Passive Equivalents to Actives?

J

Jason_Clement

New member
I know Actives are inherently different from Passives due to the preamp. However, I was wondering if there were passive pick ups that shared the same tonal characteristics to actives?

I know right off the bat I can think of the BKP "Blackhawk" which is a passive that sounds a lot like the Blackout, in my opinion. Maybe I am crazy. It was designed to be a passive pick up that gave all the drive and punch of an active without that "compressed" tone many people feel actives suffer from.

Are the D-activators true to the "active" voicing? Are they comparable to an active model?

:D
 
Re: Passive Equivalents to Actives?

Obvious question. What make/model of active pickup is disappointing you?

I find the EMG-X range and Seymour Duncan Live Wire Classic II to have less of that artificial, over-compressed dynamic response.
 
Re: Passive Equivalents to Actives?

Bare Knuckle has released a rail style pickup that is supposed to give an active sort of tone...the name escapes me at the moment.

DiMarzio D Activators sound pretty nice. If you dont want to spend the money on BKP pickups a set of D Activators may be your ticket.
 
Re: Passive Equivalents to Actives?

No particular model is disappointing me, to be honest, I'm just wanting to learn more about pick ups :3 I currently got a set of Blackouts in my 7 string, and I swapped the neck AHB1 into the bridge. I've been having a lot of fun with that lately, it's got great tones. Just pondering ideas for my next guitar. I think I'm gunna get an EMTY bridge and put the neck AHB1 back into the neck and just keep the AHB1b lying around in case I ever get a beater up 7 or something :)

But I've been looking towards what passives sound like what, and what might be a good fit for me and stuff :) I've never owned a passive, and I feel like if I switch from actives to passives things will be missing for me in terms of output and certain tonal characteristics I like in the pickups I have (EMG 85/60, Blackouts). It's more of a question of "what's a smooth transition pickup".
 
Re: Passive Equivalents to Actives?

I've been listening to that Keith Merrow comparison video of all the pick ups and I've been drooling over the Distortion ...
 
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