Old steel guitar strings are a favored pilot jet cleaning tool. If you don't play, you can still stop at a music shop and tell them you need a steel string .017 or smaller. It won't cost much and you can ream a thousand pilot jets with it. Any decent music store will have individual strings rather than sets for people who like to build their own set.
With that said, Amals have a small plug on the air intake side (air cleaner side) that closes off the pilot bore. One of mine was leaking. Caused me a lot of frustration until I discovered it. I dont have a photo handy of it but if you look into the mouth of the carb there are some holes across the bottom for air intake for the jets, there is a small plug that closes off one of these bores. If it leaks then the carb sucks air into the pilot assembly without going past the needle. If yours is leaking, you will never get the carbs tuned until you plug it.
Russ