Fender Vintage Noiseless Hot Strat

Fender Vintage Noiseless Hot Strat
Reviewing the actual pickups here. Not a Strat with 'em in it. I bought a set of 3, and they are each honed in differently. The neck pickup will give you a lovely thick tone in clean mode (using the neck position in lead mode isn't really my thing). The bridge pickup gives you a super hot screaming tone on lead mode, and when used with the middle pickup you get a creamy Hendrix like tone. On clean, the bridge pickup gives you that Telecaster twang which is nice for a bit of blues, or some 'Stones or the like. Extremely versatile. 10/10 here.

Put them in a Fender Cycone II model (basically a Jagstang, but with three Jag single coils instead of one s/c and a 'bucker). The guiar itself has a Strat tremolo system, so they fitted right in it. Paid a fella in Dublin City to put them in (a measly ???40, and you get the peace of mind, knowing that if he cocks it up, he's buying you a new one!). They were originally designed and used by Jeff Beck, but I know the new Clapton Signature Strat has these in instead of the old Lace Sensors. Surely a good sign! They're fairly new on the market, so they haven't had a chance to flourish all that well. I put these in instead of the Jag pickups, 'cause they were found wanting in the 'clean' department, and weren't really up to the standard of a Strat with a bit of dirt either. I orginally wanted the Fender Texas Special pickups (the ones Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits uses), but saw these and decided to get them instead. I thought they'd be too good to be true. Surely they'd have a BIT of hum? But no. Not the faintest whisper. I was amazed. So were all my guitar playin buddies. I highly recommend them!

I've covered this already, really, so I'll be brief.
Clean Mode: Using the neck pickup alone, you get a funky 'Under The Bridge' tone. Using this with the middle pickup you get more of a 'Little Wing' tone. And the bridge pickup gives you a twangy Telecaster sound.

Dirty Mode: The bridge pickup is a lot hotter than the others. It will let you pump out endless screaming pinch harmonics, or a lighter surf rock sound. On my Peavey Bandit 112, if you turn down the Pre-gain, and flip it into Tube-gain, you get a crisp clear, but crunchy tone. Turning it up, gives you a GN'R sound. Flip on the middle pickup aswell, and you get a deeper, but still creamy and full tone. All of 'em on, gives you a super fat tone, but it's not really my bag.

If these pickups were broken, I probably would buy a new set. The fact that they're from America probably means they won't for a very long time. I was tempted to buy DiMarzios at the time as well, but they're only good for one thing: shredding, which we all grow out of. I'm more of a blues, and classic rock man at the moment. But there was a time when I used to race through 'Beat It' solos and 'Eruption' (well, I tried Eruption. Only get the tapping down. Then I grew up...). Also 'Hot For Teacher' was another. These pickups could easily do all that. And now I also play Hendrix, Rolling Stones, and a fair bit of Oasis and Stone Roses. Even some Bob Marley. These pickups are a dream come true. Only a matter of time before they're all standard on Strats.

These appear to be noisless single coil and is a fuul set of three.
They are rated as 10's but that is hard to believe.

These are a full set installed on an Amerivan Deluxe Strat V neck. The are replacing the stock S1 system.
These are standard in the Jeff Beck Strat.
I was looking for a fuller, hotter sound.

They are advertised as hot but are actually low output and thin to my ears.
I am using a Vibroking with OCD, Boss delay, and Chorus-Flange.
The tone is very trebly and unbalanced. The neck and middle pickups are about twice as loud as the bridge.
I play mostly classic rock and they sound awful -No crunch and thin. They feedback like crazy if I try to boost the signal with pedals. They do not even sound good playing mellow material.

They do not have to get lost. I am changing them ASAP.
I have been playing 35 years. I have many guitars including PRS McCarty Soapbar, LP Custom, ES347, Strat Plus with Hot, vintage, and cool rails (sound great), Mesa Single Rec, Stiletto.
It is hard to shop for pickups since they can't be test driven very easily. All my research seemed to be that this was the right choice but I was really wrong. In addition, I am out some money between the cost of the pups as well as installation. Luckily I had these wired to a new pickguard with 250K pots and my original system is totally intact. Live and Learn.

his Noiseless pickup set was designed exclusively for Jeff Beck. Jeff wanted a bigger sound and better tonal dynamics than a standard single coil pickup could deliver

DC Resistance :10.4K
Inductance : 3.5 Henries
Magnet : 2 Ceramic 8
Weighted Resonance : 3,100 Hertz

2002 MIM strat with maple neck, all positions. I replaced 2 stock pickups and a Carvin twin blade humbucker in the bridge.

The output is hot, higher than the carvin TB60 humbucker. If you play soft, they clean up real well, dig in harder and they distort very nicely. Very versatile.

I play contemporary Praise Band style music, pop, rock stuff. For the quiet sections you can play soft chimey chords / arpeggios. For the loud parts you can play the distorted power chords, with just differences in your attack. Leads sould very liquid and great tone, and I can now use all 3 pickups (5 switch positions) cuz they are NOISELESS.

They sound like a cross between a humbucker, powerful, but not muddy, and a single coil. Not quite as bright or thin, but still has much of the bell like chime.

If your strat sounds too thin for you, these are the ticket. I've used hot rails, carvins TB60 and AP11, and these are much better.

I've been playing 30+ years. These sound great directly into a tube amp, I use a pignose g60v. Add a ts-9 tube screamer and you can duplicate all the great classic rock tones.

I use a Digitech GNx4 at church for effects and variety and EQ, and volume control. It sounds fantastic with the marshall model, twin reverb model, rectifier, etc. It does it all.

This is the first pickup that I've ever been totally satisfied with. I just want to keep playing them. Most others I've tried such as hot rails and TB60 are an improvement, but still leave me wanting more. They have low output humbucker sound, but lose the stat sound.

I need to keep the strat sound, since my other guitars are gibsonSG, epi les paul, prs custom 24, strat with gibson humbucker, homemade les paul jr, home made strat with fulll size humbuckers. I need the single coil sound some times but can not have any noise or hum at church. Very demanding venue for hum / noise.

stacked single coil, passive.

Warmoth hollow body mahogany strat, rosewood neck.
All positions
doesn't matter
I wanted a hot single coil with no hum that was sharp enough to balance out the warm hollow mahogany body.

hot, almost as hot as a humbucker.
peavey 5150, 535Q wah > voodoo labs sparkle drive > small stone > 5150.
At the bridge position the highs and mids are ear piercing, in the other two positions the pickup lacks character, no warmth what so ever, just thin piercing notes. The lows on the neck and middle positions are adequite. The bridge pup is useless and will be replaced, dimarzio solo maybe. Dimarzio vv blues for the other two.

If these pickups disappeared out of my guitar i would be so happy. I have not been playing for more than 5 years, and don't own much gear, but i know when a pickup sucks. The quality of build isn't even good, The covers barely fit, and were sloppily put on. I would not recomend these to anyone, maybe i just have something against ceramic magnets, but these pickups sound horrible. Another reviewer said "sterile", thats whats these are. I will probably never buy a ceramic magnet pickup again, and probably won't try fender pickups again.

passive single coil, ceramic magnet

Squire Standard Stratocaster, all positions, replacing stock alnicos, wanted to eliminate hum

definitely have higher output, drives an amp into distortion at lower gain levels than stock pickups and eliminates hum as advertised, BUT the TONE is STERILE compared to standard alnico single coils and the build quality is horrible: magnet wire sloppily wound and sealed with scotch tape with pickup covers that don't fit very well.

I wouldn't get these again, and am planning on shielding the guitar and putting the stock pickups in.

Pickup features: Single coil, passive, noiseless
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: 1984-85 Squire Stratocaster
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock Squire Pickups
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Jeff Beck
You musical style(s): Classic Rock, Blues, Metal
Reason for pickup change: The orignial pickups were very musical, but extremely noisy in my setup.

Perceived output level: Hotter than vintage pickups
Tone: Warmer than the vintage pickups, but has slightly less 'sparkle' as well
Sonic evaluation: I am running these pickups in a Japanese Squire through a Fender Blues Deluxe and a Marshall DSL100 head through a JCM900 1960A cab loaded with Celestion G12-T75's.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: These pickups are great for classic rock and blues, even old metal.

Comments: These pickups are able to drive the crunch channel on my Marshall very nicely, even better than my Gibson Les Paul with their orininal humbuckers. I found the overall sound of these pickups not that different than the originals, but much quieter and hotter. With these pickups I was mostly aiming for that classic strat sparkly clean sound which I got minus the noise of the vintage pickups. I am very happy with them.

Pickup features: Passive dual coil
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender "Jeff Beck" artist signature strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Pups are factory placed
Other pickups on guitar: -
Artists using this pickup: Jeff Beck, probably...
You musical style(s): Classic rock, blues, country and fusion
Reason for pickup change: N/A

Perceived output level: Hotter than regular strat
Tone: Balanced, very wide spectrum due to the ceramic magnets, almost hi-fi sound
Sonic evaluation: I use a pre-amp on all of my passive-equipped strats, so here, the volume pot (25kohm) comes after the pre-amp, the pups run without load and show their extensive spectrum. As described above, if you play the guitar plain (e.g. through a hi-fi system), you'll hear a crystal clear, almost acoustic sound. Totally different than alnico pups (alnicos have a rather limited spectrum and a less hi-fi sound). That's what I also heard when, after making my set-up, I first tuned the guitar on my Korg PX-4 (tuner bypass mode) through headphones. But when I connected it on a real guitar amp, that's where the personality of the hot noiseless came shiny through. On clear settings, you have a very decent, thus extremely dynamic and expressive, very modern strat sound. Especially switch modes 2 and 4 deliver that L.A. crystal clean, chorus sound, as you may know it from Luke, M. Landau etc., but without needing that high end equipment... Just plug it on a simple Fender twin and see (listen..). The bridge pup is piercing, but not that much disturbing, after al many things depend on the amp's settings. The dynamics are to-die-for, in the meantime this JB strat became my mainly practicing axe, as, to get a sound out of it you got to really work on (as Jeff Beck also states..).
On crunch and ovedrive settings, the sensation was total: First of all, these pups are dead-quiet. They deliver high-end crunchy sounds, focused and somehow mid scooped (never expecting that when you've heard these pups clean...). Very nice and heavy bottomed chords, sounding good on higher gain settings. Through a DSL-50 Marshall, with moderate gain setting and fingerstyle, you come close to that modern JB sound. Still a 100% strat sound, but more contemporary. Lead licks come through without no problems. Bridge pup is very versatile on that, the neck one is more a singer. Harmonics sound very loud and precise (supported also by the nice wood). The pups are not microphonic in general, except some situations of very high volume playing, especially through the monitors.
Summarizing, the hot noiseless deliver an overall modern strat sound, with extreme dynamics and spectrum.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: For rock and fusion, these pups are home. Especially modern sounding rock music and 80's mainstream fit perfect..

Comments: Currently own 5 different strats, equipped with Kinmans, DiMarzios and EMG SA's. The Jeff Beck one is by far the most modern strat, obviously 99% due to the hot noiseless pups!!! Comparing with other strats of the same art (alder body, rosewood fingerboard, std. am. tremolo), it sounds totally different. So these pups are a big complement in my strat collection. I'd really miss'em. I wouldn't place them, if I had only one strat, as I come more from classic rock and blues sounding music, and this stuff is better supported by more vintage sounding (means alnico...) pups. But for what they deliver, they are 100% on the target...
The pups are nice and solid built, covers come with a decent "Noiseless" decal. Though, if you swap covers, look out how you take the cover from pup, not to damage the coil endings. Another nice detail is the correct spacing of the pole pieces for neck and middle pups, as, on the JB strat (on which mainly they are designed to be placed) with the std. am. tremolo, strings are narrower spaced than on a vintage trem unit.
I fully recommend the hot noiseless to people who like a modern sounding strat, underlining all three words: "Modern", "Sound", "Strat"!!!

Pickup features: Three single coil noisless pickups
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: MIJ Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Lace Sensor Blue (N) Silver (M) Gold (B)
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Jeff Beck
You musical style(s): All over the map, Rock to R&B, Blues, Funk.....
Reason for pickup change: Wiring was acting wonky, so decided that if I needed to rewire things, I would swap out the PUPS. Never played the guit live, just picked up in hock shop for something to beat around. Have since, replaced pickguard, all electronics, saddles, nut, and a fret job. Now it's my #1 guitar.

Perceived output level: Slightly hotter than traditional single coils
Tone: Great overall tone, but the high end on the bridge pickup can be a little "ice-picky", so when rewiring I used the Eric Johnson wiring pattern, this takes the second tone knob, and instead of it controlling the mid PUP, it now alters the bridge. so you can roll off some of the high-end on the bridge PUP and it sounds fan-freakin-tastic. The two out of phase positions quack really really nicely. Clean these PUPS sound really great, and with a little dirt they can sing,
Sonic evaluation: Have played this guit through, a blues deville, 3x10, a hot rod deluxe 1x12, Line6 PodXT Live, fender princeton, and 65 deluxe reverb amps.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Again all sorts of music, and the sounds available to me from these PUPS and this guitar are versitile enough to cover them all

Comments: I would totally buy these again. I was looking at Kinman, and Fralin PUPS as well. For the price these were the best value. If I had unlimited cash, I may go with the Kinmans, but I may not, I really like these pickups.

Pickup features: Passive single coil picks that are wound like humbuckers
Impedence or other specs: Alinco V magnets

Model of guitar or bass: Mid 90`s Mexican Fender Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Cheesy stock ones
Other pickups on guitar: N/A
Artists using this pickup: Jeff Beck
You musical style(s): Many styles of music
Reason for pickup change: Stock pickups made too mych noise

Perceived output level: nice clean sounds but sounds evil with the gain on it
Tone: trebly ( but depends with effects)
Sonic evaluation: Guitar in going thru my Boss GT-6 to my cheap Pignose

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: The pickups are a match for the music I want to play

Comments: Got them used , great value

Pickup features: stacked humbuckers
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Warmoth Strat project
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: New build, I got these in a pickguard assembly.
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Supposed to be Jeff Beck model
You musical style(s): mostly country, rock,. blues
Reason for pickup change: New guitar build. I wanted something different. I got it.

Perceived output level: They sound louder than stock, great frequency response and projection.
Tone: Nota t all like Vintage, despite the name. Quite extended frequency response. Never muddy. A rather scooped sound.
Sonic evaluation: My Warmoth Strat project: light ash body, maple neck with ebony fingerboard with the Warmoth compound radius and high stainless steel frets. I use Crate tube amps. I've grown from "intersting tone" when I first played it to "what a great tone!" a short time later. Hard to describe the tone but I get great clean notes with excellent sustain and definiton. The overdriven tone is fine as long as it comes from the amp. These pickups are clean, clean, clean. When I bend a tone, the tone really hangs in there. It's big sound.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Not great for trad jazz ( too much built in treble) but appropriate for everything else. The in-between postions quack nicely.

Comments: If stolen, I'd probably get them again. It makes a nice compliment to my other Start with Rio Grande pickups. IF you're thinking you'll lose the Strat treble with these 'bucking pickups, fear not. The treble is there in all positions but it's never too sharp or thin sounding