Fender Vintage Noiseless demo (with others)

As promised, I've recorded a quick demo of the Fender Vintage Noiseless Tele set in my old 52RI.

As with the demos of the VanZandt and EMGs, I've tried to keep everything the same. The rig is:

52RI ->10' cable -> ProCo RAT (original 1983) -> 6' cable -> Alesis Microverb -> 3' cable -> '66 Fender Champ with Weber Sig8 (Volume 4, Treble 7, Bass 4.5)

Mic is an AKG Perception 100 placed about 2' in front of the amp, going to a Zoom R-16 16 track digital recorder. Voiceovers are done with an SM57. Editing done with Amadeus Pro on Mac OS X.

The FVN are no doubt brighter and clearer than the VanZandt, but not as oddly behaved as the EMGs. They sound more like mid-60s Tele pickups to me, very hi-fi. Hear for yourself and comment away:

Fender Vintage Noiseless in 52RI (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/613804/FVN_demo.mp3)

VanZandt True Vintage in 52RI (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/613804/Tele_VZ_Demo.mp3)

EMG-T in 52RI (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/613804/EMG_T_Demo.mp3)

As always YMMV, and you can't really tell doodly-squat until you're at the gig!

I like them! What strings are you using?

I like them! What strings are you using?

Elixir 10s with a .016 G.

I LOVE my vintage noiseless PUP's. Still my favorite tele sound, i've always found them really warm and rich.

I feel that this demo doesn't really do them justice; yes, they are bright and clear pickups, but in practice they work really well. I had the treble up a bit higher on the amp to match previous demos, but with the treble down to 6 from 7 it really makes a nice difference.

I've been using these pickups at my last several gigs, and the response is great. I get all the twang I want, but can easily coax out big sounds. The VanZandts (which I do love) sound more like a '52 Tele in all likelihood, but I often found it difficult to get clearer sounds like Roy Nichols or Pete Anderson with them - too much midrange, and so I'd turn the treble up on the amp and work it from the guitar.

The FVN are just different beasts. There is something almost acoustic-sounding about them that really works when turned up, and I can nail a Pete Anderson sound now.

You can't underestimate the value of noise rejection. Like many here, I've lived with decades of "hum and buzz management" with my beloved single coils, done a lot of shielding, standing at odd angles on stage, etc. Despite our best efforts, there are times when you just can't dodge it and have to put up with that neverending %#$%! background hash. It's really something to step out with these and hear that silence between notes, even when the overdrive is kicked in or the compressor is squeezing hard.

The FVN are not the be all/end all by any means, they simply work well and can be had for little dough (been seeing them for under $100/set). I'd be very curious to try the higher end noiseless options like the Kinman to see what they do.