Members r2dhart Posted April 23, 2007 Members Share Posted April 23, 2007 I put Fender Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups in my Fender Telecaster. (See avatar at left.) They are quiet and hot. Quite different from Fender Vintage Noiseless, I am told. Opinions vary about how closely they resemble Fender single coils. Fender says they are very similar. Personally, I love my SCN's a lot, I've been very happy with them. I've got an American Deluxe Strat with SCN's and I like them alot but to my ears they sound a bit "modern". It works really well for me but for a vintage purist they may not make the grade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nick Steen Posted April 23, 2007 Author Members Share Posted April 23, 2007 Hot Noiseless PUs arrived with my Jeff Beck Custom Shop, and I had the Kinman AVn Blues set installed in my MIM 50s Classic. I own a real-life 1963 Strat, and gigged it for a long time until theft-or-damage paranoia compelled me to keep it at home, and even with that as the 'reference guitar' for serious Strat tone, I'm very happy with both the Kinmans and the Hot Noiseless. I had Lace Sensors in a Strat Plus for a while, and they weren't bad at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Squier Fat Telecaster Posted April 23, 2007 Members Share Posted April 23, 2007 Lace Holy Grails might work better for vintage tone. I bought the Golds which were good enough for Clapton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members almightycrunch Posted April 23, 2007 Members Share Posted April 23, 2007 I wrestled with Vintage noiseless pups in my Amdlx strat for years. In the end, I decided I kind of quite certainly sort of hated them. Never used Lace sensors... so. I dunno. I use Kinmans now, and they rock your face (yet break your wallet).I wouldnt be without my Kinmans, I have the AvN blues setup in my Warmoth Chambered Strat. every bit as stratty as you'd expect, and pour on the gain and you'd think you were playing a humbucker guitar, tight and percussive tone, nothing muddy or garbled like you expect from a single coil under heavy grit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FckStick Jones Posted April 23, 2007 Members Share Posted April 23, 2007 Here's a pre-assembled shield. It'll save a lot of dicking around with aluminum foil, spray adhesive, etc. since you can just slap one of these on and be done with it.http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/Callaham_Pickguard_Shield_P1232C50.cfm Thats a good idea but you gotta get rid of the ground wires on the pot shells.They are the No. 1 culprit for hum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Andrés H. Posted April 23, 2007 Members Share Posted April 23, 2007 So the Hot Noiseless match up pretty well to the original without like... Turning into ultra-gain satanic doom at the slightest turn of a knob? No they won Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members csm Posted April 24, 2007 Members Share Posted April 24, 2007 So the Hot Noiseless match up pretty well to the original without like... Turning into ultra-gain satanic doom at the slightest turn of a knob? Correctomatic! The fun part is that they maintain their cool Stratty tonal integrity no matter how much you pile on the gain, without turning into testosterone-madness mush-hell. The guitar sounded so just-right the first time it came out of the case that I haven't done any pickup-height tweaking. Since PUs are only one part of the tone equation I can't guarantee how they'd sound in a different axe through a different amp and whatever pedals you might have happening, but my old-guy tone-fascist ears are well-pleased with these particular PUs in this particular guitar, and I can't imagine anything sounding so much better that I'd be tempted to trade up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members csm Posted April 24, 2007 Members Share Posted April 24, 2007 I bought the Golds which were good enough for Clapton. ... but they haven't been for a few years now: ditto Jeff Beck. Mind you, they're still good enough for Buddy Guy and Pete Townshend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nick Steen Posted June 12, 2007 Author Members Share Posted June 12, 2007 I put lace sensors in my strat... I don't find them to be noiseless... more like generally quiet but susceptible to noise (if they are pointed at a source that will cause noise, you will get more noise than a humbucker, but less than a single coil). Reviving this as I prepare to give my geetar a makeover... How do the Lace Sensors handle good 'ole mains hum? Quieter? Or silent? I don't mind if pointing them at say, a television, gives buzz, since I got rid of most of my hum and buzz creating "stuff". Currently I can't really do high gain due to the MASSIVE hum/buzz... So where my humbucking guitar is, naturally, silent in the house... Would I be able to crank my gain and not have the buzz that sounds like that of exploding hell? (with shielding) I'm really thinking I want the Lace, but if they are too noisy it would be useless. Ugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bdegrande Posted June 12, 2007 Members Share Posted June 12, 2007 Neither. I don't like the VNs much. The Lace Sensors are some of my favorite pickups, but they are not a traditional Strat sound. If you are looking for that, try the Lace Holy Grails, or some of the other alternatives mentioned, like Kinmans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FFStratophile Posted June 12, 2007 Members Share Posted June 12, 2007 Reviving this as I prepare to give my geetar a makeover... How do the Lace Sensors handle good 'ole mains hum? Quieter? Or silent? I don't mind if pointing them at say, a television, gives buzz, since I got rid of most of my hum and buzz creating "stuff". Currently I can't really do high gain due to the MASSIVE hum/buzz... So where my humbucking guitar is, naturally, silent in the house... Would I be able to crank my gain and not have the buzz that sounds like that of exploding hell? (with shielding)I'm really thinking I want the Lace, but if they are too noisy it would be useless. Ugh. The Lace can get some noise when pointing them at something, but not a whole lot. As for the tone, the vintage noiseless are much closer to the tone your looking for. The Lace are... Different... On one hand they are true singles and low output ( we're talking golds), and they do have a bit of that vintage tone, but they come off as an entirely different thing, like a new type of pickup if you will, and they are great if you would also like some high gain. All in all, the vintage noiseless are for you if you want the traditional tone and no noise. The Lace are for you if you're looking for a very nice clean tone, and also a briliant creamy overdrive, the kind you can't get with humbuckers. Listen here for how they sound overdriven: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members telecaster911 Posted June 12, 2007 Members Share Posted June 12, 2007 I have one strat with gold lace's and one with scn's. The scn's have better string definition and both sound great to me. The lace's are darker sounding... scn's a little brighter to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nick Steen Posted June 12, 2007 Author Members Share Posted June 12, 2007 The Lace can get some noise when pointing them at something, but not a whole lot. As for the tone, the vintage noiseless are much closer to the tone your looking for. The Lace are... Different... On one hand they are true singles and low output ( we're talking golds), and they do have a bit of that vintage tone, but they come off as an entirely different thing, like a new type of pickup if you will, and they are great if you would also like some high gain. All in all, the vintage noiseless are for you if you want the traditional tone and no noise. The Lace are for you if you're looking for a very nice clean tone, and also a briliant creamy overdrive, the kind you can't get with humbuckers. Listen here for how they sound overdriven:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqDhskBzCpo Ah thanks. I'm starting to think I want the Lace sound. I very much enjoy an amazing clean sound, and also a really overdriven one as well, and they seem to be that exactly. I've been a tad bothered by my current pup's clean sounds. The more I've listened to strats with them equipped, the more I like it. So then that comes down to noise... If they aren't aiming at anything, they are pretty much silent? I can handle a little bit of buzz that isn't noticeable during play and can be gated without screwing everything up. Just, right now the noise with my strat is like, really ridiculous. I get some buzz with my humbucking guitar, but that is only when I have both of my gain controls up all the way into completely illogical tone zone that I never ever use, and that is easily gated and not noticeable when I play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FckStick Jones Posted June 12, 2007 Members Share Posted June 12, 2007 Aye, shielding would helpIt will do more than help. It will completely eliminate the humming.I did it to two axes and it worked perfectly on both.I went the exact same route your thinking of. I bought the VN's and wasnt real pleased with the dynamics or the hum cancelling. Then I finally did the shield mod and put the TEX MEX pups back in and they are dead quiet.Be sure to follow all the steps on the Guitarnuts site.He makes it sound way more complicated than it is.20$ and 2 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratAttackJack Posted June 13, 2007 Members Share Posted June 13, 2007 SCN's are the {censored}...I love them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jconway Posted June 13, 2007 Members Share Posted June 13, 2007 I never tried the Lace Sensors, but I really like the Vintage Noiseless pups. If the low output is a problem, you could always add a clean boost like an MXR Micro Amp or maybe an EQ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phishmonkey Posted June 13, 2007 Members Share Posted June 13, 2007 Eric johnson p/ups. I don't care for the vintage noiseless at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members csm Posted June 13, 2007 Members Share Posted June 13, 2007 The lace sensors would be better but the best noiseless ones are the kinmans. +1 on Kinmans: I have their AVn Blues set in a 50s Classic MIM Strat and they sound great -- as do the Hot Noiseless set in my Jeff Beck Custom Shop. I had gold Lace Sensors in the Strat Plus I sold off to help finance the Beck model, and they weren't bad at all, but both the Kinmans and Hot Noiseless are better. (The reason I was willing to let the Plus go was that I didn't get it on with its rather skinny rock neck.) I've never used Vintage Noiseless, but what I'm told is that while they work well with the boost circuit in the Clapton Strat, they sound a little weedy on their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarNed Posted June 13, 2007 Members Share Posted June 13, 2007 Fender Samarium Cobalt Noiseless. (SCN) I put them on my Fender '52 Tele with Bigsby. (See avatar.) I am happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Unclemeat Posted June 13, 2007 Members Share Posted June 13, 2007 Lace Holy Grails. Best "single coils" ever!!! They are as quiet as the Fender Noiseless but they actually sound like single coils... And they sound like real old woody single coils, not thin brittle ones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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