Originally Posted by: suicidalmooseI can imagine that the negative remarks are coming from those who play more bluesy music on their guitars or what have you, i admit that if you would like to play a variety of different genre's actives aren't that amazing, but the point i was trying to make is that if you can't afford all that fancy equipment and you have your heart set on hard rock music then actives are a good way to make sure that you get the right distortion even on cheap equipment.
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You can of course get the same result with passive pickups...
any decent pickup (by that, I guess I mean any pickup with its own model name ect) should be able to sound good all the time...if you get a Seymour Duncan Jb Humbucker (which I would recommend, its a great place to start...very versatile and with lots of balls when needed) you will need some really shoddy gear and playing to make that thing sound worse than any stock pickup.

I would also check out pickups by DiMarzio, and ...my favourite...Bareknuckle...

I find that the only difference between active and passive pickups is that actives are louder, more expensive, and generally a bit lifeless...but thats just me...