Noiseless vs. Traditional Single Coil Blind Test! How Big is the Difference?

Cooper put Chris through a little blind test to see how different these two types of single coil pickups sound-- using the Noiseless on an Ultra Luxe and Traditional on an American Pro II, let us know how big of a difference you hear!
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[@goteefreak]

Love the blind test. Would definitely be down for full pickup comparison videos.

[@Luis-en6lw]

We're down.

[@allenstowe4864]

I think it would be interesting to compare the tone of noiseless pickups against single coils using a noise gate or other noise prevention measures.

[@scouser2230]

I was surprised at how close the two sets of pickups sounded; however, as I only play for my own pleasure,not gigging, I would opt for the slightly more chimey non- noiseless pickups.

[@Luis-en6lw]

More like this please! Keep up the great videos

[@svartsjokolade]

Humdebugger sounds like a humbucker suitable for a Stratomacaster. Great vid!

[@Tonneback]

Great episode. More like that please

[@angusorvid8840]

Greg Koch is right regarding employability. If you have a noisy guitar it won't help you get the gig. Guitarists have a bad reputation for being noisy, so if you want the gig, besides playing ability you need a quiet, controllable rig, and noiseless pickups are a part of this. I recall two of my guitar teachers in the mid 80s who both had EMGs. They were both session players and they quite teaching because of all the gigs they were getting. They told me why they had actives and showed me how they worked. At the time I was playing a standard strat and I couldn't belove how much quieter their EMG set were. So I popped some into my strat and played them for years.

[@CanalCruisers]

I can 100% relate to this! My “workhorse” guitar is a strat. Love playing the neck pickup, but I often have to switch to pos.4 at gigs/rehearsals for the noiseless sound (reverse wound middle pickup is a lifesaver!). It’s just more practical to have noiseless pickups or at least a noiseless option for me, at least

[@FuzzWoof]

Yup, spent most of the 90's as a session player, most of my working guitars had EMGs. I preferred the tone of my passives, but for paid work actives won every time.

[@romzen]

They all want to sell you their crap and push marketing narratives on you. I like Greg Koch but he is full of crap here. He is a phenomenal player but if you learn one thing early on then it is to control your rig's noise. That's part of the job. Same goes for all of these music stores. They have new products they need to push. Of course, they will pretend to support the noiseless pickups. Meanwhile, WE ALL KNOW that these guys are tone snobs like all of us. Like any of them would gladly sacrifice tone for something so blatantly unnecessary when you have volume pedals, volume knobs, noise gates and pickup mid positions, kill switches, etc. During playing, noise is irrelevant anyway.

[@raoulduke344]

I got the EMG DG20s but I really wasn't keen. I didn't think the neck pickup sounded like a great single coil (EMGs are essentially P90s with strat winding). I swapped it over for the Black Strat set up (Fat 50s, CS69 and SSL-5) and haven't put them back in, though I probably will give them another go soon. Don't get me wrong, they do sound great in their own way and the noiseless aspect is brilliant. Brilliant modern tone.

[@daveormand4977]

I heard a custom shop ‘52 Tele with the Twisted Tele Relic neck pickup and the Broadcaster Relic bridge pickup. Unsure what amp/pedal set up but it was the best sound that I have heard. I’m a beginner player but an old pro listener and it was fantastic. Great video guys and along eith all the other comments, keep’m coming!!🤘🏽

[@korykoster8532]

I think the real decider is to take your non noiseless to a dive bar somewhere with crappy wiring and try and play vs using the noiseless. Its a no brainer. If you are a play at home bedroom guy then by all means. As a working musician it has to work and it has to be quiet.

[@AmbientMelancholy]

Great episode as always, fellas!

[@iancurrie8844]

In our practice space there’s some kind of electrical interference. Really quite severe. I’ve tried killing the breaker and using a headphone amp but it’s still there. It shows up on humbuckers and single coils alike. I happened to find a great deal on a player plus start with its noiseless pickups and, totally amazingly, the noise is completely filtered out on them. Total blissful silence! Even when only one pickup is in use. So there are some REAL advantages here other than just 60 cycle hum. That said, the pickups have a certain compression to them. That means each string seems to have the same volume and all can be heard very uniformly. It also means the dynamic range is crushed and there’s not as much dynamics available, especially if you’re playing fingerstyle with lots of dynamics. As with everything in life, it’s a trade off.

[@frankmitman3347]

Such a subtle difference I don’t think anyone in an audience would know or care.

[@taylordiclemente5163]

Do you care? Would listeners to your recording care?

[@sasume1859]

That’s often the case for just about every nice tone, it’s the little things that add up though and the audience may not always be aware of the slight difference but it’s still noticeable

[@nathanjasper512]

​@@sasume1859Yeah but also not having noise is also a benefit to the tone, and the ability to play subtle things.

[@enriquemendez1507]

Lol yeah because every musical decision is based on what the audience thinks. Imagine that

[@jojojojojojojojojojojojob]

the attack is missing on the noiseless.. makes sense since attack is mostly top end...

[@ronmoore1219]

I love these blind tests! I really thought the noiseless would be fuller with less high end, but m, I agree, there wasn’t much difference. Timely video fir me as I’ m gassing fire a tele, and looking at options. Player Plus and swap out the pick ups to CS Texas Specials? Puts me in Yosemite territory. Which isn’t too far from V-mods. I’ll contact you guys when the time comes. Thanks for doing all of this for us.

[@ladyluckdrums]

I love my Fender player plus nashville tele, which has Noiseless pickups. That is the only guitar I have that never sees its case. Amazing guitar!

[@KaiserSoze-vx6vo]

What about a Noiseless Gen5 or Gen 4 against Seymour Duncan Hot Chicken Tele pickups?

[@Luis-en6lw]

Your thumbnails look amazing on the recent videos!

[@thomvinson]

Fun! Well done guys!

[@BaktaBak3]

First time around , liked the single coil , 2nd & 3rd time around listening....preferred the noiseless.

[@leonarddaneman810]

Huge difference, thanks to the excellent recording job. The spike/sparkle of the Traditional came through while the Noiseless were, well, warmer . . . less spikey and chimey. Perhaps changing the pot to a higher value, or going with a .1 cap . . . I chose Vintage Noiseless for a Korean E9 restoration because they are one of the few flush pole pickups Fender makes. Direct Drive were an option . . . but they are a hot pickup. The Noiseless were 2X the price, but came with replacement pots, caps, and a treble bleed.

[@seanwoods122]

I will have to say, for my ears i heard a noticeable difference. Noiseless definitely pulled a lot of that high end. The regular pickups (from my setup) was thinner and high, whereas the noiseless had a slightly warmer sound lower tone. Just my opinion.

[@ThomasHope73]

Noise gates don’t work like that, as far as I know.

[@bla_blub]

Great video. I would be interested in a comparison of traditional vs. hum cancellings Jaguar pickups.

[@SeemsLikeSomething]

Wouldn’t it be nice to have the ultra available off the shelf with either noiseless or high end true single coils as an option! It’s the only thing keeping me on the fence because otherwise I love everything about the feel of the ultra strat.

[@PeterSchuett]

I think the real interesting general question is how to reduce noise. Here, you tackle one answer, which is noiseless pick ups. But there are others, e.g. good cables and good power supplies for the pedal board. I would appreciate some more hints and comments in this regard.

[@SBahamondes]

Why would you need a power supply for a paddleboard?

[@PeterSchuett]

@@SBahamondes sorry, was a typo. Corrected.

[@SBahamondes]

@@PeterSchuett It was a joke dude don't worry bout it

[@picksalot1]

I got a Reissue Strat long ago, and the hum with the original pickups made the guitar almost unusable. I replaced them with Kinman pickups, and that solved the noise/hum issues. They don't sound tonally exactly like noisy hum producing Single Coils, but two sets of the same make and model pickups don't sound identical either. If you want noiseless/stacked humbuckers to sound brighter, and janglier, nothing is stopping anyone from turning down the bass, turning up the treble and/or presence, using EQ, or using Tone Matching software. Also, what can be done using modern Modelers almost makes pickup types moot.

[@danialm8122]

Eric Clapton use the noiseless pickup to almost all on his guitar today.

[@TommySG1]

I have a few Warmoth Strats and Tele’s and I just put a set of noiseless Gen 4’s in one of them along with a nice harness and I can honestly say it sounds fantastic. I don’t know why they catch so much negativity. Maybe the earlier ones weren’t too good, I’ve never tried those however the later ones certainly sound great IMO.

[@rzh3443]

Yea, very small difference thru headphones. No difference in a noisy bar or stadium ! No reason to run in shame with either.

[@dustdevilz4771]

I have an American Ultra Tele with noiseless. I can’t hear a big difference compared to my other Tele but the guitar itself is a Cadillac. Nice demo. Thanks

[@underwatersunlight3795]

Nice video, guys. I like the comparison. Maybe keep us in the dark, too, until the reveal?

[@eclecticexplorer7828]

Personally, I thought the difference was fairly significant. To my ear, the noiseless pickups noticeably rolled off the high-end, less chime-y. I listened blind as well, BTW. As I am not a gigging musician, I have less concern about feedback. If it becomes more of a problem for me, I will try other ways to mitigate, as Chris mentioned up front.

[@rakshas1340]

that was my thought also, i do love my high-end.

[@Dang...]

What a great guitar player! The noiseless sounded damn good. Traditional did have more highs but unless they're played back to back it would be very hard to notice the noiseless being less bright.

[@skateborg]

You two should start a band named Grandiose Richards

[@bmg696]

I'm surprised you mentioned the Ultra Luxe noiseless was generating hum....I have both an Ultra Luxe Tele and a Pro II Tele with Gen 4 Noiseless pickups. They generate zero noise. Also, just curious, when you guys compare single coil guitars, especially cheap vs. expensive, I never hear any 60hz hum. How do you, or any guitar promoter, filter that out of your video? Thanks :)

[@annunacky4463]

To get the noiseless to have more pop, I just adjust EQ on my Classic 30 amp. Works for me.

[@spokes28]

I understand that the Fender Noiseless Pickups are experiencing failures, are you finding this?

[@artysanmobile]

A pickup fail??!? In 50 years on 10 guitars, I have never ever had a pickup failure.

[@joeldowdy404]

I can tell the difference and prefer the 60 cycle hum sound and feel, noiseless pickups sound lifeless to me and don't like the way they react.

[@michaelbosch9024]

i got noiseless on my tele, I was pleasantly surprised at how warm they are for a tele.

[@jeffrey3498]

Hey Chris, don't play with Cooper, er, I mean Jesus. He'll vanguish you to Purgatory 🤣👍

[@stoneglad]

Perfect timing! I’ve been thinking of replacing the noiseless pickups in my surf green Telecaster Ultra Luxe that I bought from you a couple months ago ! They seem a little lifeless/ lacking personality to me. I don’t play out at venues, I play at home or occasionally jam with friends, so I don’t need the noiseless per se (although no hum is nice, maybe not at the “cost” of losing great time? ) I’ve also not heard the best reviews on the V-Mods vs. Custom shop Nocaster 51’s, Twisted Tele’s or even the Pure Vintage 65’s. Anyone with experience have any opinions on these pickups or even non Fender brand Tele Pickups?

[@miguelangelvacaheredia8230]

HI mate, I have a nashville telecaster 2022 with 3 noiseless pick ups..... I did not like it at all....they sound really thin...no bass at all.... very compresed....not a vibrant sound....I changed for a texmex and now the guitar sounds really amazing.... its hard to explain....but noiseless are not providing the wide open rich sound that SC has

[@snailsfrogslegs119]

Great video guys; and yes please do more on the subject! Here's my two cents... I would never want noiseless pickups in a Strat. Switch to 2 or 4 when noise is a problem. I want the option of producing the clear chime and ring when possible. However, I would not mind noiseless in a jazzmaster; I like the rich strong mids there and those noiseless pickups in the Ultra sound great. I'm going to get a 61 vintage II Strat in Fiesta Red soon; no clunky double-coils in that beauty. After that, upgrading the Jazzmaster to an Ultra in mocha burst... seems like the perfect overall guitar to me.

[@FuriousMess]

been using Bill Lawrence Wilde pups for over a decade in all my builds, repairs and upgrades. Yup thry're stacked hb's but they have that single coil sound. Bill originally designed Fender's SCN and noiseless pups. He was a genius that many copied.

[@romzen]

Yes, you can hear the difference. And I even if you cannot tell the difference, on a subliminal level you will be able to appreciate the less compressed, more defined, twangy, smacking and lively tone of actual single coils. And if you cannot tell the difference, then you won't be able to identify many other nuances. 12:39 That's simply not true. That's not how a noisegate works. A noisegate will kill all your input signal as long as the signal's strength does not meet a specific threshold. Once you're loud enough everything will be let through. It is binary and will not selectively affect specific frequencies.

[@teresathomley3703]

Grandiosity is the hallmark of a happenin' beard.

[@pazuso]

I thought it would be easy because the traditional pups will have hum haha

[@PerKarlsson-s4u]

Noice less pick ups and vintage noice less pick ups ser stacked Humbuckers With much higher out put than the old PAF Humbuckers. Sorry to say but physics does not allow a stacked Humbucker to sound like a single coil even if you want it. Fender does a good job hiding the fact that Noice less and Vintage Noiseless pick ups are Humbuckers. They do exactly the same as side by side humbuckers do. They put 2 coils stacked upon each other and by putting one coile to one side and one coil to the other side they cancel each other out just like a side by side Humbucker. They Work the exact same way. The only reason they use stacked Humbuckers in Fender guitars is because it would look awful to have them side by side. So when you have 3 vintage noice less pick ups in a Stratocaster you have in effect a HHH confoguration. But there are so mant things Fender does not say in public but looking in their Research and devolopment papers from 1985 you can see that because of the active system rum by a batteri in the Clapton signature Stratocaster when the boost button is off it still has 12 DB mid boost ( More than a Gibson Humbucker that has 11 DB mid boost at its highest). Then youtube can go up to an incredible 25 DB mid boost. At 25 DB mid boost the Clapton Stratocaster is abot 20 to 25 times More powerful than a Gibson Les Paul Humbucker wise. Even With the boost off the Clapton signature Stratocaster is a lot More powerful than a Gibson Les Paul Humbucker wise. Clapton according to his auto biography only played a Stratocaster for 8 to 11 years. He started Recording With a Stratocsster in 1974 ( all earlier solo Records and Derek and the Dominos were recorded with a Gibson Les Paul by Clapton, see page 179 in his auto biography) by 1982 he was fed up Withbthe Stratocaster and signed with Strings and Things. A guitar company making excellent Humbucker guitars. A year or 2 later Fender offers Clapton the biggest amount of money ever to sign With Fender. Clapton responds ” If you can make me the absolute most powerful Humbucker guitar in the world I sign With Fender ”. Fender succeds in building the absolut most powerful Humbucker guitar the world has ever seen. Even today nothing gets Close. And Clapton signs With Fender. Thats the guitar Clapton has used Sinclair early 1986 and became the Clapton signature Stratocaster in 1988. Clapton only used a Stratocaster between 1974 and December 1985 but deducted Without the time he was under contract With Strings and Things and played their Guitars Clapton concludes he only used a Stratocaster for 8 to 11 years in his auto biography. The Reason the Clapton signature Stratocaster is between 25 to 30 times more powerful than a Gibson Les Paul at 25 DB mid boost Humbucker wise is because Humbucker power doubles every 3 DB mid boost. At maximum the Gibson Les Paul has 11 DB mid boost. At 14 DB mid boost the Humbucker power doubles. At 17 DB mid boost its 4 times more powerful Humbucker wise. At 20 DB mid boost its 8 times more powerful Humbucker wise. At 23 its 16 times more powerful Humbucker wise. Had the Clapton signature Stratocaster had 26 DB mid boost instead of 25 DB mid boost it would have bern 32 times Moe powerful than A Gibson Les Paul. Now at 25 DB mid boost its about 25 to 30 times more powerful than a Gibson Les Paul Humbucker wise. Off course the Clapton signature Stratocaster is not a Stratocaster even Clapton says it in his auto biography. A Stratocaster is a single coil guitar. The Clapton signature Stratocaster is easily the most powerful Humbucker Guitar in the world. If you fint have a very powerful amp it Will brake.

[@officialWWM]

I love noiseless pickups! I love Teles, I hate 60 cycle hum, especially in the studio!

[@TREVORJB101]

I love the 60s cycle hum

[@Dreamdancer11]

Well if you want to nitpick about differences then at least get prime noiseless pickup sets like kinman sets and not the standard fender noiseless ones.....there are better sets out there for true single coils and noiseless pickups alike, so for guitars that cost thousands at least go for the upper echelon of electronics too.....also noiseless work better with specific pot values and are most height sensitive than the regular singles....

[@BennyTheBusker]

An interesting and useful comparison video, although I would have preferred to have been a blind listener too, without being told in advance which pickups were Noiseless. Even so, it was very obvious to me that the Noiseless pickups did not sound as bright, strong, and traditional Tele-sounding as the Single Coil pickups, which I prefer on a Telecaster.

[@mhugman99]

It sounded like a pretty significant difference listening with headphones. The traditional pickups had more high end “sparkle” you could say. It even sounded like you played it better. I think on your next test you should record just the 60 cycle hum and play it in the background while both guitars are being tested to make it more of a true blind test.

[@miguelangelvacaheredia8230]

great video!! ... I got a Nashville Tele 2022 MIM, 3 noiseless pickups..... they have a pretty good sound when using medium and high gain... BUT i just cannot enjoyed...im more like a rythim guitar player... noiseless doesn not have a very dynamic sound... a traditional single coil is very resonnant, very vibrant.... Noiseless on my experience sound like VERY COMPRESED... I tried them like 6 months and the sound did not inspired or excited me when playing.... finally I change the bridge and midle for Tex Mex pickups... and the Telecaster Nashville sounded like a dream... singing wide open ... of course thisi s my personal experience and taste.... I felt like noiseless SC sound near to a humbucker Split coiled....

[@paulttucker]

How does that sound when you have them playing in series (with bridge and neck or all three)?

[@DoD890]

The noiseless pickups in my Fender Player Plus Tele just flat sucked. Fralin fixed that. I think gen1 noiseless are stock. Gen1?

[@gmusik3488]

to be honest this is a fair test but the main difference here is the Vintage Bridge and the Modern Bridge... this change the sound a lot. I would be interested to hear a noiseless pickup in that old vintage bridge.... this would be a very good test.

[@BaronsDuju]

I'm sure that somewhere out there with the millions of single coil variants, there's one out there that sounds identical to the noiseless.

[@johnbotsford6897]

Are both guitars shielded, or either?

[@chadedwards1037]

Would noiseless pickups help with ground loops??

[@kennygardner5041]

Yes there is a difference but I take the noiseless. Less splatty with gain and when playing gigs with dirty wiring less noise. I use both but there are gigs where I cannot use my vintage spec pickups with lots of gain and/or effects.

[@gratefulpat2015]

I love your videos !!! always attractive, fun and very interesting - I just regret I'll probably never visit you, or order from you... as I Iive in France, this might induce unnecessary headaches 😅

[@johnmarler6735]

I can hear the difference and I like both.

[@YOutsider]

Fender noiseless sound notched. Kinman in Australia did a pretty good job of noiseless. Fender is genius for putting them in maxultra line. …for just a little more, get in line for the custom shop if you want high end with real pickups.

[@taylordiclemente5163]

All pickups are real pickups.

[@felipego8532]

Is it gen4 noiseless or vintage noiseless?

[@davidbeaudin1106]

Noiseless seems more clean sounding

[@ParaBellum2024]

I want a Tele to sound like a Tele, so if noiseless pickups achieve this, that's great. I've read that Fender's early ones sound "compressed", being ok at low volumes but not so good when gigging. Not sure how true this is.

[@EdibleDeodorant]

I just bought an Ultra Tele, and I play mostly clean through a Princeton Reverb.... think I need to change these bad bears even though they do sound amazing with gain. What do I throw in?? The Pro II sounds incredible.

[@JohnMcRae-zs2lc]

This is like watching two sommeliers trying to see if they can taste the difference between the pinot noir grown on the west bank of the Russian River vs. that grown on the east bank. Ridiculous. 50/50 shot at getting it right, which, of course, Chris did. What would have been the point had he not? The same: there's no real discernable difference between the two pick-ups.

[@shannondosher1270]

Stifflers cousin?

[@adamofathens]

Yeah there's a difference but is one better than the other? They both sound good to me.

[@forest4283]

I appreciate the test - but what about the bridge? Me thinks you need to do a noiseless vs. non, both with a brass bridge.

[@underwatersunlight3795]

Have you heard of the pickup manufacturer „Amber“? If so, how do you like them?

[@xxluis179xx8]

So you don't waste your time, the demonstration starts at 5:45

[@Plextortion]

When I saw this, I was hoping for a newer Clapton Strat vs a standard single coil equipped Strat.

[@mfledermauskonig8949]

Nice video. The discussion seemed like a flashback to the days of tape hiss and Dolby. It got rid of high end slightly, but the recordings sounded much better. I think as they kept coming out with ever newer versions of Dolby, it got better and better. I’m wondering if you couldn’t just EQ, or use treble boost to get the “spank” you are wanting? I guess it would require an O-scope to see exactly what is happening to those frequencies, rather than a listening test? What if that “spank” turns out to just be microphonic “noise”? Then what? ;-)

[@grahamsmith2381]

If Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Brent Mason, Reggie Young , Dave Gilmore, Vince Gill, Mark Knopfler, Danny Gatton Hank Marvin have used noise cancelling pickups during their careers ( Fender, EMG, Kinman , Barden) maybe it’s good enough for some of us.

[@stuminnis4050]

I prefer the slightly darker humbucker tone anyway. Replaced the singles in my Mustang with DiMarzio hum-cancelling stacked and it just sounds better, irrespective of 60Hz hum.

[@craigthomson3621]

Disappointing that the noiseless pickups didn’t filter out the sound of the squeaky stool!

[@ripw1]

I have an ultra luxe strat as well as an original and , to me, it's a big difference. Im not a fan of the noiseless BUT , i prefered the Gen 4 in the Elites. With a boost pedal that is a great sounding guitar but, it doesn't sound like authentic strat. Just different

[@fmh357]

I have no bias either way but I could tell a slight difference. Whether that difference is good or bad depends on what you want to hear. I like single coils, and I like humbuckers. It's all good.

[@gorlagOv]

I’m not a big fan of noiseless pickups.

[@thadlogan51]

I have an American performer and just bought an ultra tele. I used to have a pro II. In comparing the performer and ultra side by side for hours I think that the ultra sounds brighter and the performer fuller. I'm not sure it's the pickups though alone. The ultra has a thinner body and neck than most teles which could impact the tone. My performer buddy and neck is much thicker. Also to compare correctly your have to adjust the volume and EQ... because some pickups and guitars inherently are louder, brighter, etc. than others. After changing the volume and EQ I don't think one pickup set sounds better than the other, except for the neck pickup is significantly clearer on my performer... and in overdrive my ultra is significantly fatter... better sounding... maybe because they are really stacked single coils like mentioned in this video...not sure. In any case both sound pretty awesome... I wouldn't hesitate to buy noiseless pickups after owning a guitar with them... again they sound just as good or better in some cases... both have advantages and disadvantages... but I think the advantages of the noiseless pickups outweigh the negatives...

[@T1374]

Change string gauge to see what happens. 8, 9, 10, 11. String size makes a difference as well.

[@martinlee6694]

I bought ultre luxe stra and tele.I was wrough They to heavy and noiseless sounnd ametur . I Need custom 3kilo pure singel. Now I know a bit ekspensise,but i needed a tele and strat. Lee1❤

[@algrundau9441]

Pepsi vs Coke....Floyd Rose vs anything else....Noiseless vs any other single Coil....Hahaha....They certainly have their Pro and Con camps don't they? Some swear by them, some swear at them.

[@nohero178]

humdebugger lol!

[@SG_____]

There's more charm in the traditionals.

[@danpritchett5617]

Guitar 1 clearly has more of the traditional SPANK from the traditional Tele pickups.

[@koonsickgreen6272]

top notch noodling

[@69goldi]

This is why I play a Les Paul🤣

[@danpritchett5617]

Boils down to personal preference.

[@StephenRybacki]

I used to obsess over these things a lot. In my estimation, if your situation calls for a single coil sound that is absolutely noiseless then get a set of noiseless pickups and stop worrying if they sound exactly the same as a noisy set. Even two "identical" noisy sets are gonna sound different if you want them to. Obsess instead over technique so that if you play a cigar box guitar, you can make people weep.

[@ebaybasuki]

Nothing touches the Zexcoil pickups. 100% noiseless, 100% strat tone. It's been out for years but not many pick them up.

[@StuartwasDrinkell]

People who make noise about this are full of it... it's pure snobbery... are there better noise pups than the noiseless 5s... for sure.