Pickups: Vintage Noiseless vs Seymour Duncan APTR-1/TL-1

Thats the Seymour Duncan APTR-1 & APTL-1 (ran out of room).

Anyone tried both of these in the same guitar? I have the Fender Vintage Noiseless pups in my Paisley and the Seymour Duncans in my new Lite Ash tele. Both are about equally hot, but the Paisley is a bit darker sounding and the Lite Ash is brighter sounding. I'm wanting my tones to be a bit closer match and don't want to spend $85 on new pup's if they're not gonna make a big difference and narrow the gap in the two.

Any suggestions? I like the FVN the best, but the Duncans are right up there too and if I'm only playing one guitar then I'm OK, but when I switch between the two I have to turn down my trebble and bump up the bass on each channel on my 4ch amp, kind of a pain when you're in a hurry between songs (or solo's).

According to the Seymour Duncan description of the pups, they're suppose to cut out that "glassy" thin tone of stock pups in a bright guitar.

Thoughts, suggestions, ideas???

Anyone tried both of these in the same guitar? I have the Fender Vintage Noiseless pups in my Paisley and the Seymour Duncans in my new Lite Ash tele. Both are about equally hot, but the Paisley is a bit darker sounding and the Lite Ash is brighter sounding. I'm wanting my tones to be a bit closer match and don't want to spend $85 on new pup's if they're not gonna make a big difference and narrow the gap in the two.

Any suggestions? I like the FVN the best, but the Duncans are right up there too and if I'm only playing one guitar then I'm OK, but when I switch between the two I have to turn down my trebble and bump up the bass on each channel on my 4ch amp, kind of a pain when you're in a hurry between songs (or solo's).

According to the Seymour Duncan description of the pups, they're suppose to cut out that "glassy" thin tone of stock pups in a bright guitar.

Thoughts, suggestions, ideas???

tele_jas,

(I realize your original note is a couple of months old now.)

I just recently got my first FVN experience by chance. They came in a used Squier Tele. I thought they were a bit too hi-fi sterile in the stock 6-barrel thick-plate bridge assembly but a Fender vintage style thin steel bridge plate with a set of Fender stainless steel grooved saddles (3-piece) gave it a nice shot of mids and harmonics and I'm liking the setup.

And I'm a recently restored fan of the APTL-1 thanks to a good deal from someone who pulled his out of his Lite Ash. I had the set once before and thought the neck was somewhat dark and compressed, and the bridge was somewhat tame. But I've had this APTL-1 in a couple of agathis Squiers now and see it in a different light. It seemed just a little too bright in one, but is great in the other. Maybe Duncan meant that pickup would be smooth compared to an A3 or A5 otherwise constructed the same, but I think the low wind at 6.2k gives it potential to still be quite bright.

So I can imagine the APTL-1 seeming brighter than your FVN bridge. It's been a while since I've played an APTR-1 but I'm guessing from my previous experience that the difference you notice is more on the bridge than the neck pickup with your two Teles, right?

My easiest and no-cost recommendation is, experiment thoroughly with the pickup height, volume and tone controls on your Lite Ash. I have read from many others here, and have experienced the same myself, that the APTL-1 responds nicely to rolling back the tone and volume. So maybe you can find settings for your Lite Ash volume and tone that match it more evenly with the Paisley and its FVNs.

If that doesn't work and you think you might want a pickup change, consider swapping the pickups between the two Teles. You'll learn a lot about how each Tele and each pickup set respond to their environment. You might find a better match right there, but if not you'll have a better idea what other pickup you might want to try.

I'd be interested in hearing how these work out for you, since I have some of the same pickups here.

Thanks for the reply, I actually changed pickups in that guitar a couple of months ago to the FVN, so now both guitars have FVN pickups in them. The Ash tele is still brighter sounding, but does have a bit more meat to it though. Both guitars have the 3 barrell bridge, but the Ash tele has brass and the paisley has stainles steel. I've actually come to respect the tone, it sounds better on some songs and the Paisley sounds better on some (but is still my main guitar).

Thanks for the reply :wink:

Just curious why you want two guitars to sound the same. I'm usually going for guitars that sound different.

Just curious why you want two guitars to sound the same. I'm usually going for guitars that sound different.

I play 2-3 nights a week and I have my amp set up pretty much one way for one guitar.... I'm guarantied to break a string by the end of the 2nd night, or sooner if I'm playing harder (no matter what brand I use). So I really need a guitar that is pretty close to my main guitar so I can switch on the fly in the middle of a set, or song, without having to stop and adjust all 4 channels on my very touch sensitive Mesa Boogie. I've still got a strat and a Wolfgang for the different tones and the Ash tele is just a bit different to give it a bit brighter sound while staying close enough to not have to change all my settings...... Plus, I play mostly rock and it's nice to have that "noiseless" part when playing distortion, normal single coils just hummmmmmmmmm like crazy.