Convince me to active pickups

[CarlosG]

Hi!
I know that is Duncan forum, most Duncan pickups are passive, but I know there are many people here with vast knowledge and experience.
I have almost always chosen passive pickups. However, passive pickups have certain disadvantages: the resonant peak changes depending on the cable capacitance and the treble bleed must be selected individually.
I have little experience with active pickups.
From what I know they provide the same sound, the cable capacitance makes no difference.
No need to use treble bleed, they provide the same bandwidth at any volume level.
In theory, some people complained about the lack of dynamics, but many modern models provide it.
I play mostly 80s glam metal, heavy metal and hard rock. I also like jazz and I like it when guitars are universal.
I really don't like it when the sound changes due to the cable's capacitance. I'm annoyed by the treble bleed selection, I've tried all the options (seriously, I've spent a lot of time on it) and it always feels like a half-measure.
The sounds I need are a bridge humbucker, a neck humbucker, and a neck single coil.
My problem with active pickups was that everyone was talking about compression but I like dynamics, I like the pickup to react to my playing as much as possible.
But I listened to some demos and the emg 81 sounds really good on overdrive. The emg 89 neck splits into a single coil, so the 81/89 seems like an interesting set.
Emg 57/66 also sound good, there is a TW version that allows you to split coils (I heard that the split coils sounds thin, is that true?)
And Fishman Classics, Satchel from Steel Panther thinks these are the best sounding pickups and has split coil (apparently coil splitting sounds better than emg 57/66tw).
What do I require from pickups?
First of all, a strong sound on overdrive with a tight low end ( I love 80s Van Halen, George Lynch/Dokken, Def Leppard, Metallica, Judas Priest, GNR...)
Warm Paf neck tone like Slash solos and Kee Marcello solos on Out of this World - Erurope
Fat single coil tone - like George Lynch Dokken era.
Decent humbucker and signle coil neck sound for blues and jazz.
Good cleaning with the volume knob
I know it would be best to get them all and test them myself, but I'm pressed for time and would like to choose on the first try.
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I invite you to discuss and thank you for your help.​

 

[htrd]

Just try and see if it works for you. I've played EMG for many years, great pickups, amazing for live work. Yeah, they can give the impression of being too compressed, but this is because of their sensitivity. If you set them lower, farther away from the string, they will clean nicely, especially in the highs.
TW version doesn't have a classic split coil like a regular passive humbucker, they have a slightly different construction - a third coil underneath one of the main pair, so in the "singlecoil" mode works the vertical pair/stack, like in their S/SA/SV series pickups. IIRC, EMG 89 is not the 85 with the split, it is the SA (vertical pair) with the additional side coil.
I'd try the 57/66TW set in your case. EMG81 is a tight and aggressive pickup, absolutely, but it can be slightly nasal for the 80s metal. On the other hand, it should work pretty well for the Metallica tones.

 

[Chistopher]

EMG RetroActives might do you well. A lot of active designs try to be a little over the top, but the RAs are closer in sound and vibe without the drawbacks. The Fat 55 set was pretty cool.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

The cable capacitance does make a difference with active pickups, it just makes less of a difference. But better (and/or shorter) cables sound "better" with active pickups as well.

The 57/66 set is pretty cool. I have not tried the TW versions, but usually EMG single coils sound great. The thing about EMG "coil splittable" pickups is that they don't really split coils. But rather, they're a design of having actually two different pickups inside the same housing (more or less, as they actually have three coils inside that reconfigure to get you both side-by-side as well as stacked sounds). So you're either switching from their single coil mode to their full humbucker mode. Hence why EMG's "split better" than passive humbuckers. That being said, I'd say the 57/66 are voiced more Modern and might not be what you're describing you want.

The Fishman Classic set is way more passive feeling/sounding than any of the EMG classic series. The 57/66 run on the same preamp as the 81, 85, 60, etc., so even if the voicing of the actual coil themselves is different, they still go through the same hipass/lopass and clipping effect that the regular EMG's have. So they're roughly as focused/tight as the regular EMG's as well as compressed. They're slightly different, but in the grand scheme of things, they're more similar than different to the classic 81/85 compared to other pickups. The Fishmans run on a completely different technology. The Classics sound like a good set of PAF-types on Voice 1, like a refined JB on Voice 2, and like a cool single coil on Voice 3. It's not just "coil splitting" either. They actually tune the coil to behave like a Fender-ish single coil on that voicing

For what you want, I think the Fishmans are a better option.

 

[freefrog]

As mentioned, the only way to know is to try and EMG or other brands now offer many options...


Additional thoughts:

-to me and as already discussed, the question of "compression" and "dynamics" is largely linked to the higher output level of active pickups and therefore to the input sensitivity of what comes after pickups...

-with "classic" (old) EMG designs, one can't say that resonant peak is not affected by cable capacitance, because there's no more resonant peak... An EMG 81 has a special EQing curve, consisting in a wide bump in the mids and its low frequencies are "tight" because its onboard preamp behaves a bit like an old school treble booster (misnamed since a Rangemaster actually boosts the hi-mids of a passive PU and not its high range... Lynch used a Treble Booster for his first recorded tracks, BTW)...
Response of EMG's pictured in this page among others: https://www.cycfi.com/projects/xr-series/resonant-filter/

-"hybrid" solutions are to consider IMHO. I'm still fond of the preamp mounted in the old Charvel CH series, emulating a fixed cable capacitance of 1nF and hosting a mid boost control... I've no problem to obtain EVH tones from my Charvel CH4 with this preamp.
One might also consider the strap mounted Fryer treble booster used by Brian may as an "active" device... It emulates a high cable capacitance, sounds great and... can be built in a few minutes by anyone (I've assembled several treble boosters including a Fryer one exclusively with components found in my parts bin and they all sounded freaking glorious as soon as plugged).
I was also thinking to a Stratoblaster... It's another tiny one transistor preamp which doesn't eat batteries too fast, takes five minutes to build, can be set to deliver some serious output level and is easy to tune with a capacitor between hot and ground at the input of the preamp...
Non limitative list.

-last but not least: active electronics has advantages and downsides. It might hiss with some circuits, make some fuzz pedals react in a "special" way and won't cooperate nicely with a classic treble booster, for instance. Might be why most of the folks named in the original post use(d) passive PUs.


Advices susceptible to change without notice. Good luck in your relentless quest... ;-)

EDIT - Something else to consider is the logics of Varicap cables (originally offered by Atlantic Audio and now by Undertone Audio. Don't know if it's the same brand under a new name) : https://youtu.be/WjrOce2XEOU?si=w_nYoGb0ny4aNgBP

 

[donaldr]

I have a set of EMG Retro Active Fat 55 in an Ibanez SZ520. I really like them but they sound more vintage IMHO so I would suggest Hot 70 set for your application.

I have a set of EMG 60/S/S from 40 years ago. The 60 humbucker is usually used on the neck but I really like it in the bridge. It's not like an 81 or 85, more open and definitely '80s rock sounding. The secret IMHO is to not have the volume on 10 (where I hear more compression), full of different sounds between 5 and 9. I also like the S single coils. They have a bright and clear sound when playing on a clean channel but can sound also good with distortion. They are as dynamic as my passive pickups, but where they sound a bit "sterile" on their own they sit nicely when playing in a band.