his little shop and his involvement with the pickups and his customers is very personal and helpful. More than worth any extra cost. Dark Stars are even a trip to look at. Oversized with chrome housings ??? definitely on the retro side. A very nice feature of the pickups is individual pole adjustment screws, enabling you to change the balance of output from each string separately. Closer to the string also gives you more of a raw tone, where backing the poles off a bit emphasizes smoother tones.

I have twin Dark Stars in two basses: a passive ???68 Gibson EBO that???s been modded for the extra pickup and a custom body I built with a Bartolini NTMB preamp and Modulus Genesis neck. Two very different basses, but good results on both. Like all single coils, appropriate shielding is necessary to control hum and noise. I did the shielding myself (I???m far from a seasoned expert) and have had no problems, despite living in a very RF-interference prone location. This is due, in part to the fact that Fred builds the pickup pairs wound with reverse magnet polarity and reverse windings. So, the pickups hum-cancel each other, the way Jazz bass single coils should work. The pickups are at home in both passive (V-V-T-T) and preamped configurations. Just different. Also, bear in mind my passive EBO is short scale, mahogany necked and the active bass has a long scale graphite neck, so the unplugged sounds are very woody in the EBO and rich and resonant, with very long sustain in the other.

In both of my Dark Starred basses, the pickups are relatively high in output and very responsive to changes in right hand technique. They cut through any mix quite well without having to tolerate any harsh tones. You can get sounds ranging from raw to muscular to purring smooth. The pickups are pretty even in output across the strings and across the frequency range. Lows are deep and can sound anywhere between a very refined P and a deep growl. Mids have plenty of punch but are never honky. Highs can be set or played to be sweet and glassy, slicing and raw, or dialed out for a very nice dub sound. On the EBO: Remember, this is a vintage, short scale, mahogany set neck bass. Dark Stars let me get a real variety of short scale tones ranging from McCartney Hofner to Phil Lesh???s earlier basses with the Dead, to a really nice reggae dub tone. On the long scale with Modulus neck and Bart preamp (my main bass): The tone on this bass is warm without giving up the ability to penetrate the mix. It has an almost jazz guitar sound I???ve never gotten in a bass. Not ???modern??? because it???s too warm, but very sweet. You can dial in anything from a pretty convincing Jazz bass sound to a P to a lot of Musicman tones as well. It???s not my only bass, but if I had to give up all but one ??? this is the one I???d keep.

If they were stolen, I'd be pissed and I'd replace the bass and the pickups immediately. Can you guess I???ll rate Dark Stars a 10? They have a lot of fans ??? for good reasons. They are available as an option on several Lakland models as well. When did you last hear of a major, high end maker offering any but the standards (Barts, EMGs, etc) as a one-off on their basses? I???m an old guy who???s played for a lot of years, but just got seriously involved again about 3 years back. I play in a band whose style ranges from classic rock to blues to reggae, plus some jazz. These pickups really work for my sound. They are worth checking out. There have been clips posted in the various net forums and the Lakland site to give you an idea what they can do.

A more then faithfull recreation of the orignal Hagstrom single coil pick-up. I say more than faithfull since the creator of the Dark Star, Fred Hammon , spent considerable time and energy in reverse enginering the orignal Hagstrom, and then even added several improvements to his new version. The results are outstanding, and Mr. Hammons growing cult of users stand firmly behind him and his product.
The Dark Stars are expensive in comparsion to other pick-ups, make no mistake. But you do get what you pay for. With 30 individual pieces assembled that include Alinco V bar magnets there is notheing else like it in it's class. It is truelly unique !

I had a DS-1 model installed on a vintage 1973 Fender Musicmaster bass. The Musicmaster is a superb short scale bass in all ways except tone. Last year I had a Basslines pick-up installed on another Musicmaster bass that I owned at the time. It was a definite step up in tone, but to me I still felt it was lacking. I then began to search the web for info and a Quest for the Holy Grail of tone. I came across the internet web Forum for the Dark Star pick-ups. After countless hours of reading testomonies of Dark Star users I felt convinced to go ahead and order one for myself, for another Fender Musicmaster bass I have. The Dark Stars are meticulously assembled by hand on by individual orders. Wait time was one month.

While waiting for the Dark Star to arrive, I located an excellent guitar and bass tech who agreed to install the pick-up. When the Dark Star arrived I unwrapped it from its well packed cocoon of shipping materials and inspected the intricate workmanship and then brought it to the Tech for the install. If you have never have seen a Dark Star before, it is probally like nothing you have ever seen. And, I do mean that in the best sense. It is a beautiful piece of chrome and ceramics. Once the installation was complete, I plugged it into my rig.
I am currently playing in a Classic Rock band but this pick-up could, and will be used for ALL styles of music. The Dark Star is a single coil passive pick-up. But you would never know it from the incredible output it produces. The tone is smoothe, well balanced accross the entire frequency spectrum, and very beefy. The Dark Star is amazingly quite in the hum department also. My rig consists of a Gallien Krugger 1001 RB amp, a David Eden XST-210 cab, and a Aguilar GS-112 cab. I played out with it and the results were quite gratifing to say the least. My band mates and audience members were very happy with the sound.

I have been playing bass for over 40 years. Whoops, I guess I am dating myself. Anyhow, in my time I have heard and played many varieties of basses. I currently own 12 basses. I would have to say the thing I dislike the most is the price. However, when everything is taken into consideration with the amount of labor and quality of construction and components. It is perfectly acceptable, epecially when you realize that there is nothing else like it at all on the market. I just ordered a set, two in a set, of Dark Stars for another one of my basses. If you have not yet realized, I really do love the Dark Stars !!!