$155.00
Big Nine 0
50s Strat pickups had jaw-dropping highs & excellent dynamics, but now there is this Kinman Texas Jalapeño. There’s an Elephant in the room ……. The Big-Nine-O (Big Banger) with Kinman’s Gen-2 technology.
You can expand your sonic horizons with unique new sounds from Kinman, Read more in the details bellow.
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Description
Big-Nine-O
The Big-Nine-0 is the only Strat pickup that balances with humbuckers
A Big-Nine-0 in a Cream cover
50s Strat pickups had jaw-dropping highs & excellent dynamics, but now there is this Kinman Texas Jalapeño
There’s an Elephant in the room ……. The Big-Nine-O (Big Banger) with Kinman’s Gen-2 technology
You can expand your sonic horizons with unique new sounds from Kinman, the ………
The KING of noiseless and the Prince of Expression.
News flash Apr-2021: Now with our new Synergy baseplate that allows switching off Hum Cancelling as well as switching to ‘Synergy‘ mode.
As it is and as it can be: You’ve got one or two humbuckers in your Strat and the Strat pickup are hopelessly under-powered. You have had this problem for years because no other Strat pickup balances with humbuckers ….. now here it is …. the most awesome Strat* pickup ever conceived, the Big-Nine-0. This remarkable pickup has the outside appearance of a Stratocaster* pickup with Alnico-K* rod magnets … but as the name implies it almost has the power and sound of a P-90.
Outstanding sonic characteristics: The Big-Nine-0 is something of a versatile Chameleon because at room volume it produces a responsive, sweet and pretty sound with some Strat* characteristic but with a darkness unlike any Strat, this is great for low volume smokey Jazz and Blues. Turn up the volume to get it cooking and it roars to life like an attacking Tiger. This is one sweet but brutal high energy pickup.
Recommended for fat, super punchy cleans, natural crunch or extreme gain applications, full on rock, distortion and low volume syrupy Jazz. Suitable for all 3 positions in a Strat* but especially recommended for the bridge position as the fattest sounding and loudest Strat* model we make.
Signal chain requirements: Any old cable won’t do. It is essential to use a low capacitance cable to get the incredible performance of this pickup.
Tech stuff: The Gen-2 models have taller magnets and taller coil with Kinman’s patented magnetic focusing device incorporated. In concert with a squashed 600 Ohm hum-sensing coil all these new features produces non-aged sound. Produces a massive inductance of 7 Henrys, more Inductance than most humbuckers or P-90’s. As of 10-Sep-2018 the pickups that have narrow and intermediate magnet spreads incorporate our new Gen-2+ technology which restores the slight but noticeable loss of attack & presence when the magnets are placed closer together. More technical info below.
The Big-Nine-0 works best with a 500k volume pot which helps it develops top end sizzle & bloom more like real P-90. It will work with a 250k volume pot but dynamics and high end sizzle are compromised to a noticeable degree. Works well in a Kinman K9-H Goodbye-Soldering Harness with our Dual Resistive Load 500k/250k innovation.
Some people will call these noiseless Stratocaster pickups but Kinman prefers to describe them correctly as Zero-Hum Stratocaster pickups. That’s because there are 2 types of noise, Hum which is cancelled in the pickup and Buzz which can only be minimized by shielding the wiring cavities (refer to >Technical >Perfect Guitar >Shielding for newer guitars
Technical Stuff
Under the hood of the Big-Nine-0
but you can’t see everything that’s inside.
Big-Nine-0 – specification nomenclature
US Patents 5,668,520 6,103,986 8,791,351 B2
The string sensor is taller than our other Strat models so the coil is not compressed. This design paid off with a massive inductance of 7 Henrys, more Inductance than most humbuckers or P-90’s. The Big-Nine-O has a dark, smoky sound with a surprising amount of twang, deep bass and sweet highs … so sweet it can be used in Jazz at low volume. But best of all is the HUGE output level, it will hold it’s own in competition with a P-90 and regular Humbuckers … now that’s amazing for a Strat pickup with Alnico rod magnets, with the bonus of Zero-Hum. One of the amazing new generation hum-cancelling pickups coming from Kinman.
Adjustment requirements
The Big-Nine-0 has an advanced magnetic circuit and needs to be adjusted close to the strings to get it’s best performance. You can adjust the neck pickup as close as 1.5mm gap between bottom of E-6th string and top of magnet with string pressed onto the 14th fret. Adjusted that close it really cooks, is very loud with same door-slam attack and sounds similar to a P-90 …. it’s that close.
NOTE: If it’s authentic P-90 sound with it’s top end sizzle & bloom you want then you should buy a P-90 Hx or a P90-Bucker.
Install requirements
At 25mm tall the Big-Nine-0 is 3mm taller than our regular Strat pickups and will fit most modern guitars but might not fit Vintage reissue guitars so check the cavity depth before ordering. The pickup cavity depth should be no less than 19mm (3/4 inch) deep. However a shallower cavity might be suitable if you shorten the special long mounting screws by up to 3mm, but some adjustment latitude will be sacrificed in this case.
Covers – included
- Standard Kinman cover with maximized height extender bushings.
- Available in White, Black, Aged White.
- With and without Kinman logo.
- Can be tinted with food stains such as Coffee and Tea.
- Generic covers will not fit Kinman Strat pickups. We sell replacement covers in three colors.
Connection means available
- Bare wires for soldering.
- Kinman connectors for plugging into any Kinman Goodbye-Soldering Harness.
Dimensions
- click for dimensions page
Pot & Capacitor values
- Best with 500k volume pot to bring out the dynamics and the sting in the plain strings.
- Many Strat pickups sound best with a 250k volume pot.
- Our Goodbye-Soldering Harness can incorporate our Auto-Change device which provide both 250k and 500k for either neck middle, bridge … or any combination when mixing different requirements.
- If you don’t include a Harness, for additional $25 we will include the parts and instructions for our Auto-Change device with your order.
- Tone pot is usually the same value as the volume but for a little more top end brightness can be 500k, 1meg or a No-Load.
- Stock pots can actually measure as low as 175k. Pots in our Goodbye-Soldering Harness are guaranteed to measure no less that 250k.
- Normal tone cap value of 0.022uF, 63 ~ 100 volt Polyester. Smaller uF value lessen the severity of Treble cut, higher values increase it.
- The voltage rating of Caps is not important but 63 ~ 100 volt have thicker lead wires that result in a neater job.
Magnet spreads we normally ship (ensures magnets align with the strings in each position)
- Narrow 49.5mm
- Intermediate 51mm
- Standard 52.5mm
- Option to specify your magnet spreads of sets and singles in our ‘After-Order Supplementary Questions‘ email we send you.
Pickup cavity depth:
- Installs into stock Fender cavities that are 21mm deep. Cavities in genuine Vintage models need to made deeper, preferably to 22mm in order to allow maximum height adjustment range.
Hook-up cable
- 2 conductor shielded is standard. Cut generously longer than necessary for the 3 stock Strat positions.
- Middle pickups when supplied with a K9 or TK4 harness have 3 conductor shielded.
- 3 conductor by request with Order.
- Custom lengths by request with Order.
Output Polarity:
- in-phase with Gibson and Copy humbuckers
- in-phase with all other Kinman pickups
- opposite phase to Fender Strat
Mounting hardware included
- 2 Pan head mounting screws.
- 2 Silicon Rubber tube springs.
We highly recommend consulting the Install Guide in the Technical section even if you think you know it all. Kinmans’ require specialized knowledge and sometimes there is updated info. There is also a handy wiring diagram available.
We also highly recommend consulting the Adjust & Set-up page in the Technical section so you get the best out of your Kinman pickups.
*Stratocaster and Strat are a Trade Marks of Fender Musical Instrument Corp. Kinman is not connected to Fender.
** Alnico-K is a unique proprietary rod magnet developed by Kinman in 1985. It has 40% less string pull than Alnico-5 so sustain is longer and there is much less clatter from string crash and no Strat-itis string warble.
YouTube
Brett Kingman demonstrates our Big-Nine-O Strat powerhouse
Reviews
Andrew McNally
USA | 2011-01-10
I held off because I wanted to really play with and fine tune these pickups before commenting…I wanted to give you some good and heartfelt feedback! Installation: I LOVE the Kinman No-Soldering harness…made evrything super easy! At first, I thought I had made a mistake! I set the pickups at Fender factory recommendations (3mm lo E to 2.4mm on hi E). I also used my pedals at the settings I normally use for my Strat. Typically, I always have compression on (Analogman Ross clone) with the Strat volume almost always on 10. It was too aggressive and growly and edgy…I was feeling like I had made the wrong choice! So i started playing with pu height and this really helped. I lowered them and am now running at about 4-5 32 at the 17th fret. This is lower than recommended but did wonders to smooth out the edginess of the pups. I then discovered the wonders of using the volume pot to soften/smooth the tone. I am finding that when running into certain fuzzes, I like to back it down to about 8 or so. This seems to be in a range that is similar to the old pickups, albeit it with a different tone. If I am turning the volume to 10, I find I will often kick out the compressor and just use the fuzz pedals natural compression…for instance with a Tonebender or silicon type fuzz. With the old pups it was always compressor and volume on 10. The Kinman Big Nine-O’s have more dynamic range and their character really changes as you play with the volume. On full, they get a nice aggressive growly edge without being overbearing or too much. They get close to that edge, but stay manageable. On vol 8, they get nicely civilized and sweet with these amazing bell like tones on the upper strings. They are definitely not chimey or bright like standard Strats, but I am amazed at the lush thickness and full tone I get out of them! I also find that all the pu combos are very useable. With the old pups, it was generally bridge or neck…never really dug the middle. I really like ALL the new positions, as they all bring lots of useable tones to the table. Everyone I play for is getting blown away by these pups. They are definitely NOT like normal Strat tones, but after the initial trepidation, I am really sold on them. The cool thing is that these are NEW and ORIGINAL tones! I think Hedrix/Trower/Gilmour took the normal tones as far as they could go, while these new ones leave a lot of ground open. I guess the best advice I can give is to let future buyers know about the nuances of these pups. I had never played P-90s before, and the subtleties of this type of pu might be known to those that have, but it has been a real eye-opener for me and has required me to do extensive experimentation and the need to rework the way in which I normally used compression, fuzz and distortion. Combos and approach that worked on my old Pups do not always work for the new ones. I think you should inform buyers that they should be willing to invest the effort to adjust and fine tune their set-up to get the most out of these pups…otherwise they might be better off just getting Woodstocks or something more straight forward. In conclusion, I truly love what these pups have done to my tone and to my playing in general…I cannot stop playing! I have literally been playing to the point that my fingers hurt, and it has been a LONG time since that has happened. I just love the fullness and the crazy bends I can get out of these pups. I also love how responsive to the volume pot they are…they can go from a full mellow sweetnes to a nicely moderated mean growliness while still remaining musical! The singing and bell like quality these pups have is amazing. They definitely ride the edge of unruliness, so adjusting them properly and really experimenting with your signal chain is critical to really tap into the potential of these pups. For people willing to invest the time and effort, these Kinman’s will astound and amaze and really motivate you as a player. They are truly inspiring and lushishly beautiful with just the perfect amount of edgy aggresiveness that they will keep you coming back to them and you will find yourself thinking about them when you are away! Gotta go…all this talk has made me need to jam out a bit! :)
Paul
Australia | 2015-09-11
Hi there, a few months ago I bought a set of the Big Nine-O pickups with a K9 harness. I was recommended to you by a friend (Dan Berne) who also has your pickups in a number of his guitars and although I started looking at Woodstocks and the like, my tastes being a bit quirky sometimes, I finally chose the Big-Nine-O set. I installed them into a lightly age-weathered ’79 Fender Strat. When I plugged the beast into my Orange AD30 and began playing about with the controls I was (to put it colloquially) “f’ckn gobsmacked” at the sound I’m getting!! I have a collection of 19 guitars – most ‘upper range’ brand, quality & cost-wise. This includes 3 other Strats; a 50th Anniversary plus Clapton & Gilmour Custom Shops. The ’79 unit (now fitted with Kinman Big-Nine-O I’m VERY happy to say) craps all over the other Strats and in fact, I prefer the sound to quite a few of my other non-Fender too (a mixture incl 3 Gibson Les Pauls, 2 x PRS Customs, 2 x Fender Tele’s and a mix of other stuff incl a Duesenberg Starplayer & Maton BT500 50th Anniversary. I’ve been playing for around 45yrs so I have 1/2 an idea of what’s going on and that’s all only to prove I’m genuine and not just blowing smoke ok… ;-) The tonal variety, depth, clarity, no loss of highs when you turn down, the pickup combinations thru the harness & switching options, the smoothness – all staggering – as was the service and the whole experience of selecting, ordering, delivery, etc, Sincerely, I could NOT be any happier if you’d supplied these pickups with a new car & gold bars – even Beer…!! And I just wanted you to know. Chris, you have some of the best pickups on the planet!! Thank you!!
