Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups?

[Clifton C]

Hi, y'all! I was just curious--what's the consensus on Fender's Vintage Noiseless pickups? I'm thinking of buying a Classic 60's Tele and replacing the stock pickups with vintage noiseless.

[JaMmeRman]

I have a set in my MIM Standard. They sound good - not awesome but good. But they are dead quiet, and that's really the key thing.

I play with a guy who has Area T's in his tele and I would probably pick those if I had it to do over again. Of course they are more expensive.

[bradpdx]

Just put a set in my old 52RI for some noisy rooms I play. So far in rehearsal they are quite good - I've used VanZandts for years. I've got a regular gig tomorrow and I'll give a report after that.

[musicmatty]

I like them...but when comparing them to the stock Classic 60s series pups..those stock pups..especially the bridge pup, is Awsome

I think I would go with a 'Noise gate' pedal before I would switch over to those Noiseless pups.

[bradpdx]

Originally Posted by musicmatty

I like them...but when comparing them to the stock Classic 60s series pups..those stock pups..especially the bridge pup, is Awsome

I think I would go with a 'Noise gate' pedal before I would switch over to those Noiseless pups.

Noise gates don't address the key problem - that of hum and noise that is audible under your playing, especially when using compression and overdrive. They only prevent hum when you are not playing, which is not an issue for me, I just back the volume pedal all the way back any time I am not picking.

I'm not claiming that the Fender Noiseless are necessarily as good sounding as various others, and I have loved my VanZandts for many years in my 52RI. But sometimes the situation calls for reasonable compromise.

So far, I've enjoyed playing the Noiseless pickups at home and in rehearsal. Tomorrow night is a regular gig and so is the real test.

[TG]

Just my opinion...but I rate the Fender Noiseless neck pickup very highly. It's the tele neck pickup I'd use in preference to any other. You just have to set the height correctly.

The Fender noiseless bridge pickup had a nice sound, but it was very 'hi-fi' in a way, compared to a conventional tele pickup. Personally I'd love it for home or studio playing but not for live.

The Dimarzio AreaT or Area HotT are better live pickups, IMO. Identical feel to a regular vintage pickup, in my experience (like the Duncan AlnicoIIpro in particular).
Again, getting the right height relative to the strings makes all the difference.

[musicmatty]

Originally Posted by bradpdx

Noise gates don't address the key problem - that of hum and noise that is audible under your playing, especially when using compression and overdrive. They only prevent hum when you are not playing, which is not an issue for me, I just back the volume pedal all the way back any time I am not picking.

I'm not claiming that the Fender Noiseless are necessarily as good sounding as various others, and I have loved my VanZandts for many years in my 52RI. But sometimes the situation calls for reasonable compromise.
So far, I've enjoyed playing the Noiseless pickups at home and in rehearsal. Tomorrow night is a regular gig and so is the real test.

Agreed Let us know how the gig goes with the pups :

[backporch guy]

Have the Vintage noiseless pickups in 2 teles. As far as I am concerned, they sound as good as any other tele pickup. Pay attention thopickup height. Fender specs call for
8/64"/ 6/64" as opposed to lower heights on standard s/c pickups. Start there and dial it in.

[franchelB]

I like the Fender VNs. But it's not everyone's "cup of tea".

[bingy]

I have one guitar with Vintage Noiseless installed... when I jump between guitars, they sound every bit as good as the standard single coils.

[bradpdx]

See my new post on this elsewhere - the upshot after one gig is that the Fender Vintage Noiseless are pretty darn good, and damn they really are "noiseless"!

They certainly sound like really good single coils. Do they sound like your favorite Broadcaster/Fralin/Lollar/Mare/Supercalifragilistic hand-tuned mojo pickups? Probably not quite - more like solid regular Fender pickups, but that might be just what you need. Certainly fills the bill for me, and doesn't feel like I am compromising anything significant in order to have drop-dead quiet pickups. That low noise floor is more important that one might think - it really opens possibilities.

[Clifton C]

Wow, thanks for all of the great feedback, everyone! Bradpdx--exactly answered the kind of questions I had. I realize that a pickup--any pickup--will involve a compromise of some kind. This is a great forum, and I really appreciate all of the suggestions everyone had!

[nickd]

Bit of a bump here, but after having VN pups, heres my conclusion.

Neck sounds awesome, and still retains a good majority of genuine fender tone, and a bit more. It sounds quite stratty.

Bridge is a bit of a let down, not much bass, lacking mids, and very upper treble. All in all not as good as the neck. (this is after countless combinations of pickup height)

as said there is always a compromise. However, these pickups thrive on a bit of gain and thats where they shine, if you're looking for a more modern tele crunch sound. Otherwise, they lack that 'ballsy' single coil grit and mojo that quite frankly makes the hair on your chest go curly.

[zbbfan]

I would definantly go with Seymour Duncan's or DiMarsios before fender noiseless. I have only played them once and I thought they sounded kind of weak.

[dan1952]

Sorry, but I think they sound lifeless. Much prefer DiMarzio Area T's, or the old Evans pickups, if you can find any.

[bradpdx]

Originally Posted by nickd

Bit of a bump here, but after having VN pups, heres my conclusion.

Neck sounds awesome, and still retains a good majority of genuine fender tone, and a bit more. It sounds quite stratty.

Bridge is a bit of a let down, not much bass, lacking mids, and very upper treble. All in all not as good as the neck. (this is after countless combinations of pickup height)

Sadly, that has been my experience as well. I dropped a set in my 52RI to deal with a year's worth of shows in a horribly noisy room, and while they do eliminate the buzz the bridge pup is just weak sauce. Neck is quite good.

This particular guitar has always had no problem being bright, with various VanZandts, Duncans, EMGs and Fenders installed. I am contemplating going further in the "not brittle" direction with a Duncan Little 59 in the bridge, keeping the FVN neck.

[JoeyV]

Hi Gang,
I have used them for a long time in various teles and they have sounded different in each guitar I have owned...Using 250K pots is important to taming the high end on them and dialing in that perfect height is also important as well as using the tone control to smooth out that top end brittleness..What is good about these pickups is that they are quiet, you can get alot of different sounds for many styles of playing from them, they work good with pedals, you can use them with high and low gain pedals and amps....and you can get a set for like 100 dollars....I recently bought a set online and when they sent me the pickups, it was a set of Texas Specials in a Noisless Box...if anybody wants to trade there Vintage Noisless pickps with me, I would be happy to do so..
joeyvellucciband@yahoo.com
www.joeyvellucci.com