Strats with active pickups

[metalchurch79]

I rarely see active single coils being talked about, so I was just wondering if there are any guys out there using them?
Im curious to hear your setups if you wouldnt mind sharing.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Strats with active pickups

i have a great hamer daytona thats currently setup with a set of blackout singles and its great. it doesnt sound like my antiquity loaded strats or like a vintage strat but it does what it does very well. the blackouts have more mids and are a little less glassy than a ssl1 for example but its still very much a single coil strat sound. i have the output wired to a switch so for the neck and bridge pups i can switch between low and high output, the middle is always on low output. i love the guitar and wanted to give these pups a real test since ive been away from actives for so long. i wont be leaving this set in this guitar but ill find another home for this set of pups.

 

[gregory]

Re: Strats with active pickups

There's a not very well known guy who has used them in a Stat for quite a long time. His initials are DG. His band, PF, isn't very poplar either.

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Strats with active pickups

I got two sets of 80's NOS Seymour LiveWire Hot Strats, and Im currently planning on throwing a set of them in my all Black Strat with a scalloped neck.

Theres really not much said about active single coils, so I figured since I was currently working on this and doing research, Id ask and see what you guys were into.

Thanks Sirs!

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Strats with active pickups

I don't have it anymore but what seems like half a lifetime ago I owned a beautiful ESP Strat that had 3 active Single Coils in it. It was the same model that Kurt Hammit plays in the video for One & I worked an entire summer just to get it! I absolutely loved that guitar & to date it's the only battery equipped guitar that I can honestly say that about!!!

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Strats with active pickups

I have a set of EMG singles; they've been in one of my older Floydcasters since '80 or '81. They sound fine, though I'm not thrilled about having to change batteries once in a while. Not sure what the setup is on EMG active controls nowadays, but this axe has two tone knobs, one for presence and another for mids. It's kinda cool having a midrange control on a Strat.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Strats with active pickups

I have to admit, it is a sound I haven't explored much. I would be interested though. A lot of guys make them sound great.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Strats with active pickups

I have a set of EMG singles; they've been in one of my older Floydcasters since '80 or '81. They sound fine, though I'm not thrilled about having to change batteries once in a while. Not sure what the setup is on EMG active controls nowadays, but this axe has two tone knobs, one for presence and another for mids. It's kinda cool having a midrange control on a Strat.

the exg is the treble/bass boost and the spc is the mid boost. thats the setup that gilmour had in his strat for a while. ive always liked the spc mid boost

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Strats with active pickups

the exg is the treble/bass boost and the spc is the mid boost. thats the setup that gilmour had in his strat for a while. ive always liked the spc mid boost

Ah, cool. Thanks man, it's been so long since I had 'em put in that I'd forgotten the original names. Kinda odd that they refer to the mid boost as a "presence" control. But whatever they call it, it works well and is especially handy in a Strat with three singles. I mostly leave the other one on 5; I seem to remember using that other knob more back in the 80s when I was performing all the time though. Great gigging guitar- versatile tones and rock solid tuning.

Honestly I haven't been playing this particular axe a whole lot in recent years- when I want classic Strat I reach for a vintage one, and when I want Floyd it's most often an HSH.

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Strats with active pickups

Sounds like an awesome guitar, and thats so cool that youve had those pickups in there and hung onto it for that long, cool story. You should break that thing out and say hello to an old friend!

Id love to try an EXG or SPC sometime with these LiveWire singles. Seymour doesnt make anything like that do they?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Strats with active pickups

no duncan doesnt make anything like the spc but it should work well with the livewires.

when i want classic fender strat tones, i have guitars for that. when i want a classic gibson tone, i have guitars for that. the blackout singles are stratty but not like a vintage fender and they arent humbuckery either. its a cool tone that works well for a lot of things that i do. its a good sit in guitar, its comfy to play and i can cover a lot of ground with just the guitar and a small tube amp

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Strats with active pickups

After thinking about it, I can understand why EMG calls the mid boost a Strat Presence Control. Makes sense since the tone more substantial and bolder, bringing the guitar front and center so to speak, more in-your-face. It's just that because of the way amp knobs are labeled, most of us tend to think of a Presence control in terms of high end rather than midrange.

Here's a pic of the guitar with its old EMGs. In the beginning it was Candy Tangerine, but the finish darkened over the years. During the 90s one bandmate used to call the color "cheddar." By now the orange has pretty much all gone and it's really just a dark gold. Still a handsome axe though. I'm looking a lot less flashy myself these days, so it suits me. Great neck on this one, soft vee profile with an ebony fretboard.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Strats with active pickups

nice looking guitar!

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Strats with active pickups

That is a nice one! Love 8-hole pickguards, I don't know why but I prefer them over an 11-hole any day...
I knew this would be a thread with not many posts because active pickups are the devil around here, but I was hoping there were more players. Oh well, I appreciate you guys giving your thoughts either way.

 

[Arwin]

Re: Strats with active pickups

Hope I'm not too late to join here. I technically have my strat setup for low-z output, equivalent to what you would get using active pickups, but I am using passive pickups. In my case I'm using our SVR-1b vintage rails pickups and I'm sending them through an onboard booster/buffer that converts the hi-z signal from the pickups into a lo-z signal, routes it through a 25k volume to control the amount of boost, and then out to the jack. I have totally loved the way it sounds, and because I have it set up on a push/pull pot for switching I've been able to compare the hi-z and lo-z sounds directly in the same guitar with the same pickups!

I'll see if I can get a picture or two to post on here tomorrow!

that candy-cheedar-tangerine finish is definitely a looker!


The Blackouts for strat also sound pretty incredible, and I'll probably use them in my next strat project to achieve a similar vibe, but with actual active pickups. Cool thing about those, they have two db levels built in, so you can easily send them to a switch for a solo boost onboard


you can hear the blackouts for strat in action here

 

[Arwin]

Re: Strats with active pickups

And here, this latter video is a demo for a vibe pedal, but the blackouts I think sound especially great in that guitar

 

[mxaniac]

Re: Strats with active pickups

Single coil EMGs on an old 6L6 tube amp can get an epic chime going.

 

[Arwin]

Re: Strats with active pickups



Here is my Lo-z strat

All three pickups are the SVR-1b vintage rails bridge model. The neck and middle pickups are wired for parallel operation and the bridge position pickup is in series and for my needs they balance really well and offer a great diversity of tones, more scooped and sparkly in the forward and notch positions, and a little hotter and more mid forward in the bridge . 5 way selector switch and master volume are as they would be on any other strat, the second knob is a master tone that pulls up to engage the preamp/buffer and the third knob is an additional volume for the preamp only

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Strats with active pickups

I really like that alot, thats very nice. Ive been diggin on Sherwood Green alot lately. Enough that I ordered a Mint Green guard to go with it, but I like your combo as well..

That Low-z set up is pretty cool man, I wouldnt mind giving that a shot sometime myself. Appreciate you sharing this with us, I like things that are unique to the norm.

 

[dave74]

Re: Strats with active pickups

Never had anything like these myself,,,,,,but man I love the Hammett guitar/tone in the One video!

On another side-note; Holy heck those emg spc are $79 now! I swear they were like half that or less just a few years ago.
Is it just because they're "solderless"-ready now? Jeff Hanneman used to use them with the emg81 to increase the thickness.