Clarification: mixing active\passive PUP's

[fixxxerkh]

Okay here's the setup: 2 pup's: one neck humbucker and one bridge humbucker. 1 volume, 2 tone, three way switch. Currently I have 2 active EMG's.

Isn't it true that I can add a passive Dimarzio to the neck and just alter the impedance on my knobs to make both pickups work? My understanding is that if I have two of my knobs act as volume knobs, each for one pickup but with different impedance ratings, I can have both a passive Dimarzio and an active EMG in my guitar, even though the one knob will not have a volume sweep and will be more of an 'on\off' type situation (which doesn't bother me since I rarely do volume swells)

I dropped my guitar off at Guitar Center to get this done (ugh) and the tech calls me back about two weeks later saying he's gotta drill holes and do all this crazy stuff to make an active\passive combo system work. I try to explain to him that my friend has an active\passive combo system in his Gibson SG that was done without any kind of heavy modification or internal preamps. The Guitar Center tech doesn't want to hear it.

Any help would be appreciated.

[ztevie]

Yes, you are right... You can use EMG 25k-pot for EMG and normal pot for passive.. The only disadvantage is you will not be able to play both at the same time with the switch in middle position. Not with satisfying result anyway...
I would convert the guitar to have 2 volume, 1 tone and use the middle position of the 3-way switch as splitting the passive pickup(not mixing the 2 pups)... A nice solution I think? No modifications to the guitar needed...
So with this you would have the 3-way options of: EMG in bridge-Passive Humbucker in neck-Passive Singlecoil in neck.

From emginc.com:

Can I mix EMG's with passive pickups?


It is possible to mix EMG's with passive pickups. There are three possible wiring configurations; one is better than the other two.

Use the high impedance (250K-500K) volume and tone controls. The problem is that the high impedance controls act more like a switch to the EMG's. The passive pickups, however, will work fine. If you have a guitar with two pickups and two volume pots, with a three-way switch, there is another alternative. Use the 25K pots for the EMG, and the 250K pots for the passive pickup. This way you can use one or the other with no adverse affects, but with the switch in the middle position the passive pickup will have reduced gain and response.

Use the low-impedance (25K) volume and tone controls provided with the EMG's. The problem here is that the passive pickups will suffer a reduction in gain and loss of high-frequency response.

This is the best alternative. Install an EMG-PA-2 on the passive pickups. There are two benefits to doing this. With the trimpot on the PA-2, you can adjust the gain of the passive pickups to match the EMG's. The PA-2 acts as an impedance matching device so you can use the low-impedance EMG controls (25K) without affecting the tone of the passive pickups. You will also be able to use other EMG accessory circuits such as the SPC, RPC, EXB, EXG, etc. For this application, we recommend ordering the PA-2 without the switch for easy installation on the inside of a guitar.