Mixing active pickups brands (SD + EMG)

[FernandoDuarte]

Hello there!
I bought a Mick Thomson bridge humbucker for a guitar that I'm building and am looking for a low output neck pickup, because I mostly use the neck p.u. for clean tones and low drive things, but all the SD active seems to be high gain (even the single coil)

So, I'm thinking in of there is any difference that I should know that would be a problem mixing SD, EMG, Fishman and other active pickups with the SD bridge.

Does anybody mixed them before?
Cheers!

 

[Rex_Rocker]

No. It's doable. I've done it with EMG's and Blackouts.

Keep in mind, though, EMG's don't quite match the EQ or output of Blackouts, so the pairing wasn't very balanced.

 

[FernandoDuarte]

Hummm which ones did you use?
And how was this unbalance?

The videos of the neck Blackout HB I saw really sucks at clean and crunch and I've found one guy who did the single coil clean (on a world of 3 or 4 total videos on YT), but he didn't asnwer yet what position it was...

The official videos of the single coil on clean don't show the neck pickup at all and even the bridge or middle are a little meh...
I'd be thinking in those EMG60/66/single in H format or perhaps Fishman, but might understand how they would behave mixed



Other thing: I tried to search here about mixing active with passive (minding that the pot for the passive with be different value from the active), has anyone tried it too?

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Hummm which ones did you use?
And how was this unbalance?

The videos of the neck Blackout HB I saw really sucks at clean and crunch and I've found one guy who did the single coil clean (on a world of 3 or 4 total videos on YT), but he didn't asnwer yet what position it was...

The official videos of the single coil on clean don't show the neck pickup at all and even the bridge or middle are a little meh...
I'd be thinking in those EMG60/66/single in H format or perhaps Fishman, but might understand how they would behave mixed



Other thing: I tried to search here about mixing active with passive (minding that the pot for the passive with be different value from the active), has anyone tried it too?

I used the original AHB-1 with an EMG 85 in the neck. I also tried the 81, but the imbalance was worse.

By "imbalance" I mean the output of the Blackout was too much for the EMG's. No matter how close you set them to the strings, the EMG's would be overpowered by the Blackout. If you use the pickups in isolation, meaning you never switch from one to the other mid solo or mid clean passage or whatever, then you'll be fine there. Second, the EQ of EMG's is very "narrow" compared to the EQ of the Blackout. The Blackout was very bassy and very trebly compared to the EMG's. The EMG's have a hipass/lopass effect that Blackouts don't. Even if you're using the EMTY, I still think it will be bassier (and way treblier) than regular classic EMG's (meaning 81, 85, 57, 66, 60, etc.).

At least that was my experience. I did not like how that combo sounded at all.

Fishman Classics sound very passive, but the Fishman Classic neck pickup is not very high output at all. It's vintage output all the way through. It does not rival classic series EMG's in terms of output, it will be EXTREMELY overpowered by Blackouts.

 

[jeremy]

i tried to match an emg sv with blackout singles and the output difference (blackouts on low output) was ridiculous, the sv was so overpowered it wasnt workable. different pairings may work better?

 

[Chistopher]

Mixing active and passive can be done but it is generally not worth the hassle. The easiest way to do it would be buying a Blackout Modular Preamp and using it with a passive neck humbucker that you like. That or talking to the SD Custom Shop

 

[jeremy]

i believe this thread is about mixing active pups from different brands, not active and passive

 

[Chistopher]

He mentioned at the end of post #3 the possiblity of mixing active and passive. Given he already has an active bridge pickup and doesn't seem to like any of the SD neck offerings, adding a Blackout preamp is just about the only option of getting a neck pickup that keeps up with it volume-wise.

Actually, come to think of it the Jeff Looomis neck might be what you are looking for. I haven't ever seen one in the wild, but I remember people went crazy for them a while back.

 

[FernandoDuarte]

Thanks guys! I'll try to find better videos of Loomis blackout, last time I searched on YT there was really few of them

And will see this blackout preamp too, depending on how it works, could be the ticket