Single coil sized humbucker... active?

B

Bamkuro

New member
Hey there,

I'm kind of a noob when it comes to active Pickups so maybe this question just sounds stupid to any expert who reads this. I know there's a pickup named EMG H, which basically is a humbucker sized active single coil. My question's just this: is there a single coil sized humbucker (such as the hot rails, or the super distortion s) but as an active Pickup?

Thanks in advance (even if it's just to tell me how stupid this question is).

Dan.
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

Not so stupid... I know the EMG "S" and "SA" are single coil sized but I dont know fi they are actually humbucking or true single coils I do know this though they are dead silent much less hum and noise than any passive humbucker ive ever had.
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

That's one thing I'm not sure about either. What does 'humbucker' mean to begin with? As far as I know (and that's not much) it means hum cancelling. So if an EMG S/SA has no 'hum', would that make it a humbucker? Don't think so, the Lace sensors are also dead silent but they are pure single coils (one of the best).

The reason I thought this question might be stupid is because I don't know exactly how Active Pickups work. They don't have one coil or two coils together, they just have a flat surface, but then again, that might only be the cover, don't really know...

Some EMG lovers help us out please!
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

Well what active pickup means is that the pickup uses a preamp and a outside power source (most commonly 1 or 2 9 volt batteries) to power the pickup. A passive pickup on the other hand generates all its signal from purely the vibrations of the strings.

Humbucker was invented by Seth Lover as a way of getting rid of 60 cycle hum by using coils wound in opposite directions. Now if you just want to buck hum the coils dont have to be side by side like they are in a PAF they can be on top of each other. As in the case of the stacked noiseless single coils that duncan and many others offer. But when someone says humbucker they arent just referring to the fact that it cancels hum but also to its size. Hence why a Sh4 that shares the dimensions with a PAF is called a humbucker yet the Dimarzio HS3 is called a stacked single coil. Technically both are humbuckers but the name refers not only to their operation but the dimension.

All that being said I dont know if EMG S's or the Single coils sized blackouts are 1 coil or 2 but they are very quiet so if noise is your consideration they are the best way to go
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

An advantage of active electronics is you can do quite a bit of EQ tweaking not possible with passive designs. Most active single coils are stacked humbucking designs voiced to sound like single coils. Each coil is wound in an opposite direction and when connected in series are humbucking. I have EMG SA's and Duncan Livewire II singles in the same guitar. The Duncan Livewire II's have vintage and hot models. The hot models have more output and midrange presence than the vintage models. They sound more like a humbucker than a single coil and are a nice compromise between the two sounds. EMG also has a number of active tone controls which can simulate a humbuckers sound. So depending on the manufacturer you may have two paths to the humbucker sound in active single coil size. Either you will have a hot coil winding or you will have a single coil with an active EQ to simulate a humbuckers sound.
 
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Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

Thanks for all the replys! :D

vinta9e said:
Aren't all "active single coils" hum cancelling?
Click to expand...

In Addition to that: what are the differences between a humbucker sized EMG (e.g. 81/85/66...) and a single coil sized EMG (S/SA...)? (Obviously apart from the size ¬¬)
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

EMG S, SA, H, HA, FT, RT and J pickups are all stacked coil noise-cancelling designs. So are the SD Live Wire Classic and Blackouts for Stratocaster.

The only non-hum-cancelling low impedance pickups that spring to mind are the ones that Alembic fitted into exotic bespoke bass guitars. On such instruments, there is invariably a third "dummy" coil for noise-cancelling purposes mounted between the regular pickups.
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

Bamkuro said:
Thanks for all the replys! :DIn Addition to that: what are the differences between a humbucker sized EMG (e.g. 81/85/66...) and a single coil sized EMG (S/SA...)? (Obviously apart from the size ¬¬)
Click to expand...
A regular humbucker has two coils placed side by side horizontally and a stacked humbucker has one coil on top of another. One coil is wound clockwise and one coil is wound counterclockwise. The magnetic polarity of a horizontal humbucker is side to side and a stacked humbucker is vertical.

View attachment 42067
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

Thanks! But is there a difference in terms of tone between a side by side humbucker and a stacked single coil (in general terms, obviously each Pickup will have his own characteristics)? If there wasn't a difference and my guitar only has spacing for a single coil in the bridge, could I still get a "humbucker" sound (a la EMG 81/85...) putting in an EMG S/SA e.g.? Thanks again!
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

Yes the tone is different a side by side coil humbucker will read more of the string than a stacked will. You wont get the same tone from a stacked humbucker as a full size ever.
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

With a side-by-side arrangement, both coils contribute roughly equally to the overall sound. With vertically stacked coils, the lower coil is mainly there to cancel hum.

On an SSS Stratocaster, you could simulate some of the greater output and fuller tone of a humbucker with one or more of the EMG Accessories. The -SPC is a midrange booster. The Afterburner is an overall level boost.
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

Thanks again to all for the replies. Still I'm kinda wondering... Pickups like the SD Hot Rails or the DM Superdistortion S are single coil sized humbuckers but still have two coils (or rails in this case) next to each other and are considered pure humbuckers. Why isn't that possible with EMGs?
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

I dare say that it is entirely possible for EMG to design and build a Stratocaster-sized side-by-side coil pickup. They have chosen not to do so. Presumably, there is not sufficient demand to justify the research and development costs.

Returning to your opening post, the EMG-H and -HA pickups are, literally, the regular EMG stacked coil Stratocaster replacement pickups inside humbucker-sized covers, buried in lots and lots of resin.
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

vinta9e said:
Aren't all "active single coils" hum cancelling?
Click to expand...

No. They are much quieter than passive single coils, but they aren't truly hum cancelling like a stack or a humbucker.

The end result is pretty much the same though.
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

Actually now that RD mentions it I think there is a third humbucking option where you have active noise cancellation? Basically the preamp on the pickup creates a positive and negative signal and the two signals are then mixed which creates the noise canceled signal. The preamp does the noise cancellation rather than series/parallel coils.
 
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Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

You need a second coil if only for the sake of creating reverse polarity hum. Prove me wrong ;)
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

Hmm. well if you wanna try something different. You could get a single coil sized humbucker like a lil 59 THEN use the blackouts modular preamp to make it active. So there an active humbucker sound in a single coil rout if you want. It sounds like a cool idea, but I've never tried it myself. It should work fine in theory. I might have to try this on one of my fiend's strats just to see how it turns out.
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

That's an interesting idea! I hadn't heard of the Blackout modular preamp. But even with that I encounter another problem (*sad laugh*). I guess I have to show you exactly what guitar I have for a better understanding. It's this one:

E-EN-165-A1.jpg
(http://www.espguitars.co.jp/artist/aoi/index.html)

Don't mind the shape, there's also the exact same pickup configuration but on a lespaul style.

Now these are the pickups:

(Neck) Seymour Duncan SSL-5 & SL59-1n
(Bridge) Seymour Duncan SSL-5 & SLSD-1b
So in the end I can kind of have either an H-H setup or an S-S.

I guess you see now the problem: there's only one knob (for master volume), which affects both the humbuckers as well as the single coils. And as far as I've read the Blackout modular preamp isn't recommended to be used with single coils... *sigh*
 
Re: Single coil sized humbucker... active?

Just for the sake of getting a little crazy :knockedou , how would the BMP work on Lace sensors? :outahere:
 
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