Who has gone Noiseless?

[swangdb]

Originally Posted by swangdb

I borrowed a Seymour Duncan Hot Stack Bridge pickup (the STK-T3 I think - it's got the bar) and put it in my cheapo Squier Tele Thinline (with the short scale neck).

I expected the pickup to have an overwound, almost P90-ish tone but to my surprise (and delight) it sounds very Tele-ish. It sounds very similar to the Duncan designed pickup that came with the guitar. If I had been blindfolded I would have thought it was the Vintage Stack version of this pickup instead of the hot stack. Maybe the basic tone of the guitar is coming through with either pickup.

I haven't had a chance to play loud with distortion yet, I'll check that out tonight.

The pickup is an STK-T2b. I wound up buying it.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/product...ot_lead_stack/

I recently added a Duncan STK-T1n noiseless neck pickup too. It was a little dark-sounding so I replaced the tone control with a 500k pot and used a .005 cap. The neck pickup sounds brighter while the bridge pickup sounds about the same which surprised me.

I've read that Duncan goes for a vintage sound with his noiseless pickups and it appears to be true with this bridge pickup. It's advertised as:

"The added windings and the hot ceramic magnet make this a pickup extra powerful. You get a hotter, muscular, twangy sound with more emphasis on the midrange and greater sustain. Comes in black with four-conductor hookup cable."

It sounds twangy but not "muscular" and the midrange doesn't sound that pronounced to me. I'd like to compare it with a Duncan Vintage Stack (STK-T3B)

I am finally taking the guitar to a gig this weekend, the first time I've gigged with it using noiseless pickups.

[Hoodster]

I did with my American Series Stratocaster -- recently installed the Jeff Beck Hot Noiseless and tried them out in a live band situation last weekend. They passed with flying colors -- great combination of Strat tones with just a little extra beef (they are not very hot).

[fender_bender]

I started with Bil Lawrence L-280's in my strat and a L-280/L290T for my tele.

I yanked the strat pickups after a year because they got almost no quack. Then I played an SCN equipped strat one day a couple years ago and thought it was an improvement on the L-280's. So I checked with BL and found he was offerring a newer more stratty pickup - the L-200. I got 2 L-200's and an L-290 bridge and I haven't looked Back.

The neck and distorted Bridge tones are stellar and the quack is respectable (still not as good as the real deal).

I'm yanking the BL tele set for a Dimarzio Area T set because as many have noted, the BL bridge pickup squeals with moderate gain and volume. I actually love the tone of the BL's but the squeal is unacceptable and nothing short of replacing the bridge with a non-ferrous model ($$$) will work according to BL himself.

Anyway, I'm a total convert. I will never go back to true singles... until Bill releases his new keystone micro coil which sound amazing and are virtually noiseless.

[Durango Twango]

Just put a set of Area T's in a parts guitar - a very resonant 3lb 14oz one piece Swamp Ash, nitro, vintage style neck, Glendale stainless bridge (dumb luck on my part after reading above), brass saddles, 500K pots and a 4-way switch.

They're good pickups. A truly great vintage tele tone? I wouldn't go that far, but you can pull good tone out of them and the hum canceling is a big deal in live settings. In the mix, I sound like I'm playing a good tele and shock of shocks, I still sound like me. Maybe not the boutique flavor of the month but very good real world tools.

[david henman]

...i've sold all my noiseless pickups and gone back to traditional single coils in my three strats and three teles.

however, one of my "strats", actually a g&l legacy, has a suhr silent backplate system, which i absolutely swear by.

-dh

[notjustdrew]

I stuck a set of lace sensors in my squier strat. They were cheap on ebay and it was my first guitar and was leaning in a corner, broken. Bridge to neck- red, silver blue.

Sounds great, really hot, and the silver in the middle is pure vintage strat. Just hate how slim the neck is- still feels like a toy. Might stick the scratch plate in a real strat someday.

They do sound a bit sterile though, wouldn't put them anywhere near my tele. Great for cutting over a couple of guitars and keyboards. I've used it live a few times, people can't work out how I get such a crazy tone from a cheap squier.

[Parma_TeleMon]

I went Dimarzio in my Thinline - Area T neck and ToneZone T bridge. VERY happy with the results! The Area T just sings and gets good and woody, and the TZT is extremely versatile.