Kinman AVn-56 Single

Noiseless Single Coil Pickup

Tom Anderson Drop Top Strat Style, Mahagony Body and quilted maple top.Neck position.
Replacing stock neck pickup. Mid position PU Kinman AVn 62b and Bridge position Stock Tom Anderson HB. Hank Marvin and Scott Henderson use them allegedly,but I was hipped on them by Master Luthier Thomas Keller who does my guitar work.I changed the stock single coils because although they are good, I found them a wee bit too trebly.

Mid output level. Using the pickups with a 3-way amp system consisting of Mesa Boogie MKIV 1x12" EVM combo, 1971 100w Marshall Super lead w 4x12" speakers and a 1967 Fender Tremolux which i sometimes swap with my 1975 Fender Twin. The Boogie has a Lexicon PCM 81 for delay in the switchable loop and the onboard reverb, the marshall is dry and the fender has NYC Pedalboard with a fulltone FD2, a ZVEX Fuzz Probe, Digitech Synth Pedal,Ibanez CS 9, Boss Gigadelay and a Morley Bad Horsie Wah. All powered by a VoodooLab Power Unit. The Tone with this Set Up is truly fantastic(check my www.youtube.com/azharkamal site if you wanna). My music style is eclectic since I work as a composer/arranger/producer and need to be flexible. Let??s say I am able to get whatever sound i need with my set up. These pickups are a quantum leap or simply a good technicians work. Very musical, broad sounding, clearly defined with all frequences, absolutely impeccable when used for recording.At last a truly N O I S E L E S S, G O O D!!!!!! singlecoil sound. Hail thee Chris KInman. Humbuckerwise I use different brands, be it Seymour Duncan, Ibanez Super 58 or GibsonPAF on my old Les Paul. If Chris designs a HB, I am sure it will be mindboggling!!

A definite must have. I will be replacing all the single coils on all my guitars with Kinman Pickups. Next patient will be my Hollow Tom Anderson Tele. I am 41 years old and started playing when 8 years old. A professional musician all my working life. Very satisfied with this Pickup. Chris Kinman is the Paco de Lucia of single coil pickups!!!!

Pickup features: Passive single coil, with secondary dummy coil for hum cancelling
Impedence or other specs: 5,6kOhm, Inductivity:2,2 Henry

Model of guitar or bass: Fender "Rory Gallagher" Model
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: DiMarzio HS3
Other pickups on guitar: DiMarzio HS3 (Middle), Kinman 69b (Bridge)
Artists using this pickup: ....
You musical style(s): Clasic rock, Blues, Country, Fusion
Reason for pickup change: Old technology of pups replaced, microphonics and feedback on high levels

Perceived output level: Moderate high (higher than standard Single Coils)
Tone: Brillant attack, but well balanced and with nice punch
Sonic evaluation: I have already installed 4 Kinman pickups in two of the strats that I own (please read, if you like, my further reviews for each model). Set 1: 56 on neck (as described above) and a 69b on bridge position of a ?Rory Gallagher? model (rosewood fingerboard). St 2: SCn on neck and Hx-85 on bridge position of a self assembled strat (with scalloped, one piece maple neck). Both have standard tremolo, and 2-pc alder body. In the mid position I retained my old favorite, Di Marzio HS-3 on both axes. The target was tio have the Rory-strat as a more vintage sounding axe, and the other one as a more modern, heavier/darker sounding one. Both targets matched to 100% with the above pickup choice.
I play all my axes through similar setups: Either a Line6 POD XTL (right through P.A.), or with my Hughes & Kettner Zentera combo. I own further old-tech tube amps like Marshalls and Fenders. I use them only at home, due to the very restricted sound possibilities that they have for my live-work needs.
The 56er on Neck gives the vintage strat sound everybody should look for. Brillant but not hassle, with decent mids and lows, and the typical strat attack. If you like vintage flair with modern details (like no feedback, no hum etc.), go for it!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: The 56er is quite versatile pickup, could match any style. I tried it also on middle and bridge positions of the same strat (actually I ordered two 56ers for neck and middle). On middle it sounds fine, but does not give me the attack I wanted, so I installed my ol' friend HS3 back. On bridge, 56 shines with total vintage flair. However, I wanted a more dynamic, more Blackmore oriented sound, that'a why I chose the 69b (more on my review of this model).

Comments: Playing for 25 years, electrical engineer (diploma), former guitar builder (during the 80's), modified hundreds of axes, especially in electrics, pickup adjustments and customization. As an engineer, I have to say that the Kinman assembly is by far the best that I have ever seen (and I have seen- and changed - lots of ups...). As an example, the wire-grounding end at the side of the coil, shows detailed design. That's a fact. A clear "10" here. Now, as a musician, the 56 model meets to my requirements more on the neck position, but this is a subjective taste, and nothing more. And a last notice: I don't now WHO out there thinks that Kinman pups are expensive. I purchased them directly from KGE at a very moderate price, comparable to many other products...
Go check!!!

Pickup features: single coil noiseless
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender American Fat Strat (HSS configuration)
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock Fender pick-ups
Other pickups on guitar: Seymour Duncan '59 bridge humbucker
Artists using this pickup: no idea
You musical style(s): rock, blues, funk, pop
Reason for pickup change: to improve tone, and to quiet noise of the stock single coils

Perceived output level: about the same output (or less) as the stock neck and middle single coils that I replaced
Tone: less bright than the stock fenders, the kinmans do seem have a more 'balanced' tone, ie. more bottom end and mids than the stocks
Sonic evaluation: I've played my rewired Fat Strat through a Mesa Boogie Mark IV, a Rivera R55 112, and even a Polytone Mini-Brute, just out of curiosity. The Kinmans (neck and middle) sound great on clean tones through both of these tube amps, and even sounded good through the solid state amp, although (as many of you know already) Polytones are primarily jazz amps, and better suited to hollowbody archtops. The Kinmans also reacted well to overdrive tones, although in my opinion, they do much better with lower gain dirt than with all out "destroy the world" distortion. For more heavy tones, I switch to the Duncan '59 bridge humbucker. There is a bit of a output jump when switching to the bridge humbucker, but it's not bad. Other features in the pre-wired 'No Solder Harness include: middle tone knob becomes a "universal" tone knob for all three pick-ups; the bridge tone knob is a "blend" knob for the neck pick-up, which allows you to bring in some of the neck pick-up with the sound of the bridge humbucker. That option provides at least a few tonal possibilites not otherwise available on a HSS strat.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play a wide variety of rock, blues, jazz, funk, pop, etc. The Kinmans are great for what I'm doing, and make no noise whatsoever, and do not require batteries. These are NOT metal pick-ups. If you love headbangin', look elsewhere for a nice set of humbuckers...

Comments: If lost or stolen, I'd replace them. I'm curious about the Kinman Woodstocks. I've played Sadowsky Strats, and American made Fenders w/ Dimarzio Virtual vintage, both of which I liked. I've been playing for about 22 yrs, and think that these pick-ups sound really good, are dead quiet, and are very usable in tons of gigging and recording situations. I'm sure that there are folks out there who will take issue as to whether it's truly a "Vintage" tone that they produce, but then again, one's guitar tone is a very personal, and subjective thing...

Pickup features: Noiseless vintage Single Coils
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Music Man LUKE
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: EMG SL-V
Other pickups on guitar: Suhr DSV
Artists using this pickup: Scott Henderson.......
You musical style(s): Rock, Heavy Fusion, Blues
Reason for pickup change: EMG's sounded too synthetic, dull, midraney, loud....etc....

Perceived output level: Low....but then I am used to EMG's....Definitely nowhere near as loud as Passive Stacked humbuckers....but thats a Good thing.
Tone: Bell like highs... NO Harshness.....Smooth bottom end Mostly in the LOW mids.....all the right mids are here...
Sonic evaluation: I am using a Neck and a Middle AVn 56 in a LUKE guitar into a Bonehead amp into various pedals...... These are Incredible pickups.... I have tried Fralin, Duncan, EMG, DiMarzio etc....These sound better. They ARE noiseless!!!!! it is not HYPE it is TRUE. infact they are just as quiet as my EMGs were. They "Feel" great to play. They are inspiring sonically.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I am only using the Neck and Middle Kinmans.....They are PERFECT for my style...Bold As Love? Yep!!!.....Down To The Water Line? PAST the Water Line .... Unbelieveable.

Comments: I would Absolutely buy these again......I finally got a set of pickups that I am not wondering What might work better....Nothing will.

Pickup features: single coil hum cancelling
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: warmoth strat
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: they are the first ones
Other pickups on guitar: avn56
Artists using this pickup: Scott Henderson, me....
You musical style(s): modern jazz and latinamerican fusion
Reason for pickup change:

Perceived output level: normal, just very well balanced
Tone: they are very warm and articulate, great tone, not bell like a real strat single coil, the sound is more hard.
Sonic evaluation: Just my guitar with a ce2 boss chorus , dd3 delay and an analogman tubescreamer into a Fender amp with vintage Celestions.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play mostly neo jazz with latinamerican roots, difficult to explain... think Metheny, Henderson improvising over latin american jazz music with a strat...anyway, the pickups are great in all positions , very, very well balanced and clear, are better for chordal and mid distorted lines to my ears, are great.

Comments: If were stolen, i will try other brands to try, but could be buy it again.
15 years playing, I'm guitar instructor at The Escuela moderna de musica in Chile www.emoderna.cl.
I own a custom AYS tele thinline made by chilean luthier Jose Ananias with humbucking pickups and ebony fingerboard for jazz and some clean stuff.Custom 24 Prs guitar 10 top and all that shit, i don't like it, but sound great too.
I love the well balanced and clear tone of the pickups, and the amazing sound they have, but the bad news are that they don't sound like single coils, don't have the bell like tone of a real strat pickup, to my ears they are close a 40%, and the other 60% sound like normal stacks like duncans or dimarzios.
I compared with a lot of real strat pickups and man, the mexican fender pickups sounds closer to the bell tone i was founding, anyway, they are great and I'm very happy.

Pickup features: Single coil - passive
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Lonestar Stratocaster
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Fender Texas Special
Other pickups on guitar: Kinman AVn56 in middle, AVn59 in bridge
Artists using this pickup: see Kinman website
You musical style(s): a little bit of everything
Reason for pickup change: eliminate single coil hum - improve tone

Perceived output level: slightly less than the Texas Specials, but very sensitive, in a cool way, to heighth adjustment
Tone: well balanced -- no hi-freq dagger effect, even at hi-volume -- very articulate from string to string
Sonic evaluation: Fender Lonestar Stratocaster (from first year of their production), and a Carvin BelAir 212. I use these in the neck and middle position - they are dead quiet; provide a very smooth, articulate, and balanced sound; and get a very professional, although not quite Knoplfleresque, "tweener" tone.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I'm primarily a jazzy/bluesy type of player - but will incorporate other styles as necessary. This pick-up works fine for that application -- with a it of TubeScreamer-type ovverdrive, this pick-up in the neck position sounds like any number of your southern-fried stratoslingers. Clean sound is very full and retains the crispy chime character that the Carvin BelAir is noted for -- not really the sparkling trebly tone associated with most clean, commercial strat sounds -- less hi-end, but still a very, very pleasing tone. Works very well with my TubeScreamer-type overdrive pedals, but not so well with the distortion pedals --- but that's where the bridge pick-up comes in (an AVn59). If you use a humbucker in the bridge, make sure to pay special attention to the ordering instructions - the pickups need some wiring mod to accomodate the "in between" (#2) pickup selection position. .

Comments: If lost, I don't know ... they're expensive -- I think I'll just guard them like a zealous doberman pinscher. I'm going on 20+ years of guitar playing, but don't consider myself to be a tone guru by any stretch of the imagination. I gave a listen to some Fender Vintage Noiseless and EMG active SC P-ups. I bought the Kinmans sound-unheard, basically going off their web page and reviews in HC. I was hoping to get something that would approximate Robert Cray's clean sound -- these didn't quite do that. However, I very much like what they do and they are dead quiet -- so, although I didn't quite get what I was looking for, I found something else that I may like even better. I heard some Suhrs for the first time the other day, and I thought they were as nice, if not nicer, than the Kinmans. But, I'll continue using the Kinmans for the foreseeable future -- I've had them for a few months now and have really enjoyed the difference, as have my bandmates. These are very pleasing pick-ups, have a very smooth, professional sounding voice that's all their own, and will be the standard by which I measure others.

Pickup features: passive single coil
Impedence or other specs: totally silent (no 60 cycle hum); vintage Stratocaster sound denoted by year in name

Model of guitar or bass: Robin Medley limited edition (thru mahogany neck, maple over mahogany)
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: EMG single coil, model unknown
Other pickups on guitar: Alsdo replace bridge HB with the Duncan 'JB', coil tapped
Artists using this pickup: cannot say. The quality and sound of the pickup is not related to the players.
You musical style(s): Blues/rock, country, vintage rock and roll, original tunes
Reason for pickup change: EMGs had no life or tone. Mediocre sound at best in this guitar.

Perceived output level: about the same as vintage Strat pickups, but totally 'humless', and crystal clear.
Tone: beautiful balance string to string (staggered poles), responsive to attack, no muddiness at all, and no hum AT ALL
Sonic evaluation: Princeton Chorus, either channel. No pedal, just slight reverb and no-rate, moderate depth chorus. Robin Medley limited edition with Kahler tremolo and locking nut. Thru neck is mahogany, body is maple over magogany, and ebony or dark Rosewood fretboard. Pickups are a bridge HB and 2 single coils. Tip for the month: play a Robin (usually with Rio Grandes) and marvel at the value, especially used.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play blues/rock, country, vintage rock and roll, original pieces using classical (nails) fingerpicking. These pickups are for middle and neck only.

Comments: These are the ultimate in quiet and quality. They are versatile in that they are responsive to attack (whisper or scream!) and do not fall apart as the volume goes up. I play Robin Rangers (abandoned my Am. Dlx. Fat Strat and Nashville Power (Fishman power bridge) Tele), and a custom F-hole Tele hybrid from the guy who builds Fralin's Strats (Rodriguezguitars.com). There is nothing to hate about Kinmans and everything to love. What would you prefer to drink day in and day out? 1)Nehi orange, 2)Bud, 3) Pepsi, 4) artesian well water pouring out of a mountain spring. Look, Kinman is getting ready to take over the world when he brings out paired single coils to replace humbuckers! Seth Lover invented HBs 50 years ago and Kinman has made their premise (cancel hum) obsolete. Will Kinman replace the PAF, P90 sound? Of course not. But he has invented the first major pickup advance in 50 years; give him his due! Nobody said he is a genius, but Edison said that 'genius' is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. Chris Kinman delivers total sonic purity, top-notch quality, fast service, customer response, and is a gentleman/rocker to boot. How can you NOT respect the guy? Pay the price, play the pickup, and pray he develops humbucker replacements for the bridge of Fat Stratocasters, and similar guitars.

Pickup features: Hum-cancelling stacked coil design
Impedence or other specs: 6k, or thereabouts

Model of guitar or bass:
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar: my own design
Artists using this pickup: don't know.......
You musical style(s): all of them.
Reason for pickup change: curiosity

Perceived output level: practically same as stock Fender
Tone: Full, round, like an old, old Strat pickup, but without the airy, dynamic top-end prescence
Sonic evaluation: A-3's, through Ampeg V-4's, V-2's, Boogie, old Marshall, Lexus Jesus GTi

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Any pickup will suit any style. It's all in the fingers, baby!! Any position will do very nicely!!

Comments: If I lost this one, I wouldn't buy another one. BUT..that doesn't mean it's not the best stack pickup in the universe....it IS!!! I'm so stuck on the pure, single coil sound that ...well...that's all I can take , really! lol Kinman pickups are the best overall in ALL categories. Word! Sound, quality, ease of installation, fit and finish, etc etc. Chris Kinman is a great guy...and he KNOWS his stuff. ALL the other pickup companies...or now that we're on the subject...all COMPANIES on the planet should be as easy to work with as Chris Kinman. Do you hear me, Larry Steve, and Seymour?
Stack designs so far haven't eliminated the most important drawbacks associated with dual-coil noise-cancelling...like the loss of dynamics when picking hard or soft. Or the top end glistening prescence that we all crave. The Kinman's however have come as close as possible to achieving all that. They're so quiet, too...that I thought that my volume wasn't on! Everything about this pickup is world-class, top-drawer stuff. I just need the truly authentic single-coil stuff.
I've been playing for 39 years. I own a closet full of old Ampeg's, a few old Marshalls, and some custom stuff. I have 3 racks , each which has 3 A-3's in them. They are the best...bar none. But it's all in the fingers, like I said b4. I use a early 60's Strat. older tele, an old Goldtop w/P90'2 and single bridge, a sunburst, 2 Dam Armstrong Lucite guitars, and some custom stuff.
There's everything to like about the Kinman's...and nothing to hate about them.
Comparison was easy. I A-B'd all different brands of s/c pickups with the Kinmans. Guess who won hands down every time? Right.
I am too damned hard to please, is the problem.
I am still searching for the Grail.
I don't want to be misunderstood here....the Kinman is a fantastic sounding pickup. It is everything Chris Kinman says it is....exept for the authentic vintage thingee. Of course he may be right...and I'm just too daft to hear it...which is very possible!! lol He's so damned close though!!!
Hey...Pat Thrall....check these pickups out.

Pickup features: single coil, low hum
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: an old Ibanez roadstar II
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: stock ibanez
Other pickups on guitar: middle is stock ibanez, bridge is some EMG distortion pickup
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): blues, classic rock, jazz, funk
Reason for pickup change: i bought the guitar because the neck felt nice and it was really cheap, but the stock single coils were incredibly poor, think spoon in your ear pain sound

Perceived output level: it's about the same as most single coils
Tone: really nicely balanced classic strat tone, yum yum yum
Sonic evaluation: as i mentioned above my guitar is a piece from the thrash rock museum of stupid instruments but it plays nice so i figured a good pickup would be worth the investment. I play through a '65 vibro champ amp (5 watts, class A). The tone is nothing short of beautiful. that's it. it's balanced, sweet, clear but not harsh, responsive and quiet.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: this is a great match for blues and funk. i use an ES-335 if i want to get nasty sounds, and a jazzbox to get jazz sounds. It's a strat pickup which by nature is limited. it is however one of the best strat pickups i've played.

Comments: I only bought one pickup because i'd never heard how it sounded so better safe than sorry right? i will probably buy another for the middle position and swap out the EMG for a gibson humbucker i have kicking around back home. I've been playing guitar for about 7 years and am in college now, not gigging. Well basically i love this pickup. here's the deal, i was looking at the fender custom shop strats because they play and sound really really nice. unfortunately i don't have enough money to start flinging thousand dollar bills all over the place. i have a freind who's just starting on the guitar and i got the ibanez off of him for an American Standard i had. a bad deal financially but good in many other ways. he has a good guitar to learn off of, i have a guitar that suits my taste. oddly enough the neck profile on the ibanez is very similar to the custom shop which is good for me. Replacing the pickup with the kinman makes the beat old ibanez sound like a custom shop for a trade of a guitar i didn't like and 120 bucks. much better than $1700. sorry about the rambling on there.

Pickup features: Single coil passive
Impedence or other specs: see his website

Model of guitar or bass: Fender American Stratocaster Model 011-7402 (MN)
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Fender Delta-Tone pickup system
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): jazz, rock, blues, classical-like progressive
Reason for pickup change: The Fender pickups were very, very good. However, I knew that I could not live with the noise. And curiosity: I was curious whether a boutique pickup was better than stock.

Perceived output level: More output in the midrange, about same output in highs and lows.
Tone: Balanced and clear.
Sonic evaluation: This section is going to be long. First off, the Kinmans are what he says they are--noiseless, more warmth, more usable sounds--and in general, I like them more than the stock pickups. The Kinmans have a musical sound that seems more responsive than other "boutique" pickups I have tried on other guitars. However, the Kinmans do not have that thin, twangy, sometimes shrill sound of stock pickups, so if you must have that sound, they will not deliver them. I think any sound can have its place, and no one pickup is going to cover all bases. As a studio player, of course keep a twangy Strat around in case you need that sound. But for making original music, and as a main axe, the Kinmans offer a greater range good-tone possibilities, in my opinion. This has to do with elements that I describe in the following long essay. I'm doing this long report because it is from harmony central that I chose the Kinmans, without having heard them. So I am returning the favor for people who are suffering with a less-than-acceptable tone.

The Kinmans do deliver a fundamentally musical palette of colors, something that combines the clarity of singles with the body and individual-note-presence of doubles. They don't have any harsh highs. I greatly prefer them to the DiMarzios I have tried, but that is just a personal preference. The DiMarzios delivered a very clear tone, but the set I tried seemed to even out timbral gradations that you should be able to achieve through picking subtleties. If you are a poor player, the DiMarzios might be better for you since they make you sound as if you have pick control even if you don't. However, it's better to have many colors from picking and finger pressure so you don't sound one-dimensional. The Kinmans, like Fender stock pickups, do respond to pick intensity nicely.

The Kinmans are a practical choice. I have to do some out-of-town studio sessions and I was going to bring a Strat and a Les Paul even though it is a pain to transport two guitars. Now I am just going to bring the Strat with Kinmans because the Kinman sound has enough body to cover thicker-tone parts. Also, the Kinman is noiseless. I think with Kinmans, you don't have to have a giant humbucker in the bridge position in an S-S-H setup. I never liked that kind of setup because you lose something from the Strat world and don't really reach the Les Paul world. A Kinman S-S-S setup is superior to a Fat Strat arrangement, in my opinion, because you get a very good sound in all pickup positions, instead of some weird bastardized sound in positions 1 and 2. Again, just my opinion, and I admit there might be some situation where I would need a "Steve Vai" model guitar.

Does it capture the vintage Strat sound? I think you need to be a historian to really know. I am not really qualified to answer that. In my guitar, the Kinmans don't really sound exactly like the Strats I've played. That's fine with me. If you must sound like a Jimi Hendrix clone or a SRV clone, then you probably should just get whatever they used. The Kinmans have their own sound, which is Strat-like, but has more warmth and less shrill highs. It partakes of the double-coil world, without losing the single-coil clarity. Also, the sustain is far better than on a twangy Strat. Some of the hollowness of a Strat tone is not there, because the tone is fuller, so you lose something even while you gain something else. But let me be clear: I prefer the Kinmans for my musical needs.

To me, the Kinman is a kind of idealized sound, with its own range of creative possibilities. In an alternate universe where Kinmans came out first in the 1950s and stock Strat pickups came out later in the 1990s, my opinion is that no one would bother with the stock Strat sounds, and would perhaps consider them bad and tinky. However, ther

Comments: I would get the Kinmans again. I have been playing for 30 years. The question asks if I am still searching for "that" sound, but since I have never thought of making music as a search for a particular sound, I can't respond. However, I can say that the guitar with the Kinmans in it is now my MAIN AXE. In my opinion, it is better than DiMarzios. But I liked stock Fender better than the DiMarzios I tried, which goes to show that pickups are very much a matter of personal taste. With the Kinmans, I feel I can get my voice out with it, in a great variety of musical contexts. The Kinmans are excellent, and that is all there is to it. Chris Kinman must be a tech genius and must have a very, very good ear. He was great at customer service, and the instructions and quality of the parts was first-rate. His instructions are complete enough so that you can do your own installation even if you don't know anything about guitar repair. All you need is a phillips-screwdriver and a soldering iron. It took me less than an hour to do it. I am a very satisfied customer.