To me, the benefits of noiseless single coils (i.e.; humbuckers in drag) outweigh any supposed loss of high end sparkle or other minor (IMO) compromise in tone. Now if you just want all that single coil goodness, then do your thing. But the ability to capture better than 90% of the classic single coil tone without noise is worth it.
I dont know - Whilst I certainly do agree with your statement with regard to 90% of “Noiseless” Pick-Ups - I have to say my Stratocaster Plus with Gold Lace Sensors Sounds DEAD quite in comparison to the Fender “Noiseless” Pick-Up’s demonstrated here & they have an absolutely brilliantly sublime “chime” I have found almost impossible to duplicate on any pick-up noiseless or not
Noiseless hides your crappy technique. I like it but at the same time I don’t because there are things in the tone of a strat I don’t want it to hide. I wish you could turn the feature off on top of an a switch
@@Dannys.channel What’s wonderful particularly about the “Lace Sensor” PIck-Ups is that they are not designed anything at all like “Noiseless” or any other Single-Coil - Noise Reducing PUP - They are VERY uniquely designed- Check Out their website
@@InteliLEX yea but I’m gonna be honest, I think that stacked single coils sound better than regular single coils. Their tone is nice and bright but also fat with plenty of body. Got a dimarzio in the bridge of my Tele and I’m switching the neck out soon. Had the beige for years and I’ve never been tempted to put the original back in.
I was listening with my eyes closed, and every time I’d hear a note or run that I thought particularly sounded great I’d open my eyes and it was the white guitar each time. But I think they both sounded pretty good.
noiseless usually suck. its the execution that matters and somehow fender does it right. i have the ultra vintage and gen4 noiseless.. both are phenomenal.
Both sound fantastic, maybe it has something to do with the guitarist :) I chose the Ultra because I use it in a band context. Any sound differences between noiseless and traditional pickups are completely lost in the mix, and no audience on earth will ever know (or care) about a difference. It either sounds good or it doesn't, and these Ultras sound very, very good! For live playing I get all the great strat tones and none of the hiss.
Yep, I’ve had a stacked dimarzio in the bridge of my Tele for years never tempted to put the original back in. Gonna switch the neck soon too. Playing with distortion already hums enough even with buckers there’s nothing worse than stopping playing for a sec and having this annoying ass hum
I have wanted a real Strat all my life and finally purchased an Elite with N4 pups. I could not get the real Strat tone I was hoping for and I play mainly clean. However I love all the modern appointments of the Elite. Compound neck and fingerboard, cut away heel, locking tuners, great look in general. So I removed the whole pickguard and made a new one up using Custom 69s. Now it sounds fantastic and has all those other goodies to boot. I even put stainless steel frets in as Shane has often commented on and they are smooth as. Now very happy with my one and only Strat.
Playing next to a popcorn machine, under fluorescent lights, in a venue with dodgy wiring - then Noiseless. Otherwise a set of Abigail Ybarra or Josefina Campos pickups cannot be beat (you can always turn the volume down between numbers if noise is a real issue). That said the noiseless pickups on the Ultra are the best iteration of the concept yet.
It's good to have the option - standard single coil Strat pickups sound a lot better to me as they have more top end sparkle. Noiseless pickups also sound a little nasally and compressed - not quite as open. That being said I would still use the Noiseless pickups without hesitation if I had a guitar with them.
Both guitars sound amazing and have that classic Stratocaster single coil tone. The Ultra noiseless pickups are slightly less clear and bright than the 50s Original but it's a small difference. Man I want that Ultra!!!
I'm impressed how far Fender has gotten with the noiseless project. The only spot I thought there was a big diff was the middle pickup response. This was a long overdue comparison, thanks from British. Columbia , great job.
I watch all your videos. Super on point and informative. You info has influenced at least one recent purchase. Thanks for the commitment and hard work.
I find the biggest difference is in the "vibe" the player gets while playing. The playback or the difference to the audience is probably very slight at best. Great job and thanks for doing this!!!
Both sounded really great. I have a Fender Original 50s Strat, and had to swap out the original pick-ups out of necessity, as the guy who set up my strat damaged one of them. I had a new set of custom 69s lying around (unused), and was really surprised on how much better they sound to my ears than the original 59 single coils, with a stronger mid range.
I think the Ultra noiseless pickups are the best Fender have ever made. Some of the previous generations like the SCN and N3 I really didn't like at all. The Ultras genuinely sound great even if they don't sound exactly like single coils.
Top 'o' the mornin', Shane....Jimbo here from the Great (snowy) State of Washington. Happy Holidays to You & Your's!! Another great demo, as usual! I totally agree with Your final thoughts on these 2...not much difference, sonically...the noiseless pickups just lack that full Top end sparkle of the single coils. A little trick I learned from another video was to install a short piece of surgical tubing inside each, or 1 or 2, of the tremelo springs, which also seems cut the hum/buzzing native to the single coils. Works pretty good for pennies cost. Merry Christmas....!!
Your playing makes the differences very apparent and serves the comparison. The way a lot of channels do these comps using nothing but OD or distortion drives me insane.
This was so useful! I'm looking for that magical bright, sparkling clean sound - and the single coils had that every time, much warmer than the tinnier noiseless. Makes a difference for sure.
I think the ultra sounds pretty awesome. Single coils are still my favorite but I've got a 50s vintera with v3 noiseless with an s1 switch in the volume knob (just so ya know which I mean) and it absolutely kills. Great job as usual
They all sound fine to me. The quality of the player far outweighs any tiny differences between them. Thankfully the quality of playing on this channel is always top notch! So of course they all sound great.
Even on a lowly phone speaker there's a subtle difference, on the clean head to head at least. The white had a smidge more top end sparkle and initial bite. The texas was like listening outside an open door. If the ultra was all you'd ever had, I think you'd be happy. They've improved a lot. But there's still just that last few percent of the original character thats not quite there (yet), if you want to be a slave to tradition.
Own both: noiseless are more compressed and more forgiving of dynamic shortcomings (thus less expressive), more "even" sounding. If you play gigs with terrible electrical issues or have bad home wiring go for the noiseless, otherwise you know, wearing a thin condom is almost like not having a condom except that it isnt :)
I tested both when i was looking for a new Strat. The noiseless surprised me as they sounded so good but in the end i bought the American Pro II with the Single Coils. I still preferred these slightly although the noiseless have come a long way!
Good video Shane. A little P.S.A. to all who might consider buying aftermarket Fender Noiseless pups… I bought a set of Gen 4 Fender Noisless pickups and they sound great, but …they don’t fit in the standard Strat single coil pickup rout. They’re too tall, and the pickup rout isn’t deep enough. You’ll have to rout out the bottom of the cavity to get them to fit properly. There was a “ heads up” warning about this on the site I bought them from so it wasn’t a surprise.
I think there is too much unconscious bias in this type of shootout. The tests need to be blind. I'd also like to see the output on a spectrum analyzer to see if the differences are real or imagined. Even assuming that there is a slight noticeable difference, that doesn't make either better or worse. They are both great.
I was reading comments while listening and I thought he was playing all the time the same guitar in the jam, so I did not notice a difference in blind test. But in the second part I noticed slight loss in high frequencies for one of the guitars.
You can easily do this yourself by closing your eyes. I did and the difference is quite big to me. The noiseless doesn’t have that classic Strat sound, but it sounds good still! Much creamier sound.
3:31 Point #1) l prefer the NoNoise pickups in the neck position [my go-to] . Bridge position, not much difference. Point #2) l want to add this to my TH-cam playlist. Your playing is so bitchin' and you blended your [chopped up] soloing so seamlessly, dude!. Glad l clicked on this instead of the LA inferno.
This popped up on my suggested, and great comparison, glad I watched. The noiseless are missing that little bit to my ear (though I am partial, my 1966 Stratocaster has such a beautiful sound). Was thinking of trying noiseless in my 80s Strat, but think I will stick with the regular singles after watching. Thanks again for the side by side
A lot of great comments I guess at the end of the day it's down to our own personal choice I have an Eric Clapton with vintage noiseless pickups and a 1955 dual mag 1 alder 1 ash body each guitar has its own persona but both sound fantastic
I have the same noiseless in my Ultra Luxe and, personally, I wouldn’t dream of swapping them out for regular single coils. There are definitely things the single coils do slightly better but, overall, I think the noiseless are more versatile.
yeah.... Also what's good with noiseless pickup is that you remember that you have a "premium" feature every time you plug in For example I've antiquity surfer 2 on my main strat I like them very much, but I'm still wondering 7 years later if maybe the Texas would have been better? ?? Or maybe this or that and etc etc While when you have a premium noiseless, you do have tangible feature to compare when playing As long as they have good High end spectrum ofc
I've used those noiseless pickups recently. The Seymour Duncan stacked STK4S pickups sound much much better and a hell of a lot closer to the true single coils - I guess for obvious reasons
Like I said, ‘personally’. I have CS Texas Specials in my other strat and they are better for certain sounds but overall I prefer the noiseless. As for others, make your own choices.
I've got an American Ultra Telecaster. I quite like the pickups. Not only do I think they not suck, I bought Ultra Noiseless pickups for my Strat. As I always say, if it sounds good it is good.
I really love both sounds, but this is just further proof that it hardly matters at all. Both sound so good and hardly different. Cleaner sounds from the noiseless but that's not a bad thing, just preference. Obvious positive being that they don't hum lol
I prefer the traditional. It makes me wrinkle my nose listening or playing… Your playing is phenomenal in this video. Could you make a tutorial for old love? Would appreciate it a lot!
My no.1 is an all original '75 USA. Unbeatable. Just bought two s/h Affinitys (thinner, lighter body but ok...) to mod up to top spec maple necks, tuners, p/ups, bone nuts, bridge/saddles. Put hot noiseless in the first one. Plays great, no buzz, but couldn't agree more with johnnyrush, and this great video...the strat tone variation isn't there enough. Suspected so but tried the hot noiseless ceramics as a look-see...well...listen-hear. Checking videos before starting the next mod, was going for vintage noiseless, but now fitting vintage single coils, buzz and all. All ceramics are out for me. Am old school, but don't play much o/d these days - unless listening in the car turned up to 11 when over-driving :-) Useful video, and comments here great, thanks.
I know this is about two years old, but try rolling back the volume a couple of notches and I pretty much guarantee there will be a huge difference. I have a set of noiseless in a Mexican Deluxe player strat which I love at full volume, but if I try rolling the volume back into my amp so that I have a little more room to push the amp when I need it, like on my other two more conventional Strats, there’s a world of difference. Otherwise, I find myself needing to use a volume pedal with it to achieve a more desirable result. If the strings are fairly new, tone roll back doesn’t sound so bad, but the duller they get, the less I like the tone rolled back on it, so I don’t generally use it that way as much as I do my other two.
The reason they don't sound similar at all is because the noiseless is not a single coil pick up. Its a stacked humbucker wound in a single coil bobbin. A noiseless single coil will always have characteristics of a humbucker. Just my opinion.
Great comparison Shane. 👍 I'm thinking that whatever tonal differences there were it was marginal. So much so, unless there are some sort of drawbacks to the noiseless you didn't mention, then noiseless for me if the option was there from the outset. Conversely, I'm not gonna go out and switch out my single coils for noiseless. Cheers. 😎✌️
I used to own an ultra that was made in 1990 if I recall correctly. It had Lace Sensors in S/S/H configuration. They always sounded kind of cold and clinical to my ears so I sold the guitar. Pretty sure it is rare and collectable with a blue maple flame top and ebony fretboard but it just didn't have that pep I was hoping for. These new noiseless pickups sound a whole lot better to the ear. If I had one of these new ultras I'd stick with the stock pups for sure.
Excellent demo. Things like set-up Pup height, blah blah blah can change things, not to mention pots and caps. Wanting to get my '80 USA strat to stop yelling at me, but I love the tones she gives. Gonne have to do some hard thinking on this.
🤪 The tone was close. I think most will miss the noise i.e. response of single coils. I have guitars with both noiseless and standard. In clubs with bad electric noiseless can save a lot of grief. Not enough difference for most to tell in a gigging situation.
Doing sound in bars for years now, I can attest that once the guitar's run through your pedals, amp, mic, and venue PA, it's more about the general character of your tone than the nitty gritty, and the Noiseless still sound like a proper strat. I've seen poignant moments in music ruined many times by bad buzz, I've never seen a moment ruined by a pickup sounding 5-10% different.
Nice comparison man. Been waiting for this. Went with the ultra in the end as the difference wasn’t that much for me and I like the modern appointments.
I listened with eyes closed, and every time I preferred the sound I opened my eyes. It was about 90% the white strat. Just more sparkle and dynamic range.
I really wish I had stumbled across this video 3 weeks ago! It could have possibly (not likely) saved me ending up with 2 new Strats instead of 1, an Ultra in the same Texas Tea finish and a Sunburst 50's Vintera Modified which has "Hot ‘50s Strat" pickups that sound really nice apart from the noise! Great video all the same as always, thanks
The noiseless pickups sound darker to me - lose some of that chime and sparkle. The whole idea of the strat is to get that classic strat tone - shows you still need the single coils to get that. I DO hear the improvement Fender has made in the noiseless pickups when gain is applied.
The regular single coils had more definition and the noiseless compressed easier. My favorite thing about Strats is the quack and the noiseless definitely had less. Of course I have 3 Strats and they all sound different too. But I have been at certain gigs where my Strat was just making an horrible noise. In those situations I would have gladly used the Noiseless pups.
I think the noiseless pickups sound just fine in the context of a mix. Of course, one can just use a gate, but that brings its own set of issues. People may not think hum is a big deal, but some clubs have wiring/AC issues that magnify noise problems.
@@ricmel8008 I lived in an apartment in Brooklyn that had outdated wiring (it literally didn't have actual 3-prong grounding until a decade or so earlier!). It made everything hum, including my humbucker equipped Les Paul.
@@Andyanddiana467 I feel your pain. My apartment buzz like crazy. Whenever I am trying new equipment I have to take it to my friends house. I gig every week also. And the building I gig in also buzz.
Really cool video, two lovely guitars and those noiseless ones are pretty clever. However, it's hard to match that sound Malmsteen had on his first few albums when he just stuck a Strat through an analogue tube screamer or whatever it was he used. Both for rhythm and leads, that pure sound is amazing if you can bear the hum (I can't!)
Hi Shane, To be honest, the noiseless pickups faired much better then I expected. I'm thinking that with just a slight tweak in the treble frequencies, you might be able to get them to sound virtually identical. I would be very interested in a video with you doing that. Merry Christmas 🎄 Shane. :-)
On my Elite, a quick little boost with a clean EQ is all it really needs to shine just like non-noiseless pickups. However I do find the N4’s to be pretty dark overall in most positions for some reason.
That’s true, you can make them sound very similar. You can bring the regular pickups down to the voicing of the noiseless, but you can’t raise the noiseless to the clarity of the regular ones. It’s the laws of physics. IMO, you either like the regular pickups for what they are or you don’t.
I've tried old noiseless pickups, so maybe I'm still scarred by that, but they still sound more like a generic loud single coilish thing than they do a strat. It's particularly noticeable in the mixed positions.
For me they are Very close on clean sound. But in overdrive there are more differences i think. But all sounds are amazing. I think everyone needs to play on both before buing. Thanks for the video 🙏
Thanks for the vid. Purely from the two example guitars, to my uninformed ears the traditional standard singles sound "woollier" and "warmer", and the noiseless more "glassy" and "bell-like". Toanz are subjective, but to said ears the more complex tone of trads generally lent itself noticeably better to single-note licks (especially on the B and high E strings), but I think the more glassy and transparent noiseless provide a definition, smoothness and consistency to chords and rhythm playing that I think work slightly better for jangly clean... and slightly more better for punchy distorted rhythm playing. I definitely think I liked the middle position more on the Ultra. In spite of what I've just said, I'm not sure I preferred the noiseless examples overall, I did like the rounder bottom on the trads, but I can't help but think that could be fixed with eq/ amp settings. Same thing with the trads being a little too bright and sharp in places. It's a tough call... but at least I know if I ever want to buy a strat to wank blues licks ad nauseam on, or a strat to just to chug power chords on, I'd know which pickups to use respectively in either case. Great! Most of the big strat players are known for only doing only one or the other, right? Oh wait...
The noiseless sound fine . Much better than what the old ones sounded like . I like the plastic coverings . Maybe thats the trick to their great sound ? lol : ) Seriously fine sounding . Better than the Lace sensors I had tried back in the 90's . Cool topic .
I think I would Eq some sparkles back into the neck noiseless PU. Not toning the bridge standard down makes them noisy, and thinner than the noiseless. And not brightening the noiseless neck makes it sound flatter than the standard. So I think trying to achieve the best tone from either would have the player make some eq adjustments to compensate for the pros and cons and somehow it would be useful to hear that in a comparison one day. It might be similar to comparing humbuckers and single coils with the same sound settings which would be unfair to both clean and saturated. And I thought the neck/middle setting for the noiseless coils would be a lost cause, but liked them more. And the standard bridge/middle setting beat the noiseless coils at the same setting hands down. I imagine Noiseless Coil lovers begging for some more bright at the neck position, and Standard Coil lovers begging to tone the bridge down a bit. That said, you did set an excellent middle ground for the comparison. So the middle setting PUs were a little different, yet both middle coils sounded nice. But my vote will go to the Noiseless coils because there might be more potential when we allow for adjustments.. Thanks.
I agree completely. The biggest difference is the top end sparkle. Noting that, the Ultra Noiseless have come a LONG way and I really like them. Btw, your playing in this video was absolutely inspired! I don't think I've ever heard you play with that kind of fire in any other video! Maybe you were jamming to "Old Love" before shooting? lol
Honestly, I don't think any of us would be able to tell which was which if we weren't seeing it on screen. They do sound different, but they also both sound distinctly "strat." I think the singles are probably a bit clearer, and the noiseless are a bit warmer, but they both sound awesome.
i tried both. ultra sounded artificial and the paint was too thick. I chose the original 50s😎. because its a real blues soul. Also, the channel is very enjoyable, thank you.💯
I have a Fender Ultra Jazzmaster with the noiseless Jazzmaster pickups . . . and I have a Fender Parallel Universe II Jazzcaster with the AVRI 65 Jazzmaster Pickups. Night and day, but the noiseless definitely have their place depending on the style and amp setup. I used to have an American Deluxe Tele and I could not stand the noiseless pickups in that (just a bit dead to me) and had Fender noiseless strat pickups that someone had put on a Warmoth Bass VI I picked up--swapped those out for more vintage correct and better sounding jag pickups. I think the noiseless have improved over time, and, like any pickup, will depend on what style and situation they are being used in.
I was just wondering what number noiseless pickups you were using 3's or 4's? Both straps souned great either way to me different sounds make different creations.
Those noiseless are pretty good, but those singles do take it for me. Just sparkle a bit more, more character, more edge. But it’s got very close. Nice comparison there.
In this comparison the noiseless pups impressed me. I've used Kinman noiseless pups live for several years and whilst great they lacked the straight single reactivity - slightly difficult to induce feedback. Put my texas specials back in my main Strat.
Thought experiment. Imagine that when the Stratocaster (and Telecaster) was first produced the pickups were hum free but then years (decades) later someone came up with an identical looking pickup boasting that they sounded superior BUT. . . they buzzed, would anyone prefer them? I doubt anyone would want them.
To me, the benefits of noiseless single coils (i.e.; humbuckers in drag) outweigh any supposed loss of high end sparkle or other minor (IMO) compromise in tone. Now if you just want all that single coil goodness, then do your thing. But the ability to capture better than 90% of the classic single coil tone without noise is worth it.
I dont know - Whilst I certainly do agree with your statement with regard to 90% of “Noiseless” Pick-Ups - I have to say my Stratocaster Plus with Gold Lace Sensors Sounds DEAD quite in comparison to the Fender “Noiseless” Pick-Up’s demonstrated here & they have an absolutely brilliantly sublime “chime” I have found almost impossible to duplicate on any pick-up noiseless or not
Noiseless hides your crappy technique. I like it but at the same time I don’t because there are things in the tone of a strat I don’t want it to hide.
I wish you could turn the feature off on top of an a switch
@@Dannys.channel What’s wonderful particularly about the “Lace Sensor” PIck-Ups is that they are not designed anything at all like “Noiseless” or any other Single-Coil - Noise Reducing PUP - They are VERY uniquely designed- Check Out their website
@@Dannys.channel Hide our crappy technique? More like hide an annoying noise for the sake of the audience.
@@InteliLEX yea but I’m gonna be honest, I think that stacked single coils sound better than regular single coils. Their tone is nice and bright but also fat with plenty of body. Got a dimarzio in the bridge of my Tele and I’m switching the neck out soon. Had the beige for years and I’ve never been tempted to put the original back in.
dam bro, came here for a comparison but ended up just loving your playing. that is some good shit homie
I was listening with my eyes closed, and every time I’d hear a note or run that I thought particularly sounded great I’d open my eyes and it was the white guitar each time. But I think they both sounded pretty good.
That's why 66% of my guitars are white 😂🤣
@@888jimm 😁😁😁
Wayne’s world guitar is also white 😂
I have noiseless in my Strat. Perfect. They don’t suck at all. Great to be free of the noise.
noiseless usually suck. its the execution that matters and somehow fender does it right. i have the ultra vintage and gen4 noiseless.. both are phenomenal.
Both sound fantastic, maybe it has something to do with the guitarist :)
I chose the Ultra because I use it in a band context. Any sound differences between noiseless and traditional pickups are completely lost in the mix, and no audience on earth will ever know (or care) about a difference. It either sounds good or it doesn't, and these Ultras sound very, very good! For live playing I get all the great strat tones and none of the hiss.
Yep, I’ve had a stacked dimarzio in the bridge of my Tele for years never tempted to put the original back in. Gonna switch the neck soon too. Playing with distortion already hums enough even with buckers there’s nothing worse than stopping playing for a sec and having this annoying ass hum
I actually prefer the noiseless over the single coils. Great review as always. 👍🎸
I have wanted a real Strat all my life and finally purchased an Elite with N4 pups. I could not get the real Strat tone I was hoping for and I play mainly clean. However I love all the modern appointments of the Elite. Compound neck and fingerboard, cut away heel, locking tuners, great look in general. So I removed the whole pickguard and made a new one up using Custom 69s. Now it sounds fantastic and has all those other goodies to boot. I even put stainless steel frets in as Shane has often commented on and they are smooth as. Now very happy with my one and only Strat.
If I played in a band, I'd go with the noiseless. If I were recording at home, I'd go with the single coils.
I got both types. I don't regret my vintage noiseless. I love their tone.
My Vintage Noiseless came with 1Meg Pots. I think that's the secret sauce.
Playing next to a popcorn machine, under fluorescent lights, in a venue with dodgy wiring - then Noiseless. Otherwise a set of Abigail Ybarra or Josefina Campos pickups cannot be beat (you can always turn the volume down between numbers if noise is a real issue). That said the noiseless pickups on the Ultra are the best iteration of the concept yet.
Heh, that first sentence literally describes half of the places I play in...so, noiseless is a necessity.
I prefer the noiseless for most of my playing (yes, I have a set). They are a little rounder, slightly less toppy, and that suits me.
What ever happened to the Lace Censor pickups that Fender used in the 90s
It's good to have the option - standard single coil Strat pickups sound a lot better to me as they have more top end sparkle. Noiseless pickups also sound a little nasally and compressed - not quite as open. That being said I would still use the Noiseless pickups without hesitation if I had a guitar with them.
Really, depends on the PUPs - The Fender “Noiseless” however sound precisely as you described
Both guitars sound amazing and have that classic Stratocaster single coil tone. The Ultra noiseless pickups are slightly less clear and bright than the 50s Original but it's a small difference. Man I want that Ultra!!!
I'm impressed how far Fender has gotten with the noiseless project. The only spot I thought there was a big diff was the middle pickup response.
This was a long overdue comparison, thanks from British. Columbia , great job.
unbelievable: 40 years of strats playing, and i think I prefer the noiseless pickups! Didn't see that one coming.😋
I watch all your videos. Super on point and informative.
You info has influenced at least one recent purchase.
Thanks for the commitment and hard work.
From Leo: GREAT riffs man, I enjoyed your work so much, it did not matter what you were playing
I find the biggest difference is in the "vibe" the player gets while playing. The playback or the difference to the audience is probably very slight at best. Great job and thanks for doing this!!!
The vibe makes you play differently. That’s what the tone is all about.
Noiseless or Original Single Coils? Please let me know in the comments which one and why. 😎
Seymour Duncan STK-S4 👍
Room for both I think. The Ultra would be a great live guitar. If only owning one then I would probably keep things traditional.
Side question: what overdrive are you using? Sounds killer! 😎
@@Shawn-Whitfield VS Audio Royal Flush Dual Overdrive pedal
Both sounded really great. I have a Fender Original 50s Strat, and had to swap out the original pick-ups out of necessity, as the guy who set up my strat damaged one of them. I had a new set of custom 69s lying around (unused), and was really surprised on how much better they sound to my ears than the original 59 single coils, with a stronger mid range.
I have a set as well and they are just right.....
I think the Ultra noiseless pickups are the best Fender have ever made. Some of the previous generations like the SCN and N3 I really didn't like at all. The Ultras genuinely sound great even if they don't sound exactly like single coils.
I have a Fender Deluxe with N3, they suck! I'm looking to change for a brighter pickup
Top 'o' the mornin', Shane....Jimbo here from the Great (snowy) State of Washington.
Happy Holidays to You & Your's!!
Another great demo, as usual!
I totally agree with Your final thoughts on these 2...not much difference, sonically...the noiseless pickups just lack that full Top end sparkle of the single coils. A little trick I learned from another video was to install a short piece of surgical tubing inside each, or 1 or 2, of the tremelo springs, which also seems cut the hum/buzzing native to the single coils. Works pretty good for pennies cost.
Merry Christmas....!!
Your playing makes the differences very apparent and serves the comparison. The way a lot of channels do these comps using nothing but OD or distortion drives me insane.
This was so useful! I'm looking for that magical bright, sparkling clean sound - and the single coils had that every time, much warmer than the tinnier noiseless. Makes a difference for sure.
Then get a set of Lace Sensor “Gold” Stratocaster PUP’s
I think the ultra sounds pretty awesome. Single coils are still my favorite but I've got a 50s vintera with v3 noiseless with an s1 switch in the volume knob (just so ya know which I mean) and it absolutely kills. Great job as usual
They all sound fine to me. The quality of the player far outweighs any tiny differences between them. Thankfully the quality of playing on this channel is always top notch! So of course they all sound great.
Even on a lowly phone speaker there's a subtle difference, on the clean head to head at least. The white had a smidge more top end sparkle and initial bite. The texas was like listening outside an open door.
If the ultra was all you'd ever had, I think you'd be happy. They've improved a lot. But there's still just that last few percent of the original character thats not quite there (yet), if you want to be a slave to tradition.
Now that, my friend, is some fantastic playing! Wow. Brilliant. Cheers!
Own both: noiseless are more compressed and more forgiving of dynamic shortcomings (thus less expressive), more "even" sounding. If you play gigs with terrible electrical issues or have bad home wiring go for the noiseless, otherwise you know, wearing a thin condom is almost like not having a condom except that it isnt :)
I tested both when i was looking for a new Strat. The noiseless surprised me as they sounded so good but in the end i bought the American Pro II with the Single Coils. I still preferred these slightly although the noiseless have come a long way!
Good video Shane. A little P.S.A. to all who might consider buying aftermarket Fender Noiseless pups…
I bought a set of Gen 4 Fender Noisless pickups and they sound great, but …they don’t fit in the standard Strat single coil pickup rout.
They’re too tall, and the pickup rout isn’t deep enough. You’ll have to rout out the bottom of the cavity to get them to fit properly.
There was a “ heads up” warning about this on the site I bought them from so it wasn’t a surprise.
The Noiseless is a Strat with with a bow tie- tamed, refined.
The regular pickups are a Strat in the raw- wild, hairy, and ready to get dirty.
EQ pedal may fix the missing sparkle
I think there is too much unconscious bias in this type of shootout. The tests need to be blind. I'd also like to see the output on a spectrum analyzer to see if the differences are real or imagined. Even assuming that there is a slight noticeable difference, that doesn't make either better or worse. They are both great.
I was reading comments while listening and I thought he was playing all the time the same guitar in the jam, so I did not notice a difference in blind test. But in the second part I noticed slight loss in high frequencies for one of the guitars.
You can easily do this yourself by closing your eyes. I did and the difference is quite big to me. The noiseless doesn’t have that classic Strat sound, but it sounds good still! Much creamier sound.
I like your comparison. Very interesting sounds. Thanks.
The noise-cancelling pups sound very nice, just not as "Straty" as the ol' buzzers.
They both sound great. Likely player related. That white stat though is a beauty
3:31 Point #1) l prefer the NoNoise pickups in the neck position [my go-to] . Bridge position, not much difference. Point #2) l want to add this to my TH-cam playlist. Your playing is so bitchin' and you blended your [chopped up] soloing so seamlessly, dude!. Glad l clicked on this instead of the LA inferno.
This popped up on my suggested, and great comparison, glad I watched. The noiseless are missing that little bit to my ear (though I am partial, my 1966 Stratocaster has such a beautiful sound). Was thinking of trying noiseless in my 80s Strat, but think I will stick with the regular singles after watching. Thanks again for the side by side
A lot of great comments I guess at the end of the day it's down to our own personal choice I have an Eric Clapton with vintage noiseless pickups and a 1955 dual mag 1 alder 1 ash body each guitar has its own persona but both sound fantastic
same. love both.
I have the same noiseless in my Ultra Luxe and, personally, I wouldn’t dream of swapping them out for regular single coils. There are definitely things the single coils do slightly better but, overall, I think the noiseless are more versatile.
yeah....
Also what's good with noiseless pickup is that you remember that you have a "premium" feature every time you plug in
For example I've antiquity surfer 2 on my main strat
I like them very much, but I'm still wondering 7 years later if maybe the Texas would have been better? ?? Or maybe this or that and etc etc
While when you have a premium noiseless, you do have tangible feature to compare when playing
As long as they have good High end spectrum ofc
I agree. I have a Fender with Vintage Noiseless. And I have a 2018 Squier Bullet. My Squier bullet blows it out the water in comparison to tone.
I've used those noiseless pickups recently. The Seymour Duncan stacked STK4S pickups sound much much better and a hell of a lot closer to the true single coils - I guess for obvious reasons
Like I said, ‘personally’. I have CS Texas Specials in my other strat and they are better for certain sounds but overall I prefer the noiseless. As for others, make your own choices.
Nice video Shane! I have 2 mod shop strats, 1 with Texas and the other noiseless. Very happy with both!
They both sound wonderful. I guess it depends what the artists wants.
Merry Christmas
Came for the review, stayed for the playing. Tasty!
I have an "elite" strat. Love it! About the same a the"Ultra". I hope you keep it. Chocolate and bronze is beautiful.
I've got an American Ultra Telecaster. I quite like the pickups. Not only do I think they not suck, I bought Ultra Noiseless pickups for my Strat. As I always say, if it sounds good it is good.
Here's the deal. If I want to play clean, I use single coil pickups. If I want distortion, I use humbuckers. What is the need for noiseless pickups?
My '72 Tele Custom says Hi!
Cool story bro.
Yawn.
I really love both sounds, but this is just further proof that it hardly matters at all. Both sound so good and hardly different. Cleaner sounds from the noiseless but that's not a bad thing, just preference. Obvious positive being that they don't hum lol
I prefer the traditional. It makes me wrinkle my nose listening or playing…
Your playing is phenomenal in this video. Could you make a tutorial for old love? Would appreciate it a lot!
My no.1 is an all original '75 USA. Unbeatable. Just bought two s/h Affinitys (thinner, lighter body but ok...) to mod up to top spec maple necks, tuners, p/ups, bone nuts, bridge/saddles. Put hot noiseless in the first one. Plays great, no buzz, but couldn't agree more with johnnyrush, and this great video...the strat tone variation isn't there enough. Suspected so but tried the hot noiseless ceramics as a look-see...well...listen-hear. Checking videos before starting the next mod, was going for vintage noiseless, but now fitting vintage single coils, buzz and all. All ceramics are out for me. Am old school, but don't play much o/d these days - unless listening in the car turned up to 11 when over-driving :-) Useful video, and comments here great, thanks.
I know this is about two years old, but try rolling back the volume a couple of notches and I pretty much guarantee there will be a huge difference. I have a set of noiseless in a Mexican Deluxe player strat which I love at full volume, but if I try rolling the volume back into my amp so that I have a little more room to push the amp when I need it, like on my other two more conventional Strats, there’s a world of difference. Otherwise, I find myself needing to use a volume pedal with it to achieve a more desirable result. If the strings are fairly new, tone roll back doesn’t sound so bad, but the duller they get, the less I like the tone rolled back on it, so I don’t generally use it that way as much as I do my other two.
Shane's drive tone on the Ultra bridge, alone, makes me want to buy it. Supreme, lush viscosity, imo. Nice one.
The reason they don't sound similar at all is because the noiseless is not a single coil pick up. Its a stacked humbucker wound in a single coil bobbin. A noiseless single coil will always have characteristics of a humbucker. Just my opinion.
I was sold (noiseless) after the first note! Sounds perfect for a bit of Ritchie Blackmore 🤘 Love the colour scheme too.
Shane, you play the blues so well. I enjoy listening to you play! 👌
Great comparison Shane. 👍
I'm thinking that whatever tonal differences there were it was marginal. So much so, unless there are some sort of drawbacks to the noiseless you didn't mention, then noiseless for me if the option was there from the outset. Conversely, I'm not gonna go out and switch out my single coils for noiseless.
Cheers. 😎✌️
I used to own an ultra that was made in 1990 if I recall correctly. It had Lace Sensors in S/S/H configuration. They always sounded kind of cold and clinical to my ears so I sold the guitar. Pretty sure it is rare and collectable with a blue maple flame top and ebony fretboard but it just didn't have that pep I was hoping for. These new noiseless pickups sound a whole lot better to the ear. If I had one of these new ultras I'd stick with the stock pups for sure.
Excellent demo. Things like set-up Pup height, blah blah blah can change things, not to mention pots and caps. Wanting to get my '80 USA strat to stop yelling at me, but I love the tones she gives. Gonne have to do some hard thinking on this.
🤪 The tone was close. I think most will miss the noise i.e. response of single coils. I have guitars with both noiseless and standard. In clubs with bad electric noiseless can save a lot of grief. Not enough difference for most to tell in a gigging situation.
So glad i got the same AO 50s Strat before shortage hits, waiting for the 50s Tele now.
Doing sound in bars for years now, I can attest that once the guitar's run through your pedals, amp, mic, and venue PA, it's more about the general character of your tone than the nitty gritty, and the Noiseless still sound like a proper strat.
I've seen poignant moments in music ruined many times by bad buzz, I've never seen a moment ruined by a pickup sounding 5-10% different.
Amazing playing Shane! Good on you!
Nice comparison man. Been waiting for this. Went with the ultra in the end as the difference wasn’t that much for me and I like the modern appointments.
Noiseless has a nice spongey sound and the single coil has a more full round sound. Great vid!
I listened with eyes closed, and every time I preferred the sound I opened my eyes. It was about 90% the white strat. Just more sparkle and dynamic range.
Lovely playing Shane. Well done. Both sound great, I prefer the brighter typically Strat sparkle of the single coils.
I really wish I had stumbled across this video 3 weeks ago! It could have possibly (not likely) saved me ending up with 2 new Strats instead of 1, an Ultra in the same Texas Tea finish and a Sunburst 50's Vintera Modified which has "Hot ‘50s Strat" pickups that sound really nice apart from the noise!
Great video all the same as always, thanks
The noiseless pickups sound darker to me - lose some of that chime and sparkle. The whole idea of the strat is to get that classic strat tone - shows you still need the single coils to get that. I DO hear the improvement Fender has made in the noiseless pickups when gain is applied.
The regular single coils had more definition and the noiseless compressed easier. My favorite thing about Strats is the quack and the noiseless definitely had less. Of course I have 3 Strats and they all sound different too. But I have been at certain gigs where my Strat was just making an horrible noise. In those situations I would have gladly used the Noiseless pups.
Great playing and tone. Super gritty but smooth. Like a sandy cappuccino
Your final thoughts are spot on……
I think the noiseless pickups sound just fine in the context of a mix. Of course, one can just use a gate, but that brings its own set of issues.
People may not think hum is a big deal, but some clubs have wiring/AC issues that magnify noise problems.
Even my apartment and other venues.
@@ricmel8008 I lived in an apartment in Brooklyn that had outdated wiring (it literally didn't have actual 3-prong grounding until a decade or so earlier!). It made everything hum, including my humbucker equipped Les Paul.
@@Andyanddiana467 I feel your pain. My apartment buzz like crazy. Whenever I am trying new equipment I have to take it to my friends house. I gig every week also. And the building I gig in also buzz.
Really cool video, two lovely guitars and those noiseless ones are pretty clever. However, it's hard to match that sound Malmsteen had on his first few albums when he just stuck a Strat through an analogue tube screamer or whatever it was he used. Both for rhythm and leads, that pure sound is amazing if you can bear the hum (I can't!)
Non-noiseless pick-ups sound better to my liking, but I'd think twice before choosing them over the noiseless ones -- is it worth the buzz?
Hi Shane,
To be honest, the noiseless pickups faired much better then I expected. I'm thinking that with just a slight tweak in the treble frequencies, you might be able to get them to sound virtually identical. I would be very interested in a video with you doing that. Merry Christmas 🎄 Shane. :-)
On my Elite, a quick little boost with a clean EQ is all it really needs to shine just like non-noiseless pickups. However I do find the N4’s to be pretty dark overall in most positions for some reason.
That’s true, you can make them sound very similar. You can bring the regular pickups down to the voicing of the noiseless, but you can’t raise the noiseless to the clarity of the regular ones. It’s the laws of physics.
IMO, you either like the regular pickups for what they are or you don’t.
I've tried old noiseless pickups, so maybe I'm still scarred by that, but they still sound more like a generic loud single coilish thing than they do a strat. It's particularly noticeable in the mixed positions.
For me they are Very close on clean sound.
But in overdrive there are more differences i think. But all sounds are amazing.
I think everyone needs to play on both before buing. Thanks for the video 🙏
I like them both? Both sound great in their own way. I’ve got a tele with gen 4 noiseless and I’ve been happy with them.
Thanks for the vid. Purely from the two example guitars, to my uninformed ears the traditional standard singles sound "woollier" and "warmer", and the noiseless more "glassy" and "bell-like". Toanz are subjective, but to said ears the more complex tone of trads generally lent itself noticeably better to single-note licks (especially on the B and high E strings), but I think the more glassy and transparent noiseless provide a definition, smoothness and consistency to chords and rhythm playing that I think work slightly better for jangly clean... and slightly more better for punchy distorted rhythm playing. I definitely think I liked the middle position more on the Ultra.
In spite of what I've just said, I'm not sure I preferred the noiseless examples overall, I did like the rounder bottom on the trads, but I can't help but think that could be fixed with eq/ amp settings. Same thing with the trads being a little too bright and sharp in places. It's a tough call... but at least I know if I ever want to buy a strat to wank blues licks ad nauseam on, or a strat to just to chug power chords on, I'd know which pickups to use respectively in either case. Great! Most of the big strat players are known for only doing only one or the other, right? Oh wait...
The noiseless sound fine . Much better than what the old ones sounded like . I like the plastic coverings . Maybe thats the trick to their great sound ? lol : ) Seriously fine sounding . Better than the Lace sensors I had tried back in the 90's . Cool topic .
I think I would Eq some sparkles back into the neck noiseless PU. Not toning the bridge standard down makes them noisy, and thinner than the noiseless. And not brightening the noiseless neck makes it sound flatter than the standard. So I think trying to achieve the best tone from either would have the player make some eq adjustments to compensate for the pros and cons and somehow it would be useful to hear that in a comparison one day. It might be similar to comparing humbuckers and single coils with the same sound settings which would be unfair to both clean and saturated.
And I thought the neck/middle setting for the noiseless coils would be a lost cause, but liked them more. And the standard bridge/middle setting beat the noiseless coils at the same setting hands down.
I imagine Noiseless Coil lovers begging for some more bright at the neck position, and Standard Coil lovers begging to tone the bridge down a bit. That said, you did set an excellent middle ground for the comparison. So the middle setting PUs were a little different, yet both middle coils sounded nice.
But my vote will go to the Noiseless coils because there might be more potential when we allow for adjustments..
Thanks.
Perfect approach to comparaison!!!
I agree completely. The biggest difference is the top end sparkle. Noting that, the Ultra Noiseless have come a LONG way and I really like them. Btw, your playing in this video was absolutely inspired! I don't think I've ever heard you play with that kind of fire in any other video! Maybe you were jamming to "Old Love" before shooting? lol
I'm putting a set of these pickups in my MIM Telecasters and the Eric Johnson pickups into my Stratocaster.
Honestly, I don't think any of us would be able to tell which was which if we weren't seeing it on screen. They do sound different, but they also both sound distinctly "strat." I think the singles are probably a bit clearer, and the noiseless are a bit warmer, but they both sound awesome.
Due to some recording studios and concert Halls not having good acoustics or proper grounding. I would suggest noiseless pickups.
Stopped by for the demo,, stayed for the playing.
My Jeff Beck Strat has noiseless pickups. That tiny bit of spank is missing, but you can easily tweak it back in with EQ and pedals.
i tried both. ultra sounded artificial and the paint was too thick. I chose the original 50s😎. because its a real blues soul.
Also, the channel is very enjoyable, thank you.💯
I have a Fender Ultra Jazzmaster with the noiseless Jazzmaster pickups . . . and I have a Fender Parallel Universe II Jazzcaster with the AVRI 65 Jazzmaster Pickups. Night and day, but the noiseless definitely have their place depending on the style and amp setup. I used to have an American Deluxe Tele and I could not stand the noiseless pickups in that (just a bit dead to me) and had Fender noiseless strat pickups that someone had put on a Warmoth Bass VI I picked up--swapped those out for more vintage correct and better sounding jag pickups. I think the noiseless have improved over time, and, like any pickup, will depend on what style and situation they are being used in.
Just got lost in the playing... forgot to compare the sound😳 Fantastic! Put me in mind of Gary Moore
Imo the noiseless sound better to my ears, cleaner! Good comparison, thanks Shane!
I have the HSS Ultra, it’s the perfect strat for me.
The pickups in the HSS are hotter than the ones in the SSS, so curious if they would noticeably different than the ones in this demo.
I was just wondering what number noiseless pickups you were using 3's or 4's? Both straps souned great either way to me different sounds make different creations.
Those noiseless are pretty good, but those singles do take it for me. Just sparkle a bit more, more character, more edge. But it’s got very close. Nice comparison there.
In this comparison the noiseless pups impressed me.
I've used Kinman noiseless pups live for several years and whilst great they lacked the straight single reactivity - slightly difficult to induce feedback. Put my texas specials back in my main Strat.
Thought experiment. Imagine that when the Stratocaster (and Telecaster) was first produced the pickups were hum free but then years (decades) later someone came up with an identical looking pickup boasting that they sounded superior BUT. . . they buzzed, would anyone prefer them? I doubt anyone would want them.
Very good point indeed
Something about the white Strat. KILLER TONE!!!
The perpose of the noiseless pickups was, to cancel out the hum that Fender single coils were notorious for, and to maintain the Fender classic tones.