STK-S4 Classic vs. Fender Vintage Noiseless vs. Lace Sensor Gold

[guitarboy883]

How does the Classic Stack for strat compare to the Fender vintage noiseless in terms of noise cancellation. also how does it compare in terms of vintageness (not a word lol). i know the Fender Vintage Noiseless aren't that vintage sounding. also how do they compare to the Lace Sensor Golds?

Also how do they (Duncans) sound when split to true single coils?

I have an Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster and am wanting to replace the Vintage Noiseless as they don't have the chime and sparkle of regular strat pickups?

 

[Binnerscot]

Re: STK-S4 Classic vs. Fender Vintage Noiseless vs. Lace Sensor Gold

I haven't had the Fenders Vintage noiseless or the Lace Sensors, but I do have an American Deluxe with the ScN noisless and I have some Classic Stacks and Classic Stack Plus pups.

The Classic Stacks are good, fairly quiet, sound close to a single coil.
The Classic Stack Plus is better (my favorite), very quiet, sound very close to a single coil (about 90% to 95% of the way). When split, they are a dead on SSL-1 to my ears.
The Fender/Lawrence ScNs are not as close to vintage single coil sound, very quiet, but they do have a very cool sound that I think is great - I really like the bridge ScN a lot.

I have to add that a full set of Classic Stack Pluses have a RWRP middle pup, so if you wire to split in the 2 and 4 switch positions, it gives you expectly what you would expect of a good Strat sound.

 

[jeremy]

Re: STK-S4 Classic vs. Fender Vintage Noiseless vs. Lace Sensor Gold

i have a set of classic stack + pups in a strat with the clapton circut and i think it works wonderfully!! the pups themselves are very close to the ssl1 like binnerscot said, not dead on but pretty close. much better than the lifeless fender vintage noiseless

 

[LtKojak]

Re: STK-S4 Classic vs. Fender Vintage Noiseless vs. Lace Sensor Gold

add verses Wilde USA L200 and you have a great question.

And don't forget Lace's Holy Grail set!

 

[jeremy]

Re: STK-S4 Classic vs. Fender Vintage Noiseless vs. Lace Sensor Gold

i havent tried the newer l200 but the cs+ is much closer to a vintage strat pup than any lace pup ive tried and ive tried a bunch

 

[Will S-T]

Re: STK-S4 Classic vs. Fender Vintage Noiseless vs. Lace Sensor Gold

i have a set of classic stack + pups in a strat with the clapton circut and i think it works wonderfully!! the pups themselves are very close to the ssl1 like binnerscot said, not dead on but pretty close. much better than the lifeless fender vintage noiseless

Hey Jeremy, is that the Clapton Mid Boost control with master Vol and Tone?
Cheers, Will.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: STK-S4 Classic vs. Fender Vintage Noiseless vs. Lace Sensor Gold

The Classic Stacks are amazing. A friend of mine has one in the middle position of his Jackson, very chimey and bell like.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: STK-S4 Classic vs. Fender Vintage Noiseless vs. Lace Sensor Gold

The Classic Stacks are amazing. A friend of mine has one in the middle position of his Jackson, very chimey and bell like.

^^ For the record, I´m pretty sure that Jackson still uses the "Original " classic stack STK-S1 which is still available for OEMs, as opposed to the current STK-S4 classic stacks.... the older ones sound a bit woodier with more mids...

Maybe Evan or Frank can confirm this...

 

[Farkus]

Re: STK-S4 Classic vs. Fender Vintage Noiseless vs. Lace Sensor Gold

I installed a set of of STK-S4's in my Strat yesterday. I got them on the trading post about a year ago (hey, they were cheap!), but I was a little hesitant to put them in b/c I've never been pleased with stacked humbuckers. I must tell you that these things are great. I immediately noticed that the response to picking is a little bit different, but the tone is all there. I was particularly impressed by the clean tones, which is where most of the other pickups fail; usually they are dull, too thin, too bright or have other issues. These totally outclass the other 'noiseless' Strat pickups I've personally used (that would be Lace Sensors, DiMarzio HS-3, DiMarzio YJM, EMG SA's, Fender Vintage Noiseless-I have not tried the hotter Fender offering, etc). They are not 100% dead on, but without a doubt 90%+; there is no way I could tell in a mix that these weren't real deal singles, that's for sure.

 

[guitarboy883]

Re: STK-S4 Classic vs. Fender Vintage Noiseless vs. Lace Sensor Gold

awesome! i'm wanting to keep all the controls stock but have one push/pull pot that splits all three pickups to single coil instead of splitting each coil individually. is that possible?

 

[jeremy]

Re: STK-S4 Classic vs. Fender Vintage Noiseless vs. Lace Sensor Gold

Hey Jeremy, is that the Clapton Mid Boost control with master Vol and Tone?
Cheers, Will.

yeah. volume, tbx tone (slightly modified), and mid boost.

its a great setup especially with a tweed amp