New pickups: active or passive

[screamindaemon]

So I'm thinking I'm going to go buy some new pickups, as I still have the stock ones in both my 6 and 7. I'm going to go testing this weekend.

I know some people swear by actives, and other despise them (I will decide for myself in the end), but I was wondering if I could get a pro/con summary from those who have tried both, and your opinions on the subject.

I have always thought that an active pickup will lose the natural defects of the guitar (due to the preamp). I've also thought that you could potentially put an active into a guitar made of concrete and it would still sound more or less the same. As I've said, I've never tried them, but let me know if I'm off my rocker or not.

 

[loktide]

you should definitely try both out! i like actives and passives for different things. for cleans and soloing, passives capture the dynamics and life of your playing A LOT better than actives.

for heavy rhythm work, i like both but for different kind of tones.

i'd recommend you trying a EMG81 for your 6er and maybe something like a duncan JB7 for your 7.
good luck!

 

[screamindaemon]

Thanks. Is there any merit to the idea of using an active in the bridge, and a passive in the neck? Yes I'm aware there is impedance issues in doing so, but wouldn't this set-up give you the happy medium of active power for rhythm and natural tonality for clean?

 

[sol niger 333]

So I'm thinking I'm going to go buy some new pickups, as I still have the stock ones in both my 6 and 7. I'm going to go testing this weekend.

I know some people swear by actives, and other despise them (I will decide for myself in the end), but I was wondering if I could get a pro/con summary from those who have tried both, and your opinions on the subject.

I have always thought that an active pickup will lose the natural defects of the guitar (due to the preamp). I've also thought that you could potentially put an active into a guitar made of concrete and it would still sound more or less the same. As I've said, I've never tried them, but let me know if I'm off my rocker or not.

I've played EMG 81s only for the last 13 years because nothing else could get me that tight crunchy, punchy compressed metal tone. Everything else felt loose to me through the mesa dual. However individual string definition really seems to suffer with actives especially the 81. The sound of large chords just tends to "smear" the notes so while great for chugging style, actives may not be the way to go if you are a versatile player. I've since changed to nice passives with a boost pedal for the front end of my nitro as well as got rid of the dual. Went back to my SG with the EMG81 in it a few days ago and it just sounds dead in comparison to the tone I'm getting now. You really notice the compression once you play nice passives for a while and go back to actives. Passives change your approach to playing also. You may find yourself becoming more of a dynamic player whereas actives lend themselves to one style of playing/music really well. If you are Dino Cazares go active. If you are Adam Jones go passive. Broad sweeping statement it may be but I hope it helps.

 

[vehemence]

get seymour duncan BLACKOUTS!

 

[Scali]

I have a 6-string with the EMG Steve Lukather set. The bridge humbucker is an EMG85. It has an alnico magnet, which gives it a bit more of a 'passive' or 'organic' sound than the 'classic' EMG pickups like the EMG81.
I quite like its sound.
Here's a video where I use that guitar:

 

[damigu]

Thanks. Is there any merit to the idea of using an active in the bridge, and a passive in the neck? Yes I'm aware there is impedance issues in doing so, but wouldn't this set-up give you the happy medium of active power for rhythm and natural tonality for clean?

possible to do, but not a good idea for 2 reasons:
1/ wiring it up would be a pain in the ass since the active and passive pickups would need isolated signal paths, and
2/ you'd have a big volume difference when switching between the pickups.

if you play to play live at all then the volume difference becomes a major issue.

 

[Filip S]

i don't know what you use each of the guitars for, but i'd try blackouts. i did, and they shread faces. the only downfall in my opinion is that you can't coil tap them :S. but if you roll off the vol a bit and play on the bidge pup they can have a really nice clean sound.

 

[CynicEidolon]

possible to do, but not a good idea for 2 reasons:
1/ wiring it up would be a pain in the ass since the active and passive pickups would need isolated signal paths, and
2/ you'd have a big volume difference when switching between the pickups.

if you play to play live at all then the volume difference becomes a major issue.

And also, there is a "pop" sound every time you go from the passive to the active while it engages the battery.

 

[PlagueX1]

Try coil-taps. I get some amazing tones out of the EMG 707tw's. So much more versatile. You get active sound yet you can tap it and get an amazing clean from it. I can't say enough about them.

I'd like to change my 6 string to coil taps too.
I like the blackouts but in my honest opinion, the 707tw's spank the blackouts in term of versatility.

 

[7 Dying Trees]

If you've never tried actives, give them a go, see if you like them. But, I recently got back a guitar with emg's i owned 6 years ago, about the time i started using passives again. And to be honest, i vastly prefer passives these days. Active is just more sterile and really doesn't react to playing dynamics as much. I've got rid of them already.

 

[Scali]

I guess it depends on what you're looking for. If you want to play really tight metal rhythms, the lack of dynamics and rather 'sterile' sound of actives will only enhance this.