What's the reason behind active pickups?

[Artie]

Re: What's the reason behind active pickups?

actually, nothing of the active pickups ever touch the strings. I have an EMG 81 in my guitar and its not grounded on a tremclaw or anything, just wires straight to the the jack.

Nothing on a passive touches the strings either. If your active is connected to the output jack, (which it obviously is), its connected to the same "ground" as passives, and thus, the same zaptitude exists.

Edit: Hmmm . . . unless, you're saying that with actives, one doesn't "ground" the bridge and strings. If thats true, then I see your point.

 

[sanrafael]

Re: What's the reason behind active pickups?

Even with passives it is not necessary to ground the bridge and strings if the shielding is really good, but it almost never is that good. For example, the pick up must be in a grounded metal case, the cavities must be shielded, etc.

It is interesting that the early actives are described as "sterile". This is nearly the same comment often made about early stereo solid state electronics. Everyone, engineers, guitarists, audio folks, underestimated how good ss electronics must be in order not to sound bad. Required distortion levels were based on experience with tube circuits, but tube distortion is less objectionable than ss distortion and cannot serve as a guide.

Modern op amps designed for audio use are literally orders of magnitude better than what was available at first.

 

[Rodney]

Re: What's the reason behind active pickups?

actually, nothing of the active pickups ever touch the strings. I have an EMG 81 in my guitar and its not grounded on a tremclaw or anything, just wires straight to the the jack.

"EMG" seems to be the only pickup people use when comparing active pickups but not all active pickups are the same and the 'correct' protocol for design and installation is subjective to opinion. Seymour Duncan Live Wires (amongst others)use a ground wire (and have always been 18 volts).

As for grounding the bridge to the strings...Why not? Necessary or not, it helps hum and noise even on a well shielded guitar.

It is interesting that the early actives are described as "sterile". This is nearly the same comment often made about early stereo solid state electronics. Everyone, engineers, guitarists, audio folks, underestimated how good ss electronics must be in order not to sound bad. Required distortion levels were based on experience with tube circuits, but tube distortion is less objectionable than ss distortion and cannot serve as a guide.

Of course Geoff Emerick did some amazing stuff with those first SS designs. Listen to Abbey Road and then tell me that SS sounds sterile. :laugh2:
In my opinion it is usually the operator not the machine.

Peace.

 

[sanrafael]

Re: What's the reason behind active pickups?

As for grounding the bridge to the strings...Why not? Necessary or not, it helps hum and noise even on a well shielded guitar.

Some people do not like the shock hazard, but I think that it is pretty low.

Of course Geoff Emerick did some amazing stuff with those first SS designs. Listen to Abbey Road and then tell me that SS sounds sterile. :laugh2:
In my opinion it is usually the operator not the machine.

The machine and the skill of the operator both matter.