Who has gone Noiseless?

[lostpick]

And aint looking back...

What PUPS?

[TG]

I have a Fender Vintage Noiseless in the neck. I find it almost identical to a standard US Fender neck pup tonally, which suits me fine.
In the bridge I have a Dimarzio Virtual Vintage noiseless pickup (which has now been replaced in the line by the AreaT...which presumably is much the same). It's alnico2 and is very similar to the sound of a Duncan AlnicoIIpro...which I used for several years before I had to find something noiseless (I'm in a wedding band and there are often dimmer circuits in the venues).

I won't be changing.

[Goluphi]

I switched from noiseless to regular single coils. The regular single coils aren't any noisier.

Fender SCN -> Fender Highway One PUPs

[Ron S]

I went noiseless about 2 years ago on my main guitars. I know you're asking for people that didn't look back but I thought I'd pipe up anyhow.

Started with Kinmans in the '77 strat and the '73 tele, pulled the tele set out almost straight away. The strat lasted about 3 months with the Kinmans, pulled them out for a set of SCN's. They lasted a month, replaced them with vintage noiseless, they lasted one gig.

Both now have the original pickups in. Having said that I now gig with two teles. A '63 and a JV 52RI. Both have the original pickups in them.

You can draw from that whatever you like. I think they work for some people and not for others. Personally I felt the trade-off was just too great.

[VWAmTele]

My Clapton Strat had noiseless - they were great when using the mid-boost and sounding like a Les Paul - problem was I never felt I could get a real Strat sound out of them - at least what I consider to be a real Strat sound. Sold it after a couple of years and bought a CP 60's with CS69 pups - love it. Ain't lookin back.

[Luther Perkins]

I've got an American Deluxe with the SCN pickups and it feals like there's no tone just notes (root for NoCaster's or '63 Customs for Fenders), then I got and Esquire with a Vintage Noisless and it was ok (didn't change tone) and removed a lot of the noise (good cheep fix for noisey MIM pickups), but again Nocasters or the '63's are the best for me tone-wise. I whish Fender would make their '63 pickups for sale as a package.

[Trimmed&Burnin]

I have found a high percentage of failure with these pickups and dont use them anymore.

[refin]

Originally Posted by TG

I have a Fender Vintage Noiseless in the neck. I find it almost identical to a standard US Fender neck pup tonally, which suits me fine.
In the bridge I have a Dimarzio Virtual Vintage noiseless pickup (which has now been replaced in the line by the AreaT...which presumably is much the same). It's alnico2 and is very similar to the sound of a Duncan AlnicoIIpro...which I used for several years before I had to find something noiseless (I'm in a wedding band and there are often dimmer circuits in the venues).

I won't be changing.

I have exactly the same setup----twang and warmth for days,with no noise.

[franchelB]

I have a Fender Vintage Noiseless neck pickup on my Tele. And I'm thinking of going "noiseless" on my Strat neck pickup too.

[maestrovert]

EMG T P-ups are the absolute best Tele P-ups on the planet i.m.h.o.

y.m.m.v.

[tweedtone]

Barden, Barden, Barden. By that, I mean all three of my main gigging guitars have Bardens.

[roadrider502]

Kinman's for 2 weeks and then BACK TO STOCK on my 52RI and never looking back!

[wierdOne]

Emg-t's for playing at band levels...

Dimarzio Area T's for not so band level gigs...

[BrutherBill]

I have stock SCN in my American Deluxe...which is my workhorse.

I'm not wild about the tone of them when I'm sitting at home but in the context of a band, they work fine. What's more is that they do make a difference for me in bars full of neons.

[beep.click]

I have a Strat that came with vintage noiseless pickups, and I wouldn't dream of changing 'em. On that particular instrument, they work really, really well.

[ChicknPickn]

I have these in two T-style guitars I put together. They have real character, especially in the middle position of the classic 3-way switch. I can't recommend them enough. Bill and his wife Becky sell these at prices that are more than fair. Try them. If you don't like them, you'll have no problem selling them at TDPRI (I'd buy at least one more pair myself).

These are not perfectly noiseless, I have to say. If you get close to a powerful light dimming switch, the buzz is there, even with good shielding. Still, they are truly musical, with many personalities if you know how to work with amp settings, pickup height, and so on.

[Tele-phone man]

+1 on the Bill Lawrence L280s and L290s and L200s. I have them in my two Teles and my one Strat, and they are the best I've tried. These actually sounded more "single coil" than any true single coils I've tried. The only true single set that came close were the Tonerider Blues, but I couldn't handle the noise or the staggered poles. Even Bill's own Keystones didn't have the sparkle of his L280s.

[justapasinthru]

Everyone has their own experience of course..and rightfully probably a different take on the same pu's from some else's experience. We all play different styles of music on the same guitars...and of course will get different sounds thru different effects/ amps etc.

I use Bardens, scn's, and the factory set-up on my av52RI. I'm currentley content..and have different guitars to give different voicings for differnt gigs...will I ever replace the bardens?....no....the scn's..I doulbt it...but they're on a guitar that can make sounds like i can't get from any of my others......will i ever be COMPLETLEY content....? probably not....but i CAN get all of the diffferent sounds my ears currentley desire to hear as i play so....for now...

I also play an accoustic...

[Tim Bowen]

I've never played Bardens. I had a set of Lace Sensors in a strat - for about half an hour. Couldn't yank 'em out of there quick enough, they were horrible. I've played some Kinman and Bill Lawrence models, and to my ear, Bill Lawrence has been the most pleasing so far. Generally, there's always been something missing for me with the noiseless pickups. I prefer to play true Fender-type singles (stock, Jason Lollar, Harmonic Design) or true P90's. I tame the noise floor with a BOSS NS-2 noise suppressor. I like the idea of choosing pickups that I like as based on pure tone, and then any 'compromise' thereafter can be adjusted via a knob, or the suppression circuitry can just be bypassed or removed from the chain.

[crawdad]

I use some guitars with noiseless pickups and some without. Of my four Teles, three have noiseless pickups and one has a beautiful set of Budz purebred singles. My two Strats--one has Fender Noiseless and the other has Budz. My other guitars are a Les Paul and a Danelectro. Obviously the Dano is single coil and nobody to my knowledge makes a noiseless lipstick pickup--anyway, those things have a magic that would probably be difficult to replicate in a noiseless pickup.

All the guitars get used for recording, depending on what I am going for. In a perfect world, I'd be a single coil guy, but I am playing 20-25 sets a week in a variety of places. Some of them produce so much 60 cycle hum that it is not practical or fair to the audience to subject them to the extreme buzz.

When you add a compressor and an overdrive to the chain, the single coil noise can--in some places--really become an issue. Outdoor gigs, really not at all.

In the end, its all about the playing. I can conjur up what I need and get good sounds from either.

[scooteraz]

I have a parts built strat that has Lace Sensor Hot Golds. I replaced some SD Vintage IIs and never looked back. When I need that tone, they are great. I have a Fender American Deluxe with SCNs that I have bought the SD 52's to install (I may get to that this year). Never bonded with the SCN bridge pickup, but the neck is ok; even a bit better than ok. However, I don't think I use enough effects normally for the SCNs to work for me; they seem to work better in a long effects chain in my experience, than they do direct into an amp.

Tone and pickups are so personal. My three go to guitars right now are 1) Fender Thinline CS, 2) Eric Johnson Strat and 3) 52 VHR. The only noisless pickup would be the neck mini HB in the VHR. I just like the tone of the original SCs in the above guitars.

When people tell me they love the Scns, I am happy they work for them. But I have to admit, I have been looking "back" to normal SCs.

[nosuch]

vintage noiseless on a esp series 400 deluxe copy. no complaints.
I changed the pus when I was living just above the subway - could not record with standard single coils. and I remember myself doing studio work and struggling to keep the guitar in an angle where it did not hum. didn't help inspiration. recently I played a sc-equipped tele again. in normal circumstances the sc work great, my impression was they have slightly more dynamics and warmth. in the end, everybody has his own sound.

[TG]

To follow up my earlier post, I've tried quite a few noiseless pickups over the years (thanks to eBay) and they vary a lot. Quite often there is a sort of hi-fi 'wrongness' to the sound. Here's a list...

Fender Vintage Noiseless bridge pickup - 'hi-fi', but kind of cool and usable in its own way.

The rest are strat pickups:

Kinman Blues - out after a few weeks

Fender Vintage Noiseless strat - out after 2 weeks

SCNs - OK at first and then sort of bland. Out after 3 weeks.

Lace Holy Grails - 'something' not right. Hard to define what.

Lace Hot Golds - excellent

Dimarzio Area61s - excellent. Bang on the sound of the Fender 58/62 set with no wierd noiseless vibe whatsoever.

But I decided to sell them on and just keep an inexpensive strat at home for noodling so I got a cheapo set of Mighty Mite 'Hot Rail' pups and, to my surprise, they are the best of all. Great cleans and demonic with overdrive. The only problem is their power so they seem to need to be set at or even a bit below the scratchplate, and I'm getting them a 500K volume pot at well.


But from my experience, if you want a noiseless single coil that sounds and feels just like a vintage single coil without any 'something's-wrong-here' vibe....go for Dimarzio.

[Tony474]

Started out a few years ago with the Kinman AVn-Blues set in a Music Man Silhouette, followed by the AVn-Traditional Mark 2 set in each of two Strats and recently by a Woodstock Regular set in an ESP 400-series Strat. Each set has its own character and tonal range and they all feature perfect balance of string-to-string response. They all took a while to get dialled in with height adjustments, to which they're very sensitive. The Woodstock Strat and one of the Trad Mark 2 Strats are my two favourites sound-wise but the four of these guitars cover all the bases for me when a Strat-type guitar's called for. I've tried various pickups in the past but I wouldn't even consider using anything else now.

On the other hand, I'm sufficiently happy with the pickups in my Telecasters not to have changed just yet, but in time to come I may well give it a go.

[KILLERWATTS]

On My Squier Vintage Modified I Took Out The Mini Bucker And The Duncan Design Middle P/u But Left The Duncan Design Bridge P/u And Replaced The Neck With A Seymour Duncan Stk-t1 And It Sounds Fantastic So I Might Even Swap The Bridge For The Stk-t3 But It Is The Closest To What I Consider To Be The True Tele Sound And Without The Buzz

[maestrovert]

Originally Posted by KILLERWATTS

On My Squier Vintage Modified I Took Out The Mini Bucker And The Duncan Design Middle P/u But Left The Duncan Design Bridge P/u And Replaced The Neck With A Seymour Duncan Stk-t1 And It Sounds Fantastic So I Might Even Swap The Bridge For The Stk-t3 But It Is The Closest To What I Consider To Be The True Tele Sound And Without The Buzz

[mlove3]

no duncans? wow. I went with the duncan noiseless vintage and haven't looked back mostly because the tone is rounder and less tinny in the bridge position. I know, purists will say that's not really getting a true tele sound, and, no offense boys, I like em anyway. a lot.

[david henman]

...my experience has been:

'86 strat plus: came with gold lace sensors, which were replaced with bill lawrence l280s, which were then replaced with kinman traditional mkIIs.

unfortunately, i never got a chance to really hear the l280s because, at the time, the guitar also had graph tech saddles, which are total tone killers. i sold the l280s way too quickly.

the kinmans are great...but! in a side by side comparison with real single coils, they come up short.

2005 g&l legacy: installed the suhr silent backplate system. now THIS is tone! genuine, single coil mojo WITHOUT the single coil buzz. expensive, but worth every penny. unfortunately, it is only designed for strat type guitars with a trem bridge and a backplate.

i have two teles, both with three suhr (traditional) single coils, and an aerodyne tele with seymour duncans (p90 neck, 5-2 bridge).

one of the teles came with gold lace sensors, which are not bad pickups, just not as toneful as real single coils.

i will always own a guitar with noiseless pickups, just because it makes sense, in certain venues, or when i use extreme high gain settings.

the rave reviews here for fender vintage noiseless have seriously piqued my curiosity. as well, industry insiders are raving about the dimarzio area series.

i'm no purist, but i will always choose real single coils over noiseless, whenever possible, simply because they have better tone.

-dh

[wilkat1]

I like the SCNs in my AmDlx Tele for what I do. They more than meet my needs but I am not a professional gigging or recording musician. But to my ear they sound great and get the job done without the hum.

How do the SCNs compare/contrast with Bill Lawrence's other designs?

[btlnckr]

++ On Bill Lawrence 280's & 290's at least on my strat. My next Tele will definately get these!!!

[golfnut]

In my Tele I use the broadcaster neck and bridge and the 59 strat in the middle. As well as the TK9 no solder harness. This along with my Dr Z amp sounds great. I am not looking back.

[TopHatTele]

I haven't gone there...yet. I tried a Valley Arts with Duncan Vintage Stack pickups and they were very impressive. Can't argue with Brent Mason's tone!

[kludge]

I keep trying and failing. :( Worse, I keep observing that every last one of the best-sounding pickups I've owned has been single coil. In order of preference - Valco-made lap steel pickup, Keystone Tele bridge, Harmonic Design Z90, Sho-Bud pedal steel.

However, I picked up a used EMG set for cheap recently. I'm going to give them a try and see if they have the magic. If they do, I'll set them aside for the partscaster I'm planning to build.

[Doctorew]

In my '69 RI Thinline, I have a SD Vintage Stack in the neck and a SD Hot Lead Stack in the bridge. These pups don't seem to get a lot of love around here, but I really like their sound.

[Tony474]

I can't comment on Seymour's Telecaster stacks, though it's nice if you like yours, but the Duncan stacked pickups that were installed in a Strat I bought were not very good at all and it sounds a million percent better with the Kinman AVn-Traditional Mark 2 set.

[Michaell]

I use Lace Sensors ( Gold ) in my Strats .......
Tele Lace Sensor in my tele

I hate single coil noise

[teleman77]

I have a EMG T set in one tele and, a set of Barden's in the other.........I'll never use anything else.

[Twangmeister]

When it comes to noiseless, my middle name is "Barden." They work great for how I play in a variety of situations, both live and recording.

[TG]

Originally Posted by TG

....But I decided to sell them on and just keep an inexpensive strat at home for noodling so I got a cheapo set of Mighty Mite 'Hot Rail' pups and, to my surprise, they are the best of all. Great cleans and demonic with overdrive. The only problem is their power so they seem to need to be set at or even a bit below the scratchplate, and I'm getting them a 500K volume pot as well.

Got a pair of 500K pots and installed them as a volume and tone. It's only been a few hours, but I'm thinking that these 60 dollar wonders might just have the best strat tones yet. And that's clean and on every position.
If any of you strat owners out there feel adventurous and want to risk a few bucks experimenting...try these.

[kludge]

Has anyone tried the Dimarzio Area T neck pickup? What did you think? Again, thinking ahead for a bandmate's guitar. Needs a traditional chrome neck for visual reasons, but a humbucker would be nice...

As for me, after a horribly noise-riddled gig last week, I'm once again getting the noiseless bug. The story of my life... go play somewhere that makes me worry about radiation poisoning on stage, try to go all-humbucking, get fed up with the sound quality, go back to pure single coils, love the sound, go to a gig and the guitar buzzes so much I can't hear it, go back to humbuckers...

Anyway, I have a couple of noiseless options I'm going to try once my Tele is out of the shop. I got an old Bill Lawrence USA L-250T to try in place of my Keystone first. And then I have a pair of EMGs to try. Hopefully one will make me happy.