Fender Vintage Noiseless Pickups

[Charlie_Pace]

I have a Fender American Standard Telecaster, and love the sound of the pickups, but hate the noise. Will I lose the twang in the bridge and the bluesyness of the neck if I swap the vintage noiseless pickups in?

 

[Sweetwood]

just a tad, but it will be worth it if you can't take the noise. the dimarzio area's are a great choice too.

 

[AaeCee]

just a tad, but it will be worth it if you can't take the noise. the dimarzio area's are a great choice too.

+1 on all counts. Once you get used to their nuances, you can get VN's to sound great, especially when you turn up some boost and don't hear the familiar hum!

 

[straycat113]

I have a Fender with every model of noiseless pups they have produced and I am a big fan. Yes you will lose some of that glassy tone and quack as they are not true single coils but rather stacked humbuckers, but not as much as you would think unless you are talking to a pureist. If they are fine for Clapton and Beck that should tell you all you need to know, and what a pleasure not to have to hear that 60 cycle hum.

 

[batsbrew]

Bill Lawrence, L280 or L200 series, will get you there with much bang for buck.

 

[Sweetwood]

BTW: I have Seymour Duncan Hot Stack Tele's in one of my Sweet-T's. Totally awesome. I highly recommend that one too. Ultra twang.

 

[redbeardrob]

do it and don't look back. you won't regret it.

i'm not a tele guy, but i have vintage noiseless in a strat and dimarzio areas in another strat. i can't imagine using noisy pickups unless i had a time machine to go back to an era where people didn't know better.

 

[Kmaz]

Which grade of pots are recommended with Vintage Noiseless Strat pickups?

 

[Charlie_Pace]

This was awesome! Thanks guys!

 

[GuitarTone]

Always go HOT noiseless Fender pickups, not Vintage noiseless.
The HOT noiseless are in a different league to the vintage noiseless.

Check this thread, BT is Bill Turner the inventor of the HOT and Vintage noiseless pups.
http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html?db=&topic_number=692943&lastpost=2010-10-1112:22:34

 

[Paul Conway]

Bill Lawrence, L280 or L200 series, will get you there with much bang for buck.

Of all Bill's offerings - L45, L200, L280 - which are the least 'hi-fi' sounding?

 

[Tubevalvemaniac]

Of all Bill's offerings - L45, L200, L280 - which are the least 'hi-fi' sounding?

Bill makes the most unbelievable humbuckers in SC form.
L200 and if my memory is not wrong L298.
They are clean, but not sterile and with appropriate amps do wonders.

 

[bluegrif]

Okay, I guess I'm devil's advocate here. But I've tried noiseless singles over the years (Kinman, Dimarzio Areas, Fender, etc.) and I've yet to hear any that are as good as the better true single coils. Close, but not all the way there. In fact, I'd submit that if that were not the case, vintage style singles would be obsolete, and clearly they're not.
All that said, it all depends on what YOU want out of them and to a large degree, how they'll be used, ie: what type of music and signal chain.
The one noiseless system that sounds the most promising, but I've yet to try, is the Suhr noise canceling back plate. I'd like to hear that one because sometimes the noise really is a factor. There are some venues I've played where I had to stay in the noise-canceling positions on my Fenders because the hum was horrendous.

 

[Tubevalvemaniac]

Suhr SSC rules.

 

[Sweetwood]

Okay, I guess I'm devil's advocate here. But I've tried noiseless singles over the years (Kinman, Dimarzio Areas, Fender, etc.) and I've yet to hear any that are as good as the better true single coils. Close, but not all the way there. In fact, I'd submit that if that were not the case, vintage style singles would be obsolete, and clearly they're not.
All that said, it all depends on what YOU want out of them and to a large degree, how they'll be used, ie: what type of music and signal chain.
The one noiseless system that sounds the most promising, but I've yet to try, is the Suhr noise canceling back plate. I'd like to hear that one because sometimes the noise really is a factor. There are some venues I've played where I had to stay in the noise-canceling positions on my Fenders because the hum was horrendous.

I'm not sure I agree with this except for P90's. Those are un-replicatable. It is true though, true SC's are still around.

 

[bluegrif]

I'm not sure I agree with this except for P90's. Those are un-replicatable. It is true though, true SC's are still around.

Not just "still around", but the majority of Strat players still prefer them. For some players - Eric Clapton comes to mind - the lack of noise is more important than true single coil tone. But he also boosts the mids and uses a fair amount of gain, effectively moving his Strat away from classic Strat tone.
For most of us there's still a little something different in the way noiseless pickups respond to the player's attack. And they still seem a little less dimensional. However, if you use high gain or much processing at all it really becomes pretty academic. That's why I said it all depends on the individual and how the pickups will be used. I come from the blues world where I'm normally playing from clean to edge of breakup. And for me the way a true single coil responds is very important. Believe me. As the technology improves, I keep tryin' 'em. Who wouldn't want zero 60 cycle hum? So far the most promising ideas seem to be the Suhr backplate and those designs that reverse wind half the pickup (like the old Fralin Dominos).

 

[Paul Conway]

Bill makes the most unbelievable humbuckers in SC form.
L200 and if my memory is not wrong L298.
They are clean, but not sterile and with appropriate amps do wonders.

Thanks. I asked because I have l45's, and they aren't as deep or punchy sounding as the single coil Suhrs that preceeded them.

 

[batsbrew]

I LIKE THE LAWRENCE 280'S...

but i've never liked a 'true' fender single coil sound.... too skinny for me.

but lawrence has a brand new pickup out..
called a MICROCOIL.


it is a true single coil..... but much quieter than almost any other single coil pickup, WITHOUT using any fancy methods to get there.


plus, their primary advantage, is being extremely sensitive to the user's placing of specific capacitors and/or resistors to dial in the specific resonance peak the user wants.

plus, they're cheap.

(tele version shown, strat version is similar)

$40 a piece, $120 for a matched set.

http://www.wildepickups.com/