From actual experience, who makes the quietest humbucker????
Quietest Humbucker:
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OP
Not at all....I'm curious for opinions!
OP
I will say, from actual experience, the DiMarzio Stacked Single Coils are totally quiet.
Humbucker??? The quietest I have used personally is the Carvin C22T....
Humbucker??? The quietest I have used personally is the Carvin C22T....
OP
Well,
After Gibson 57 Classics, Open Bobbin Gibson 490's and Nickel Covered, "Revised Specification" (2016 wind dates) Gibson 490's, a borrowed Carvin C22T and a Seymour SH4-JB, I must say, without reservation, the GFS Classic II Alinco II 7.93k/7.88k pickups are by far the most quiet I have tested....
After Gibson 57 Classics, Open Bobbin Gibson 490's and Nickel Covered, "Revised Specification" (2016 wind dates) Gibson 490's, a borrowed Carvin C22T and a Seymour SH4-JB, I must say, without reservation, the GFS Classic II Alinco II 7.93k/7.88k pickups are by far the most quiet I have tested....
Dave Sloven
Ambassador of DOOM!
It is not so much a matter of which manufacturer as to which design. Humbuckers are quietest when they are symmetrically wound, i.e., the two coils are identical, as this ensures that the coils are balanced and the humbucking effect is complete. In some cases humbucking pickups are deliberately asymmetric, so as to bring out other qualities (e.g. 'hair' or 'treble detail' that makes the pickup more aggressive sounding. So a certain manufacturer might make some pickups that are quieter than others in their range.
I have at least one pickup that is asymmetric, a Bare Knuckle Nailbomb. It has a distinctly 'pissed off' sound to it. I've never noticed it being especially noisy but I think there is a bit of noise in there that adds to the sound somehow. There are others in their range that are deliberately asymmetric, the Painkiller is another one I think
I have at least one pickup that is asymmetric, a Bare Knuckle Nailbomb. It has a distinctly 'pissed off' sound to it. I've never noticed it being especially noisy but I think there is a bit of noise in there that adds to the sound somehow. There are others in their range that are deliberately asymmetric, the Painkiller is another one I think
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Dave Sloven
Ambassador of DOOM!
If you want to make you pickups totally quiet, the best way is to ground them out. I tried this a couple of times and didn't like it very much 
Sérgio
Ambassador of CaliZilian Affairs
If you want to make you pickups totally quiet, the best way is to ground them out. I tried this a couple of times and didn't like it very much
Yeah. I understand Robert is a bit obsessed with this particular aspect of his tone (silence) but I myself am not. I love how strats quack and hum and humbucker laden mahogany animals hiss and bark loud.
To me, (a little) noise is part of what the electric guitar is all about
RVA
Ambassador
OK, I will venture an opinion. Tom Anderson pickups. These are TA H1- and H2+ pickups. The word that always comes to mind when I play them is "glassy".
https://soundcloud.com/user-903662928/mixdown-1/s-d7bMU
https://soundcloud.com/user-903662928/mixdown-1/s-d7bMU
OP
If you want to make you pickups totally quiet, the best way is to ground them out. I tried this a couple of times and didn't like it very much
LOL!
My DiMarzio Stacked Single Coils are dead-quiet. Nothing. I thought the guitar was broken or grounded when I tested it the first time.
Quieter than any full size humbucker I own...
OP
You described me perfectly! But the quiet signal fascination is the recording engineer in me.
It actually amazed at the Squirecaster. I can sit in front of my DSL40C, with 3/4 gain and hear nothing....like the volume was rolled off...when I hit the strings, it almost scares me...all of a sudden, this big sound explodes out of complete silence!
Sérgio
Ambassador of CaliZilian Affairs
Sure, I never mention your particular focus on getting quiet pups as something bad or wrong, it's you. Your ears, your brain, your soul. Your music. You need that. Perfectly ok.
OP
The sound of silence
Relic
Well-Known Member
That interesting Sergio, although Robert is fascinated from a sound engineers aspect of pickup observation, I have found some of the most 'magical' pickups to be old 50's-60's humbucker (full-size & minis) pups that happened to be un-potted, somewhat micro-phonic & subsequently subject to picking up noise!
I use that word 'magic' because those old pups tended to add sonic content to the guitars sound as volume & drive got brought into the playing situation! You could be playing & typically finding notes to grow & blossom with harmonics to the point different notes than the root note being played to mix in & even take over. This is a little different than the more typical Marshall tube amp power-chord fade to harmonics or what we can hear on say an old Boston Album.
A perfect example was my buddy's late 50's Gibson 175. Not only was that pickup un-potted & microphonic but DUH! the 175 was a hollow-body! Now that 'magic' guitar would simply come alive in your hands. We actually joked that it was Haunted! LOL But that crappy old guitar really could inspire me to play differently than I normally would tend to play, I often felt re-directed, almost like that haunted guitar was using me as a means for it to speak, almost like it was playing me! More than one 'spirited' outing on this guitar ended with me getting freaked by this thing & my having to take it off myself as the hairs on stood on end & my body tingled with the sensation of electricity! So 'Magic'?? Hell yeah! That bitch was magic!
So in the end I have to ask, what is the real importance of 'the quietest' pup besides the interest of the inquiring mind wanting to know. Isn't music & the recording of it about capturing that tangible 'magic' & ending up with a recording that is spirited & moving to others when they listen to it?
Hey, don't get me wrong, nobody wants a crappy sounding noisy guitar recording. But on the other hand, who doesn't want to capture an awesome & inspired guitar track that leaves the listener saying, "Hellz yeah! That was frik'n awesome!" ?
Just stuff that I always thought was worth thinking about when it came to pickups Rob. Does quiet & sterile necessarily equal better or best? I'm sure it depends on the situation but the answer definitely is,.. not always.
Gahr
Ambassador of Blues & Brews
Well put, Relic!
Of course, Robert has a very good point about silence, but the key word (just my personal opinion) is MAGIC. When it feels good, sounds good and inspires you to play more or better or differently or whatever, then it is the right pickup.
Now, from an economic point of view the problem is that what inspires me changes. So I keep wanting different stuff anyway...
OP
Good points made herein...
If you recall, I pulled a 1928 National Triolian Resophonic Resonator out of a collection to play on one of my songs in 2011. The dobro had been fitted with a pickup many years later, and it buzzed and hummed on the recording quite loudly...but since the song was about the blues giants from the 20's and 30's, I left it all in for character and effect.
I find that my 1987 Stratocaster has a very "wild" sound with blistering harmonics. Evidence of the intensity of the harmonics are present in a couple of video clips i posted, but between songs, I don't have to deal with microphonics etc.
When I'm not fighting the instrument, I feel more creative! ! !
If you recall, I pulled a 1928 National Triolian Resophonic Resonator out of a collection to play on one of my songs in 2011. The dobro had been fitted with a pickup many years later, and it buzzed and hummed on the recording quite loudly...but since the song was about the blues giants from the 20's and 30's, I left it all in for character and effect.
I find that my 1987 Stratocaster has a very "wild" sound with blistering harmonics. Evidence of the intensity of the harmonics are present in a couple of video clips i posted, but between songs, I don't have to deal with microphonics etc.
When I'm not fighting the instrument, I feel more creative! ! !
Relic
Well-Known Member
No doubt about it. In fact I find extremely noisy pickups to be both unprofessional & undesirable for myself personally.
That is undoubtedly the reason I own only a small amount of P-90 type Guitars / Pedal Steel / Lap Steel or straight up single coil Strat type guitars or Melody Makers, but I do have them. I just prefere not to use them for my number 1's or when I play out, but, they can be perfect for that guitar track cut that needs that special sumth'n sumth'n if ya know what I mean!
One of my favorite compromises in this area is an old 50's-70's Gibson / Epiphone mini-humbucker! They drip crazy mojo & are relatively quiet in the line noise department. But they can come alive in front of a driven Tube Amp & really pick up an added dimension when crank'n comparative to playing them at lower & tamer volumes.
But ya, who wants to wrestle with a noise producing pick-up all night??
Not me Brutha!
Ba'lee-Dat Jack!
OP
Oh yes! I agree!
And by the way, I'm not bragging about my tone or my ear...it actually slows me down and I tend to over-produce everything!
And by the way, I'm not bragging about my tone or my ear...it actually slows me down and I tend to over-produce everything!
Relic
Well-Known Member
And who doesn't when they have their own recording studio capabilities? I mean, it's part of being creative. We want to try this & put this part in & redo that take but now both takes are good etc etc after a while you can end up with so many parts that makes sense & work well to our ears but to a fresh listener can often sound cluttered, too busy or unfocused.
This why they have producers Robert! They make the choices on tracks & takes & put the overall integrity of the song first, where compared to us player / artist / recording engineers, we can get too attached to all the various parts & pieces of work that we spent time & effort on & find ourselves unable to edit things out.
My friend is a professional sound engineer & over the years I have brought him various things I have written & recorded. One of his regular comments that he gives me with love & appreciation as well as recognition of just exactly what we are talking about here when he first hears my new work is, " Oh yeah, the Guitar Army!". Kind of sums us up guitarists / home recording engineers up short 'n sweet don't it?