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Post subject: N3 vs DiMarzio Area vs Kinman Impersonator?
Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 4:34 pm
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Anyone had the opportunity to compare these various noiseless pickups? Any comments or preferences? And yes the question is which come closest to the pure vintage strat sound?


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Post subject: Re: N3 vs DiMarzio Area vs Kinman Impersonator?
Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 6:37 pm
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I have no personal data on the N3's (yet) but the Kinman's are the closest noiseless pickups in terms of "real-deal" single-coil vibe that I've ever heard. However they command a premium price when compared to the DiMarzio's or Seymore-Duncan's. Personally, I like the DiMarzio's and have two Strats equipped with them. They're parsecs ahead of any stock Fender pickups in terms of "strattitude" and output, and provide a cost-effective alternative to the Kinman's.

The DM's are designed to use stock 250K Stratocaster pots -- I'm not certain about the Kinmans.

HTH

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: N3 vs DiMarzio Area vs Kinman Impersonator?
Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 5:50 am
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Thanks Arjay. Is it the Kinman Impersonators you're talking about? Because I kinda had decided on them as the best, based on reviews and audio clips I heard, but looking at it again the DiMarzio Areas might be just as good or better (at about half the price), based on user reviews I read.


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Post subject: Re: N3 vs DiMarzio Area vs Kinman Impersonator?
Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 8:21 am
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No, I was referring to the real Kinman's -- I have a friend with an AVRI 57 who replaced his 57/62's with them. The guitar sounds beautiful but IIRC he spent over $400 on the swap. OTOH, my Strats with the DiMarzio's sound nearly as nice at a cost of around $185 for each guitar.

HTH

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: N3 vs DiMarzio Area vs Kinman Impersonator?
Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 1:14 pm
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The real Kinmans? The "impersonator 54" is one of the Kinman models.


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Post subject: Re: N3 vs DiMarzio Area vs Kinman Impersonator?
Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 4:17 pm
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For what it's worth, I did a test recording of two strats, one with CS vintage reissue pickups (whatever they install standard in a '56 reissue) and one ('60s) with N3 noiseless pickups. Both are Custom Shop instruments, the one with N3 has a rosewood fretboard and the other is maple.

The main difference between the two besides the noise difference is the frequency curve they capture. The guitar with N3s sounds more midrangey, less scooped and sounds a bit congested compared to the other.

After a bit of EQing on the N3 strat recording the sound can be made pretty damn close between the two. I especially like the scooped sound so the EQ can get it happening nicely.

I should say that the guitar with the standard pickups has the best classic strat tone and has everything I can ever hope for in tone if it wasn't for the noise. So there is hope after all that noiseless pickups can get there, with a little effort.


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Post subject: Re: N3 vs DiMarzio Area vs Kinman Impersonator?
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:35 am
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Pick ups are entirely dependent on the quality of the wood and finish. If those are not good, no pickup will help. I put stock Fender tele pickups on a beautiful nitro maple neck and ash body from USA and they sounded amazingly better than the American Standard they were on before.


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Post subject: Re: N3 vs DiMarzio Area vs Kinman Impersonator?
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 12:05 pm
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trajan2050 wrote:
Pick ups are entirely dependent on the quality of the wood and finish.


BUT OF COURSE!

Fender built and sold all those miserable-sounding aluminum-body Strats at a loss merely because they needed a write-off for tax purposes.

:lol:

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: N3 vs DiMarzio Area vs Kinman Impersonator?
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 3:25 pm
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trajan2050 wrote:
Pick ups are entirely dependent on the quality of the wood and finish. If those are not good, no pickup will help...


Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, can you say, "Infallible Web Dogma"?

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Post subject: Re: N3 vs DiMarzio Area vs Kinman Impersonator?
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:09 pm
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I love it when you talk dirty, Martian.

:mrgreen:

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: N3 vs DiMarzio Area vs Kinman Impersonator?
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:18 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
I love it when you talk dirty, Martian.

:mrgreen:

Arjay


:D :D :D

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