Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

[ratherdashing]

The most popular example of what I mean is probably the mid boost circuit in the Clapton Strat.

If you have experience with the Clapton or with any other active circuit in a guitar with passive pickups, please discuss here. I'm pondering something like this for my Strat with the Classic Stacks. My main goal would be to make the guitar a bit more versatile. I don't want a distortion/overdrive circuit, but a clean boost or eq boost like the Clapton circuit might be the ticket. The other requirement is that I must be able to adjust the level of the thing and turn it off if I want to.

Specifically, describe the change in output and tone you get/got from your circuit, and what you used it for. If you had one and don't use it anymore, post the reason why as well.

Any and all input on preamps/boost circuits is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Artie]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

Just to start things off, the Duncan pickup booster can add some nice dimension to a Strat, and its available as an add-on circuit board. Might be cool for not a lot a moola.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

Just to start things off, the Duncan pickup booster can add some nice dimension to a Strat, and its available as an add-on circuit board. Might be cool for not a lot a moola.

Yeah, I noticed that on guitarelectronics.com. Is it an identical clone of the pedal, or is the circuit modified in some way?

Perhaps someone at Duncan knows ...

 

[Artie]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

From having looked into my pedal, I'm sure its the exact same circuit board, just not in a case. So you'ld need to add your own SPDT switch for the resonance switch, and your own pot for the gain control.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

Artie, wouldn't there be two switches: bypass and resonance?

I'd be willing to sacrifice one of the tone controls on the Strat.

 

[Artie]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

Artie, wouldn't there be two switches: bypass and resonance?

I'd be willing to sacrifice one of the tone controls on the Strat.

Yes . . . forgot about that. And if you want, I can show you how to use push-pull pots for the resonance switch and then you can use the spare tone hole for the bypass switch. Or, better yet, one push-pull for the bypass, and one on-off-on toggle for resonance.

If you decide to go that route, let me know. I'll send you the switch. I got a bunch of them I'll never use.

Edit: Now you've got me wanting to do it.

 

[scottish]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

i had the clapton strat for a while. playing live where you get to crank the volume it sounds AMAZING, on the neck it sounds like a fat classic les paul. but in basement or home levels then i never got near to the same tone as when i had it cranked. also, it didnt really vibe with any of my pedals too well either. except maybe my chorus....and maybe my delay, lol

 

[cheeseface]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

Readers interested in onboard active electronics used with passive pickups ought to read up on the Gibson RD Artist. It was produced from 1978 until about 1982 or so. It's a super freaky guitar.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

GFS makes a number of pretty cheap boosters. I am trying to find a project for one of those.

 

[Kivitel]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

I did one of the GFS boosters. They are the bomb. I'm sure the duncan ones are as well. I have a "SRV Exciter". It is one knob, which does a lot of different tones as you turn it. First, it boosts everything clean, with no change to tone. This improves your tone of course, since you don't lose any highs from your cable. This alone is a great thing. As you turn it, it fattens your tone up, doing the clapton thing about halfway. Single coils become a lot fatter. At 8-10 the high end comes back in, accentuating the glassy tones on top. I couldn't tell you what the EQ looks like at this point, it just expands the tone and makes your guitar sound huge.

They make a bunch of different models that do different things. The nice thing about this one is that it is just one knob. I have it in a lace-sensor holy grail strat, and this guitar sounds just ridiculously good, but in a way that might not appeal to everyone (it sounds like a studio recording or something, it's idealized, unreal).

 

[tc]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

well a clean boost would be cool on my washburn...does it take up much space?? because the control cavity isn't that big. i never got a sd booster because i just don't like using a lot of pedals, i just hook a ds-2, but if i had it in my guitar it would be awesome...and on the strat i wouldn't really like it, cause the invader would be overkill...hey i've got an idea, how bout a master EQ on the guitar?? to keep it simple instead of a multi-band graphic EQ you could use the pots and wire them instead of your usual tone knobs so they shape certain frequencies...just make it similar to the usual EQ on the amp. sounds interesting enough...artie or someone, ideas??

 

[Scatterwound]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

I have a Clapton circuitry installed in my '89 Strat Plus...You can see what pickups I have in my Strat in my signature....On a clean channel in an amp it adds versatility but on the overdrive channel I find that it is just too noisy probably cuz the pickups I have are too hot.....The Clapton circuitry with my configuration is very hot...Even with the active turned down it is much louder than my Les Paul.....

One thing to consider is that the Clapton is never really 'off'....In my Strat I cannot get an overall clean sound without turning the volume down on the guitar....I have been thinking about having it removed but I have other guitars to play so it is not really a priority at this point.......

 

[pinto79]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

Dashing - I have all of the Jackson JE- Series active circuits. I'm not using any of them... I'd be willing to lend any of them to you if you want to try them out.

PM me and I'll e-mail you the manual so you can read up on them.

 

[vegetablejoe]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

I got an EMG Afterburner to try out on my strat. It supposedly adds up to 20db gain. As the pic on the link shows, it is quite a small gadget - a push-pull pot with circuitry on its side and needs a 9v battery. Since I'm just testing it, I just stuck the battery to the backside my guitar with double-adhesive tape, in a spot that is out of the way (below and to the right of the trem block).

You can leave the pot pulled-up in the on position, and full counter-clockwise, volume is still just the guitar's stock volume. (But I guess leaving it on means you're drawing current from the battery.) Turning the knob clockwise brings on the boost. Halfway up is great!

Hooked up to my cheap set of noiseless pickups, it sounds like current EC with od - that raucuous, un-smooth, raspy tone of his. I'm gonna try this gadget with better sets of pups, both passive (Antiquity) and noiseless (Kinman), and go for better tone. I would also like to see if the boosted noise from real single-coil pups will still be acceptable.

http://http://www.emginc.com/displayproducts.asp?section=Accessories&categoryid=32&catalogid=69

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

I'm really interested in an active system...
Problem is - I know they add noise to single coils when you use them with overdrive... can't find info on how bad it gets though...

So,

How bad is the noise?

 

[vegetablejoe]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

JohnnyGuitar,

if I can find time to put back the stock alnico pups in my Greco strat over the weekend, I will soon let you know what the noise level is like ...

OT: that's a nice 3-pup Nighthawk in your avatar. I have a sburst SP2 which I don't use much; but it's too purty to give up

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

JohnnyGuitar,

if I can find time to put back the stock alnico pups in my Greco strat over the weekend, I will soon let you know what the noise level is like ...

OT: that's a nice 3-pup Nighthawk in your avatar. I have a sburst SP2 which I don't use much; but it's too purty to give up

Thanks. I'll be thrilled to get more info about the active systems.

Nighthawks rule... :cool2:

 

[jeremy]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

ive tried the emg afterburner and pa2, the clapton boost, the mid boost that stewmac sells, the emg spc (not on passives, yet)

the pa2 and afterburner are basically the same thing. a loud clean boost. the afterburner is variable and the pa2 is only on/off with whatever boost amount you preset on a little trim pot. the spc is a mid boost that has a good eq curve and modest amount of boost, i have one on order to try with passive pups.

the stewmac one seemed like a cheap noisy preamp that boosted the wrong frequencies but it coulda been the guitar it was in.

the clapton boost is not actually a 25db mid boost but more like a 12 db always on preamp boost and a 13db variable mid boost. this is the only one that i still use and i use it with a set of classic stack + which are just about the perfect pups for this preamp. they are quiet, lower output and have a pulled back mid response which gives a very classic strat tone with the mid boost off.

i set the pups pretty low so with the mid boost off the output isnt any hotter than my seth/brobucker loaded guitar. with the boost up i get a nice fat high output tone

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

Yes . . . forgot about that. And if you want, I can show you how to use push-pull pots for the resonance switch and then you can use the spare tone hole for the bypass switch. Or, better yet, one push-pull for the bypass, and one on-off-on toggle for resonance.

If you decide to go that route, let me know. I'll send you the switch. I got a bunch of them I'll never use.

Edit: Now you've got me wanting to do it.

Thanks, but I don't think I'd want to put another switch on the guitar. My goal is for it to look clean and stock with the boost integrated into the existing controls. When I said "give up a tone control", I meant replace one of the tone knobs with a boost knob, like on the Clapton.

I'd probably have the three knobs as master volume, master tone w. push-pull boost bypass, boost gain with push-pull resonance switch.

Thanks everyone for the input. Right now I'd say it's a toss-up between the Duncan Pickup Booster and the GFS SRV Exciter. From the descriptions, those seem to be the ones closest to what I want.

 

[tc]

Re: Let's talk about active boosts/preamps for passive pickups

how bout a master EQ on the guitar?? to keep it simple instead of a multi-band graphic EQ you could use the pots and wire them instead of your usual tone knobs so they shape certain frequencies...just make it similar to the usual EQ on the amp.

bump. if its a dumb question or something enlighten me. i was thinking about an alternative to an EQ pedal...