For everyone who has replaced the Silo Special stock pickups.

[menvafaan]

Hi all,

I have just installed Suhr FL single coil and a Suhr SSV+ in my SS. I just replaced them as they were, keeping the original wiring and everything.

Now, position 3 and 4 (1 being neck, 5 being bridge) are noisy, even noisier than the neck pickup alone (no battery in silent system). When I plug in the battery, the noise on the neck pickup gets even louder than it is without the battery.

Anyone have any ideas on this? Have I done something wrong? Is the silent system supposed to work even with non-stock pickups? What might be the cause of the noise in positions 3 and 4?

I hope some guys with experience in this area can shed some light on this.

The pickups sounds awesome though, except for the noise!

Thanks,
Sebastian

 

[beej]

You're getting double the noise when the pickups aren't RWRP with respect to each other. Same deal with the SC- you'll want the ground lead from the SC that's the opposite phase than what you have if you get double the noise.

Check your wiring colours and go over everything again.

If you're still stuck, PM me.

 

[fogman]

beej is the man!!!!

 

[whitestrat]

I actually gave up using the SS with aftermarket pups... so i just went 100% noiseless with the DiMarzio Cruisers... works wonders for me!

I've also got a SSS noiseless Silo Spec coming up... it'll have the pro track, cruiser and air norton S. Anyone wanna guess what goes where?

 

[dwells]

cruisers are awesome sounding in a silo!!!

 

[spkirby]

I actually gave up using the SS with aftermarket pups... so i just went 100% noiseless with the DiMarzio Cruisers... works wonders for me!

What made you give up on the pups Lionel... I thought you had added various ones (passives) to your silo specs over time and seemed happy with the results?

 

[whitestrat]

What made you give up on the pups Lionel... I thought you had added various ones (passives) to your silo specs over time and seemed happy with the results?

Yep, I WAS happy... I realised I could use my fav guitar then with my band who does sometimes go a little heavy. No matter how i tweaked it, the SS was never really quiet unlike with stock pups. And I wanted a bit more beef on the bridge side. So I wanted to add the FRED in as a humbucker, and realised they won't match. the FRED sounds too dark with a 250k pot, and the singles were too bright with 500k. So the cruisers were the best solution, and they fit everything I wanted with the single coil side of tones anyways.

Now I can bring that guitar EVERYWHERE for any genre of music!

 

[beej]

It all depends what you're going for. I have noiseless singles in my AL (Bill Lawrence) and love them.

But I will say, if I was playing mostly clean I would look to get a best-of-breed single. They still sound better. (Though that gap continues to close.)

The FLs really are outstanding singles.

 

[candid_x]

The Silent Circuit wasn't effective with Fralin blues specials, dropped into an SSS Silo Special, no matter how I tweaked the little slotted adjustment. They weren't hotter pickups either, in fact they put out less volume than the stock p'ups.

 

[menvafaan]

Haha, it turned out that the store where I bought the pickups had switched them up in their boxes. The neck pickup was in the middle pickup case, and the middle pickup was in the neck pickup case. After I switched places, it works just fine.

I must tell you, they sound really awesome!

Candid X wrote:
"...no matter how I tweaked the little slotted adjustment."

Can I adjust and calibrate the silent circuit? Where is this thing located, and how do I calibrate it?

 

[candid_x]

Can I adjust and calibrate the silent circuit? Where is this thing located, and how do I calibrate it?

The SC is a small cube shaped thing next to the switch (mine's white as I recall) with a slot adjustment on top. I was able to dial a very small amount of 60 cycle hum out, but nothing like with the stock pickups. Not really a biggie since I didn't use it for anything high gain or especially loud.

Glad you got your pickups sorted and that ya like them!

 

[beej]

Hah! Glad that was simple.

Yeah, for adjusting it, I do it with the pickgard off and more or less in playing position. You'll need to aim more for one particular pickup (since it's effect will be different on both). I usually calibrate it to the bridge. Crank up the gain on your amp and adjust the little potentiometer on the back of the SC until the singal is at its quietest point. You won't get it all out, but you should be able to remove quite a bit.