Seymour Duncan has developed an active set of soapbars for Cannibal Corpse bassist Alex Webster. The “Hammer Smashed” pickups are based on Duncan’s Blackouts, with some key voice changes to accommodate Alex’s signature tone and playing style. From Webster himself:
I wanted to improve on the sound I already have established, and also make the pickups a bit easier to work with in terms of output level. I’ve had a problem over the years getting a completely clean signal out of my basses without having to turn the volume down on the bass itself. Optimizing the output level of the pickup seemed like a great way to resolve that issue – might as well start at the beginning of the signal chain, rather than try and fix things somewhere further down the line.
So I’m super excited with what the guys at Duncan came up with for me. Now I have pickups that work perfectly with my style, and I can crank the level on the bass all the way and the tone is still tight, punchy, and powerful. Also, somehow they managed to add more clean low end than I had before, a welcome bonus for sure. The pickups turned out amazing, I couldn’t be happier.
The Hammer Smashed 5-string bass pickups will come out of the Custom Shop at $175 a piece, or $349 for a set. For more, visit Seymour Duncan here.
[via No Treble]
