FENDER Noiseless Pickups vs Single Coils! - Can You Hear The Difference?
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- Опубликовано: 24 авг 2024
- Has Fender Finally created a noiseless pickup that can keep up with a TRUE single coil? Let's Find out!
Today I'll be comparing the Fender N4 vs the Fender V-mod!
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Avoid 60Hz hum by moving to Europe.
Admittedly, you'll have to contend with 50Hz hum instead, but we have castles and stuff.
Hahahahahaha, underrated comment
Lol
Funniest comment I ever read in the given context XD
Ahahahajajajajahahahahahahah! Master!
I love you.
The noiseless ones sound really amazing and for me even better than the originals. They are more "rounded" and softer without beeing dull and like a humbucker. Thanks for the comparision!
I agree 100% with demo tester's assessment. I have a Player Plus Strat in Tequila Sunrise, with the noiseless pickups, and it sounds beautiful.
True single coil definitely sounded better to my ear, but for a live situation, they were close enough that the sacrifice in tone to eliminate the hum without going humbucker would be worth it.
Russell Ives you can always get a noise gate
@@spectre5560 nah it will still be in the background
Learn to ride that volume knob and don’t worry about it ever again.
or just get a noise gate
@@rtxf noise gate eating the sound and just make the sound much more different.
These noiseless pups are really good. The true single coils have the spank but the noiseless pups are close. So close that if you're using OD or Distortion then the noiseless are a really good option.
I love you Darrell. Good bless you. You are so good. 💖
I thought the noiseless with a tablespoon of gain sounded fantastic. That being said... Even with phone speakers you can tell the single coils outshine on clean and slightly dirty settings.
Thanks for the informative video!
I love blind tests! I liked the noiseless better in all positions except for the Bridge. The noiseless had less single coil "chime", but more body and sounded smoother.
The noiseless still had good chime and I preferred them, too. I've never been very enamored by Strat bridge pickups. I have some Vintage Noiseless in one of my guitars. Shorting out the bottom coil brings out a really aggressive top end, and 60 cycle hum.
Agree
My ears agreed with yours.
Ya, the middle pickup on vmods is much too twangy (pronounced?) for me.
Agree with this. Just ordered a Nashville tele with noisless, was seeing people complain that it doesn't have true true sound, but hearing this can see that that's probably personal bias. The noisless neck and middle were crisper and had more sustain. The bridge was a bit mushy. Could see possibly putting in a true single in the bridge only.
After scrolling a bunch of videos - where a couple of guys talked endlessly before getting to any substance - this video answered all my questions. Great job! Just what I needed.
Here's a question that I get asked a lot: Do I prefer Noiseless or Traditional single coil pickups? Today I take a look at the pros and cons of each :)
Hopefully the blind test will help you guys decide which is right for you!
Can you do a review about Monotone Noiseless single coil?
I like the single coils better, if I wanted noise canceling I'd use humbuckers. The noise canceling pickups loses the nice single coil sound.
*Mojotone
Hiya from Ireland Darrell, love the work sir. Quick question, I wanna do a kit guitar. That one Solo gave you was beautiful, but if you had to recommend a 'do it yourself' gtar... who would you recommend. Fyi, I absolve Darrell of all and ANY legal or moral responsibility.
😂👍 I had a great experience with the Solo Music Gear kit, and I am hoping to do another one this year. They are the only kits I have experience with :)
I’m actually liking the tone on the noiseless better. ???
For people who don't like the super bright "jangly" Fender tone, but like the Strat, they are an excellent option :)
Mee to, fuller and a bit punchier with gain
Me too! I don't like that super high center frequency on the SCs. The Noisekess habe a bit more mids and don't sound as thin (people call it chimey, I call it thin, lol). I have the N3s and I have Kinman Fat 50s Noiseless. The Kinmann are absolutly fantastic, they really sound a lot more like real Singlecoils.
Opinions and personal tastes are good things.
Darrell Braun Guitar
Hi Darrell. For what it’s worth, you definitely have one of the very best guitar YT channels. Keep it up and thank you.
For gig situations I see no argument against the new noiseless pickups. The audience certainly won't notice.
Heh... it's a feel thing, but the performance comes first. Ted green playing out of humbuckers will sound better than an amateur playing out of the best single coils, but what about Ted playing through the best single coils? It would be heavenly...
My only argument is in a studio mix..are you really going to notice the difference and by how much are we really talking about yes you can e.q.out 60 cycle hum but then you use 2 eq files to do this..that eats up c.p.usage..so for a budget recorder..with a less than perfect recording p.c. to use maybe n4 makes sense ..I have them on my tele they still bounce and sound wonderful.. but that's an opinion based on studio recording
Good one
hey Jay! fancy finding you here. I agree with you, but having said that all of my pickups are noisy. And I have to say regarding the pickups in this video, I really liked the sound of the noiseless pickups.
Hi mate! It's not always the pickups that cause the hum. Often insufficient screening and/or grounding of electronics is the cause.
I found myself liking the noiseless pickups more than the single coils. To me the single coils sounded thinner while the noiseless ones seemed to have a fuller sound, although not quite into full humbucker territory. It seems to me that these would be a good upgrade for cheaper strat style guitars. I think the tone was close enough that I would not have picked them out as not having a 'single coil' sound without a direct comparison. They just sounded like a good single coil set of pickups, especially in a mix.
Agree completely.
I love the N4's in my Strat.
Have the S-1 switch too. More tones than I need.
An Elite Strat holder ic
Roadhouse Deluxe. Great guitar.
It's close enough. Change the amp settings a little. The crowd will never know.
What Bill said.
And nether will you!
quite right
I love the sound of the noiseless pickups, it's like a mix of single coils and humbuckers
That describes it well.
Seems to me like you can make these pickups sound just about identical with a little judicious use of treble and presence knobs, or some minor EQ shelving.
So what you’re saying is I need two strats
9 or 10
Yes.. i have 2 different strats w/..noiseless& traditional pickups.. its worth the investment🙏🏻 blessings bro
@@chrisclassical7 are never enough
Start with 2, end with 1,798
The noiseless have more body and mids.. I first thought those are the true single coils!
same
Wft
They shouldn't label these as single coils. They are humbuckers. They can be coil tapped.
Same
Amazing progress! Sound-wise I am even tending now to prefer the noiseless pickups over the standard single coils.
Thanks for putting this out there. I was really going back & forth between these 2.
I was debating the difference a few weeks ago..thanks for chiming in and making it easier for me. I appreciate you playing and videos. I'm going for the N4s. Thanks.
Glad to help!
Your playing on these demos is fantastic. I often hum the stuff you play long after the video is done. Keep up the great work Darrell!
I have to go with the single coils for this one. Still a classic and pleasing choice for a strat with the noiseless, but different enough for me to favor the true single coil chime.
I installed N4 on my Strat and I am very happy with them. I couldn't stand that 60 cycle hum. I don't play with a lot of gain, actually not much at all. I play mostly jazz/soul/alt mix and a lot of atmospheric, always on clean, with flatwound 10s and often in open tuning, so the elimination of the hum was a huge improvement for my style. I also have an Ibanez AS153 semi-hollow with the Tri-switch at the neck pickup giving me a single coil or out of phase sound, again, great for my style. Additionally, though I love the old rockers and their traditional Strats, I'm not trying to emulate them at all, so I've little interest in following tradition. Thanks for the vid.
The single coils are noticeably more bright. This is not always an advantage, but it's easier to cut existing frequencies than to add non-existing ones.
I got 4 out of 5. I prefer the single-coils over the noiseless but the noiseless did sound better than I expected.
For a while now I've been looking into the Fender Noiseless pickups. For years I've tried many different single coil pickups and still don't like them. The 60 cycle hum was enough to yank them out and put in Seymour Duncan single space humbuckers. However, now my Stratocaster sounds like a Les Paul. I recently tried a reissued Stratocaster with the Classic Fender Noiseless pickups and was convinced that Fender Noiseless was the way to go.
As for this video, I loved it. I found the Noiseless to be the sound of a Stratocaster I was looking for. If I want to get that Les Paul sound I play my Les Paul. However, what I would like to hear is a comparison of the three Fender Noiseless pickups. Great video and very helpful.
Although you buy a Strat for the sparkly, spank not everyone likes that exact sound. The noiseless cuts some of the spank out and it still retains the Strat sound without being overly bright.
@@terrydactylspontaneous2596 I tried a Stratocaster with the Noiseless through my amp and was amazed how well it sounded. The loss of spank was minimal. Having a Stratocaster and a Les Paul allows me to get the sound I'm trying to cover.
Hey Darrell I think I might have told you about these before, but in case I haven't, this is the perfect time. Tonerider from the UK makes quite a few different pups in all manner of configurations. From single coil S types and awesome T types, to P90's and HB's with coil splitting and I think they are starting to make Filtertron types now also. They are extremely cost effective and sound great. One of the interesting things about them is that they use extra shielding to keep the noise down when you're using only one single, like say only a neck pup on a S or T type, but they reverse wind and reverse polarity the offhand pup. So on the S you have a N neck S middle and N bridge, Along with the coils being wrapped opposite directions. For folks that just want a really great Strat sound, but not putting up with the buzz, especially on an overdriven setting, the TRS2 set is a really great all around set. They make different models for specific tones, and do a really good job of keeping up with almost anything that Seymour puts out, but at about 1/4 of the price.
As for the T type pups, my favorites are the TRT3 sets, but I think they are phasing those out. Shame too because they have a great tone and note articulation. The 3 means it's packed with Alnico 3 magnets. The TRT2 set is also a great set for classic rock including very overdriven tones, down to mild crunchy blues, and even super clean jazz tones. The TRT1 "Vintage" however, for me personally has a little too much ice pick to the brain in the bridge. While you can tone that down a bit with the tone knob, for my personal use or for a customers guitars, I usually go with the 2 or the 3 if I can find them. All of these pups are also made for lefty guitars. That would be a great blind test to stack them up against SD or standard Fender pups. Anyway, back to work. Great format on the video, Bob in Germany.
p.s. I preferred the V mods ;)
I’ve played Texas special pickups in live situations, risky yes, but those things can sing!
The noisless pickups I have read are meant for stage players and are supposed to eliminate signal disruption from other stage electronics ie. lights, mics and all other wireless electronics devices that transmit. Not sure how this applies but Thanks!!!
Nope! I'm not choosing, Love them both of course! Thanks D!
Be Well Brother!
Thanks Steven!
06/27/2020: I have watched many tests for Fender Noiseless pickups. Yes, they have very little noticeable 60-cycle hum, and they are warmer sounding, and a big loss of Tele Twang too. However, keep in mind they are "not" single-coil pickups. They are actually very similar to a hum-bucker. Humbuckers are two coils side-by-side. One has the wire-wound clockwise and the other has it's wire-wound counterclockwise. The electric field from a single coil makes the hum, but when you have two coils with their electrical fields going opposite directions, then the electrical fields from both pickups cancel out the hum. Thus the name - Humbucker. Well, Fender stacked two single-coils and did the same opposite wiring to cancel out the hum. However, you now have two single-coils that are similar to a humbucker, which is warm sounding pickups compared to a true single-coil pickup. Yes, the secret to Fender noiseless single-coil pickups is that they are actually humbuckers. And, that is totally OK. The noiseless pickups with two single-coils give the warmer sound (Yes, same as the side-by-side wide humbucker). But, there is still enough Tele Twang and punchiness to make most Tele people happy. To get the best Twang simply use the center selection on your 3-way switch, and pluck near the bridge. Plucking or Snapping the string (like snapping a rubber band) gives you a lot of that snappy Twang too. I have a Fender 2018 Players Series Telecaster and I put in the Feder Generation-4 noiseless pickups. They sound great, but yes - warmer with a little less Trang. I had seen many videos that teach to get great Twang, you need a slap-back Delay pedal (which is so fast you hardly can hear the repeat), a little Reverb, and a Compression pedal (optional). Check out videos for getting Twang, and have fun!
I have Gen4's in my Elite, and that's more than twangy enough... but without melting my face off with piercing highs.
noiseless has less high frequency content, and therefore sound slightly veiled
I have n4s in my MIM strat. I don't miss my original pickups. I actually never liked the sound of the originals until I added the obsidian wiring mod, that you reviewed on this channel. For some reason they became alive with that mod. All that being said, I choose the sound of the true single coils in this video.
These single coils here are different than the mim originals
It’s only my impression but the noiseless sounds warmer? Cheers from Milan💙
I think they definitely do sound warmer. It’s especially audible on the higher pitched strings.
They ARE warmer, like humbuckers are warmer than single coils. Buona sera!
I think some musicians go for buzz, and for really saged reasons. Guitars as sensitive machines. Even the best crafted electric or acoustic, or classical guitar talks back. I am a classical guy, who plays electric for fun. I respect you for calling guitars out for what they are. Just the other day I was practicing a piece and started getting annoyed by the string noise, and every little creaking sound my guitar made. I digress... The point being that the wise man is the one who makes peace with the nature of the beast. Darrell, I have total respect for you, brother. I have learned so much from you about guitar construction. I am very grateful. cheers, buddy!
1st of all, Darrell, a mind-blowing video as usual, bro! Wish I could become a bigger Patreon. You deserve it...Nothing like a true ring of those single coils, especially if you don't mind the hum. A good thing is that when you're playing, you don't notice the hum. I definitely can hear the difference during the Clean test. I got tests 1, 2 & 3 correct. With the clean test using the Bridge/Mid-Bridge tests, the SC sounded warmer than the Noiseless. However, during the Neck/Neck-Mid & Middle test, the Noiseless seemed warmer which I like, too. Seemed to be a slight difference with the 'dirt' added, too...Bottom Line: I'd go Noiseless in a stage setting & SC during lessons, practice, etc. Bottom line: There's not a big enough difference in tone to create a huge loss if you really want to lose the hum. I have a Noiseless bridge pup in my Fender PJ bass & love it...Thx, Darrell!!
Thanks for the kind words!
I really appreciate the support 👍
As a recordİng session guitarist, N4 noiseless for me. You’ll never know how well the electric system in a studio is built.
Well somebody may prefer n4 pickups, for me true single coil pickups were more bright and spanky. Some might say it's because we're used to the sould of the single coil which makes us prefer the sound of it. But I do like the true single coil way more :D
I could tell the noiseless pickups for most of the tests, and I have to say that they lose a lot of color especially in the clean sense. could still hear it with the gain, but I can imagine that you are correct saying that the ability to tell the difference is much more different if you did lets say twice the gain than you did in this video.
great video by the way!
I really liked the Noiseless sound, I don't know why, I guess it just sounded a little warmer? I guess it's also the fact that I hated the single coil sound on my first ever guitar, which is obviously sad, because it wasn't anything like a Fender. But still, love the noiseless sound though if I would go for a clean tone only in the music I play, I would probably pick the true single coils :P
I'm with you. If you like a HB sound, the noiselsss ones get slightly closer to that sound (often because they ARE humbuckers and thus are doing the same thing that traditional HBs do).
I play HB guitars. I like a bit of girth and warmth. I'll grab a SC axe to do special studio work though. I may be prone to my tastes because I grew up on BB King. I admit I gig with Fiter tron pups though which have a lot of sparkle and snap in them - kind of the best of both worlds IMO.
What I don't get about comments talking about "it's good enough for live," when in reality, listeners can't even tell if George Harrison played a Strat or a Les Paul on a recording. Basically, if it's good enough for live, it's definitely good enough for studio. Mics, consoles, and the mixing process will pretty much remove any extra sparkle you might think that a true single coil has. Anybody who rehearses and performs regularly knows that you can only discern tiny tonal nuances when you're by yourself listening to yourself play, which is fine if that's how you come up with the tones you want to hear, but don't be surprised if your bedroom tone doesn't come through in a recording or in a live performance. I'm not even a pro, I'm a dedicated amateur who is lucky enough to gig very regularly, and even someone like me can't be bothered with what my tone sounds like in a room by myself. All I know is that I've gone on tour with someone who uses true single coil pickups, and by the end of the tour, he was using my backup guitar which features DiMarzio Area noiseless pickups. Why? Because hum is terrible and a single coil purist might not think anyone else can hear, but yeah, everyone can hear it.
i would argue true single coils can be manipulated more, you can twist and morph a single coil sound but if you have a dark high output humbucker youre pretty stuck with that sound. but its mostly personal preference, you can use what you like in the studio but live you are forced to use noiseless or humbucker
@@likeanuuk6612 no, no one is forced to use anything. People still play standard singles on live gigs 🤷♂️ and you can play them whenever and wherever you want. Live. In the studio. Recording in your bedroom. It doesn't matter. No one is forced to use hb's or noiseless just because they're playing live.
Jimi Hendrix didn't and his guitars sounded just fine. So did/do thosands upon thousands of other guitar players.
True single coils for me. I have Texas Specials in my strat and wouldn't have it any other way.
I have Texas specials as well but I hate 60 cycle hum... it just drives me nuts.
Copper shielding your cavities, and back of the scratchplate helps a lot.
Two words: volume knob
Yosemite Sam get a noise gate pedal.
@@wildersparks9161 I'm surprised how many people don't know how to use their volume knob
This video was exceptionally well done. I used my ears, listened to practical considerations, and was able to make an informed decision. Thank you!
i am playing heavy metal and own a Fender Stratocaster American Standard from 2010 and i just changed all the pick ups with Di Marzio ones. And it sounds great!
I like the HUMMMMM - I want as much hummm as I can get. It's something the voices in my head can sing along to.
HUMMMMMMMM
They definitely sound different. I hear a faster attack and more of a metallic sound with the noiseless pickups. Not in a bad way. Just different. I use both kinds of pickups in different guitars. Noiseless clean tones are very distinctive and can lend themselves to a unique vibe. Having said that, the difference is adjustable enough that you can get a closer match just by switching IRs and adjusting gain and eq.
Great video once again Darrell , thank you! I too tried a few noiseless and a bunch of different single coils. My conclusion was the same as yours. The noiseless sounds pretty damn good, but they don't have the "airy", or "woody" sound, nor quite as much chime as the true singles.
For anyone dealing with this - if you want to just go humbucker you might try Fralin Sunbuckers - they are made to sound more like single coils - while they are in the ballpark, they're still not exactly like the real thing, but they do sound good, and then if you use coil taps on them, they sound even closer, although you will get the hum/buzz when you split them.
If you do a lot of high gain, or distortion then just use humbuckers...
Great comparison, Darrell. The recording quality was perfect. Just what I was looking for. It made a huge difference in the comparison. I think Fender has come a long way with noiseless pickups. But you can still hear more detail in the single coils. The noiseless don't have as much high end, and maybe some of that missing information is provided by harmonic overtones that the noiseless pickups aren't capable of producing. The hi end detail of the single coils is the easiest giveaway in the blind testing. But the noiseless do sound good. This is the best they have sounded on RUclips, in my opinion. And the V-Mod - really nice of Fender to start experimenting with different Alnico for different strings. I know that Seymour Duncan and Lindy Fralin have been doing this for a while, but it's great to see Fender use this in stock guitars. That's a pretty customized set of pickups. I was very impressed with the V-mods in this video.
I’m losing my damned mind. This is the third DBG video that I would have bet my last dollar Darrell had already done. Hey Darrell, how about including winning Powerball numbers in your videos?
Honestly I cannot reliably differentiate between the two. I’d do just as well to flip a coin. Stupid old ringing ears!
All my STRATS have EC-BOOSTER-Kid: no hum! I have an orignal EC-Blackie (2010) with NOISELESS PU, a 1989 Standard (WITH LACE SENSOR GOLD) and a cheap BROWNIE Replica WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING WHAT PICUPS. All without any hum. More important to me is the SLIM EC-NECK. Its awesome. Want to have it on all.
Fender confirmed for me that the noiseless are all alnico V. The players additions are all alnico V so for a Apples to Apples comparison that might actually be better then the V mod pickups. Also the 2 and 4 position on a professional or players Strat is quieter then on a noiseless elite Strat. I was surprised to learn that
Perfect review, exactly what i was looking for, thank you so much for doing this!
I would say the noiseless in the bridge and the true singles in the middle and neck
That's what I have! Except that my noiseless is a Duncan Custom Custom (Alnico 2) full-size humbucker. ;)
Id say the exact opposite!
@@HonorThyTarkus why?
@@Mr.Goldbar because it is what I like
The noiseless neck pickup seems so much warmer than its single coil counterpart. The mid is less so and the bridge I struggled to tell apart. I'm guessing that was your impression too Bar Goldstein?
The single coils sounded more hot and trebbly. The noiseless was like turning a dial on a low pass filter a bit more to the left.
I love Darrell’s commentary! He gets right to the point! I BELIEVE HIM!
The best overdrive to display this would be the morning glory if you’re ever up for making another one of these videos which I loved by the way
I think the Gen4 will benefit with 500k pots, they sound good but not as much chime as a regular single coil for clean and distorted. Maybe changing the cap on the Gen4's to a .01 would allow more highs thru. I assume the amp settings remained the same for both guitars.
Regardless of what I may have learned about these pickups, I thoroughly enjoyed the very tasteful chops you used to demonstrate. I envy your diverse catalog of styles and subtle techniques.
Thanks for the kind words :)
Most people would say the only time I am noiseless is when I don't play. Thanks for all your vids Darrell.
I have 2 Stratos one has Vintage'57 Strat single-coil pickups and the other is an Elite Series which has The gen4 Noiseless, the 60CH is a real pain but with the right amp settings there isn't a daylight and dark difference, I think fender nailed it.
Oh, wow! An actual video in the middle of the NAMM barrage.
I hate the endless trade show videos. It's cool to see new stuff but I'd rather have actual content.
Great test and video. Thank you for that!
The same test with Teles would be even better!!! Please! ;-)
I've got a Mexican Strat; I upgraded the electronics, put in a set of Wilkinson single Strat pickups, along with a Wilkinson six screw tremolo, and it sounds fantastic. If I play through my Kemper using a Marshall JTM45 profile and play along to 'Little Wing', it sounds exactly the same as Jimi Hendrix's Strat, you just can't tell the difference. When the Fuzz Face kicks in, I used the excellent noise gate and a noise limiter on the Kemper to kill the mains (50hz in UK) and RF hum. No need for fancy expensive pickups.
Thanks for a great comparison video. Sadly my hearing is degraded enough that I couldn’t hear any difference. I’d be very happy with the noiseless I think.
Noiseless.
A lot of people using single coils will use higher capacitance cables to bring the resonant peak down anyway, which is what seems to happen with the noiseless pickups. Maybe using noiseless pickups with a lower capacitance cable would close the gap even more.
Yes, or just put a small preamp in the guitar to decouple the cable capacitance completely (and a fixed cap to emulate the optimum capacitance for the desired sound). This way you also get rid of most of the remaining hum, which in a live setting tends to be electrostatic coupled into the high-impedance cable connection.
Man those N4s sound amazing!
I need to get me one of your T-shirts. Whenever I see you've posted another video, I know that something is about to become much clearer to me. Thanks for your amazing channel!
The noiseless pups take away from the infamous Fender jangle. They smooth the edge, which I don’t really desire. It’s the “jangle” of the single-coils that make a Fender a “Fender”. I’ll stick with my old Alnico III’s on my Squier Classic Vibe ‘50’s Telecaster. Love that thing.
Those are great guitars 👍
Agree with the A3 pups.
The true single coils sound way better to me
same
Facts
@John clinton those v mod pickups sound really good!
I just got a set of Fender Gen 4 noiseless pickups for my mim telecaster and I cant wait to hear the difference from the stock ones
Listening closely with high end headphones, I find the noiseless pick-ups have a more pleasant, more natural clean tone on neck and middle. True single coils have a strange harshness in comparison which might be caused by added noise.
This is, however, a hair splitting difference which would be lost in any normal playing situation.
Most of those saying "single coils all the way for me", or similar are just kidding themselves. The difference is so small you could never tell in any band situation. All by itself, yes I suppose you can tell the difference but there will be so many other factors that affect your tone so much more in any real-world situation. That said, this is the first time I've thought I could replace my usual single coil middle pickups with noiseless. And for my guitars with a sc neck pickup I wouldn't even think twice. Had I the budget, I would change them all out in a heartbeat. That didn't used to be the case, so well done Fender.
Marc Cote - I think if you were in The Cowboy Junkies the 'band situation' would differ.
Intimate settings favor dynamics, and those dynamics get crushed by the noiseless pickups. Otherwise I largely agree.
@@j_freed - Maybe. I don't know anything about The Cowboy Junkies' music. Still, I'd have a hard time imagining any band situation... that is, one in which other loud or amplified instruments are playing simultaneously... where I could hear that difference. But perhaps you are correct.
Dynamics don't get crushed by noiseless pickups. I have noiseless pickups on all of my guitars that have single coils, and I play slap guitar for fun, and if I have a high headroom amp set clean, there is enough oomph to take anybody's head clean off. I've played variety show type gigs that had lots of talking in between bits of music and it is always pretty easy to go from whisper quiet to driven leads just by going from soft finger plucking to hard picking with a pick. Bad noiseless pickups are bad, but bad single coils are bad, too. Imagine if I said that all single coils are bad because a Squier Affinity with single coils sounded lifeless, because that's basically what people say about noiseless, that they tried a set in the 90s and noiseless is bad. Even a set of DiMarzio Area 58/61/67, which have been around a while, would convince most people.
@@MarcCoteMusic small differences do make a difference to the overall sound of the band, even if you cant pick out the differences. we cant just ignore it. the hum just naturally takes thickness out of the guitar tone. since true single coils are not viable live, players who are passionate about that sound appreciate not being forced into using a regular humbucker, but we can still hear the small differences and have to adjust our settings to compensate for them.
@@likeanuuk6612 - Hey, you might be right... But I'd love to see a true double-blind test where even the guitarist doesn't know which is the regular single coil and which is the noiseless. I'm talking about a live gig situation, of course... full band.
That said, my usual setups are either humbucker, single, humbucker "|| | ||" or humbucker, single, noiseless single "|| | |". So far, I get the best of all worlds because most of the time I'm using clean or slightly broken up sounds I'm on the true single coil in the middle position. When I go to a dirtier sound I'm usually on the bridge humbucker. When I solo I'm either on the bridge humbucker or the neck position, so it's nice to have a no-noise setup for that.
I go Mojotone Quiet Coils in my Strat, never looked back. IMHO, they sound much better than the Fenders and they gig very well.
Every single time I loved the noiseless pickups, without fail.
Jus bought a guitar with 2 Noiseless pickups installed. Blown away. These things are very clear, and shockingly, noiseless. Very good definition under distortion. On the spectrum towards Active clear. Very happy, can recommend and will be buying more.
Even a donkey ear like me could hear that difference almost everytime.
I have no preference.
Both sounded reasonably like a strat to me.
I got myself 3 stacked Humbuckers in single coil shape from Ultrasound similar to Bill Lawrence for that reason (beeing hum-free). They are quiet but sound a bit more jazzy they have also less output. BTW thats why one needs at least two strats.
Just me or did the noiseless just seem to be a more modern sounding single?
Literally stunned by how legit they sound. The noiseless sound more vintage on clean tones. The regular sound fine too but (unusually) darker!
Adding distortion revealed the Noiseless to be a bit darker/compressed. Edit... I am still going with my vintage style singles but I can see how these could get some traction.
I agree....no noiseless sounds like a true single coil. The best sound I can get with a single coil is a good ground shield to the cavity. You'll get the 60 hz hum but other then that....very quiet. I actually get a very good quiet single coil sound out of a hot stack humbucker in the bridge and a single coil in the mid position....set the 5 way on position bridge/mid...then turn down the tone to about 3 or 4. It's still reasonably bright and full. I reversed the magnets and swapped the leads on the Single Coil mid PU...it was originally north magnetic...all three pickups were north....made the middle single coil pickup south magnetic....you could just buy a reverse wound south PU. Very similiar to my single coil by itself in mid position except more quiet. Gets rid of most of the 60hz hum. I've added a DPDT switch to change the bridge hot stack humbucker to a single coil but it's wimpy that way. My strat is pretty darn quiet.
I liked true single coils better. I guessed right every time! Noiseless sound kinda dry.
The SC has more vibe and tradition. The Noiseless sound slightly more boring lol
the noiseless DONT sound good enough yet
And they will never. Humbucking will always sound unnatural and lose harmonics
True. N1-3 not good enough so they made N4 and N5 will be right around the corner. I doubt it is possible to have a noiseless pickup that doesn't lose a little top end.
I also agree it's good enough in a live band situation and people may prefer it for the sound they require.
I won't be investing any time soon.
Nobody can play as clean as Darrell. He’s Mr. Clean.
I've become a lot less tolerant of noise over the years and I'm currently looking into converting a few of my Strats to noiseless. What's funny though is that I find I want the noiseless pickup option more in the studio than on stage. Under the microscope, even clean sounds can be marred by some noise, especially on quiet parts like intros with an isolated guitar. I hate having to try and deal with that on a recording.
Playing live I find a lot of the noise is masked by the rest of the band so my priority for noiseless pickups is for recording.
It's very interesting to hear you demonstrate these. They sound great, but they do sound different. I feel like the brightness on the single coil pickups is just much more apparent. I don't necessarily prefer that aspect of single-coil pickups. I feel that it can be very well suited to a particular sound depending upon the gear that one uses and their playing style. But personally, I feel that the noiseless pickups come close enough to a traditional single coil sound, without the added hum, so I'd probably choose them over the single coils.
It's not so much what gear you use but how you use it. Anyone can make both sound like garbage. A good player can make both sound great. I think you made both sound great. Thanks for the video!
I tried the noiseless v.s standard p/u through a Fender Blues Jr, at two different Guitar Centers here in Buffalo , N.Y. area. The noiseless added a sparkle to the tone in both comparisons. The standard single coil p/u were slightly muddled with the exact Fender Player Strat I have at home. I ordered the noiseless immediately and looking forward to the installation when they arrive. The difference to me is worth the added expense, I'm all about tone. I also bought a Fender Blues Jr. the same day to add to my plethora of quality jazz amps.
Best comparison I've seen. Well done, Darrell!
I just use the hum cancelling positions. When I want the single pickup sound, for instance the neck pick up, I use the neck/middle position, turn down the tone on the middle pickup, and play directly over the neck pickup.
I have Fender N3 Noiseless pups on my Squire Vintage Modified strat . They sound great , rich and still jangle without the hiss. A HUGE improvement all around
When people complain about the noiseless pickups I think for most it doesn’t make sense because so many people try to achieve a sound closer to the noiseless pickups with their (always-on) overdrives fuzzes or an EP booster. However, I could still see the argument for having the original authentic single-coil as well. The biggest difference for me was the fullness of the low-end on the noiseless. I think the noiseless would be great for jazz. I’ll have to see after I get my Jeff Beck strat!
Dave T I have a Squire Classic vib with single coils, no hum problems.Recently purchased Fender Tele Nashville with 3 noiseless pups. The hum from those was terrible. Checked as much of my home electrical system to try to eliminate the hum, no luck, had to send it back. Was sad, beautiful instrument.
Glad to hear you qualify that venue/style is the real issue. For me, a recording-only guitarist, it's a non-issue, but if I were on stage a lot in questionable venues with who-knows what power and interference issues, the single coil makes no sense in the mic'd-up amp & crowd arena...not when the sounds are so similar.
I am happy to realize I have those N4 pickups on my Fender Strat American Elite.
Going to GC to pick up a Strat today... Still debating between regular SC and Noiseless. Prolly going noiseless... thanks for your input on the subject! Great video.
Love the N4s !!! I think they’ve got the right brightness and spank on certain positions than the singles
Weird, usually youtube blind test leave me questioning, but every example on this test was easy to spot the N4s. Bigger difference than I’ve ever heard on a blind "true single vs. noiseless" test. I think your test was very honest and that helped. Anyway the N4s were okay but lacked what many noiseless pups do, the glass that really distinguishes a fender style single coil from other pickups.
Excellent comparison as usual. Thanks Darrell!
*Nothing like the power of a True OG Single Coil, they are def something else and the hum is part of its magic.*
True Single Coils Rule . . . (however) I was very Impressed with the Latest Version of Fender Ultra Single Coils. They Sound Better then: Kinman, Mojotone or Zexcoil. I currently have the Lollar Dirty Blonde Set and it's Tone Heaven for me.
Amazing tones with N4! Wowwwwww