Noiseless pickup on an Fender American Ultra Telecaster

[CaptainLemming]

Has anyone any experience with these? I put some early renditions of noiseless pickups in a strat back in the late 90's and IMO they were a so-called "tone suck". I will of course try them out, if possible, at a local GC but I wanted to know if people here like them. I mean, I roll the tone off a bit now (sometimes more than a bit) anyways but I'd hate to kill tone any other way.

Also, does anybody play Fender American Ultra Telecaster?

[AllanAllen]

Not the same thing but I have a new Stratocaster with noiseless pickups. Sounds just like a strat to me.

I’m not a tone hunter though, so I guess it all depends how obsessive you are.

[CaptainLemming]

Not the same thing but I have a new Stratocaster with noiseless pickups. Sounds just like a strat to me.

I’m not a tone hunter though, so I guess it all depends how obsessive you are.

I'm trying to lay off the tone hunting. In my case it's the thrill of the chase or, rather, perhaps more the frustration of the chase. My latest obsession is my modeler. I'm pretty sure these things are designed to keep most people, me, tweaking parameters and not actually playing. So many parameters! I need to learn how to leave well enough alone.

Thanks for your input on your strat's output! You've inched me closer to a new telecaster. Always a good thing!

[st.bede]

Overall, I tend to not like the noiseless PU. I do hear a little flattening of the sound. I would not say compression but less harmonic overtones and a different sense of “air”. It is not that the highs do not extend, but they lose something.

My feeling are such, that if I want to go and try out guitars, I will skip the noiseless ones.

At the same time, there has been times where they seemed to work really well. Like everything else, there are a bunch of tone shaping components all mixing together. I bet the most important element is the amp.

When it comes to PU, they are not too difficult to change or extremely expensive to change. Even though that is true, when a guitar reaches a certain price point, I am not going to buy it, with the added cost of changing PUs. I have passed up on many guitars due to that feeling.

[Alter]

In my opinion, the only reason to get these pickups is if you gig often and have problems with noise here and there. They are ok, but not the real, well known fender sound.

[jim777]

I think the v4 pickups from Fender are fine, and nicer than the v3 pickups. I still prefer their Pure Vintage '64 Custom Shop pickups though

[Jonathan0996]

I played one a few years ago and didn’t dig it. The pickups sounded kind of dull and lifeless to my ears (although I loved the blended radius neck.)

I played one of the current ones today and thought the pickups sounded fantastic. I was kind of shocked. Definitely an improvement. Certainly worth a try.

[lammie200]

I like the Dimarzio Area Ts that I have on my thinline partscaster FWIW.

[Cunamara]

The Area T Tele pickups are great for jazz IMHO, has a bit of a rounded top end which I like. Truly noiseless IME, even when playing by a bar window with neon lights. I also really like the Wilde L280TN, which is a touch clearer and brighter on top and has a bit of a P90 character. I have an L280 in the neck of my Strat, sounds *really* great there- not glassy and thicker than a standard Strat.

[P.J.]

I have 3 Bardens in my '93 Tele and they have been in there for almost 25 years. Totally dig Bardens.