When to Go Active...

L

Letus

New member
This thread is inspired by when Dave Mustaine was persuaded by Evan Skopp to get a set of his own Livewires, upgrading his pickups from the hotrodded set. It will cover all the factors that lead to that decision, and what problems active pickups will solve, as well as what situations they are beneficial in.

The Mustaine Livewire Set is much hotter than the JB/Jazz, and much heavier sounding as well. I wouldn't want to sound like a paid promoter, but I think they added a distinctly heavier edge to the recent Megadeth albums, and that is one of the definitely noticeable defining aspects of the modern Megadeth sound.

Over to Evan:
 
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Re: When to Go Active...

I was asked in a Visitor's Message to talk about my conversations with Dave that lead him to try the pickups that eventually became the LW-MUST set. I prefer to answer these types of questions in an open forum so we can all contribute to the conversation and benefit from the information exchange. Thanks Letus for asking. FYI, at the time this pickup was introduced, I was head of SD's Artist Relations and Product Development departments. So I was very involved with the team that created this pickup.

There were several factors that lead to Dave's decision. One of which was that we were all interested in doing a signature pickup for Dave, but he had been so closely associated with the JB for so many years--we knew we couldn't stray too far from that tone. So the pickups would have to have a tone familiar to anyone who liked the JB and Jazz models. Another factor was that active pickups were just starting to become very popular again--this was also right around the time that Blackouts were in development, but before they were released. We knew we were going to make a big push into the active pickup arena and we wanted Dave to be part of that. So that's what got us to start the discussion.

But at the end of the day, it was all about Dave loving the sound of the pickups. Dave credits me with helping to influence him to make the decision to switch from passive to active--which is gracious of him. But the fact is, he was blown away by the sound and that's why he jumped on that pickup design. I think Kevin Beller and Wayne Rothermick deserve more credit than me. They're the ones who designed the pickup. And to Seymour and Jeff Beck for making that tone so popular.
 
Re: When to Go Active...

Evan Skopp said:
I was asked in a Visitor's Message to talk about my conversations with Dave that lead him to try the pickups that eventually became the LW-MUST set. I prefer to answer these types of questions in an open forum so we can all contribute to the conversation and benefit from the information exchange. Thanks Letus for asking. FYI, at the time this pickup was introduced, I was head of SD's Artist Relations and Product Development departments. So I was very involved with the team that created this pickup.

There were several factors that lead to Dave's decision. One of which was that we were all interested in doing a signature pickup for Dave, but he had been so closely associated with the JB for so many years--we knew we couldn't stray too far from that tone. So the pickups would have to have a tone familiar to anyone who liked the JB and Jazz models. Another factor was that active pickups were just starting to become very popular again--this was also right around the time that Blackouts were in development, but before they were released. We knew we were going to make a big push into the active pickup arena and we wanted Dave to be part of that. So that's what got us to start the discussion.

But at the end of the day, it was all about Dave loving the sound of the pickups. Dave credits me with helping to influence him to make the decision to switch from passive to active--which is gracious of him. But the fact is, he was blown away by the sound and that's why he jumped on that pickup design. I think Kevin Beller and Wayne Rothermick deserve more credit than me. They're the ones who designed the pickup. And to Seymour and Jeff Beck for making that tone so popular.
Click to expand...

Since you are here, could you explain the difference in tone between the LW Must and the LWCH II? I am looking for a more classic rock tone from a guitar with EMGs, not too happy with the EMGs. They are 'OK', but I feel they are lacking some natural tone to them.
 
Re: When to Go Active...

The LW-CH2 is more of a classic moderate-output humbucker sound, but active. The LW-Must is the JB / Jazz sound, but active. The LW-CH2 is an interesting choice in the neck position with an AHB-1 (b or n) in the bridge position.
 
Re: When to Go Active...

One more question for you active guru's.

Of all the Active humbuckers that Seymour is putting out . . . which set or combination of sets, will give me the warmest tones ?


Thanks guys.
 
Re: When to Go Active...

Letus said:
This thread is inspired by when Dave Mustaine was persuaded by Evan Skopp to get a set of his own Livewires, upgrading his pickups from the hotrodded set. It will cover all the factors that lead to that decision, and what problems active pickups will solve, as well as what situations they are beneficial in.
Click to expand...

I was expecting you to talk a bit about those things, or at least get people who know about these things talking about them.
 
Re: When to Go Active...

SirJackdeFuzz said:
Of all the Active humbuckers that Seymour is putting out . . . which set or combination of sets will give me the warmest tones?
Click to expand...

+1 for LWC2n in the neck/Rhythm position.

I'm undecided about the bridge/Treble position.
 
Re: When to Go Active...

Went through an active phase years ago. Also tried out the Mustaine set, which came down to me as the advantage of the classic JB/Jazz set with the disadvantage of hassling with batteries. I've just found passives have much more character for my preference. At some point, there might be a new paradigm in this area, but I'm still waiting.


Sent from my armored battle station using Tapatalk
 
Re: When to Go Active...

Letus said:
I was expecting you to talk a bit about those things, or at least get people who know about these things talking about them.
Click to expand...

The advantages and disadvantages of active pickups are fairly well known. Active pickups use a built-in preamp to boost or otherwise shape the signal in very accurate ways. They generally require a source to power the preamp and they can drive guitar cables without signal loss. Before SD started using balanced inputs with a differential preamp circuit, some active pickups had a higher noise floor, a reputation for tonal sterility, and some were voiced with overly scooped mids and had the effect of making guitars sound the same.

As for getting (other) people who know about these things, this forum is filled with them.
 
Re: When to Go Active...

My buddy owns one of his Dean USA VMNTs.

It's actually one of the guitars that got me into pickup swapping.

I remember plugging that thing in and thinking, "This guitar is holy."

I am perfectly happy with the regular JB as far as playing for a hobby goes, but I have to say his Livewires are some of the most amazing pickups I've ever heard. Kind of a fan-boy here but they blow away anything Kirk and James could ever possibly do with EMG.

Though, there should definitely be a Livewire version of the '59. If I ever make it big and have the privilege of having a signature pickup, it'd be that and the Classic Stack neck models for 22 and 24 fret guitars respectively.
 
Re: When to Go Active...

Before SD started using balanced inputs with a differential preamp circuit, some active pickups had a higher noise floor, a reputation for tonal sterility, and some were voiced with overly scooped mids and had the effect of making guitars sound the same.

Do you know if all of the SD active pups have balanced inputs with a differential preamp circuit now? Does the LiveWire Dave Mustaine have it?
 
Re: When to Go Active...

^
Good question.




In answer to the OP thread title question, the right time to go active is when it is the right sound for the music that you are making.

To take David Gilmour as an example, some of his EMG period recordings would not sound the same on his legendary passive black Stratocaster. What would be interesting is to hear him using the SAV or SLV models, ideally, -X variants.
 
Re: When to Go Active...

For me.......going active would only be applied to a guitar that I could not get a good tone or sustain from with passive pickups. I have found that active pickups are less about tone wood reactance and more about the electronics overpowering the physical aspects of guitar tone. If you play death metal then active works. For soulful Blues, Jazz or classic Rock, passive pickups are best. Just my humble opinion.
 
Re: When to Go Active...

Actually, I've seen a lot of jazz/fusion/pop players playing actives. Lots of bass players of course use active pickups or onboard preamps and eq in their super high end basses.
I certainly wouldn't say that actives overshadow the actual guitar's tone, but I would agree that lower output passives would be more inspiring for the aforementioned genres. To me at least.
 
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