Installed the Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Pickups in my Strat

kannibul

kannibul

New member
They sound pretty good - DAMN good clean, not quite as good dirty.

No noise - which is nice :)

4th position w/reverb from the JVM on channel 1/green = blissfull cleans.

Bridge by itself is good and rawnchy with gain - on higher gain modes, it gets "lost" a bit more than the OEM pickups, but a hell of a lot less noise. OD1 Green is about as far as I'd say it sounding good.

OD2 doesn't (so far) sound all that great with the pickups - then again, I'm still adjusting, and I need to really get things tweaked better on the neck/action before I pass any harsh judgement.
 
:|::QBB:
carlygtr56":d3c2c said:
are they the "hot' ones?
i got the hot version in my CS JB Strat and love em
Click to expand...

I don't think they make "hot" ones.

I know with the Vintage pickups, they do, but I think with the SCN's are just one type.
 
:|::QBB:
SgtThump":3019d said:
If you find that there's too much "bite" when using distortion and the bridge pickup alone, try rolling back the tone on the guitar just a little. That's about the only time I'll use a tone control on the guitar.
Click to expand...

Good tip, and I use it (also, the only time I ever have!) :)

The Strat I have has this "no load" tone control, that clicks, just rollit off that to around 8 or 9, and it's great - thickens it up (surprisingly!)

I know I could read the manual and find out, but, how high/close do you set the pickups? They seem to want to go rawnchy easily, so I have them maybe 1/4" off the pickguard on the low E, with a pretty good "tilt" to it towards the high E.

The only thing I didn't like about these pups were the leads from the pickup - I re-soldered new wire since the stiff that was on there was breaking and likely wouldn't have survived installation - while I was at it, I just hard-wired the center wire to the ground wire (as the instructions suggested doing on the volume pot, just doing it on the other end)...

Should I get SD's later, I'll solder new leads on them both. I do like that aspect of these pickups over others I've messed with - you can at least replace the leads!

:D
 
I hated the SCN in my 50th. They sound good with lots of gain but anything clean or semi overdriven they sound sterile and lifeless to me. Im pretty anal about single coils though.
 
:|::QBB:
Telephant":abd3f said:
I hated the SCN in my 50th. They sound good with lots of gain but anything clean or semi overdriven they sound sterile and lifeless to me. Im pretty anal about single coils though.
Click to expand...

I feel the opposite about it - odd!

Then again, Pete told me I'd hate the tone of the bridge pickup in my strat - and I liked it - just not the hum.

What pups are you using?

With gain, I thought they sounded too thick, etc - clean, they sound really good, IMO.


That said, what are the two screws on the bottom of the bridge pup for?
 
:|::QBB:
SgtThump":f92e6 said:
I have Fender pickups that say "Noiseless" on the covers in my Tele. Are these the SCN pickups or were there other versions that said "Noiseless?"

I bought the guitar used with these pickups already installed and I'm telling you that this is the best sounding guitar for ROCK with single coils that I've ever heard. I normally don't like a single in the bridge, but this guitar sounds great.

It retains some of that single coil tone, but doesn't sound as "thin" or "harsh" to me as alot of singles with med/high gain.
Click to expand...

The SCN's have "SCN" on the covers - which the covers aren't removable. :)

I think maybe my problem is that it's "too thick" in the bridge - lol... it gets some muddy funk going on that I'm trying to figure out - though it could be from having my action too low, causing the strings to slap the frets....

I can't get too harsh about it - they sound freaking amazing clean. The Low E has a depth to it that I have not heard on any guitars I've played.
 
The Noiseless pickups and the SCN are two different pickups.

Thats interesting you think they sound amazing clean though. To me they sound like an apporixmation of a real single coild.
 
i have some dimarzio virtual vintage noiseless. they aren't that bad, and actually sound better to me than the fender noiseless or scn (vomit), but still not as good as the real deal. i prefer low output, vintage style single coils with alnico 5 (duncan SSL-1 and G&L USA singles are great). i can't stand overly-hot strat single-coils; they loose their character. strats should have a slightly broken glass top end when distorted, that you roll back on the tone to make it work, and open the tone up for biting solos that sound like the notes are about to fall apart.

:m19:
 
:|::QBB:
carlygtr56":5ff05 said:
:|::QBB:

I don't know if they are sold as replacemnt pu's, but they make hot Noiseless, that's whats in my CS JB-
Click to expand...

Yes they make the hot vintage noiseless as replacement pickups. I have been looking at these myself. I have not liked the other noiseless pickups I have tried but the reviews of these pickups are better. I have also heard several clips with these including yours and they sound great. Weird thing is they are fenders cheapest (cost wise) noisless pickups.
 
Went through the manual and got everything adjusted where it should be.

Plugged her in and she sounds GREAT!

Surprising what a difference that made - lol.

I did record some noodling, but I need to break it apart and make "samples" into a clip and post it.

The JVM has one of the best cleans I've played with...the clip will have the reverb from the amp and a Boss CE-5 in the loop...

My mic positioning got screwed again (moved my cab, so I did an approximation - now the SM57 sounds kinda "meh" and with the E609 it phases some of the mids, but not horribly)
 
:|::QBB:
kannibul":6ebc6 said:
Went through the manual and got everything adjusted where it should be.

Plugged her in and she sounds GREAT!

Surprising what a difference that made - lol.

I did record some noodling, but I need to break it apart and make "samples" into a clip and post it.

The JVM has one of the best cleans I've played with...the clip will have the reverb from the amp and a Boss CE-5 in the loop...

My mic positioning got screwed again (moved my cab, so I did an approximation - now the SM57 sounds kinda "meh" and with the E609 it phases some of the mids, but not horribly)
Click to expand...

I am glad it was just a matter of some adjustments for you to get it to sound great. Did you just use the volume and tone pots already on the guitar or did you replace everything?
 
:|::QBB:
strungup":2544e said:
:|::QBB:

I am glad it was just a matter of some adjustments for you to get it to sound great. Did you just use the volume and tone pots already on the guitar or did you replace everything?
Click to expand...

I only changed the pickups - though I used the screws and rubber-thingys that came with it too.
 
Very cool Jeff! I still think my EJ is going to smoke it for clean tones though. :)

<pushing you towards the dark side> Put a hot rails in the bridge....
 
:|::QBB:
stratotone":4c59a said:
Very cool Jeff! I still think my EJ is going to smoke it for clean tones though. :)

<pushing you towards the dark side> Put a hot rails in the bridge....
Click to expand...

I must resist!

What are you doing tomorrow?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top