Fender Vintage Noiseless-Good or Bad

[oramac7891]

So, I am new to Telecasters. I will say that my Les Paul has not been out of the case in a while, since I bought my Telecaster.

I am looking to buy the Fender Vintage Noiseless Tele Pickup set. Are these as good as they look for for the 100-150 bucks??

I would liketo stay as traditional as possible ( Chrome neck pup, and black bridge pup)

In case you care to know, I have a 2000 MIM Telecatser in Midnight Wine.

Here is a pick:

[Staggered Mag]

I have no complaints with the Vintage Noiseless. Good pickups at a reasonable price.

[refin]

There are some who are against the concept and think that they are cold sounding.I have 2 sets of strat vintage noiseless that work great for me.A few adjustments on the amp,and off I go.I've gotten compliments on mine.
Never owned the tele set,but they sound fine to me.

[oldpkr]

i use and love them in mine. sound pretty darn good to me, much better than the stock
ones

[oramac7891]

Anyone else care to weigh in?

[redstringuitar]

My understanding is that Fender cobalt samarium noiseless are somewhat cold and unmusical, whereas the Vintage noiseless use alnico 5 magnets, thus retaining much of the sonic qualities of standard alnico 5s.

[SimpleOne]

lots of folks here say play the pups you have and then decide after a while.

there are all sorts of threads here talking about pups.

very many choices, get the ones you like the first time, if you can... :]

[vinman]

I have the Fender Gold Lace strat pups, Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat set and the SCN's. (a sample of all the Fender noiseless types)
I have the Lace pups in my self built Clapton strat, the vintage noiseless I recently had in a new strat build and the SCN's I have in a 2004 American Deluxe strat and in my 2009 American Deluxe tele.
My least favorite were the vintage noiseless. I took them out of mothballs to try them in a new strat build. I tried amp settings, pup height, I really really wanted to like them. I've had them around for a couple of years. I finally gave up and put in a '96 set of American Standards and was much happier even with the buzz.
The SCN's, IMO, are excellent. Quiet, GREAT tone, and I really enjoy playing them.
Now, one note on the VN's is that I did wire it up with the 1 meg pots. Whether running them with 500k or 250k pots would have made a difference, I didn't experiment. I'm not saying they are awful, but I didn't find them enjoyable to play.
I would strongly urge you to try before you buy. You have to go by your own ear and style.
My ears are going and I don't have any style....well, I don't have any class, either, but that's another story......

[beep.click]

In Strats, I prefer the SCN noiseless to the vintage.

I haven't been able to play a Tele with vintage noiseless pickups in a few years, but I liked those a LOT better than the SCN Tele pickups.

Go figger...

[jrfrond]

This is why I posted a thread asking if anyone has tried the GFS NeoVin's. The Fender SCN Strat Tele pickups seem pretty good, but I have a Strat loaded with SCN's (I get them right from Fender because I work for a service center and figured "what the heck"), and they are just OK. Not chimy enough on the top and the lows are a bit mushy, not the typical Strat punch. The 2 & 4 settings don't "quack" enough. Kind of anemic if you ask me, just a bit better than the original Vintage Noiseless.

Listen, by now, everyone knows that stacked, noiseless Tele and Strat pickups are a compromise, but some ARE better than others. Many suffer from low-frequency phase cancellation (due to the stacked coils) and stiff feel. So far, the best I've played are Kinman and DiMarzio Virtual Vintage, but I HAVE ordered the NeoVin's, because at that price, it's worth a shot. Besides, most of the tone is in the guitar itself anyway. If the guitar sounds good acoustically, even halfway-decent pickups will sound good.

[Chrismo]

Wasn't a huge fan of the SCN set but I really liked the Vintage Noiseless set. To me, it was worth the trial.

[braderrick]

I also prefer the vintage noiseless to the SCN pickups.

[ardjunc]

I put the vintage noiseless set in my 2008 Telecaster just last week. Sound great and guess what? No noise!

[fenderguy72]

I second or third the vintage noisless over the SCN...The scn neck sounds too muddy and weak for me, compared to the vintage noisless...and might i say, that the scn's are pretty microphonic...tap the volume knob, or any part, and you can hear it, and the 50,000 people in front of you...

Did i say people, i meant 50,000 mosquitoes:)

[graham232]

My least favorite were the vintage noiseless. I took them out of mothballs to try them in a new strat build. I tried amp settings, pup height, I really really wanted to like them. I've had them around for a couple of years. I finally gave up and put in a '96 set of American Standards and was much happier even with the buzz.
[/quote]

I had the Vintage Noiseless in my main Strat and while I was happy I have found DiMarzio Area pickups more to my liking.

Regarding Vintage Noiseless Tele pickups - I have a set in an '85 Japanese Custom and have no complaints. My other Tele ('52 partscaster) has Kinman Broadcasters which are very good but I have to be honest, not over £100 better than the Vintage Noiseless.

I find the bridge to be a good ballsy sound and the neck, which many people swear by, fantastic. Combined sound is excellent too. All around good pickups for many styles, clean and dirty.

[nvilletele]

I've never tried the SCN noiseless, but have a Tele vintage noiseless bridge pup in a Fat Tele and love it. Nice and bright, crisp and clear, without being icepicky . . . . I also have three vintage noiseless pups in a nashville telecaster (middle one from strat set). I think they're terrific.

[rockinhorse]

I have a 2000 Tele Deluxe w/ Noiseless....never seen the ones in my tele referred to as the 'vintage' version....(are there two versions ?) but I like mine alot...

I like 11's in strings....slightly high action....and the pickup height right

It's pretty easy to dial those factors in and get 'the sound'....yours that is :~))

[pullchord]

Fender Tele Noisless didn't do it for me. But I love their Strat Noisles PUPs. Bought a Neovin NT7 Tele neck PUP. Didn't like it. Harsh, and you have to get it so damn close to the strings.

[TG]

The Fender Vintage Noiseless neck pickup is my all time favorite neck pickup. Clear, balanced and 'woody' sounding.

The Vintage Noiseless bridge pickup is very nice in its own way, but it has a different feel to a vintage telecaster bridge pickup. The usual way people describe the difference is to use the term 'hi-fi'. 'Precise' and 'polite' has also been used.
Some players love them, others hate them.....

I use a Dimarzio AreaT bridge pickup instead. It's noiseless and has more of the sound and feel as a vintage-style tele pickup. It also works very well with the Fender VN neck pup.