Have we run out of ideas for noiseless single coils??

[metropolis_4]

That was a joke. I have a bunch of Telecasters.

Mine was just a joke too

No hum canceling single coils sound like single coils exactly and with quieter stages and better pa equipment most fans of single coils use actual single coils these days Ime.

It all depends on what kind of work you’re doing. Some gigs it works, some gigs it’s not an option.

The only guy I’ve ever seen use actual single coils in a theater pit had a Strat with a RWRP middle pickup and he had to play the entire show in position 2 or 4

 

[Jarick]

I wonder the same thing because I still haven't found a great sounding noiseless single coil.

I've got all the stacked Dimarzios and they tend to neuter the high and low end to an extent. Probably not an issue in a mix but standalone compared to single coils that's where you hear everything that's missing. The midrange is a little closer though than some of the older designs I've tried which can sound muffled (like the Fender Hot Noiseless).

Side by side rail pickups are really intriguing to me but I haven't found the right ones. They either sound too much like humbuckers or are too bright and underpowered. Mojotone Quiet Coils are this design and seem to match the resistance and impedance of true single coils but I think they need to tweak to get a bigger fatter output. The only ones I've tried are the real vintage output ones and I see they have a Texas bridge which is hotter, maybe worth a go. I'm also curious about Joe Bardens but those are expensive and I worry about those being bright/quiet as well.

There's also other split coil designs like the Fralin and Zexcoil. I did try a couple Zexcoils and they were good but missing something. Haven't tried Fralin Split Blades.

Bzzzzkill I still haven't been able to install. I couldn't get it to work while testing and gave up on my Strat, then a couple weeks ago I tried to install in my Ibanez but there wasn't enough room. Even then there are videos now showing the high end gets rolled off a fair amount.

I haven't tried Illitch because of the price and availability, I do hope if the patent expires others make these more available. I wonder if there's a way to get an active version of this, and I wonder if that's the EBMM Silent Circuit? A small/compact version of the dummy coil with a 9V to amplify the signal up to the level of standard coils possibly?

Also FWIW there are rooms where single coils are just never going to work. My bedroom has so much RFI noise that the buzz is louder than the signal with any kind of overdrive at all. Even clean has a ton of noise, and even humbuckers are really noisy (but not nearly as bad). Every other room in my house is more normal. "Live with the noise" isn't an option in these cases.

TL/DR - I think the rail design seems the most promising for passive but we need more of them that are wound to different specs (or maybe I need to try more Quiet Coils). I'd love to see more companies making Illitch style but if EBMM would sell their silent circuit separately that may be a winner as well.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

I dig them very much, and I've gotten quite a few people hooked on them. I've got the '67's in the Silver Sky, and '52 set in my Warmoth Tele.

I have to take a look at these, I had no idea they even existed. I have a DiMarzio Hot Area T in my Tele bridge and while I like the tone, it's different from a traditional Tele pickup (as are all Areas IMHO). I've had good luck with Mojotone gear so that's promising.

 

[Jarick]

I have to take a look at these, I had no idea they even existed. I have a DiMarzio Hot Area T in my Tele bridge and while I like the tone, it's different from a traditional Tele pickup (as are all Areas IMHO). I've had good luck with Mojotone gear so that's promising.

Would love to hear more feedback on different models!

I had the HSS set which was a pair of 58's or 67's with a humbucker (can't recall which). I found the single coils to be really bright, thin, and low output. However I also found the Fender Pure Vintage single coils to be really bright thin and low output, and those are considered to be amazing by most people. I just really prefer hotter and fatter single coils I suppose.

Actually just found an email exchange I had with Mojotone, where I asked about the output. He said they were lower output than most single coils today because most single coils now are hotter than vintage ones. That would track with my experience.

Here's the specs of the Strat pickups:
67 - 5.6k alnico 5
58 - 5.9k alnico 5
Hot Bridge - 11.6k alnico 5
Rene Martinez set - 5.9k / 6.2k / 7.5k alnico 5

So the Rene Martinez set appears to be a progressively hotter output set than the vintage ones.

For reference, here's some Dimarzio Area specs:
67 - 5.9k
58 - 6.2k
61 - 6.4k
Injector Neck - 8.6k
Injector Bridge - 11.4k