Active Pickups - My Theory

The 81 is ceramic, the 85 is alnico 5, and just as with passives it is quite common to go for a ceramic bridge and an alnico neck. The Alnico neck, be it active or passive, will generally give a warmer smoother tone.

thanks man, appreciated...
 
I take it your "yawn" comment was meant to be either condescending or just rude. You'll notice in my post I used the word "generally". In a 2 line response to a question it really isn't possible to go in to every possibility and minutiae of pickup design, but in general, pickups made using alnicos will be made to sound smoother and warmer than ceramics.

that's a myth, nothing more...
 
Just checking back to see whether anyone else 'gets' this idea yet? (i.e. the range and response of active pups are better suited to high-end rack gear / advanced EQ & IR systems - such as the Fractal, mixing plugins, etc...)
 
I get what you mean, I believe.

I've only played a Luke and a cheap Sambora strat throught the Axe Ultra (before I had the II).
The EMGs are love/hate, because they make a lot of presets sound awesome and are noiseless... but I started craving some "tone coloring" again.
If I played the Sambora after it, I had some warmth back but I also heard the crappiness of the guitar and more presets were "blanketed" or "needed work."

Today with P90ies on a cheapish Gibson SG reissue through the II, I'm in heaven so far.
Almost every preset is sounding great, like I had with the EMGs. But now I also have incredible tone (prev. coming from EMG ;) )
 
OP although I neither agree or disagree with what you suggest since my AXE FX hasn't arrived yet I do understand your theory 8)

It's a completely plausible idea as most active pickup systems allow you to boost as well as cut therefore having total control over what is fed to the AXE input. Passive pickup systems will only allow cutting of frequencies.

Good on you for sharing your observations

FWIW I currently use mostly passive original equipment pickups and they work just fine what I play, however I've always considered EMG's for their tonal control
 
I do not believe an active pickup
is better suited for the axe. Active pickups having a low impedance output negate the loading effects of capacitance and also disconnect the interaction between the pickup and first tube in a tube amp.

The axe has hardware to adjust input impedance to load a passive properly, you lose that with an active.

As for the highs being lost with high output pickups. Well a few things are in play here, the resonant frequency will shift around depending on the resistance in the circuit. Swap out your volume pot for a one meg and tell me your high output passive has no high end, for that matter try the pickup wired directly to a jack.

Emgpickups are not a humbucKer pickup output fed into a preamp. The Emg has a differential input amplifier that mixes each coil together after amplification a different process yielding a different sound. Emg pickups have a resonant frequency that more closely resemble single coli pickups than humbuckers. That will account for the "loss of highs " your hearing when a/b ing against Passives.

The total bandwith of Passives and active are still in the same ballpark btw.





One
 
The EMGs are love/hate, because they make a lot of presets sound awesome and are noiseless... but I started craving some "tone coloring" again.


I would add to this that EMG's don't really clean up the way passive pickups do. This could be seen as a good or bad thing. They are definitely a double edged sword; I've grown to love their capabilities with the Axe but will probably always keep a passive guitar for its dynamic range.
 
I have used EMG's exclusively HSS 81's in the bridge since 1985, modified to 18v for a few years. They do sound fine. Recently picked up an ESP w SD blades. The tones with that are so different, In a good way. Don't limit yourself like i have in the past.
 
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I do not believe an active pickup
is better suited for the axe. Active pickups having a low impedance output negate the loading effects of capacitance and also disconnect the interaction between the pickup and first tube in a tube amp.

The axe has hardware to adjust input impedance to load a passive properly, you lose that with an active.

I don't think impedance is that significant here.

As for the highs being lost with high output pickups. Well a few things are in play here, the resonant frequency will shift around depending on the resistance in the circuit. Swap out your volume pot for a one meg and tell me your high output passive has no high end, for that matter try the pickup wired directly to a jack.

I have a guitar with passives wired direct to jack - this means nothing with regard to the fact that you are still hearing the colour of that pickup.



Emgpickups are not a humbucKer pickup output fed into a preamp. The Emg has a differential input amplifier that mixes each coil together after amplification a different process yielding a different sound. Emg pickups have a resonant frequency that more closely resemble single coli pickups than humbuckers. That will account for the "loss of highs " your hearing when a/b ing against Passives.

The total bandwith of Passives and active are still in the same ballpark btw.

I won't get into all the semantics about what the correct technical explanations are as it isn't that relevant to the point here.

I know that typical active pickups produce a fuller response than the typical passive. I used to have some frequency response charts for a range of pickups for comparison - I'll try and find them.



Think of it this way:

Would you rather apply EQ and multi-band compression on vocals or an instrument before going into your DAW, or would you prefer to capture the raw signal and apply it post recording to get the final sound you are after?

I suppose some people may prefer the former in certain situations, but I know that I prefer the latter due to the increased flexibility in shaping the sound.
 
My '59 Dano U1 with orig. Lipstick sounds KICKIN' through my Ultra. My St. Blues 61 South, especially the neck P-90 sounds great. My other dannys sound great. I'd say my 70's Mexican strat sounds weakest. Very 'strat-like', but much thinner - need to change the EQ if I'm using it on a patch I normally use the Dano on (which is why I wanted a global 'guitar-profile' page where you could select which guitar you were playing and get a global level and EQ setting for it - not to make 'em all sound the same, but to make 'em all sound their best.)

I must admit, I haven't like active pickups or even 'modern' pickups. The original Dano pickups have the most 'unmediated' sound to me - like the shortest distance from the string to the speaker - raw, in a way, but also unadulterated.

And if you don't see any humbuckers, well, yeah, I don't like 'em. I have one custom strat with an SG humbucker in the middle position, but it doesn't sound great to me. Maybe a real SG would - that is the one humbucking guitar I've enjoyed playing (hate Pauls, though love a p-90 Paul Jr.).
 
I would add to this that EMG's don't really clean up the way passive pickups do. .
I just had the chance to work on a 7 string with Emg's ,81 and A 60 ,running 9 volts .And was surprised how they cleaned up when using the guitar volume.Emg's sounded great thought my ultra,did have to bump up the treble on a tube amp. I think they have a cocked wah tone to them,in a good way Couldn't stop playing Crazy babies from the Ozz.I think the Emg's are great for hard rock and metal
 
Speaking of Alumitones, what's your take on their Humbucker vs Deathbucker? I don't really play djent metal, but I do enjoy an occasional metal riff every now and then. They don't make it easy to decide with the descriptions on their website.
 
I played through EMG's(85,81,707,808) for 20 yrs w/tube and solid state preamps.With my 8 string I replaced EMG808's w/Lundgrens and I'm never going back.
Why? IMO ...Fuller,warmer,more dynamic and versatile, which the AXE-II excels in also
my $.02

Cheers!
 
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