New AXEFXII - better with ACTIVE pickups? My passives sound terrible

Maybe the stock passive pickups in my Carvins are just not very good. I believe they are SH-4 single coils with a MSD Humbucker. I was playing through the humbucker and all but one of my Passive guitars just sounded so weak and hollow compared to my new DC700. Its hard to explain but when I play some of those incredible clean presets, some with lush delays, chorus, effects they sound full, roomy, crisp and super clear with the DC700 with actives but the same preset on my passives sound weak, thin and dull. Very uninspiring. Maybe I just need to tweak the preset for the individual guitars like someone suggested. Maybe that will bring the sound closer to that of what Im hearing from my DC700? What parameters should I mess with to try and bring my sound closer to what I'm hearing from my Dc700?

Eventually I might also swap out pickups as well to something better.
 
I can tell a big difference in pups with the same preset.

My strat has very low output pups and my les paul very hot, both passive, very different results on first 40 V6 presets.

Richard
 
Use the tone match!!!!! Your passive pickups will sound like whatever the heck you want them to after that. I couldn't dial the high end to my liking on my passive guitar and my les Paul copy w/emg's was just right from the start. I know what you mean. Just use the tone match...
 
Check your input volume, I'm at 95% to tickle the red. Actives by their nature throw off more signal, so you might just be too weak going in.
 
I also use 95% input volume with stock Dimarzios and recommend to try a shorter cable, or just a better cable with passives.
Actually, Carvin-made pickups are not hot and requre tweaking the gain and master volume.
 
Strange, I've found the opposite to be true for me. All my passive pickup guitars (with Bill & Becky Laurence L500C/L, seymour duncan Lil tele 59 / Dimarzio etc) have far more headroom and sound much more organic than my 3 x EMG loaded guitars since listening to them through the Axe Fx II, something that didn't come through so well previously on my "real" valve amps (5150 & Rivera KH).

I've hardly touched my guitars with active pickups in the last 2 months since getting my AXE. Each to their own I suppose. I'll probably try to set up a patch for my Loomis with active EMGs or do the 18V mod to get a little headroom. I'm actually so disappointed with the flat sound of the Loomis now that I'm considering 7 string passive pickups for it......
 
Any sort of broad sweeping generalization like this is kind of pointless. Maybe your guitar sounds better with actives. Maybe somebody else's sounds better with passives. Maybe you both have different tastes and that other person hates your active pickup sound and vice versa.

I would suggest you just enjoy playing your Axe-FX II with whatever guitar(s) sounds good to you.
 
All my Passives sound Great.

My Passives sound great.
But all my Passives are Hot.
Gibson Dark Fire has a Burstbucker 3 which is overwound.
Gibson Studio Plus has 490T and 498T which are both pretty Hot.
Finally my American Strat is a HSS and the Humbucker runs Fairly hot along with the 2 Tex-Mex Single Coils which are also Hot.

So you may have some wimpy Passive Pickups???
If your Actives run Hotter than your Passives, it would be the Same as Engaging A Boost before the Input of an Amp, which would effect the Sound.
Check under Utility for your Levels and I bet the Active guitar is inputting more Signal.
 
This thread is interesting to me. I actually have 2 Carvin DC700's with the stock active pickups. Mind you I have only had the axe fx2 for a month so I still have a lot to learn. My one DC700 alder body maple neck that is in standard tuning sounds great. I've tweeked a few patches but nothing really crazy and it sounds great! I just got my other DC700 last week and this one is a walnut body with a 5 piece walnut with 2 maple stripes neck setup one whole step down across the board. When I first plugged in and played it sounded like crap with the patches I had already setup for the other DC700. I figured it would sound different but it was way off on how I like my sound to be. After some tweaking I made 2 patches so far that I like for now. What are you playing your axe fx through? I am running mine FRFR with one EVLX112P speaker. I've been on a seven string kick for the past few months so I would like to compare my six string Ibanez that has passive pickups in it. Only problem is the Ibanez is over my brother's house at the moment. Once I get it I'll see what the difference is and report back by the weekend with my findings. BTW, how do you like your DC700? I love mine that's why I have two!
 
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