Technically, the single-coil version of the Alumitone is downsized Alumitone Humbucker and may not be called true single-coil. As a result, the Lace Alumitone is extremely lightweight. First of all, it doesn’t have coils at all. This is the most interesting pickup in our list.
Just install pickups and connect them with pots via included wires. This system is helpful if you don’t have any experience with soldering guitar electronics and afraid of damaging it or just don’t want to spend much time soldering everything. Another great advantage of all EMG pickups is the solderless connection system. The sound is smoother than the sound of SA and the construction gives you the possibility to make that true blues bends when the string goes out of the field of its magnet straight to field of another. The SV combines the AlNiCo-based active single coil with vintage style pole-pieces magnets. EMG - SVĪnd here’s another EMG in our list. New versions of the EMGs are getting closer to classic passive tone and getting less “sterile” so even if you dislike active pickups produced in the 2000s, try new ones, they will sound different.
The bar shape of the magnet allows you to make crazy bends without losing the depth of sound. The overall tone is slightly brighter than the tone of the S but less hot. It shares advantages and disadvantages with the S and the SV.
The most popular EMG single coil is definitely the SA. Though not as bright as its AlNiCo-based counterparts it provides you that signature EMG tone. The EMG S is ceramic based active single-coil. But many people find their tone “sterile”. Notes have great clarity, and when you buy the EMG, you definitely know how your guitar would sound. What would you hear when you ask somebody about active pickups? Of course, they would talk about the EMG. So if you prefer a modern tone combined with high output and don’t want to change batteries, this is your choice. Pole pieces construction, on the other hand, provides a more concentrated magnetic field under the string. The rail construction gives you the possibility to make insane bends without any tonal loses. This is a rail pickup with an AlNiCo rail magnet surrounded by two stacked coils. If you don’t like the tone of active pickups but still want the hot output, take a look at the Seymour Duncan Hot Stack STK-S2. Sometimes it is necessary to cut the cavity for it and it is highly recommended to be done by an experienced specialist. But if you’re switching to Blackouts (or any other active pickup) from passive ones you have to decide where to place the battery compartment.
With the engaged boost, the AS-1 gives you the power of full humbucker-sized Blackouts with a single-coil tone. Also if you want to play in different styles or change the output of your pickup on the fly you can wire additional contacts on the underside of pickup to the push/pull or mini switch to get an instant tone boost when you need it. The Seymour Duncan Blackouts AS-1 gives you the sound that will get through every mix. Seymour Duncan - AS-1nĬan we combine extremely high output with the crystal clear single-coil tone? Definitely yes. In comparison with true single-coils, the Noiseless is slightly smoother and not so bright, but if you prefer overdriven or hi-gain sound this difference in tone disappears. This model is the fourth generation of the Fender Noiseless and gives you a much clearer tone than its predecessors. Available as a stock pickup in many Fender guitars this is a common start point of many players who like their single-coil sound but tired of the noise. The most common and the first of its kind, the Fender Noiseless Single Coil has become a standard in this type of pickup. Technically noiseless single-coils aren’t single-coils because they have two opposite phase stacked coils. This way splits into humbucking pickups and noiseless single-coils. The second way is using more than one coil in one pickup. This device just mutes the sound if it is lower than the selected level. There are several ways to get a hum-free sound. But single-coils have one significant disadvantage. Its clear and bright tone had become a symbol of blues and early rock music. Since the invention of the electric guitar, the most common type of pickup is a single coil. Posted in Gear | Last Updated on June 10, 2019 13 Best Noiseless Strat Pickups for Hum-free Sound