How Do You Get Good Tone With Actives?

Re: How Do You Get Good Tone With Actives?

Well you know there is one company making active pickups that is world renown for tone...Maybe they've got something that's an improvement over the...well I'll let you guys decide.

No but seriously, the active single coil arena has been pretty weak IMO. I'm way excited about the LW Classic II's with the exposed pole pieces. A pair of those, along with a Blackout neck in the bridge, should crush the setup in the Luke. The key is getting the dynamics of the active pickup to pop. Most of the others don't hit the front end of the amp with the kind of expressiveness that you get from a passive pickup with a healthy amount of turns on the coil(s) If I were you, before swapping those EMG's try the 18 volt mod. I think the Luke has a battery box, so you'd have to put one battery in the box and the other in the cavity, but it will tell you all you need to know. If you still don't feel like the tone or the dynamics are right after the 18-volt mod, you can interperet that to mean that actives probably aren't right for you.

Another thing that's different is the way the pickups blend. They blend as a low impedance signal, and generally don't produce the same kind of phase cancellation as two passives blending. I love the Livewire Classic II's, and will put them in one of my superstrats. But if I really want a true vintage tone especially in the 2 and 4 positions, I'll use passives. The "flaws" in the way they blend in 2 and 4 are part of the vintage character. So actives aren't for everybody or every situation.
 
Re: How Do You Get Good Tone With Actives?

I have a Luke and installed a Custom/59 A2 hybrid in the bridge and two Classic Stack +'s in the neck & middle = perfect. Like Lew was saying the CS +'s just match the bridge pickup perfectly in volume. The thing I noticed about the EMG's in the Luke were that sometimes they sound good & other days not so good until finally you just get sick of the cold, sterile sound and rip 'em out. Their's just something missing with EMG's.
I had the same experience with the 81 & SA's.
The Custom/59 hybrid is just like BachToRock said, it sounds exactly like early VH, AC/DC,etc.. I tried it with a A5 magnet but much prefer it with an A2
Great Pickup!
 
Re: How Do You Get Good Tone With Actives?

you DONT get good tone with actives.


Sure you could get some really powerful heavy sounds out of them, but they are souless buzz machines.
 
Re: How Do You Get Good Tone With Actives?

The SLV pickups sound much better than the 85. They are clear and full and not high output at all. They feel very much like a vintage single. I did try a few guitars with 81s and I definitely think it is an improvement over the 85. Since I can get one of those much cheaper than a Blackout I am really considering it.

Which one is used more often in the bridge position by the way? Is it the 85 or 81?
 
Re: How Do You Get Good Tone With Actives?

edsmith said:
Which one is used more often in the bridge position by the way? Is it the 85 or 81?
Click to expand...

81 is used as a bridge most of the time and a lot of guitar companies have them stock in that position. There's a few bands and players that prefer the 85's over the 81's...but majority of the players use the 81, because of it's tightness it still retains that it gives when the gain is pushed. Coming from a player that has used the 85 extensively..I just feel that it's basically an active version of the Tone Zone..bassy and thick.
 
Re: How Do You Get Good Tone With Actives?

alashredder said:
81 is used as a bridge most of the time and a lot of guitar companies have them stock in that position. There's a few bands and players that prefer the 85's over the 81's...but majority of the players use the 81, because of it's tightness it still retains that it gives when the gain is pushed. Coming from a player that has used the 85 extensively..I just feel that it's basically an active version of the Tone Zone..bassy and thick.
Click to expand...

YES! That is exactly what I was thinking. It does sound like a Tone Zone except buzzier and more sterile. The Tone Zone is very warm sounding but I personally do not like it very much. I think the 81 is going to be a great choice.
 
Re: How Do You Get Good Tone With Actives?

I've been wondering, is SD now offering the Blackouts as single pickups or do you have to buy them as a set?
 
Re: How Do You Get Good Tone With Actives?

KeeperOS said:
I've been wondering, is SD now offering the Blackouts as single pickups or do you have to buy them as a set?
Click to expand...

You can buy them as single pickups.
 
Re: How Do You Get Good Tone With Actives?

I've had very good luck with the EMG DG set in my Strat, specially when recording to my PC. It's a great starting point for a clean sound, plugged into my modeler, and/or FX boxes. I tend to swap them out for passives (2 SSL-2s and a Fender Tex-Mess) wired ala Jimmie Vaughn for live work tho, because it's less fussy.
 
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