$160.00
Texas Jalapeno
Texas Jalapeño v3 (pronounced Halopeno)- sizzling sweet highs, lotsa of spicy presence, and aggression when you want it. “Ancho Poblano” extremo.
Thinking up a name for our latest creation, we were torn between Anaheim Chilli and Texas Jalapeno, and both are great names. Anaheim is the birthplace of Leo Fender, and chili describes this pickup’s sound and spicy performance very well. But Texas is BIG, and Jalapeño chili is hot enough for a great taste sensation but not so hot as to obliterate the taste of the food. Yup, that’s why we went for Texas Jalapeño.
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Description
Texas Jalapeno – spicy Texas tone at it’s best
50’s Strat pickups had jaw dropping highs & great dynamics, but now there is this Kinman Texas Jalapeño
50s Strat pickups had jaw-dropping highs & excellent dynamics, but now there is this Kinman Texas Jalapeño
Texas Jalapeño v3 (pronounced Halopeno)- sizzling sweet highs, lotsa of spicy presence, and aggression when you want it. “Ancho Poblano” extremo.
Thinking up a name for our latest creation, we were torn between Anaheim Chilli and Texas Jalapeno, and both are great names. Anaheim is the birthplace of Leo Fender, and chili describes this pickup’s sound and spicy performance very well. But Texas is BIG, and Jalapeño chili is hot enough for a great taste sensation but not so hot as to obliterate the taste of the food. Yup, that’s why we went for Texas Jalapeño.
Strat sound has just taken a huge step up. The Texas Jalapeño v3 overtakes all other Strat pickups with its spicy high-end bloom/ outstanding presence and thumping attack on the low notes, even more than SRV himself had in this piece. To get this kind of super performance before was impossible without active electronics. Still, our Texas Jalapeño is a passive pickup ….. “look Ma, no battery” ….. just genius electrical and magnetic wizardry. This new Texas Jalapeño replaces the now discontinued Impersonator Fat 50 circa June-2019.
The neck is versatile and good for SRV pieces such as Riviera Paradise and can make the opening notes of Pride and Joy so well. The middle, in combination with the neck, produces terrific new in-between ‘strong quack’ sounds. The bridge has attitude, it sizzles and growls like a Tasmanian Devil, but by utilizing our unique and special coil winding technology, we tamed the high-end sizzle to its not too thin and trebly as bridge pickups tend to be. It’s a fantastic pickup for Texas Blues and other emotive musical styles. Unmistakable Strat sound with every desirable characteristic (except scoop) magnified x 2.5. How’s that?
Update 27-Feb-2023: We upgraded the Texas Jalapeno EXTRA to the v3, designed especially for the bridge position. It has extra output, balancing well with the neck and middle standard Texas Jalapeno v3. Our secret proprietary coil winding technique avoids the thin, overly trebly sound characteristic of bridge pickups which rob girth and punch. But it retains a nice bite, is still spicy, and sounds fat and punchy.
Set into our K9+ Goodbye-Soldering Harness, the Texas Jalapeño set delivers good versatility, from soft n pretty to ferocious rock, even without distortion pedals.
Recommended especially for ALL clean sounds and do crunch and distortion exceptionally well.
Outstanding sonic characteristics: Turn your amp up until it’s cooking, and you’ll be amazed at the ultra-high frequency response, sweeter, purer highs, and more dynamic snap-n-spank than any other Strat pickup. Outstanding presence factor thanks to more upper harmonics than a regular Strat pickup –and– there is no hint of ice-pick or upper mid spikes – just sizzling sweet gorgeous highs like you’ve never heard before. Low-wound strings have more than the much desired Fender snap & twang factors, and the aggressive sound of Fender’s Texas Special is instantly recognized as being seriously outdone and without 60Hz hum. Bloody remarkable.
Additional benefits: There is 40% less magnetic string pull than regular Strat pickups, so consequently, there is no Strat-itis frequency warbling and string crash, just pure sustaining pure musical energy as you’ve never heard before. Balanced G-3rd string loudness. Stronger than absolutely authentic Knopfler-esque Position 2 and 4 sounds.
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.
Enjoyability factor on a scale of 1~10: Thirteen, with the best Fender non-noiseless being 10.
Waxing the Lyrical: The sound can best be described as a very ‘strong’ Fender sound but has a gorgeous tone too. It packs a helluva wallop, and its sound is very lively. This Strat-type pickup is so good we gave it the 5 Gold Star rating because it sounds better than its noisy counterpart that Fender reckon is in SRV’s legacy Stratocaster. This is nothing short of astounding, considering this is a Zero-Hum pickup. People can be forgiven for thinking these pickups fell out of a flying saucer. They are that technologically advanced.
Loudness: Noticeably louder than a Fender Texas Special and our Impersonator E56. Judicial pickup adjustment can achieve a balance with 3 of the same pickups. A fully graduated set of three would have the Kick-in-the-Arse Standard in the bridge and the Texas Jalapeño in the neck and middle or a Texas Jalapeno at the bridge and our Impersonator E56 middle & neck.
Comparison to others: In a side-by-side comparison with our amp cooking, the Texas Jalapeño has more top-end sizzle and greater clarity than the real Texas Special, which sounds a bit ordinary in comparison – unbelievable but true. Ordinary single coils can not be wound to sound like our Texas Jalapeno because they lack the sophisticated architectural elements responsible and become harsh and spikey. The Texas J is something else, so we called it the Texas Jalapeño.
Tech stuff: The Gen-2 models have taller magnets and coil with Kinman’s patented magnetic focusing device incorporated. Combined with a squashed 600 Ohm hum-sensing coil, all these new features produce non-aged sound. As of 10-Sep-2018, the pickups with narrow and intermediate magnet spreads incorporate our new CLCT (Coil Length Compensation Technology), which restores the slight but noticeable loss of attack, presence & cohesion when the magnets are placed closer together to align with strings of a narrow spaced twin Pivot bridge. More technical info is below.
This remarkable new model is part of the reason that not only is Kinman the King of Noiseless but also the King of Fender sound regardless of hum or otherwise.
Works well in any Kinman Goodbye-Soldering Harness.
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 two types of noise, Hum, which is canceled 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 Texas Jalapeno, you can see the taller upper coil and the squashed lower 600 Ohm Hum sensor. What you can’t see is our secret Gen-2+ technology inside the tall coil.
Texas Jalapeno nomenclature
Introduced 20-Sept-2018
Patents 5,668,520 6,103,986 8,791,351 B2
To cancel hum we add a sonically transparent 600 Ohm Hum Sensor coil to the bottom of the pickup which is designed with a low profile coil so it doesn’t make the pickup too tall. This Hum Sensor is extremely efficient and uses big wire, and low turns count to minimize parasitic coil capacitance, so it does not impact the high frequencies as they pass through. The Hum Sensor is so transparent it can be disconnected without causing any difference to the sound of the pickup (except it will have the hum, of course). Additionally, the low profile Hum Sensing bobbin allows us to make a taller string sensor which in turn and in combination with a Patented magnetic invention allows the pickup to produce non-aged sound. That is ….. bright and sparkly with varying degrees of mid-scoop just like the best old Strat pickups had when they were new.
Kinman’s T-100 generation hum-cancelling Stratocaster pickups are the world’s first non-aged hum-canceling Strat pickups. T is for Triumph and 100 is 100% single coil sound.
This new model represents a major milestone in the evolution of Fender-type pickups, as it has taken about 26 years of inventive and innovative thinking to achieve. The Kinman P-90 Hx and this new model Strat pickup re-affirm Kinman as the King of noiseless.
Covers
- Standard Kinman cover without height extender bushings included.
- Available in White, Black, and Aged White.
- With and without the Kinman logo.
- White covers 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 on dimensions page
Pot & Capacitor values
- Best with 250k Ohm (measured minimum) volume pot. Less punch and more bright with 500k.
- 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 measure as low as 175k. Pots in our Goodbye-Soldering Harness are guaranteed to measure no less than 250k.
- Normal tone cap value of 0.022uF, 63 ~ 100-volt Polyester. Smaller uF values lessen the severity of Treble cut, higher values increase it.
- The voltage rating of Caps is not important, but 63 ~ 100 volts have thicker lead wires that result in a neater job.
Gold plated magnets
- are available again after being discontinued for 12 years. Real Gold double electroplated over double Nickel for durability.
Magnet spreads we normally ship (ensures magnets align with the strings in each position)
- Narrow 49.5mm – Neck
- Intermediate 51mm – Middle
- Standard 52.5mm – Bridge
- Option to specify your magnet spreads of sets and singles in our ‘After-Payment’ Additional Questions‘ email we send you.
Magnet Staggers
- Normal improved Stagger to suit 7″ ~ 14 inch uniform radius fretboards including USA Custom Guitar Compound 7-1/4″ ~ 9-1/2
- Flat Stagger 14″ ~ 20″ for specific compound radius fretboards (Warmoth 10 ~ 16 inch and Post 2010 Fender Deluxe 9 ~ 14″)
- Option to choose your magnet stagger for sets and singles in our ‘After-Payment Additional Questions‘ email we send you.
Hook-up cable
- Two conductors shielded is standard.
- When supplied with a K9 or neck pickup with a TK4 harness, middle pickups have three conductors shielded.
- Three conductors 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 (match phase with 3 Conductor hook-up cable)
Mounting hardware included
- 2 x Pan head mounting screws.
- 2 x 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.
** Alnico-K is a unique proprietary Alnico rod magnet developed by Kinman in 1985. It is Alnico-5 but 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.
* Fender and Stratocaster and Strat are registered Trade Marks of Fender Musical Instrument Corp, Inc. Kinman is not associated with FMIC, but they kindly permit us to refer to their Trade Marks to reference our products.
YouTube
Above: Hear that great sizzle!
The beautiful other side of the Texas Jalapeno
Reviews
Matt Barr
UNITED STATES | 17-Aug-2021
Chris and Team,
I just wanted to drop a line to say Thank You.
I am simply awestruck, speechless with these pickups (Texas Jalapeno and Kick-in-the-Arse)
From the very first note that leapt from the amp it was obvious that your pickups aren’t just ‘next level’, they are peerless (meaning without equal).
Thank you again. I’m looking forward to placing another order soon.
Best, Matt Barr, Indiana, USA
Jon
UNITED STATES | 29-Nov-2019
Your Texas Jalapeno is the best strat pickup I ever had or tried. Its like am getting more out of my pedals and amps without more signal from my guitar. What I really like is the upper frequencies. There is lots of top end but it never gets piercing or icpicky. Some Strat pickups are hard to handle when it comes to high mid and treble. I also bought the Fatmaster set. Also waiting for the Big nine O with harnes. I haven’t bought this many pickups in so short time ever in my life, that speaks for itself. Regards Jon
Jonathan Clinard
UNITED STATES | 15-Jul-2020
Texas Jalapenos – Absolutely perfect
Normally I don’t do this sort of thing but I just have to say it.
These Texas Jalapeno pickups (with the extra in the bridge) sound absolutely divine. I thought they might be too bright in a 24 fret SSS guitar where the neck and middle are a little closer to the bridge (with 500k pots as well) but nope, perfect clarity without getting at all piercing.
Every position sounds terrific–the neck has perfect definition on the low notes without getting muddy, bridge has power and clarity without ever getting ice picky, notch positions sound exactly as they should. Even the often neglected middle pickup sounds great–a very well balanced and smooth sound throughout each octave. I’m also using a mini-toggle to add in the neck pickup to positions 1 and 2 and the fake tele sound of position 1 sounds pretty convincing and all 3 pickups in parallel sounds extremely lush.
A job well done mister Kinman. Truly the greatest set of SSS pickups I have ever heard.
Note from Chris Kinman: Thank you very much Jonathan. It’s so good to receive your letter.
For Your Interest I was inspired by Fenders Custom Shop’s Ancho Poblano but I knew I could go at least 2 better. “Ancho Poblano” extremo so to speak. With the EXTRA version for the bridge I actually went 3 better and it’s very gratifying indeed to have my work appreciated in what you wrote by someone who is obviously well experienced and authotitive in Strat sound. All the best, Chris Kinman.
