Pickups, Active or Passive

I have gone through huge amount of pickups among them active pickups like EMG/Fishman/SD Blackouts but I never really liked that active compressed tone.

Since I discovered BKP, I have replaced all my guitars from the BKPs assortment.
One huge advantage with BKP, it's the customization. You can make your own design/wound for the guitar.

2 guitars with Ragnarok set
1 guitar with <ceramic> Nailbomb/Coldsweat
1 guitar with <ceramic> Nailbomb/Trilogy suite
1 guitar with Stockholm/Trilogy suite
1 guitar with Juggernaut
( I always order the neck with flip magnet in H-H guitars)
 
Passive exclusively for me. Simple reason is I haven't felt the urge or need to try active, I get the tones I'm looking for with the pickups I have:

Fender Nocasters (Triple Tele)
Kinman Blues Strat
TV Jones Power'Tron+ / Power'Tron
Lindy Fralin Tele Split Blades - High Output
Railhammer Nuevo 90s
Dimarzio Mo' Joe / Pro Track
Suhr SSH+ / Seymour Duncan Jazz (uncovered)
 
Sweet! Have any of Randy's guitars? I tried the 85 in the bridge and felt it didn't have enough high end sizzle like the 81. It's almost like comparing the Seymour Duncan JB and the Distortion, I suppose they both have their attributes depending on the guitar's characteristics. However, I love the JB in my KV's and RR's, and to think I used to change them all out for the 81 & 89 when I was in a Metallica tribute band. I had dozens of CTS 500 and 250K pots in a tackle box. ;)
Have EMG’s in all my Randy guitars.
006C2943-F323-4FA6-AC82-B13CE51926D7.jpeg
 
Nice picture @bishop5150 !!! I love the marble fireplace and floor, and the fleur de lee wrought iron side pieces, it's like your guitars are in a museum. :) Is that really your house? That's beautiful! Is the guitar on the left one of the newer Indonesian RR3's? I have the Indonesian made RRXMG and Rhoads Pro Series RR (<couldn't they come up with a better name?). Both great guitars I picked up used for under 5 bills. I also have an older MIJ RR5 (paid $405!) which is a better guitar but lacks neck binding, is your black one on the right an MIJ RR5? Edwards Les Paul, Arbor PD V? Nice Axe's ;)

Fender Nocasters (Triple Tele)
Kinman Blues Strat
TV Jones Power'Tron+ / Power'Tron
Lindy Fralin Tele Split Blades - High Output
Railhammer Nuevo 90s
Dimarzio Mo' Joe / Pro Track
Suhr SSH+ / Seymour Duncan Jazz (uncovered)

Geez the only one I'm familar with is the Duncan Jazz, is it being used as a neck or bridge pickup? I've heard those Fralin's are nice.

I have gone through huge amount of pickups among them active pickups like EMG/Fishman/SD Blackouts but I never really liked that active compressed tone.

I've heard the Blackouts are pretty outrageous, never tried the the Fishman, but the only EMG I've found compressed is the 81. The others like the 85, 89, 60 and SA (the ones that I've tried) all have Alnico magnets and other than the 85 being powerful I didn't find it too compressed. I didn't like it in the bridge position, not for metal anyway but I currently have one in my RRXMG (neck) and it sounds surprizingly good. I've always used the 89 in the neck position (which is an 85/SA mix, oh and an 85 is basically two SA's wired in series), I used the coil tap all the time so it was a noiseless single coil, awesome for clean tones. I also had a white Fender Strat with 3 SA'a like David Gilmour's setup, only I was using it for the Metallica band I was in, (Kirk Hammett uses a white one for the song Unforgiven). I haven't tried the newer Hetset but do have the KH Bone Breakers signatures, they sound nice, warmer than the 81. I still need more time with them to give a better description, they're in a KH 602 Purple Sparkle.

For lead guitar my fav is still the Seymour Duncan TB4 or "JB." I just love its tone and I dial the amp in a lot like Marty Friedman's on Megadeth's "Rust In Peace" album. The EMG 81 is much tighter on the low end, its best attribute, but not as warm as the TB4. I suppose my ideal pickup would be like the 81 for rhythm guitar and TB4/JB for lead, although live the 81 cut through the mix better.

I'd like to try some BKP's, I almost bought a RR1 equipped with Nailbombs, which I've read sound outstanding for all kinds of music genre's.
 
Geez the only one I'm familar with is the Duncan Jazz, is it being used as a neck or bridge pickup? I've heard those Fralin's are nice.
The Jazz is in the neck of my Schecter C-1 Classic with the Suhr. Lindy Fralin really did a great job retaining the single coil tone and feel with the Split Blades.
 
I have liked a few actives I've played. I like the fishman fluence line. There was also a time I was impressed by the emg 81/85 combo (in 2004 when I first played them as a young teen who loved children of bodom.) These days however, its 100% passives for me. Thay said, I have heard alot of passive pickups that were straight garbage, too. I tend to favor medium output passives for versatility and clarity.
 
Back
Top Bottom