Who makes active pickups?

[qersty]

It has occurred to me that you can't really find active pickups that aren't EMGs or Seymour Duncan. I question why it is so since nowadays there are so many great manufacturers of passive pickups and onboard preamps. Some guy in their garage must have thought of building an active pickup, right? Is this a lost art due to the envelope-pushing of passives with neodymium and such?

I have also heard that back in the day Seymour Duncan's actives used to boast ridiculous specs with a resonant peak above 10kHz and that their modern variant is "choked" to sound like passives. It is a shame since those are qualities I very much enjoy.

Am I just bad at looking or do smaller makers of actives exist or am I just to start winding?

 

[Warpeg]

MEC comes to mind.

One way to look at it: An active pickup is just a passive pickup with a preamp located inside its pickup casing. That's all it is.

 

[Zoobiedood]

Keep in mind that the Custom Shop can build any kind of actives you want (you can design them!) with a price comparable to smaller builders.

 

[Clark Dark]

It has occurred to me that you can't really find active pickups that aren't EMGs or Seymour Duncan. I question why it is so since nowadays there are so many great manufacturers of passive pickups and onboard preamps. Some guy in their garage must have thought of building an active pickup, right? Is this a lost art due to the envelope-pushing of passives with neodymium and such?

I have also heard that back in the day Seymour Duncan's actives used to boast ridiculous specs with a resonant peak above 10kHz and that their modern variant is "choked" to sound like passives. It is a shame since those are qualities I very much enjoy.

Am I just bad at looking or do smaller makers of actives exist or am I just to start winding?

Try searching this forum if you would like to find those "back in the day" Seymour Duncan actives (with the toggle switches). I found a pair of P bass Seymour's that way and I've seen the J bass versions on sale here also.

 

[qersty]

MEC comes to mind.

One way to look at it: An active pickup is just a passive pickup with a preamp located inside its pickup casing. That's all it is.

I was unsure about MECs, thanks. How do they sound? You don't really see other builders using them and I've heard from some Warwick users that they aren't the best, though they seem polarizing in that community.

I am well aware that in concept an active pickup is the same as having an onboard pre. Though it is really not the same when you get really techy, the amplification circuits usually aren't the same. Another thing is that an in an active pickup you can do crazy things like having a 300ohm pickup and make it work flawlessly because you can design the preamp to perfectly fit the pickup, using an off the shelf preamp wouldn't be as great because they tend to be designed to match the impedance of regular pickups. Of course there are cases like the stingray where this kind of design is executed in a discrete manner.

Sorry for the ramble but what I wanted to say is that i recognize your argument and it is valid but it isn't the answer I am looking for. I do have a John East preamp that I adore that has separate preamplifiers that makes passive pickups act as two actives essentially.

 

[qersty]

Try searching this forum if you would like to find those "back in the day" Seymour Duncan actives (with the toggle switches). I found a pair of P bass Seymour's that way and I've seen the J bass versions on sale here also.

Yes I could do that and probably will try and snatch a pair if i ever have another bass project. Really what I'm trying to do is see if any production pickups exists or if anyone cares about this kind of sound even.

 

[two fingers]

Edited down to (hopefully) avoid too much of a derail.

 

[qersty]

The only difference is that the preamp is a tiny thing wedged into the pickup itself. Most "active" basses have passive pickups with a much more flexible preamp in the control cavity.

There is no advantage whatsoever to active pickups and I can think of ten or more disadvantages.

Likely it would be easier to describe the tone you are after and ask what system (pickups and preamp) will get you there.

What about the example I brought up with low impedance pickups? You would require a proprietary system (like alembic does) for an external preamp to work well and having an amplifier on the pickups that allows it to work in the normal realm of bass electronics. Also active pickups lets you colour the pickups in a different manner that preamps do not. There certainly also are some noise advantages to having the preamps and coils encapsulated as most actives are. Also may I ad that most preamps serve a very different purpose to active pickups and may by your logic claim that the preamp in your bass amp is the same as the one in an active pickup. It is is all to serve a different purpouse.

To answer what kind of tone I am looking for I may inform you that I answered that when asking if people made pickups like the old rocker SD basslines (which are avalible to purchase second hand). I didn't really start this thread in order to find a pair of pickups, more so just out of curiosity after reading about the possibilities of active pickups.

 

[two fingers]

What about the example I brought up with low impedance pickups? You would require a proprietary system (like alembic does) for an external preamp to work well and having an amplifier on the pickups that allows it to work in the normal realm of bass electronics. Also active pickups lets you colour the pickups in a different manner that preamps do not. There certainly also are some noise advantages to having the preamps and coils encapsulated as most actives are. Also may I ad that most preamps serve a very different purpose to active pickups and may by your logic claim that the preamp in your bass amp is the same as the one in an active pickup. It is is all to serve a different purpouse.

To answer what kind of tone I am looking for I may inform you that I answered that when asking if people made pickups like the old rocker SD basslines (which are avalible to purchase second hand). I didn't really start this thread in order to find a pair of pickups, more so just out of curiosity after reading about the possibilities of active pickups.

Clearly you and I were on two different pages. This being your thread I'll tag out and let you continue on with your quest. Best of luck with it.

 

[sikamikanico]

My take: preferences + economics.

To expand on preferences, it could be the sound people are looking for, simplicity of passive only (or switchable active electronics), fears, misconceptions, etc...

And I think economics dictate that pickup makers follow user preferences.

 

[qersty]

My take: preferences + economics.

To expand on preferences, it could be the sound people are looking for, simplicity of passive only (or switchable active electronics), fears, misconceptions, etc...

And I think economics dictate that pickup makers follow user preferences.

Ah, yes. Though one may wonder why the economics that has kept EMG alive hasn't made anyone try to cash in. However it seems EMG are trying to become more part of the passive market with the geezers and such so it may not be as successful as it seems.

Also I just remembered Fishman made an active guitar pickup recently. Any chances they will make a bass version? It seem similar in concept to the old basslines

 

[Aloe]

I was unsure about MECs, thanks. How do they sound? You don't really see other builders using them and I've heard from some Warwick users that they aren't the best, though they seem polarizing in that community.

I owned two basses with MEC pickups, one of them had active ones (gold J-shaped ones). I still own the other one, with two passive MM-style humbuckers.

I didn't like the bass, too mid-scooped for my taste without warm woody sounding. I'm not sure this was the fault of pickups, it sounded somewhat plasticky even non-plugged.

I won't say active pickups are notably noisy or lack dynamics. But if you already have a pre and your signal is buffered, why don't you go with passive pickups? Passive pickups and a pre is a really sweet combo.

 

[darwin-bass]

MEC comes to mind.

One way to look at it: An active pickup is just a passive pickup with a preamp located inside its pickup casing. That's all it is.

THIS is so important that I'm going to say it too:

Active pickups are just passive pickups with an on-board preamp. If you move the preamp from the pickup housing to the bass' control cavity you achieve the same results.

BUT if the pickup builder knows there will be a preamp they can wind the pickups differently. Specifically, with less winding for lower output and wider frequency response. Maybe even weaker magnets. The lower output is compensated by the preamp and voila, you're back to even ground for output level but enjoying the benefit (?) of the wider frequency range from the weak pickups.

 

[darwin-bass]

...To answer what kind of tone I am looking for I may inform you that I answered that when asking if people made pickups like the old rocker SD basslines (which are avalible to purchase second hand). I didn't really start this thread in order to find a pair of pickups, more so just out of curiosity after reading about the possibilities of active pickups.

Having a low Z pickup giving more lows and highs does not make the bass sound better to most folks. It adds high freq clank and low freq mud. Since a bass is a midrange (or lower midrange) instrument, cutting lows and highs a bit can help give a more focused sound. Active pickups work in the opposite direction. Most folks don't want that sound but they do want on-board bass/mid/treble controls; hence the trend toward full impedance passive pickups feeding an on-board preamp with EQ controls.

 

[qersty]

THIS is so important that I'm going to say it too:

Active pickups are just passive pickups with an on-board preamp. If you move the preamp from the pickup housing to the bass' control cavity you achieve the same results.

BUT if the pickup builder knows there will be a preamp they can wind the pickups differently. Specifically, with less winding for lower output and wider frequency response. Maybe even weaker magnets. The lower output is compensated by the preamp and voila, you're back to even ground for output level but enjoying the benefit (?) of the wider frequency range from the weak pickups.

Having a low Z pickup giving more lows and highs does not make the bass sound better to most folks. It adds high freq clank and low freq mud. Since a bass is a midrange (or lower midrange) instrument, cutting lows and highs a bit can help give a more focused sound. Active pickups work in the opposite direction. Most folks don't want that sound but they do want on-board bass/mid/treble controls; hence the trend toward full impedance passive pickups feeding an on-board preamp with EQ controls.

Emphasis on most folks i guess

 

[darwin-bass]

Emphasis on most folks i guess

Right! The market will probably respond to what most folks want. Perhaps you should post on TB to see if folks have recommendations for active pickups?

 

[sikamikanico]

Ah, yes. Though one may wonder why the economics that has kept EMG alive hasn't made anyone try to cash in. However it seems EMG are trying to become more part of the passive market with the geezers and such so it may not be as successful as it seems.

Well, I wonder if EMG is such a strong brand for active pickups that it’s hard for a new name to emerge? If the market is small to begin with, not many other makers will be motivated to enter it. Just speculating...

 

[matante]

I think it's just a sign of the times. Bassists and guitarists have been going for more traditional sounds for a long time. Sticking with old designs, flatwound strings, tube amps, etc. Active pickups had their heyday in the '80s and early '90s when rock music was still about experimentation and looking forward. Now it's all about looking to the past and emulating classic sounds. Read the various forums here on effects, basses, amps... Everyone is trying emulate an old sound. No one seems to be trying to invent a new one.

I would argue also that a ton of bassists out there don't even know what active pickups are. So many new members on Talkbass think that their active bass has active pickups when it doesn't. Even amp manufacturers refer to active pickups when they should be saying active bass. As you said, there are tons of active basses out there, but very few active pickups.

 

[FugaziBomb]

MEC comes to mind.

One way to look at it: An active pickup is just a passive pickup with a preamp located inside its pickup casing. That's all it is.

The only difference is that the preamp is a tiny thing wedged into the pickup itself. Most "active" basses have passive pickups with a much more flexible preamp in the control cavity.

There is no advantage whatsoever to active pickups and I can think of ten or more disadvantages.

Likely it would be easier to describe the tone you are after and ask what system (pickups and preamp) will get you there.

...in an active pickup you can do crazy things like having a 300ohm pickup and make it work flawlessly because you can design the preamp to perfectly fit the pickup

@Warpeg @two fingers

Yeah, he's got you guys there. I know where you're coming from, though. The term "active" bass annoys me when it's some typical output pickups and an EQ circuit. Then you get people on here talking about getting that "active tone" from their Jazz Bass + EQ circuit. Truly "active" pickups are a different story, though. Correct me if I'm wrong - which I often am - but I think the majority of active pickups are drastically underwound vs a traditional pickup as a means to counteract the "antenna effect" pick-ups tend to have that causes so much ambient hum. The preamp is there to boost the signal to a usable level and even bake-in some mids that underwound pick-ups typically are lacking. I've got a few basses with active pickups, but they aren't analogous to a passive counterpart (like no active P or J style pickups, just soap bars and double J humbucker shaped) so I can't say if active pick-ups have an inherent sound quality. I can say that all of my active pick-up basses just sound terrific. Maybe "terrific" is an inherent quality in active pick-ups.

 

[JW56789]

In my experience owning two Alembics, and several axes with real low impedance EMG's, they are utterly clean, little if any noise, and tons of headroom. Loved 'em, ultimate clean tone. As far as their relative scarcity among all the choices out there, I'd chalk it up to not everyone is ready to do the design and production to do them right in light of the return they think they'll see.

But . . . . . if you read all the 'pedal threads' around here, a lot of guys are now interested in varying amounts of 'dirt' or distortion, so like all fashions and trends in players and instruments, I'd posit that super clean is not that important, and 'clean enough' that can run thru a pedal to a desired distortion may be the new norm.

In that climate, I see lots of basses with the very common setup of passive (or 'high' impedance) pickups with an active tone network. I think this offers several cost advantages for the builders: Only one series of pickups you can use in a totally passive setup, or the same pickups with an active output for your bigger ticket pieces. Of course, the ad copy is all over the place: 'Active pickups!', 'Powerful pickups with active tone control', etc.

Pickups (and the accompanying circuitry) is subject to market trends and buyer trends, so we see now more of a swing back to passive pickups generally.

For myself, Rob Turner's original idea of the classic low-impedance coil + preamp built into the shell is brilliant: It's already internally grounded, so you no longer need that ground wire to the bridge (now it's far harder to get bit by a mic on a stage with iffy-electric wiring and who knows where or how many grounds there are). The gain structure is totally encased and shielded in the pickup shell, so with proper soldering (or their trick plug in conections), you can install them in basically an unshielded body. And they're usually as quiet as a tomb, always a consideration for me. Go back to a passive pickup + powered tone network in a shoddy installation, and guess what? The tone network may amplify noise and hum from the high-impedance pickups. I'd just as soon skip all that.

But guys are moving away from that, want a little grit to their tone, and hey, I'm all for having whatever works for you. I just always preferred to keep that grit and my tone as far apart as possible.

I am continually dumbfounded by the many 'If I go to active pickups, what . . . . ' come up here on TB, and how many guys seem to think changing a 9v battery 2 or 3 times a year is somehow a deal breaker, when the great majority of the time on most axes, it takes about 30 seconds to do it.

 

[DonaldR]

My Peavey B90 has active P and J pickups (V/V/T passive although). I think they were made by Schaller.