More pick-ups

Hey, what's the difference between active and passive pick-ups? I know I read it somewhere, but I forgot. I'm thinkin' about getting a Steinberger- the GT pro to be exact- but I haven't ever played one. They've got passive EMG pickups which someone said they hated. Does anyone have a second opinion?

I try to stick to what I know, and since I've never played EMG's, I'll stick to talking about the general difference between active and passive pickups.

A passive pickup turns the vibration of the strings into an AC current that an amplifier can boost enough to drive the speakers.

An active pickup uses the same basic pricnciple as a passive pickup, but there is also a preamp built into the guitar.

This allows better EQ control at the guitar. The preamp can actually boost selected frequencies, while passive controls can only attenuate them. And because the signal is made strong right at the guitar, there is less chance for unwanted noise to interfere with the signal before it reaches your amp.

There are a lot of differing opinions on whether active pickups actualy sound better. Thats something you're going to have to decide for yourself.

Heh, my friend had a black Cort (it was really his dad's, but hey) and it had its own distortion, chorus, flange, etc.- I didn't get to hear any of the modulation because his battery died, but he could still use the guitar anyway. I assume these would be active pickups?

Maybe active, maybe not, most probably just onboard effects, if the battery died and the guitar went totally dead, no sound at all, it has active pick-ups, if the guitar still could be played thru the amp, it would have passive p/u's............... only the effects need the battery..............