I decided to swap out the pickups on my Tele for a set of Fender Ultra Noiseless pickups, especially as I have an Ultra Luxe Tele on order.
I want to have a similar sound / volume level between both guitars although I have opted for a rosewood fingerboard for the Ultra Luxe.
I have a vintage 50's reissue Tele (maple fingerboard - of course), which I had fitted with a 4 way to give the series / parallel option.
I record in a small room using 2 sets of stereo rack valve / tube amps and my preference is for single coils. I'm a fusion player and I need my clean sounds to have a clear sound. I also play with a fair amount of dirt as fusion is jazz rock/ jazz funk in its style. These pickups deliver yet again.
Unfortunately, single coils by nature produce a lot of noise in the close proximity of any amplifier and are also more prone, to pick up interference, especially in a room of studio equipment and many, many synths. This was one of the reasons I decided to go for a noiseless option.
These pickups really blew me away. They sound amazing and very single coil sounding, despite the fact these are humbuckers in design. All noiseless pickups, have to be some sort of humbucker.
I have these wired with a 5 way, so I also now have the series in and out of phase option, which is an unusual and lovely sound to have.
Both pickups in series in phase, have a lot of power as this sounds like a 'wide' humbucker.
I can't compare these to any other noiseless pickups as I have not tried these (other than the first generation years ago on a Strat). I'm sure these sound a lot better than what I remembered the first versions sounded like.
I am now contemplating doing a similar thing with my vintage 50's style Strat, especially as I plan to purchase a Strat Ultra down the line.
So, if you are considering a noiseless option, I would recommend these pickups.
