I have noiseless pups on my tele. Dang that live performance situation you just mentioned, you nailed it! I can relate to that a lot and, boy, is it so frustrating. I came here because i am looking at changing to La Brea..what a coincidence that you're comparing these two pups...this is soo helpful to me... I'm laughing on my way to the bank to get me some La Brea pups
Great demo of the pickup differences! Very helpful. Answered crucial questions for what I do for mostly recording but periodically live. I almost pulled the trigger on the Fender noiseless. Rethinking this now. Your great playing help a ton!
Thank you! The LaBrea pickups have a lot of character and punch that I never got from the Noiseless pickups. Shield your guitar well in the cavity to reduce or eliminate noise (single coils) and you have a Noiseless pickup system with something to say!
I totally get the joy and advantages of modding your guitar to already be as close to the tone you’re after as possible. But, the vintage Fender tone generally speaking is mid-scooped. Just the way it is (not always) but vintage wind on a pickup is generally going to give you scooped mids. That has advantages too (it tames the less forgiving scope of the single-coil when it comes to fretting). Enter the tube screamer and the eq pedal/mid boost. The blanket statement that mid-scooped pickups are not good for playing in a mix is just inaccurate (unless one’s trying to play straight into one’s amp without pedals-which does seem applicable here).
Yeah,... love my La Brea pickups on my tele. So much you can do with those pickups. Not just a Country Music capability too! Literally have worked some Texas Blues and Blues Rock with mine and it's wonderful. Bottom line,... it's going to make you stand out in the mix no matter the volume in a very good way! By the way,... I really like that mid push they have too. Makes all the difference in the world.
Thanks, I appreciate all the tips and tricks guitar players like you post. Most of us are searching for our tone or honing our playing skills. Really enjoyed your review.
Phil, Love your playing and the La Brea. I just had glaser install his convertable bender on a tele deluxe just like yours..What speaker is in your Deluxe reverb? Take Care
I just keep a designated EQ pedal to hump my mids and shape my sound so I'm not invisible. The pickups just need to be clear with a nice bell tone for me. Lace pickups are great and the Burton tele has no problem popping out of a track and won't hum.
Sounds better than the 1st pair but they were alright too but I know that the "Feel" changes even when you put beefier tone caps in. BTW were both sets played through the vibrato channel? I really like the ""Texas specials" through a 1x12" combo. Fender made a 70th anniversary Esquire with a really great pickup by Tim Shaw, if you see one try it out ?
When these pickups first came out, in the American Deluxe Teles and Strats, I believe they were fitted with 250k ohm pots. When I bought my Deluxe Nashville Tele back in 2019, Fender was, again, using the Vintage Noiseless pickups. However, they were using 1Meg ohm pots. With the new Player Plus Strat and Tele models, Fender is again using the Vintage Noiseless pickups with 1Meg ohm pots. Maybe that's what they needed back in the American Deluxe days?
The noiseless pups sound very similar to Jimmy Olander from Diamond Rio...IMHO. Loving that neck pup from the LaBrea set though. The bridge pup is good on the mids and lows but I like the highs from the A2 magnets on the noiseless set better. I wonder what a bridge pup with A2 magnets on the B & E strings and A4 magnets on the E-A-D-G strings would sound like...🤔 (Darn guitar pickers are never satisfied.....lol)
I just recently installed the La Brea pickups. I really enjoy the neck pick up but for the life of me can’t get the bridge set right. It sounds slightly muffled and the D & G strings sound super compressed. Any suggestions? Individual string radius vs pick up height?
I am running the La Brea bridge, and twisted tele neck. Man something cool happened here. Especially in the middle position. Something I had rarely used. Is now a staple, it’s like the bridge type tone, but more….not sure if messed up wiring or whatever, but not touching it. I like it, others do also, it’s not a traditional tele tone however. It’s its own thing, and different. Still haven’t ran the Brad neck, I was just swapping pickups in and out, one at a time , and I have many, hit on the strange combo and stopped, diggin it. Anyway definitely more mids and a sharper pick attack in your guitar from the noiseless ones. Be interesting to see what your bandmates think. And how you feel about the mix.
I still have them loaded in mine and my search is over. I love them. Let me know how you get along with them. Make sure you copper foil your guitar cavity and ground everything well. My guitar is super quiet... even in places it shouldn’t be. :)
Awesome video thanks so much! Great discussion about the mixing problems with the vintage noiseless pups, great information we needed to hear. I want clear mids for solo guitar on the neck pup but also want mids prescience for when I play with my band.
Guitarists are the “middle child” in a band family. Once we embrace our role... we can seek out the tools that allow us to shine within our spectrum instead of fighting it. These pickups still live up to that hype for me. I love them and have no intentions of swapping them anytime soon.
Phil, great video! I came here for the pickup breakdown, but I truly loved the segment on the Glaser benders! For years I've wanted to get either a Glaser or McVay bender installed in one of my Teles.
I am so thankful that I had the Benders installed back in the day as he doesn’t do doubles anymore. He only does the single you can swap between B & G. They are an integral part of my playing style and I am blessed to have them. I hope you get the chance to own some too someday!
Three things: 1. Your wife rules! 2. Hot damn, you rip at guitar! 3. This is the exact mod I'm thinking of doing with my Deluxe Nashville Tele (with the addition of a 920D 7-way control plate for adding in the neck pup to positions 1 and 2), so this video is extremely helpful. I was thinking of putting the Seymour Duncan Secret Agent in the middle position, under the pickguard, but I really like the sound of the Vintage Noiseless Strat pup that came with the guitar. Thanks!
I am very happy with my setup. Truly my dream guitar at this point. The LaBrea pickups were my final piece of the puzzle and they react really well with the Noiseless pickup. Honestly, I don’t think that middle pickup makes that much difference. If it’s a decent pickup at all, it should give you a usable Strat sound. Did you end up doing the mods to your guitar?
I ended up selling that guitar to fund a Player Plus Tele, which I then modded with a DiMarzio Super Distortion T in the bridge, a DiMarzio Vintage Minibucker in the neck, and. Gunstreet wiring harness with 250K pots and an S-1 switch for series wiring between the two pups. It’s a great setup for me and the music I play! Glad that you found your dream guitar too!
I went with the Vintage Noiseless (different output specs for the strat set, plus 1meg pot) because my 89 Korean neck is like a 14" radius . . . so, no staggered poles for me. Can see why you had to switch.
I think so. They seem to be a very well balanced solution to get a full and punchy sound for not a lot of money (in comparison to others). What model of Tele and pickups are you using now?
@@philvandel hi Phil thanks very much for your reply i have a few telecaster but one of my US telecaster has a Seymour Duncan Str1 and it sounds a bit muddy not enough treble clarity cheers Phil you are an awesome Guitarist
Thank you for your kindness. If your guitar is pretty dark sounding already, you might try a bone nut, steel bridge saddles, or try to find a little brighter pickup. These may leave the perception that it became even darker because they do roll off the ice-picky highs and add that thicker midrange push.
Hi Phil. Love the sound of the Paisleys and you playing them. Question for you. How do you have them wired into your Nashville tele? 5 way switch or blend knob? And which position did you choose for noise canceling? Many thanks!
Hi there. I have these wired using an Emerson Nashville Tele wiring harness with the treble cap. Position 2 / 4 are the typical Strat noise-cancelling positions. I copper shielded the cavity and pick guard, as well. I still love the pickups a lot! No thoughts on changing them anytime soon. :)
Awesome playing! Your B and G benders are really cool! I got a couple of questions: 1. What B and G benders are those? Does it require a lot of modification? 2. Is it hard to learn how to play? Where can I learn how to play them? Thanks in advance!
Great playing my brother but I loved the the noiseless better.. Maybe you just got tried of your great tone lol...The noiseless had much better Tele bite and your Strat tones was way better on your original setup ... The La Brea sound great don't get me wrong ..
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to play in context with a band in this video... but, I assure you... the LaBrea pickups sit so much better in the mix and they maintain a punch that the Noiseless never had. The Noiseless would get lost and thin a lot of times where the Seymour Duncan pickups maintain a sweetness and fullness. Plus... they bite and spank very well. You really have to play them to understand. The noiseless pickups are great playing by yourself and maybe in a trio where you aren’t competing for sonic space as much. When the sound gets crowded onstage... the LaBreas win (for me) hands down. No regrets swapping out the Noiseless pickups.
A Boss EQ is a powerful tool for shaping sounds... no doubt. However, I don’t regret swapping pickups. The Noiseless pickups never reacted the way I wanted them to with certain pedals and amps... even when EQ’d. The sound can certainly be somewhat achieved that way, but the “feel” you get from the specific magnets, windings, ohm, natural feedback, and harmonic content is the other half of the equation that was still missing for me. As you could probably tell by me talking about swapping the neck of this guitar 7 times... feel is really, really important to me. I’m glad you are able to make it work for you with a simple EQ pedal. That’s the beauty of music. We all get inspired by different things. Thank you for watching and offering a different perspective.
@@philvandel ok so I bit the bullet & got the la breas installed. Got the pots changed from 1meg to 250k & took out the middle noiseless pickup. The la brea bridge does sound alot better than the vintage noiseless (has more twangy bite & spank) & the la brea neck is close to the vintage noiseless.
Hi Phil. Love your playing. You are a head turner. Would it be a possible hack for your Noiseless Alnico 2 old set up to simply bump up the mids and tame the highs on the amp? Maybe cut down the bass on the EQ as well to get the better mid push of the La Breas? I have a Seymour Duncan Alnico 2 Pro set which I find a bit too low heavy and dark , especially on the neck. Reminds me of Brent Mason's warm and fat tone. But I'm going for the Bradish Paisley sound with that distinct spank. Your thoughts would be much appreciated. Cheers.
That’s what I personally do. Ie bumping the mids and reducing the bass. A sound that works well in a band mix at stage volume will probably sound a bit honky by itself at bedroom volume.
Phil, I have the same American 98 Tele, exact color with the toggle little switch. I put the LeBrea's . The LeBrea's are awesome, better than I hoped for, but I have that out of phase sound on 2 and 4 position. I need to get that fixed
Flip the wires on the middle pickup and you should be Golden! Do you still have the original neck on yours? I could never get along with the 1-11/16 nut width, so I sold that neck and started my neck journey. I love the Vintera neck with the soft V. Killer guitars.
@@philvandel After 41 years in Arizona we moved back to Indiana not far from Ft.Wayne. I took it over to Sweetwater and had them fix it. Yes mine is the same neck, but mine has Rosewood. I picked up on of the Brent Mason telecaster whole at Sweetwater. Love the neck on it.
The La Brea’s were smoother and warmer while still keeping the twang. The noiseless were awfully sterile by comparison. That’s pretty typical of noiseless pups when played clean. The La Brea neck was richer for sure.
Well Done Phil !!! you are right the La Brea Kit is more powerfull in midrange and clearly you got the sound of Brad (as I would like too). The hum is too much higher despite the cavity shielding with copper, a consequent hum that I havn't with my standard pickups on my RI-52 Telecaster. Sound is exactly what I expect but hum require noise gate permanently, it's bit disappointing from Seymour what do you think of this issue vs your noiseless with less midrange but no noise in background.
Honestly, I think my power is crap in my studio room at my house because I have no audible noise live from the LaBrea pickups in my guitar. They sound fantastic everywhere I play across the country.
Glaser Benders, but he no longer does the double Benders. He now only installs the convertible bender which lets you have B or G, but not both at the same time. Mine has the original version from the 90’s that allows you to bend 2 strings either separately or simultaneously.
@@dylangreen9819 yep, I had a double installed last month. Set up looks the same as Phil’s except my pulls are swapped. I have a G down and a B out pull.
Good Telecaster sound can be an addiction....When you hit that BP bridge pick up I literally said WOW. I am not a country player, but I grew up on that and love it. There really is no one best PU, as you mention the application drives a lot of what you're expectations are. Sitting home playing clean, vs playing in a band can definitely make you rethink what you are using and why. Might be giving these a try soon and see what they can do for me. Thanks, and just killer playing!
Glad you were able to move on to someone else properly demo’ing these pickups without too much casualty. I’m not a RU-vid pro. Just a touring / recording pro offering a little insight. All my best.
American Deluxe Telecaster. They had 3 pickups the first year only. I sold the original neck and have swapped necks 6 times. I’m on neck number 7. It’s off of a Fender Vintera Tele with a soft V, bone nut, and PLEK.
Phil I can hardly hear you. I have a computer stereo system wired to my laptop. Plenty of volume when you play. But it's your comments I want to hear. Not criticising you but I'd like to hear your comments. Terry fom Downunder.
I always appreciate a good demo comparison. I'm wondering if some of the cutting through mix issues you mentioned with the vintage noiseless could be resolved with adjusting the amp EQ.
I typically start at the source because I do a lot of dates with backline where the amps aren’t always the same. If a guitar has the right fundamental sound… you can plug it into almost any amp and make it work.
