Kent Armstrong Tweedtone STV4N

This is a Strat neck replacement pickup. It is a wholly conventional single coil pickup with vintage staggered Alnico slugs and an over-wound coil measured at around 7.2kohm. Twin connection leads.

According to Ben @ WDUK, the Alnicos are aged thereby reducing the output but compensated by the coil over-wind.

The PU came with a black cover, fixing screws and springs, wiring instructions - all tidily packaged. Delivery was excellent - within 16 hours of the order being placed.

I replaced the neck KA Texas Vintage in my WD Component Strat with the Tweedtone. It is a far smoother, woodier sounding pickup than the Texas V. By comparison the Texas is a very brutal, in-your-face PU which worked well within a rock context but I felt lacked finesse for blues.

Changing to the Tweedtone made the neck PU sound far more rounded and woody than previously. It was the sound that I had been after right from the outset when I set out the specs for the WD Strat.

The Strat retains a KA Texas Vintage in the middle position and a KA JB-style Alnico 15k humbucker in the bridge. The bridge humbucker has a vari-tap to move between full humbucking and single-coil sounds. All PUs run through a Fender TBX tone control. The volume pot is a CTS 250k.

The neck PU now delivers the sound I wanted from my Strat. Rounded, rich, woody and bluesy. Linked to the middle is clucks like a good 'un and you can't but help drop into SRV's Little Wing.

The Tweedtone is like a muscular Strat BUT with a richness that fattens the sound without losing either the sparkle or the plummy low-end. Output is comparable to the previous Texas Vintage but with more softness and a more 'organic' sound.

Overall this is a well-balanced pickup with glassy tops and full, rounded mids and bass-end.

The WD Strat goes through my pedalboard into either a Lab Series L7 4x10 combo or a Hiwatt DR103 with either a 2x12 or 4x12 cab. The pedalboard comprises:-

Boss TU2 >> Monte Allums CS-3 >> modified Blubber wah >> Monte Allums BD-H2O >> Monte Allums SD-808 >> ProCo Rat2 >> Boss CH-1 >> Boss DD-3

I play primarily blues and blues-based rock. The Tweedtone neck PU seems ideal for these genres.

KA calibrates the Tweeds for neck, middle and bridge positions. Mine is a neck position used in the neck position. It does what it says...

I use a lot of Kent Armstrong pickups. None has ever let me down, be they Strat single coils or humbuckers. The value for money is unbelievable and the sounds they produce are equally impressive.

I opted for the Tweed after speaking to Ben @ WDUK. I tried to describe the sound I was after and he suggested the Tweed. He explained that although over-wound like the Texas Vintage, the magnet slugs in the Tweed are aged so there is slightly less output BUT the sound is airier and less aggressive that the Texas. Spot on!

Hopefully I'll be putting another WD Strat together soon and there is no doubt it will carry a calibrated Tweed Tone set of PUs.

Kent Armstrong PUs are that rare comodity of excellent quality for almost ridiculously low outlay. Yes, value for money is important BUT if KA PUs did not sonically deliver I would almost certainly not use them. They deliver - I use 'em.