Avoid 60Hz hum by moving to Europe. Admittedly, you'll have to contend with 50Hz hum instead, but we have castles and stuff.

True single coil definitely sounded better to my ear, but for a live situation, they were close enough that the sacrifice in tone to eliminate the hum without going humbucker would be worth it.

I’m actually liking the tone on the noiseless better. ???

The noiseless ones sound really amazing and for me even better than the originals. They are more "rounded" and softer without beeing dull and like a humbucker. Thanks for the comparision!

I love blind tests! I liked the noiseless better in all positions except for the Bridge. The noiseless had less single coil "chime", but more body and sounded smoother.

I thought the noiseless with a tablespoon of gain sounded fantastic. That being said... Even with phone speakers you can tell the single coils outshine on clean and slightly dirty settings. Thanks for the informative video!

These noiseless pups are really good. The true single coils have the spank but the noiseless pups are close. So close that if you're using OD or Distortion then the noiseless are a really good option.

After scrolling a bunch of videos - where a couple of guys talked endlessly before getting to any substance - this video answered all my questions. Great job! Just what I needed.

Here's a question that I get asked a lot: Do I prefer Noiseless or Traditional single coil pickups? Today I take a look at the pros and cons of each :) Hopefully the blind test will help you guys decide which is right for you!

For gig situations I see no argument against the new noiseless pickups. The audience certainly won't notice.

Thanks for putting this out there. I was really going back & forth between these 2.

So what you’re saying is I need two strats

Amazing progress! Sound-wise I am even tending now to prefer the noiseless pickups over the standard single coils.

Your playing on these demos is fantastic. I often hum the stuff you play long after the video is done. Keep up the great work Darrell!

Best comparison I've seen. Well done, Darrell!

This video was exceptionally well done. I used my ears, listened to practical considerations, and was able to make an informed decision. Thank you!

It's close enough. Change the amp settings a little. The crowd will never know.

The noiseless have more body and mids.. I first thought those are the true single coils!

Perfect review, exactly what i was looking for, thank you so much for doing this!

Excellent comparison as usual. Thanks Darrell!

I was debating the difference a few weeks ago..thanks for chiming in and making it easier for me. I appreciate you playing and videos. I'm going for the N4s. Thanks.

I love the N4's in my Strat. Have the S-1 switch too. More tones than I need.

Excellent video! Cleared all my doubts!

You have today answered my questions! Thanks for this video. 😎🎸

Seems to me like you can make these pickups sound just about identical with a little judicious use of treble and presence knobs, or some minor EQ shelving.

I found myself liking the noiseless pickups more than the single coils. To me the single coils sounded thinner while the noiseless ones seemed to have a fuller sound, although not quite into full humbucker territory. It seems to me that these would be a good upgrade for cheaper strat style guitars. I think the tone was close enough that I would not have picked them out as not having a 'single coil' sound without a direct comparison. They just sounded like a good single coil set of pickups, especially in a mix.

Cheers man, you always find ways to make my gear choices easier.

Thanks for this review. Your video quality is fantastic!

I have to go with the single coils for this one. Still a classic and pleasing choice for a strat with the noiseless, but different enough for me to favor the true single coil chime.

The single coils are noticeably more bright. This is not always an advantage, but it's easier to cut existing frequencies than to add non-existing ones.

Hey Darrell I think I might have told you about these before, but in case I haven't, this is the perfect time. Tonerider from the UK makes quite a few different pups in all manner of configurations. From single coil S types and awesome T types, to P90's and HB's with coil splitting and I think they are starting to make Filtertron types now also. They are extremely cost effective and sound great. One of the interesting things about them is that they use extra shielding to keep the noise down when you're using only one single, like say only a neck pup on a S or T type, but they reverse wind and reverse polarity the offhand pup. So on the S you have a N neck S middle and N bridge, Along with the coils being wrapped opposite directions. For folks that just want a really great Strat sound, but not putting up with the buzz, especially on an overdriven setting, the TRS2 set is a really great all around set. They make different models for specific tones, and do a really good job of keeping up with almost anything that Seymour puts out, but at about 1/4 of the price. As for the T type pups, my favorites are the TRT3 sets, but I think they are phasing those out. Shame too because they have a great tone and note articulation. The 3 means it's packed with Alnico 3 magnets. The TRT2 set is also a great set for classic rock including very overdriven tones, down to mild crunchy blues, and even super clean jazz tones. The TRT1 "Vintage" however, for me personally has a little too much ice pick to the brain in the bridge. While you can tone that down a bit with the tone knob, for my personal use or for a customers guitars, I usually go with the 2 or the 3 if I can find them. All of these pups are also made for lefty guitars. That would be a great blind test to stack them up against SD or standard Fender pups. Anyway, back to work. Great format on the video, Bob in Germany. p.s. I preferred the V mods ;)

This was excellent. Love your video, well done, funny, very educational without being snotty. Thank you Sir.

What I don't get about comments talking about "it's good enough for live," when in reality, listeners can't even tell if George Harrison played a Strat or a Les Paul on a recording. Basically, if it's good enough for live, it's definitely good enough for studio. Mics, consoles, and the mixing process will pretty much remove any extra sparkle you might think that a true single coil has. Anybody who rehearses and performs regularly knows that you can only discern tiny tonal nuances when you're by yourself listening to yourself play, which is fine if that's how you come up with the tones you want to hear, but don't be surprised if your bedroom tone doesn't come through in a recording or in a live performance. I'm not even a pro, I'm a dedicated amateur who is lucky enough to gig very regularly, and even someone like me can't be bothered with what my tone sounds like in a room by myself. All I know is that I've gone on tour with someone who uses true single coil pickups, and by the end of the tour, he was using my backup guitar which features DiMarzio Area noiseless pickups. Why? Because hum is terrible and a single coil purist might not think anyone else can hear, but yeah, everyone can hear it.

For a while now I've been looking into the Fender Noiseless pickups. For years I've tried many different single coil pickups and still don't like them. The 60 cycle hum was enough to yank them out and put in Seymour Duncan single space humbuckers. However, now my Stratocaster sounds like a Les Paul. I recently tried a reissued Stratocaster with the Classic Fender Noiseless pickups and was convinced that Fender Noiseless was the way to go. As for this video, I loved it. I found the Noiseless to be the sound of a Stratocaster I was looking for. If I want to get that Les Paul sound I play my Les Paul. However, what I would like to hear is a comparison of the three Fender Noiseless pickups. Great video and very helpful.

I love Darrell’s commentary! He gets right to the point! I BELIEVE HIM!

Excellent Comparison! Easily discernible in a side-by-side listening. Well done!

I love the sound of the noiseless pickups, it's like a mix of single coils and humbuckers

The noisless pickups I have read are meant for stage players and are supposed to eliminate signal disruption from other stage electronics ie. lights, mics and all other wireless electronics devices that transmit. Not sure how this applies but Thanks!!!

Great video, thanks for comparison

Thank You for the simple explanation !

I installed N4 on my Strat and I am very happy with them. I couldn't stand that 60 cycle hum. I don't play with a lot of gain, actually not much at all. I play mostly jazz/soul/alt mix and a lot of atmospheric, always on clean, with flatwound 10s and often in open tuning, so the elimination of the hum was a huge improvement for my style. I also have an Ibanez AS153 semi-hollow with the Tri-switch at the neck pickup giving me a single coil or out of phase sound, again, great for my style. Additionally, though I love the old rockers and their traditional Strats, I'm not trying to emulate them at all, so I've little interest in following tradition. Thanks for the vid.

I have n4s in my MIM strat. I don't miss my original pickups. I actually never liked the sound of the originals until I added the obsidian wiring mod, that you reviewed on this channel. For some reason they became alive with that mod. All that being said, I choose the sound of the true single coils in this video.

Good job, and excellent advice.

Thanks for another great video! I agree with you totally. I prefer the clarity of the true single coil vs the N4.

I’ve played Texas special pickups in live situations, risky yes, but those things can sing!

It’s only my impression but the noiseless sounds warmer? Cheers from Milan💙

Nicely done. Thanks for helping me figure out why I am not getting along with elite stratocaster. V4 noiseless are coming out tonight!

I got 4 out of 5. I prefer the single-coils over the noiseless but the noiseless did sound better than I expected.

I really liked the Noiseless sound, I don't know why, I guess it just sounded a little warmer? I guess it's also the fact that I hated the single coil sound on my first ever guitar, which is obviously sad, because it wasn't anything like a Fender. But still, love the noiseless sound though if I would go for a clean tone only in the music I play, I would probably pick the true single coils :P

Great video once again Darrell , thank you! I too tried a few noiseless and a bunch of different single coils. My conclusion was the same as yours. The noiseless sounds pretty damn good, but they don't have the "airy", or "woody" sound, nor quite as much chime as the true singles. For anyone dealing with this - if you want to just go humbucker you might try Fralin Sunbuckers - they are made to sound more like single coils - while they are in the ballpark, they're still not exactly like the real thing, but they do sound good, and then if you use coil taps on them, they sound even closer, although you will get the hum/buzz when you split them. If you do a lot of high gain, or distortion then just use humbuckers...

Great comparison, Darrell. The recording quality was perfect. Just what I was looking for. It made a huge difference in the comparison. I think Fender has come a long way with noiseless pickups. But you can still hear more detail in the single coils. The noiseless don't have as much high end, and maybe some of that missing information is provided by harmonic overtones that the noiseless pickups aren't capable of producing. The hi end detail of the single coils is the easiest giveaway in the blind testing. But the noiseless do sound good. This is the best they have sounded on KZfaq, in my opinion. And the V-Mod - really nice of Fender to start experimenting with different Alnico for different strings. I know that Seymour Duncan and Lindy Fralin have been doing this for a while, but it's great to see Fender use this in stock guitars. That's a pretty customized set of pickups. I was very impressed with the V-mods in this video.

Great test and video. Thank you for that! The same test with Teles would be even better!!! Please! ;-)

Regardless of what I may have learned about these pickups, I thoroughly enjoyed the very tasteful chops you used to demonstrate. I envy your diverse catalog of styles and subtle techniques.

I think some musicians go for buzz, and for really saged reasons. Guitars as sensitive machines. Even the best crafted electric or acoustic, or classical guitar talks back. I am a classical guy, who plays electric for fun. I respect you for calling guitars out for what they are. Just the other day I was practicing a piece and started getting annoyed by the string noise, and every little creaking sound my guitar made. I digress... The point being that the wise man is the one who makes peace with the nature of the beast. Darrell, I have total respect for you, brother. I have learned so much from you about guitar construction. I am very grateful. cheers, buddy!

I dig the new v-mods. I had no idea they sounded that good. As for the n4 I really really dig these. Darrel Your assessment was spot on. I’m ordering a new fender and am going thru the mod shop... after seeing this I’m going with the hss noiseless. Thanks for helping me decide!!

Nope! I'm not choosing, Love them both of course! Thanks D! Be Well Brother!

They definitely sound different. I hear a faster attack and more of a metallic sound with the noiseless pickups. Not in a bad way. Just different. I use both kinds of pickups in different guitars. Noiseless clean tones are very distinctive and can lend themselves to a unique vibe. Having said that, the difference is adjustable enough that you can get a closer match just by switching IRs and adjusting gain and eq.

Great job on the comparison, Darrell. I totally agree with your assessment on SC vs Noiseless. Personally, I had become *SO* annoyed with the SC hum, I had completely given up on Fender guitars until they brought out the noiseless pickups. Now I own two Strats, a Noiseless three pickup configuration, and a Fender Shawbucker two pickup configuration, and love playing them both.

cheers darrell!

Well somebody may prefer n4 pickups, for me true single coil pickups were more bright and spanky. Some might say it's because we're used to the sould of the single coil which makes us prefer the sound of it. But I do like the true single coil way more :D

I think the Gen4 will benefit with 500k pots, they sound good but not as much chime as a regular single coil for clean and distorted. Maybe changing the cap on the Gen4's to a .01 would allow more highs thru. I assume the amp settings remained the same for both guitars.

Great video!

Going to GC to pick up a Strat today... Still debating between regular SC and Noiseless. Prolly going noiseless... thanks for your input on the subject! Great video.

As a recordİng session guitarist, N4 noiseless for me. You’ll never know how well the electric system in a studio is built.

All my STRATS have EC-BOOSTER-Kid: no hum! I have an orignal EC-Blackie (2010) with NOISELESS PU, a 1989 Standard (WITH LACE SENSOR GOLD) and a cheap BROWNIE Replica WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING WHAT PICUPS. All without any hum. More important to me is the SLIM EC-NECK. Its awesome. Want to have it on all.

The best overdrive to display this would be the morning glory if you’re ever up for making another one of these videos which I loved by the way

Hey Darrel I’ve seen nearly all your videos, I must say I’m impressed, one I’d love to see you do is a Gibson or fender kit guitar but really go all out on it, completely turn the baby into a Frankenstein’s monster, phasers, cuts, 3 pick ups with similar characteristics to the Brian May red special & more Good on ya McGee, Australia

True single coils for me. I have Texas Specials in my strat and wouldn't have it any other way.

I would say the noiseless in the bridge and the true singles in the middle and neck

Cool comparison. I use DiMarzio HS2 in the neck and middle and HS3 in the bridge for my strat. They are hum canceling and still retain a great single coil sound/feel for me. The one thing I want to do though is coil tap them into true single coil mode. Eric Johnson did this on these pickups before he designed his own pickups and said it was one of the truest vintage single coil sounds he had ever heard. Now I just need the time.

They both sound really good! Obviously back to back you hear the differences but if I heard them at a show, I would have loved the tone of both!

Oh, wow! An actual video in the middle of the NAMM barrage.

The single coils sounded more hot and trebbly. The noiseless was like turning a dial on a low pass filter a bit more to the left.

Tus vídeos están bien vergas bro, una vez más justo la comparación que estaba buscando, Parabienes!

Excellent video thank you

Most of those saying "single coils all the way for me", or similar are just kidding themselves. The difference is so small you could never tell in any band situation. All by itself, yes I suppose you can tell the difference but there will be so many other factors that affect your tone so much more in any real-world situation. That said, this is the first time I've thought I could replace my usual single coil middle pickups with noiseless. And for my guitars with a sc neck pickup I wouldn't even think twice. Had I the budget, I would change them all out in a heartbeat. That didn't used to be the case, so well done Fender.

I’m losing my damned mind. This is the third DBG video that I would have bet my last dollar Darrell had already done. Hey Darrell, how about including winning Powerball numbers in your videos? Honestly I cannot reliably differentiate between the two. I’d do just as well to flip a coin. Stupid old ringing ears!

Man those N4s sound amazing!

Amazing tones with N4! Wowwwwww

I like the HUMMMMM - I want as much hummm as I can get. It's something the voices in my head can sing along to.

A lot of people using single coils will use higher capacitance cables to bring the resonant peak down anyway, which is what seems to happen with the noiseless pickups. Maybe using noiseless pickups with a lower capacitance cable would close the gap even more.

I need to get me one of your T-shirts. Whenever I see you've posted another video, I know that something is about to become much clearer to me. Thanks for your amazing channel!

Great video Darell! Blind test are good! Can you comapre some more pick ups like fishman fluence for strat ?!

The noiseless pups take away from the infamous Fender jangle. They smooth the edge, which I don’t really desire. It’s the “jangle” of the single-coils that make a Fender a “Fender”. I’ll stick with my old Alnico III’s on my Squier Classic Vibe ‘50’s Telecaster. Love that thing.

Noiseless.

Great video, thank you. I am having noiseless ones installed at the moment in my Squier vitage mod blah, blah (I like the neck) and fcan't wait to hear them.

i am playing heavy metal and own a Fender Stratocaster American Standard from 2010 and i just changed all the pick ups with Di Marzio ones. And it sounds great!

I go Mojotone Quiet Coils in my Strat, never looked back. IMHO, they sound much better than the Fenders and they gig very well.

The true single coils sound way better to me

Very interesting and good food for thought.

You are like Sean McVay musician twin, awesome video as always!

Even a donkey ear like me could hear that difference almost everytime. I have no preference. Both sounded reasonably like a strat to me. I got myself 3 stacked Humbuckers in single coil shape from Ultrasound similar to Bill Lawrence for that reason (beeing hum-free). They are quiet but sound a bit more jazzy they have also less output. BTW thats why one needs at least two strats.

Just me or did the noiseless just seem to be a more modern sounding single?

Great video. Thank you.

1st of all, Darrell, a mind-blowing video as usual, bro! Wish I could become a bigger Patreon. You deserve it...Nothing like a true ring of those single coils, especially if you don't mind the hum. A good thing is that when you're playing, you don't notice the hum. I definitely can hear the difference during the Clean test. I got tests 1, 2 & 3 correct. With the clean test using the Bridge/Mid-Bridge tests, the SC sounded warmer than the Noiseless. However, during the Neck/Neck-Mid & Middle test, the Noiseless seemed warmer which I like, too. Seemed to be a slight difference with the 'dirt' added, too...Bottom Line: I'd go Noiseless in a stage setting & SC during lessons, practice, etc. Bottom line: There's not a big enough difference in tone to create a huge loss if you really want to lose the hum. I have a Noiseless bridge pup in my Fender PJ bass & love it...Thx, Darrell!!

I liked true single coils better. I guessed right every time! Noiseless sound kinda dry.

the noiseless DONT sound good enough yet

Nice shoot out ..I like the feel of the older guitars too

Great review. At some point i would love to see a comparison between the Fender noiseless and Fralin Split Blade pickups. I hate the hum and in studio situations strats can become unusable sometimes so I got the split blades.another solution is a adding dummy coil to quiet single coils down.

Exactly what I was looking for, from a guy I feel like I can trust. Thanks, homie!