8 string active or passive?

[ElectricEelChair]

Ok so I've seen the video, I really like the Pegasus/sentient pickup set the best. Been looking around and they're in either active or passive. My guitar already has passive stock pickups so it would be easier to do passives. My goal sound is maximum brutality, should I go with the actives?

 

[Mike]

The pickups themselves are only passive not active. You are confused about the "Mount" offering. What active means in regards to the mount is that they will be a direct fit replacement for 7 and 8 string soapbar (i.e. EMG 707 or 808) sized pickups.

edit: and if your goal is maximum brutality, you should be going with the nazgul for the bridge not the pegasus.

 

[Avogadr0]

The nazguls are probably going to be more "brutal," but I imagine most of the aggressiveness of the pickup could be attributed to a difference in EQ, which I imagine an EQ pedal/mastering a recording could remedy. Personally, I think they both sounded pretty metal, and I think that clarity in metal is largely underrated.

Of course I'm going out on a limb here

But yeah, the pickups are all passive pickups. The active mounts are for people like me who bought a guitar with active pickups (different size cavity for the pickups), but want to have the passive pickups without large gaps in the guitar that look awkward. You're going to want to go with either the uncovered set, or the passive mount set.

 

[ElectricEelChair]

Thanks guys, yea I guess I got a little confused there. I like the Pegasus because it sounds a little more clear to me. although the nazgul is certainly a good pickup, im a little partial to the Pegasus.

 

[ElectricEelChair]

Scratch that, just watched that video again... Don't know what I was thinking, the nazgul does seem to have a bit more edge to it. That'll probably be the one I go with.

 

[Mike]

Yup I win. You owe me your car.

 

[ElectricEelChair]

Shit... Not again

 

[Nour Ayasso]

From what I hear 8 strings work better with actives because of the tone range and amount of strings.

 

[jephjacques]

Untrue. A good passive pickup can handle anything an 8 string puts out.

 

[Mike]

From what I know and have experienced 8 strings generally work better with passives. The majority of 8 string active offerings are too high output and lack the clarity needed for the extended low range to not sound like complete mud. I mostly blame this on the early ERG active designs being based off of bass pickups or 6/7 string versions with larger magnets/more windings to compensate for size difference. Instead, they should have just been redesigned from the ground up. Passives are generally lower in output compared to actives and do not suffer from the compression caused by a hot active system, plus most of them were created specifically for 7 and 8 strings.

With the exception of the EMG 57/66 set, Every passive I've tried in an 8 string has beaten actives in terms of clarity, dynamics, tone, and versatility.

 

[Nour Ayasso]

huh, I've constantly been hearing about how actives are so much better for 8 strings even though their not as clear they'll pickup all the strings better. Guess I'll keep an eye out for an eight packing some passive pups.

 

[facepalm66]

Passives are the way to go. Although I do like the sound of EMG808x though and few other actives.
Still, passives provide that natural organic sound with no oversaturated sounds, plus is much more dynamic. Hence I can get almost perfectly clean tone on lead channel with only volume knob on my Deactivators.

 

[Stuck_in_a_dream]

From what I know and have experienced 8 strings generally work better with passives. The majority of 8 string active offerings are too high output and lack the clarity needed for the extended low range to not sound like complete mud. I mostly blame this on the early ERG active designs being based off of bass pickups or 6/7 string versions with larger magnets/more windings to compensate for size difference. Instead, they should have just been redesigned from the ground up. Passives are generally lower in output compared to actives and do not suffer from the compression caused by a hot active system, plus most of them were created specifically for 7 and 8 strings.

With the exception of the EMG 57/66 set, Every passive I've tried in an 8 string has beaten actives in terms of clarity, dynamics, tone, and versatility.

Passives are the way to go. Although I do like the sound of EMG808x though and few other actives.
Still, passives provide that natural organic sound with no oversaturated sounds, plus is much more dynamic. Hence I can get almost perfectly clean tone on lead channel with only volume knob on my Deactivators.

No offense guys, and I'm not trying to pick a fight but I think you're overstating your opinions/preferences and disguising them as facts. I have nothing against passives per se but I prefer EMG products, specially the X-series, and 57/66.

One thing I like about actives is their weak magnetic field which yield more sustain, and if the popularity of active pickups in the bass world is any indication, I think an ERG would benefit a lot from an active pickup. Talk about clarity of bass notes on a 6-string bass, plus active preamp circuits (even more popular in the bass world, e.g. Bartolini, Aguilar, Delano) have proven to be more powerful in tone shaping capabilities.

Although I'm still pondering my 1st 8-string purchase, I have a lot of experience w/ EMGs in my 7's and from the demos I heard/saw, I find 808x an awesome sounding pickup, just to give an example.

 

[Go To Bed Jessica]

I have an 8 with EMG 808 pickups and one with a passive Lundgren. I prefer the passive because it makes the instrument sound more "guitar-like" to my ears. It's more responsive to picking dynamics and plays nicer with gain pedals (of which I have many in my setup).

I don't think the actives are bad necessarily, but they do break from what lots of people associate with traditional guitar sounds. Even after the 18v mod, the 808s still compress a bit too much for my liking.

It all comes down to personal preference and what works for you, your technique and your rig.

 

[DougL]

G'day all,
I'm debating going passive in my RG2228.
I recently bought an ibanez s8qm (my first 8 ) which I really liked. Then of course I had to upgrade almost immediately to an rg2228 to see what a prestige 8 string was like.
It came with seymour duncan blackouts and I put new ernie ball strings on it with a .72 on the f#.
To me it feels a lot nicer than the s8 but the F# had a really jangly/clicky sound to it
on palm muted notes. I play mostly melodic death and some heavy rock at medium gain.
I'm using an ENGL ritchie blackmore and vintage 30 quad.
After putting up with it for a while I decided to get two EMG808x's which I installed yesterday with a new set of strings with a .74 on the F#.
Same crappy palm muted sound.
I am now considering getting a seymour duncan nazgul to see if passives solve my problem.
The s8qm sounds good but I can't go back after upgrading to the 2228.
Any ideas?

Cheers,
Doug

 

[Corrosion]

Or it could be the fact your strings are still too small.

 

[blaxquid]

If I still had my 8, I'd go passive for sure. Blackouts sounded better than the 808s (even 18v) but it wasn't a big difference - should've kept the 200$ and put it on my brewing gear...

 

[Chokey Chicken]

If the s8qm sounds good, why wouldn't you just use it? Hell, if even a $200 les paul knock off sounds better than a $5600 "real" les paul, you use the $200 knock off.

On the other hand, it could be several different things not related to the pickups. String gauge, neck relief, and string action can all have the strings flopping around too much and creating a lot of clacky obnoxious fret sounds. (sort of like fret buzz, but not exactly the same.) A pickup swap might do nothing for you, and you might want to have the guitar set up good and proper first to rule that out.

 

[Konfyouzd]

The "active" label I believe just has to do with the shape of the pickups. If the guitar you're taking pickups from had actives then you'd want the active housing to completely fill the route.

As far as active vs passive... I have no idea. I have both. An RG2228 with EMG85/60 and an SIR28FD with DiMarzio DA8s... They both sound good to me. They both also sound incredibly different. That said I don't have any clarity issues on either one in any range of the instrument.

 

[DougL]

If the s8qm sounds good, why wouldn't you just use it? Hell, if even a $200 les paul knock off sounds better than a $5600 "real" les paul, you use the $200 knock off.

On the other hand, it could be several different things not related to the pickups. String gauge, neck relief, and string action can all have the strings flopping around too much and creating a lot of clacky obnoxious fret sounds. (sort of like fret buzz, but not exactly the same.) A pickup swap might do nothing for you, and you might want to have the guitar set up good and proper first to rule that out.

"clacky" , Yep that about sums it up.
Yes , I should probably have just used the s8 when I liked it but " the grass is always greener " .
I'm no expert but I have followed the Ibanez instructions as far as setup is concerned, I do like my action low, very close to buzz and I do like lighter strings.
It has a .74 .65 .56 etc set on it now although the .65 B and .56 E feels a bit heavy to me. Unplugged it is no more "clacky" than any of my other guitars.
My ENGL does seem to accentuate the problem though.

Thanks Chokey,
Doug