Ever notice how some manufactures (Warwick for example) state that a bass of theirs (Jazzman) comes with "passive MEC pickups" and an active onboard pre-amp? Are there really any true active pickups out there? I've never heard of one.
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Passive vs Active Pickups?
- Thread starter Sufenta
- Start date
Of course there are although I prefer passive pickups more as the EQ can be bypassed in the case of battery/electronics failure while active pickups won't make a sound without a battery. But yes, there are active pickups too.
"But yes, there are active pickups too."
Still a tad bit confusing. Not seeing exactly what the difference in the build of the pickup itself is between an 'active' and a 'passive' except that I checked out the EMG site and saw that there is a specific connector plug to their actives that would require their specific tone controls.
It's simple: With an active pickup, the active circuitry is encased within the pickup housing. With a passive pickup, the active circuitry (if any) is external to the pickup itself, and instead is encased within an onboard preamp. That's all there is to it.
Does that answer your question?
MM
NOOOOOOOOOO
active pickups are not especially designed for active electronics-you can run them without active eq. or preamp
true Active pickups has own internal preamp!! and need battery for its function.
EMG´s are nice example, or Duncans active pickups too...
Hi.
Ths been covered a numerous times even during the 1,5 years I've been here. I'd guess many more times before that.
The main difference IME/IMO between a correctly engineered full range active and full range passive pickup is the magnetic field strenght IOW string pull. Hand in hand comes unbeatable S/N ratio partly because of the low Z.
The unlimited tonal pre-shaping is another benefit the active pickups have over passive ones. An active pickup has a very thin or NO sound without a power source, whether a battery or phantom power. An active pre can sometimes operate without power and should always be by-passable.
Because the different needs of different people, the active pickups are not that easy to design, therefore there's only a handful around.
Regards
Sam
Ths been covered a numerous times even during the 1,5 years I've been here. I'd guess many more times before that.
The main difference IME/IMO between a correctly engineered full range active and full range passive pickup is the magnetic field strenght IOW string pull. Hand in hand comes unbeatable S/N ratio partly because of the low Z.
The unlimited tonal pre-shaping is another benefit the active pickups have over passive ones. An active pickup has a very thin or NO sound without a power source, whether a battery or phantom power. An active pre can sometimes operate without power and should always be by-passable.
Because the different needs of different people, the active pickups are not that easy to design, therefore there's only a handful around.
Regards
Sam
Active pickups have less winding, less impedance, wider flatter frequency response, and a little pre in the casing to amp the signal that is generally weak, but the principle is the same as passive pickups, they just need a bit of a boost and batteries to operate.
I liked the MEC active in the thumb, but generally disliked the passive MECs.
I liked the MEC active in the thumb, but generally disliked the passive MECs.
- Aug 21, 2008
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Yes, and no. You would think active pickups would have low impedance windings, but in reality most don't. EMG's have about the same amount of wire as passive pickups. The same is probably true of the Duncan actives, though I think they have less windings based on their tone.
The original Alembic pickups were low impedance, but they don't have the preamp built into the pickup. I'd still think of that as an active system though, since you can't use the pickups without a preamp, unless you have some sort of step up transformer, like Alumitone pickups (and I think also Villex). Some of Alembic's later pickups are actually high Z, about 7K.
The reason for this is probably to make them sound more like passive pickups, while having the benefits of a buffer.
I was making lo-z pickups that needed a preamp. I like my passive pickups better though, and they sound very similar.
- Aug 21, 2008
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Thats another thing promoted by EMG marketing. They use pretty much the same magnets as any other pickups, and the same winding impedance. It's not as strong a pull as the 8 alnico rods of a passive Jazz pickups though, but it's not made weaker on purpose. It's just an alnico bar magnet like you would find in a PAF type guitar pickup, or a ceramic bar magnet. They are quiet due to the shielding used, and because each coil is feed to the differential inputs on an op amp. It's a well conceived design and they are dead quiet.
You can try sticking a few different pickups on your refrigerator and feel the difference in the magnet's pull. You will see they are all about the same.
A weaker magnet will give you less output and a darker tone, so boosting and tone shaping can help. But pickups that use very strong magnets, like Neodymium or Samarium-cobalt, don't cause any string pull problems. The magnets are the power source of the pickup, so different types of magnets can give very different tones. Designing a pickup with rare earth magnets requires some tricks to keep them under control, but I think it gives you a much wider range of tones.
Hi.
I was referring to specifically engineered active (like Alembic) pickups that have all the benefits of the added electronics. Back in late 80's I was going to design and build active guitar pickup that had really weak field, only about 3K impedance and extensive DIP switch tonal shaping. The fellow musician the pickup was intended to, didn't like the price quote of just the parts, let alone the time needed to get the pickup working so only same basic calculations may remain in a piece of paper somewhere. No prototype was ever built.
The "final price" would've been a bit higher than a similar EMG pickup, so we saw no point in continuing as we knew that even if the pickup looked good in paper, there was no way of predicting the final outcome. And both of us being poor students..., well You get the picture
.
Active pickups were considered as a passing fad back then, so I took my interests elsewhere. Little did I know.
BTW, when measuring sustain, standard humbuckers had to be mounted quite low not to disturb the motion of the strings, so low in fact that the tone suffered. At least that was our observation. Bass is obviously a different animal due the added mass of the strings.
Regards
Sam
I was referring to specifically engineered active (like Alembic) pickups that have all the benefits of the added electronics. Back in late 80's I was going to design and build active guitar pickup that had really weak field, only about 3K impedance and extensive DIP switch tonal shaping. The fellow musician the pickup was intended to, didn't like the price quote of just the parts, let alone the time needed to get the pickup working so only same basic calculations may remain in a piece of paper somewhere. No prototype was ever built.
The "final price" would've been a bit higher than a similar EMG pickup, so we saw no point in continuing as we knew that even if the pickup looked good in paper, there was no way of predicting the final outcome. And both of us being poor students..., well You get the picture
.Active pickups were considered as a passing fad back then, so I took my interests elsewhere. Little did I know.
BTW, when measuring sustain, standard humbuckers had to be mounted quite low not to disturb the motion of the strings, so low in fact that the tone suffered. At least that was our observation. Bass is obviously a different animal due the added mass of the strings.
Regards
Sam
- Aug 21, 2008
- 10,386
- 252
- 68
- Disclosures
- Owner, SGD Music Products
I agree. They are the original active pickups. They have pretty normal magnets though, just a ceramic bar magnet. In the beginning Tick Turner just bought ceramic magnets from Radio Shack!
Yes, bass strings have a lot of mass compared to guitar strings. I haven't tried neo magnets in guitar pickups yet, but I have some pretty strong ceramic magnets and never had an issue.
There are a few pickup makers who use neos in guitar pickups, but they use pretty small neos, so they are about the same as a strong ceramic.
