‘Alan Entwistle Pickups’ Artist
Mark B.
“I grew up in a household where music wasn’t really played – and whenever it was, it was simply fulfilling an educational, liturgical, or babysitting function.”
GENRE(S): post-hardcore, post-punk, disco punk, noise rock, shoegaze
FAVOURITE ARTISTS / INFLUENCES:
I’ve had tons of influences over the years. The artists that have had an enduring influence on my style and songwriting are probably:
Johnny Marr / Mike Kinsella / Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) / Kevin Shields (my bloody valentine) / J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr) / Duane Denison (The Jesus Lizard) / Dallas Green (Alexisonfire / City and Colour) / Brent Hinds (Mastodon) / East Bay Ray (Dead Kennedys) / Tyler Ross (Being as an Ocean) / Mick Jones (The Clash) / John Dwyer (OSees) / Nick Steinhardt and Clayton Stevens (Touché Amoré)
BANDS – ACTIVE:
BANDS – PREVIOUS:
SADFACE
PREFERRED ‘ALAN ENTWISTLE’ PICKUPS, AND WHY:
AstroSonic: I was absolutely floored by how versatile these pickups are. They are incredibly fat and powerful for their size. They’re kind of like all my favourite pickups rolled into one! They also work amazingly with fuzz and effects and sit beautifully in a band mix. Despite being known for surf or classic rock, these pickups are amazing for modern and alternative styles.
AL90: Very few people make is a P90-sized Jazzmaster pickup for people who love the offset sound and want to access it in a more traditional package. That’s essentially what you get with the AL90 – and I think Alan Entwistle Pickups were the first to do it. You get a flat, 1/8” tall coil, with AlNiCo 5 rod magnets, and a DCR of 7.8K, all hidden inside a P90 cover. I’ve used this pickup on 3 different guitars over the years, and it definitely gets in the ballpark of those vintage offset tones. A very cool pickup and massively underrated!
Fire Star: This is a super interesting and unique pickup with tonnes of clarity, voiced bright, open, wide, and crunchy; but they also have a very percussive quality to the top end. Imagine a Wide Range Humbucker had a baby with a Rickenbacker Hi Gain pickup and you’re most of the way there. Amazing for getting Jazzblaster or Rickenbacker-esque tones out of a humbucker slot, or just a whole load more clarity and openness in general.
DISCOGRAPHY (click to listen):
MURDER SCENES (THE FUTURE IS SWINGING!) – SADFACE
A TREE GREW THROUGH ME – SADFACE
GUITARS / AMPS / GEAR:
If you know me, you’ll know I only really play offset guitars. They’re mostly parts builds – I like combining vintage spec with quirky or unusual pickup and hardware choices.
Guitars:
Feygl Jangler Silver Sparkle Jaguar / Feygl Jangler ‘68 Spec Maple Cap Jaguar with Electric XII Pickups / Custom Squier Johnny Marr Signature Special Jaguar / Semi-Hollow Jazzmaster-to-Jaguar Conversion Build / Finster Murkstang Mustang Build / Vintage REVO Colt SS / Feygl Jazzmayster Jazzmaster Build with Thunderbird Pickups / 1961 Fender Jazzmaster Parts Build / Jet JJ350 Baritone with vibrola
Amps:
Hiwatt Super Leeds 300 Head
Marshall 3315 150 Watt Lead Head
Blackstar Silverline 212 Stereo Cabinet
DV Mark Neo Green 150 Speakers
Gear:
The gear staples I can’t live without are a Joyo Avallon 116 style compressor, KO Amps KO-SOUND Power Boost, Raygun FX Aurora v2 Lo-Fi Delay, DeadEndFX Grima Fuzz, Red Rocket Transmission (Vox UL730), WEM CCB-1 Copycat Preamp, Two Notes Cab+, and Blackstar Polar 2 interface.
BIOGRAPHY
I grew up in a household where music wasn’t really played – and whenever it was it was simply fulfilling an educational, liturgical, or babysitting function. At school, I really struggled to follow notes on the stave in lessons and had zero sense of pitch – frankly, I hated music.
That all began to change when I saw Busted on TV aged 8. It really opened my eyes to how cool and fun music could be! Around this time, three of my friends in primary school formed a band, playing a two song “set” to the whole school at the end of the year: a Green Day cover, and an original composition. What really stood out to me was how a group of nobody’s had suddenly become so popular and interesting – particularly the guitarist with the opposite sex… Noting my piqued interest in music, my dad dug out an old cassette one day and blasted Smoke on the Water through the car stereo. I was absolutely overcome with awe, adrenaline, and pure euphoric joy at the crushing sound of Blackmore’s guitar.
My parents eventually gave me a cheap classical guitar for Christmas 2005, saying if I played it every day, to prove it wasn’t a fad, they’d pay for lessons when I started secondary school nine months later… Well, I haven’t put it down since! Within weeks of starting secondary school, I was spending every lunchtime playing my newly acquired chords with budding drummers and other proto-musicians. We quickly formed a band, playing on stage for the first time just months after I officially started learning. We played gigs all over London from the age of 11 to 18, wherever would take us, acquiring artist endorsements and playing on local radio. My dad took us to all our early shows in his van, filming the set on his camcorder, which I’d eagerly watch as soon as we got home. Guitar and video have always gone hand-in-hand for me.
Only having access to the cheapest and crappiest guitars the mid-2000s had to offer, I quickly fell down the rabbit hole of researching the highest quality upgrades I could afford with my pocket money. With the newly emerging guitar community on YouTube, I spent countless hours watching people play the guitars of my dreams, followed by countless hours trawling through forums trying to find out how to make my guitars sound the same! High quality, affordable pickups have always had a very special place in my heart.
Fast forward many years and, post-pandemic, my primary creative output has shifted to YouTube. Having fallen in love with the space-age beauty of the Fender Jaguar through YouTube videos in 2008, I now make YouTube videos all about Fender Jaguars and their offset siblings. I make pickup, hardware, and guitar reviews, alongside offset history, build tutorials, and setup guides. I’m proud to be involved in R&D work with various brands to help new offset products be the best they possibly can for the offset community.
“My dad dug out an old cassette one day and blasted Smoke on the Water through the car stereo. I was absolutely overcome with awe, adrenaline, and pure euphoric joy at the crushing sound of Blackmore’s guitar.”
