Active or passive?

[wbreslin951]

Originally Posted by Darin

I've heard great things from and emg loaded guitar. but also from passive pups as well. everything you want can be achieved without active pups. The best feature of an active pup imo is if you're the kind of player that keeps the volume rolled off a bit, keeping something in reserve, I believe they favor that a bit better than passives. But, a mild overdrive, not distortion, will boost your "output" as well, and its only on when you want.

Originally Posted by HeavyMetal4Ever

Yeah, not a fan of actives either.

There's lots of good passive pickups out there that will give you a balls out metal tone.

I have two guitars with mahogany bodies. One has a Duncan j.b and a 59 combo, and they are great for just about any style.

The other has the DiMarzio D-Activators, and they are very good for metal. Forget the EMG comparisons, they have ther own tone, and they work very well with the volume and tone knobs, providing more versatility than I expected. They have a very clear tone, and remain crisp with lots of distortion.

Just my two cents, hope it helped.

Rock on!

Im definately going for a very metal tone, but still with alot of versatility.. Ill check out a guitar with D-Activators in 'em, they sound pretty interesting

[wbreslin951]

I was just reading up on some different types of pickup systems.. I noticed a part of a document that talked about 'high impedance pickups with separate pre-amps.' it said that this system is pretty much a passive instrument with a preamp that buffers the high impedance into a low impedance output for less noise and a broader frequency range. you can use the original passive controls since normally, actives need completely different values for their systems. You can also bypass the preamp and have straight pickups.. more versatility of tone, and a failsafe if ur battery runs out.. I think I really like this idea because it seems to give me the best of both worlds. anyone know where I can get a preamp that I can install in my guitar with my current pickups?

[j.arledge]

i didn't like d'activators because they sounded like active pickups , they dont come close to sounding like an active pickup . they are good pickups and i like them , but just not for thier intended use .

active is going to give you the most clarity, drive and cut. they wont be as responsive as passives and they wont do as well clean .

[CosmicDebris]

Lace Sensor FTW!

[wbreslin951]

Originally Posted by CosmicDebris

Lace Sensor FTW!

FTW? Lace Sensor?

[CosmicDebris]

FTW = For The Win. I picked that up playing Freeworlds and Freelancer Mod.

Lace sensor = www.lacemusic.com

[wbreslin951]

oh okay.. i checked out lace sensor.. single coil? uhh nooo lol.

[CosmicDebris]

Originally Posted by wbreslin951

oh okay.. i checked out lace sensor.. single coil? uhh nooo lol.

Do a little bit more looking around.

[HeavyMetal4Ever]

Originally Posted by wbreslin951

I was just reading up on some different types of pickup systems.. I noticed a part of a document that talked about 'high impedance pickups with separate pre-amps.' it said that this system is pretty much a passive instrument with a preamp that buffers the high impedance into a low impedance output for less noise and a broader frequency range. you can use the original passive controls since normally, actives need completely different values for their systems. You can also bypass the preamp and have straight pickups.. more versatility of tone, and a failsafe if ur battery runs out.. I think I really like this idea because it seems to give me the best of both worlds. anyone know where I can get a preamp that I can install in my guitar with my current pickups?

Check out the EMG Afterburner. It's a gain boost push/pull pot that replaces your tone knob.

Rock on!

[TicTac in my eye]

Passive pickups. I have EMG's also in my esp ec-1000. Its not a bad sound but passive just have way more depth in tone in my opinion plus I love the response with those pickups much better. Seymours and DiMarzio rule in my book. EMG's just seem like they sound sterile to me.