Passive or Active Pickups

[TheSoundofWater]

i heard that an active pick up isn't that great compared to the passive.

when im planning to get a new guitar im not sure whether to get one with active or passive.

the passive is on the Ltd m-200/201 and the active is on the m-400.

if i want to have a clean sound and a good distortion which one should i choose?

[z0s0_jp]

Passive. Definately.

[TheSoundofWater]

i liked the passive aswell. since i really don't like buying batteries.

but then again i never heard the active pickups before.

[Fret spider]

well a well know brand of active pickups is emg.
http://www.emginc.com/guitar.asp

there are differences of opinion on this one. basically the way actives work is they use far lower magnets and there are less coils arround the poles in the pickups. this gives a much weaker signal than passive pickups. this signal is then boosted by the battery to about that of a passive pickup.

because of the low magnetic force actives have slightly better sustain. also due to the low number of coils there is less wire for the current to travle through so there is less resistance. this means there is less treble cut of (as this is affected by resistance more than the base). this gives a 'better' quality sound.

but due to actives few coils and low magnets they dont pick up the strings frequencies quite as well. many guitars sound good due to the wood used or neck construction etc as they slightly affect the way the strings vibrate. these affects will not be picked up by acive pickups. in fact actives sound the same on all guitars, so long as placing and type of active pickup are the same. many people love the sound the guitar imparts on the sound it gives 'soul' to it.

to sum up actives are a bit mechanical and cold. they give a good even response. passives have got more 'soul' and interestin sounds.

again it all depends what style u play. actives are probably better for mega distortion as at that level of distortion the 'soul' effect of the passives is lost anyway. they also give a good clean sound but it is a cold sound, acuraste and mathamatical. this clean is often used in the beginin of a metal song.

if u are gonna play blues actives are a no no. if u do buy active buy emg.

[TheSoundofWater]

hm..

the wood that the passive guitar has is Agathis..

so far the passive seems better, since it suits me. from what i comprehended from that wonderful information you posted ( im serious that helped me alot) actives has less loops around the pole, this means it doesn't pick up the treble sound that well.

would the passive pick ups be a wise chose if i were to play jazz and blues?

[Andrew Sa]

For those purposes a passive pickup will probably suit you best.

Active pickups generate a much lower signal, but boost it hugely with an onboard (in the guitar) pre-amp.
This pre-amp chews 9 volt batteries.

Active pickups are most commonly used in metal bands, because of the higher output of the pickup and pre-amplifier.
Active Pickups are also usually quieter (in terms of hiss and hum, not out put volume) and so work well with really high gain amps and such.

I prefer passive pickups. I find they have more character and warmth, to me active pickups are almost like the sonic equivalent of a buzz saw...

[TheSoundofWater]

thanks guys.

btw if the guitar i got was made from agathis would the sound that ig et from the pickups sound bad?

[Andrew Sa]

That's a tough question to answer.

Firstly, "Bad" is a relative term...the sound I like may be very different to the sound you like.

All woods give a different sound. Agathis is not the most common of woods, and if I am correct, all Agathis now used comes from large planatations and the wood has been almost logged to extinction apart from these man-cultivated plantations.

I have never owned an agathis guitar, but if I recall it has a tone similar to mahog, which is rather fat, with an emphasis on lower mids.

I may be wrong though, I just recall having read that somewhere.

If you're really keen to fond out what sound you can expect from an agathis body, I'm sure there are many sites on the net with descriptions of the tonal characterstics of many woods.

try searching for "tone woods" on google, or perhaps someone here can give you a link to a site.

[Andrew Sa]

oh, and to clear that up...the sound of the guitar is determined by many factors, including the pickups(not only whether they are passive pr active, but the type and cut of the magnets used, as well as the guage of the wire used in the coil, and the number of turns in the coil...etc), the body wood, the body shape...all the way down to the strings, finish etc.

[Fret spider]

not quite. actives do have aonly a few loops arround the coils. but in a way this actually good because there will be less resisntance in the wire as it is shorter. this means it will not loose treble. too many coils means lost treble.

but the actives wont pick up little fluctuations in the frequency of the string caused by the wood.

actives good even response. but little soul.

best advice check out emg websight. they know wy more about actives than me. then go say seymore duncan or dimarzio and check out there passives.

[TheSoundofWater]

the Seymour Duncan's are nice. but i dont want to fully rewire a esp with passives so it can take 2 SD Pups.

ill see i might go have a listen on the passives in the guitar shop soon.