Music Man Luke - Active or Passive with Boost?

Neelfy

Neelfy

Inspired
(posted this in the lounge but though it would be appropriate ats directly related to the part of the forum)

Hello my fellow AxeFX chums!

Getting a Music Man Luke (in HSS format) shortly and want some input from you guys on which type of pickup would be best/more appropriate for the Axe FX

The Luke 3 has the passive DiMarzio Transition pickups with a switchable preamp 12dB boost.

Was wondering if the boost circuit on the Luke 3/DiMarzio's is more suited to "real amp" input and i.e. no a real advantage to the AxeFX. Of course I dont need to use the boost but it would be nice addition if its usable.

So its more a question of do you think the active EMG's would be better or the passive DiMarzios or would both be suited and its more of purely personal preference between the active and passive


Thanks guys
 
Yes, and yes. :)

SInce you can tune the Axe-Fx input in so many different ways you can choose to use the MM any way you please and change it as often as you like.
I personally really like using the input trim to add/remove grit on the input stage - it changes the way the downstream blocks behave. And I personally prefer the passive coil/magnet sound and feel to the "active/buffered" sound and feel. That's just my preference.
Regardless of which you choose, you'll need to "dial the knobs" on the Axe-Fx to your taste, so it really doesn't matter IMNSHO.

There are many MM users on this forum (including myself) that can share their insight. Good luck, and congratulations on wonderful equipment choices.
 
I have the Luke III in HSS with the solid rosewood neck.
Disclaimer* - I don't really care for active pickups, but I understand why others do. I'm biased towards passive pickups.

The stock pickups are AWESOME. The transition humbucker is very articulate and offers a lot of dynamics. The single coils sound fantastic as well. They have a lot of body to them, but still retain a lot of chime. Rumor has it that they are based off of the Dimarzio Injectors, but they aren't available for aftermarket purchase like the humbucker is.

The pickups play very nicely with the AxeFX and you can get a great range of tones just with the volume knob and pickup selector. The boost is great too because it really adds a nice kick for solo work. It's not a straight treble boost. It's quite balanced and boosts the entire frequency spectrum fairly evenly.

I don't know what kind of music you play, but I play everything from pop / alternative to hard rock / 80s glam and this guitar covers it all. I used to drag a MusicMan Axis, a strat, and a les paul to all my gigs, and I would always have to switch guitars several times per set to get the tones I wanted. Now, I take just the Luke III and the Les Paul. The Luke covers me for 98% of the set, with the les paul only being used for one song where I need a hard tail and it also serves as a backup to get me through the end of the set if I break a string on the Luke.

I would strongly suggest that you hold off on buying replacement pickups for the Luke until after you've had it for a week or two. It really is a sweet sounding guitar.

In the end, if you wind up buying actives for it, feel free to PM me. I might be interested in buying those single coils and maybe the circuitry at the right price.

EDIT:
You probably already know this, but in case you don't: The volume and tone pots on the Luke III are mounted to a PCB board with the preamp and the boost circuitry on it. The Luke III uses passive pickups with an active preamp. I'm not sure if you'd be able to integrate EMGs with that kind of preamp system. My guess is that you'd probably have to gut the electronics completely to install your active pickups, and then you wouldn't have the Luke boost circuit.

EDIT #2:
Also, the preamp in the Luke III is tuneable. It has small pots inside the electronics cavity that let you adjust the boost volume and also the volume balance between the single coils and the humbucker. If you're concerned about having consistent output across all the pickups, adjusting that pot might address your concerns instead of buying replacement pickups.
 
Last edited:
I had Luke I and LIII (HH) and i liked LIII better because of the passive DiMarzio's.

The Luke I sounded cool in the bridge, but the sc did not do what i wanted them to do.
 
I own both types of Luke and I have to say I prefer the EMGs with the Axe FX, or within real amp for that matter. Not to say that the LIIIs Dimarzios are bad, they aren't, they're great, and I've been using the LIII constantly for some time, but I always gravitate back to the Luke's 1&2 because I love that slightly compressed clarity which gives more control and let's effects cut right through.
One important note: Comparatively the Dimarzios are way more powerful that the EMGs and I had to introduce a filter block on all my presets with a 6db cut to compensate for the LIII.
 
Thanks guys.

You have confirmed pretty much all the points that I felt why to go for the Luke III.

Will be pulling the trigger in next day or so.

Really do appreciate all your input.

Thanks again.
 
I have Luke II and a III with rosewood neck. I really like both guitars, but marginally prefer the III - the onboard boost is great!

Some thoughts about the EMGs - although I love the SLV single coils, I didn't like the bridge 85 so I swapped it for the new 57, which is far better for traditional medium gain tones. Note that the Luke II doesn't use the plug-and-play EMG solderless system for some reason, so the pickups are not as easy to swap - they're soldered in. And although the EMGs don't hum, they do hiss somewhat which is noticeable when you use a compressor or high gain.

I was happy with the Luke III out of the box - great pickups and that fantastic neck carve.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom