Fender hot noiseless and SCN pickups

[357mag]

I was wondering about the installation of the hot noiseless and the SCN pickups. Do they install normally without modifiying anything? The reason I ask is because I think these pickups come with pots don't they? So do you have to use the pots they come with? Or can you just continue to use what you currently have in your Strat?

I am using normal 250K pots.

What is your experience with either of these pickups? Is the bridge pickup as beefy as the SSL-5 or is it more thin?

 

[gmacdonnell]

Re: Fender hot noiseless and SCN pickups

I had the Fender noiseless pickups for a short time; they're good but a bit flatter and darker than regular Fender pickups. They work well for a lot of things, but don't sound fantastic for any one thing, if that makes sense.
The Hot Noiseless in the bridge has aggressive mids, and a thick sound, but it's not nearly as complex, airy or dynamic as the SSL-5, imo.

The ScN's, designed by pickup guru Bill Lawrence, I like much better. They have the Fender clarity and definition, and a nice strong output. They do have a great freq. range than usual pickups though, so you get more highs, mids and lows. They're sort of like, a Strat on steroids. They're less traditional than the SSL-5, but more versatile, and they sound great clean, and love overdrive.


The ScN's should be fine with the 250k pots you have now, but many guys like to use 500k pots with the Noiseless pups to try to compensate for their softer highs.


I'd also recommend at least looking at Bill Lawrence's own line of pickups. While they have some things in common with ScN's, he has a wide range of choices available, everything is custom made for you and the prices are really low, less than the Fenders, because they don't advertise. Their website is a bit old-fashioned, but call them or email them and they'll give you the best customer service ever. http://wildepickups.com/


And in the same price range as the ScN's, at least check out the Dimarzio Area series. Of all the ones mentioned, the Dimarzio's are the best at getting a vintage Fender tone, and they sound incredible. They offer some bridge models with increased output too, or ones that are part Strat, part P-90, etc.

Good luck!

 

[phil_104]

Re: Fender hot noiseless and SCN pickups

What is your experience with either of these pickups? Is the bridge pickup as beefy as the SSL-5 or is it more thin?

To be honest I was never a fan of fender pickups. I found them to be generic, and inferior to other models in every single aspect of their sound. If you really have your mind set on them, go for it, but if not, there are a lot of better options out there, the best being the antiquities.

 

[gmacdonnell]

Re: Fender hot noiseless and SCN pickups

If we're not just talking about Fender pickups, just noiseless single-coils, I'd say the best are:

*Kinman's: For a pure, rich vintage Fender sound. They can twang and get down and dirty, but they're more complex sounding, with a lot of beautiful harmonics. They respond incredibly well to picking adjustments, and "feel" like single-coils.

*Dimarzio's: For a raw, unrefined, very dynamic and responsive pickup. They sound great, like a mean old Fender pickup, without hum and wit a little more kick. They have that vibe and feel of single-coils that the Fender Noiseless pups don't.


*Bill Lawrence: Makes incredible pickups that are very dynamic and responsive, but with a wider freq. range, and greater tonal spectrum that the original Fender pickups. This makes them very versatile, and they sound rich, full, but also sparkly and clear. Fender on steroids because there's just more of everything. Same applies to the Scn pickups he designed for Fender.
His blade pickups are also incredible, and have many of the characteristics of the Bardens (below,) or vice versa.

*Joe Barden: These pickups are in their own league: they've incredibly clear sounding, and show every nuance of your playing and style. They're very transparent, and incredibly powerful. That said, they're not "hot" pickups like Hot Rails at all. They've got the feel and response of single-coils, but they have much more bass, mids and treble. They are like a waterfall; pure, crystal clear, incredibly beautiful but dangerously powerful.

 

[Joelski]

Re: Fender hot noiseless and SCN pickups

I learned about SCN's when I put the snag on my American Deluxe Strat HSS back in July. It was a total impulse buy as I was using the strat to test out an amp that I was going to buy, when I decided the combination sounded so good, I had to have both! I wish I could do that more often! Anyway, if you are using a class A amp, or something that switches to low power output, the SCN's have a great tone in all the positions. I especially love the middle/neck position when playing my Benz in 30 watt mode, as it gives a very stratty, quacky tone that honks when you dig in. Crank up some gain and they give a pretty good singing tone to boot. The Fender comes stock with 250k pots, but I think I might swap in a couple 500's to bump the high end, since they're stacked singles, they tend to be a hair darker than traditional singles.

 

[357mag]

Re: Fender hot noiseless and SCN pickups

So the Wilde website is his? But he has another Bill Lawrence website too?

He doesn't have any pickups of his already pre-made? He makes everything to order?

I've used Dimarzio's in the past quite a bit. Mostly the Area 61's. The Area pickups are fairly good.

 

[gmacdonnell]

Re: Fender hot noiseless and SCN pickups

So the Wilde website is his? But he has another Bill Lawrence website too?

He doesn't have any pickups of his already pre-made? He makes everything to order?

I've used Dimarzio's in the past quite a bit. Mostly the Area 61's. The Area pickups are fairly good.

Yeah, Bill's websites aren't very high-tech stuff. http://wildepickups.com/

Basically, he makes a few models, and you call or email him or his wife, and they'll help you figure out which is perfect for you.

Within those models though, he custom winds them, so their resonant peak, DC resistance, inductance and capacitance vary from pickup to pickup, depending on what you what.

They're genuine custom pickups, great quality and sound, and very low price, (because he doesn't advertise or have a fancy website or catalog.)


BTW, I should have mentioned, I'd say the comments I posted about Bill's pickups apply equally to the Fender Scn's he designed, and taught them how to produce.

 

[gmacdonnell]

Re: Fender hot noiseless and SCN pickups

Oh, and this is a great site where Bill talks about about his designs and explains a lot about engineering pickups. Also lot's of great tech tips:
http://billlawrence.com/Pages/All_About_Tone.htm/Pickupology.htm

And this is an independent site with a lot of stuff about Bill's pickups over the years, (he was the first guy to come up with the idea of standardized replacement pickups, and taught Larry Dimarzio all about pickups.)
http://www.billlawrencereview.com/L-500

 

[357mag]

Re: Fender hot noiseless and SCN pickups

Does anyone know if the Dimarzio vertical humbucking pickup covers would fit on the Fender SCN pickups? It does not look like the SCN pickups are available in mint green. I got some Dimarzio mint green covers though that are for their vertical humbuckers. Was wondering if they would fit.