Noiseless Single Coil

[Mongillo19]

As some of you might know, I recently acquired a Fender Ultra with noiseless pickups. It's quickly becoming one of my favorites. However, I feel like the pickups are a little dull in terms of what I expect in a strat and I've read online in comparison to "non noiseless" that can be the case. It's hard for me to tell on YouTube videos but curious if any of you have any thoughts on noiseless vs traditional single coils and if noiseless truly take off some high end

 

[Gearzilla]

They might sound/respond a little bit different, however they can still sound awesome.

 

[la szum]

High-end sparkle and chime is in the 60 cycle hum.

I think if you want that Stratty Strat thing then you have to swallow the red pill,
and accept the limitations and benefits of traditional single-coils.

That said, I have had guitars with the dummy coil in them (Clapton setup) and
those Fender noiseless pickups, and the EMG DG20 setup. They are all great, but
they are not vintage single-coil Strat great.

I have been playing a Strat a lot lately, and am browsing.... again. I think someone
should club me over the head, stick me in the trunk of a car Good Fellas style and
take me someplace where I can't endlessly repeat my own kind of nonsense.

 

[Mongillo19]

They might sound/respond a little bit different, however they can still sound awesome.

Oh for sure! I feel like it may be a fair trade off for that hum

 

[Mongillo19]

High-end sparkle and chime is in the 60 cycle hum.

I think if you want that Stratty Strat thing then you have to swallow the red pill,
and accept the limitations and benefits of traditional single-coils.

That said, I have had guitars with the dummy coil in them (Clapton setup) and
those Fender noiseless pickups, and the EMG DG20 setup. They are all great, but
they are not vintage single-coil Strat great.

I have been playing a Strat a lot lately, and am browsing.... again. I think someone
should club me over the head, stick me in the trunk of a car Good Fellas style and
take me someplace where I can't endlessly repeat my own kind of nonsense.

The fender ultra was my first strat outside of a first act or whatever the great value brand was lol I'm very pleased with it

 

[la szum]

Just a thought. One of the coolest features of a Strat is the loaded pickguards that make
them so easily modifiable. You could easily snag a loaded pickguard with traditional
single-coils, and then when you want you can swap them in and out.

 

[Mongillo19]

Just a thought. One of the coolest features of a Strat is the loaded pickguards that make
them so easily modifiable. You could easily snag a loaded pickguard with traditional
single-coils, and then when you want you can swap them in and out.

Honestly wasn't entirely sure how pickup changes worked on strats but you may be on to something!

 

[DrewJD82]

I love the DG-20’s, not just for Gilmour tones either. They‘re a bit beefier than the low output/vintage voiced single coils I have in my other Strat and you can boost the treble/bass and the mid via the tone knobs, almost getting into humbucker territory, but still sounding like single coils.

Actually, here’s a good comparison; same solo, same preset, both the Strats-

This is the Pribora Classics (this was when I was writing the solo, it starts meandering with the Freqout and is not so great)



And this was the final take with the DG-20’s


I probably had the bass/treble boost turned up a tiny bit, it’s a Superlead model with the Klone model doing a clean boost.

This is a clean Bassman sound with the DG-20’s with the neck pickup/neck-middle, can definitely do the classic Strat tones-


And they do the Gilmour thing pretty dang well.

 

[metropolis_4]

Yeah, true vintage style single coils are still the best option if you’re looking for that really open airy traditional Strat thing. Noiseless can still sound great (and for me they’re required), but for that pure traditional thing they don’t sound as good.

I think if you have to go noiseless the Dimarzio Areas are the best option for the closest to traditional tone. I like them much better than Fender noiseless.

The Ultra is a great Strat, but it’s not really geared towards traditional Strat tones. A lot of modern Fenders seem to sacrifice some of that open airy brilliance for a tone that is a little darker. It’s more versatile and works better with modern distortion, but it trades traditional tone for that

 

[Jarick]

Never found great noiseless pickups. The Dimarzio Areas are good for the money and if you're playing in a rock band probably won't be super noticeable. The in between 2/4 positions always sound off to me.

With a little higher budget, I'd just get one of the Illitch noise canceling pickguards or back plates for about $300, then run them with whatever single coils you like. Just make sure to skip the RWRP middle.

 

[TravisG406]

I had the Fender noiseless in my strat and switched to Zexcoils and love them! https://lawingmusicalproducts.com/
Also looked at Fishman Fluence but didn't want to mess with batteries.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I had the Fender noiseless in my strat and switched to Zexcoils and love them! https://lawingmusicalproducts.com/
Also looked at Fishman Fluence but didn't want to mess with batteries.

Which noiseless Zexcoils are you using? I currently have a Juicy Bucker in the Bridge position of my Strat w/ 500k pots and some Fender Noiseless Hot neck+middle that I want to swap for something else single coil and noiseless

 

[la szum]

Gonna say it again.... multiple loaded Strat pickguards are the way. Like changing pants and suddenly
feeling like a new man.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Gonna say it again.... multiple loaded Strat pickguards are the way. Like changing pants and suddenly
feeling like a new man.

Sounds like a pita to me, I already feel guilty enough with all this gear laying around the house/in my kids closets. I wouldn't want to have to deal with that just to want a good humbucker sound versus a single coil in one song. I'd rather live with a good middle ground and not have to do tech work when I want to play guitar

But that's just my opinion, man

 

[Bruce]

As some of you might know, I recently acquired a Fender Ultra with noiseless pickups. It's quickly becoming one of my favorites. However, I feel like the pickups are a little dull in terms of what I expect in a strat and I've read online in comparison to "non noiseless" that can be the case. It's hard for me to tell on YouTube videos but curious if any of you have any thoughts on noiseless vs traditional single coils and if noiseless truly take off some high end

Believe it or not the ones in the ultra are a marked improvement over the original noiseless pickups from years ago.

They do sound really good to me.

 

[TravisG406]

Which noiseless Zexcoils are you using? I currently have a Juicy Bucker in the Bridge position of my Strat w/ 500k pots and some Fender Noiseless Hot neck+middle that I want to swap for something else single coil and noiseless

I am looking for my receipt, my Strat is definitely Juicy Bucker convertible in bridge, and I can't remember the middle but the neck is a convertible as well - I think throaty bucker? My strat is 500k pots. I could do some recordings if you'd like. I have convertible legacy ones in my Telecaster as well because I like the look, and Tribuckers in my PRS S2 singlecut. Even got some for my Jazz bass haha.

 

[paisleywookiee]

They might sound/respond a little bit different, however they can still sound awesome.

You went right to the finest guitar solo of the last ten years, didn'tya?

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I am looking for my receipt, my Strat is definitely Juicy Bucker convertible in bridge, and I can't remember the middle but the neck is a convertible as well - I think throaty bucker? My strat is 500k pots. I could do some recordings if you'd like. I have convertible legacy ones in my Telecaster as well because I like the look, and Tribuckers in my PRS S2 singlecut. Even got some for my Jazz bass haha.

No biggie, just curious as I enjoy the JBucker in the bridge so I thought why not stick with Zexcoil.. only their website is pretty rough and can't tell if they have any noiseless singles.

Shooting for just singles (yeah yeah I know they aren't trve singles) because I'd have FOMO if I didn't also rewire the whole damn thing with new pots for the options.

Just ordered some Area 58s and a new push/push pot to replace my old crackly push/pull
Im running 500k pots as well

 

[Jarick]

Are you doing Area 58's straight across or just in the neck/middle? I had 250k pots in my Strat and Tele with a no-load tone recently using Dimarzio Areas in both. Actually thought it was too bright. With the tone on, it was better but maybe a touch dark. Might be worth trying 250k volume and 500k tone.

Also, I need to find a different potentiometer brand. I swear I've replaced 3-4 CTS pots in the last couple years that went bad within a year. Just yesterday I noticed my volume pot was cutting out on my LP, and I just replaced the damn thing over the summer for the same reason.

 

[TravisG406]

No biggie, just curious as I enjoy the JBucker in the bridge so I thought why not stick with Zexcoil.. only their website is pretty rough and can't tell if they have any noiseless singles.

Shooting for just singles (yeah yeah I know they aren't trve singles) because I'd have FOMO if I didn't also rewire the whole damn thing with new pots for the options.

Just ordered some Area 58s and a new push/push pot to replace my old crackly push/pull
Im running 500k pots as well

All their pickups are noiseless. The convertibles can be push pull and change between humbucker and single coil tones. I'm interested in their new ones I just saw: https://lawingmusicalproducts.com/tru-gauge-pickups but I also like my current setup having two tones in each pickup. I've called and spoken with Scott - they're also responsive to e-mail if you have questions.