Active pickups - Why do you choose them?

Re: Active pickups - Why do you choose them?

Because they are sterile, therefore very versatile. They also offer much more onboard tonal control. That said, I have them on only one of my guitars, and two of my basses...all three because they came that way, not because I installed them. I prefer the imperfections of passive pickups, because that's what I'm used to.
 
Re: Active pickups - Why do you choose them?

I prefer the term "neutral" to "sterile". Aside from an overall shift in eq profile between different models, most of them don't have an overabundance of any one attribute.
 
Re: Active pickups - Why do you choose them?

noisy humbucker said:
I prefer the term "neutral" to "sterile". Aside from an overall shift in eq profile between different models, most of them don't have an overabundance of any one attribute.
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Neutral is a great word for actives. I find that I can use my actives with way more different amps than my passive guitars. They are less likely to sound horrible when borrowing amps, for instance. Some passives can suck hard through some amps because the frequency response doesn't complement the amp IMO.
 
Re: Active pickups - Why do you choose them?

Gibson 1964 said:
I have never gotten along with them. I have had batteries drain way too fast and go out in a gig. (New batteries installed that day) In fact, I have issues with batteries pretty much across the board in my life.
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Everybody else has probably already said it, but 2 or 3 active pickups, will draw less than 1ma. A single LED will pull 15 - 20ma's. A 9-volt battery should easily last a year or two. Check your wiring. ;)
 
Re: Active pickups - Why do you choose them?

I have checked wiring. Multiple guitars, some factory that my brother can get a half year out of, I put in a new battery and got around 3 hours. (My brother plays professionally, so he swaps batteries every few months.) I bought his guitar, same problem as the one I built. Which is why if I do redo an active guitar I am going power supply rather than internal battery. Did I also mention I have crappy luck with cell phone batteries, car batteries and tablet batteries?

Do I own something that damages batteries? I might. Do I just have the worlds crappiest luck with batteries? Also possible. Is there something peculiar about me that drains batteries, unlikely, but I seem to get guitars with great battery life and it goes to crap instantly. It made more sense when I lived in some shady areas with very dodgy electricity, but I live in the suburbs and I seem to be the only constant. Which is why I am not currently using any active electronics and my acoustic instruments have an external preamp powered by an ac adapter.

And I am not nearly cool enough to be a paranormal entity.
 
Re: Active pickups - Why do you choose them?

That's crazy. On the plus side, that pretty much makes the decision for you (actives vs passives that is).
 
Re: Active pickups - Why do you choose them?

I think passives and actives can both be great for rock and metal (depending on if you know how to set your amp/effects). For me, I've just always had less trouble getting a good metal guitar tone with the Blackouts in both of my guitars than I have with passives. Now, I haven't tried a lot of the passive models that I've really wanted to try (most of my experience trying to play metal with passives is with the stock pickups in LP's and Ibanez guitars, though I have experience with a few of the higher output SD passives), but I've always found the tone I get just doesn't have enough "oomph" to it and isn't tight enough on the low end.
 
Re: Active pickups - Why do you choose them?

Johnny the Kid said:
My only problem with actives is that they sound pretty sterile which seems to be a common complaint about actives.
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I had a guitar with actives and thought the same thing, too sterile. Windings give passives their character and color; actives have less windings, which is how they cut down on noise (and in turn need a battery to raise output). For metal, actives work out well and stay clearer with distortion, but I don't see them as appealing for the blues and classic rock I play. To me, actives make more sense with basses. Plus, I'd rather not have a battery-operated guitar.
 
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