What is the difference between active and passive humbuckers

The pickup market is really large, so deciding on what pickup you should get can be a rather daunting task! One thing that makes selecting a pickup so hard is that pickups react to the player. Somebody may hit the strings in a different way, or because their guitar is made out of a certain material, the pickups react differently. So this is one reason why the debate surrounding active and passive pickups is so subjective.

You have tried tweaking your amp and pedals, but the problem is still there. Now you know the problem is coming from your guitar, so logically you need to change your pickups.

The next step is to research and visit websites from aftermarket pickup manufacturers. Most of them have a pickup selector where you can fill out a form specifying what kind of music you play, what woods your guitar is made of, and what you want to achieve with the pickup swap.

There are usually a few forum threads dedicated to the gear of famous guitar players, and in some instances, the famous guitarist in question might have a YouTube channel with even more information.

In short, find a tone you like, then find out how they got it. Equipboard is a very handy website that aims to catalog all the gear used by well-known guitarists and other musicians. There are many famous players with their own preferences for particular pickups. Steve Lukather was famous for using EMG active pickups from the mid-eighties until He even had a signature set of pickups that EMG is still selling. An interview with the Valley Arts crew stated that since Steve was used to hearing his guitar through studio processing, he wanted his guitar to naturally sound like it has gone through studio processing all by itself!

In more recent years Lukather has gone back to passive pickups. He now plays custom Musicman pickups, which are medium to high output passive pickups, but Steve still liked the output he got from the EMG. So, he is able to add a 12 dB volume boost by means of an external boost circuit located under a push push volume potentiometer. Kirk Hammett really needs no introduction.

Jason was considered to be one of the most gifted guitar virtuosi in the late eighties. He used passive pickups for the entirety of his short playing career, which sadly only lasted until the mid-nineties due to ALS crippling his hands. The guitar had coil-split switches , which are clever little devices for turning humbuckers into single coils. He could also flip the phase of the two pickups. This gave him some very cool sounds, which are great for experimenting in the recording studio.

Jason now has a signature pickup with Seymour Duncan. Measuring It depends on which particular pickups you are comparing. An active pickup is likely to be louder than a low output passive pickup.

A high output passive pickup could come close to the volume of an active pickup though. Not quite. The tone is also much beloved.

No, that distinction goes to static accumulation. You end up hearing noises from the pickup that take away from your playing. Should you find yourself recording guitar lines then, this static can definitely interfere. A humbucker can keep this issue at bay…to an extent. Although passive pickups can still deliver a great sound, their design is very simple.

As I mentioned in the last section, pickups have two main components: a magnet and a wire. Active pickups, as you know by now, use a lot more tech in addition to the wire coils.

They need an external source of power for one. Besides that, these pickups also may also use tone shapers, EQ, active filters, and a preamp. The battery that powers an active pickup increases its output.

The sound also has more power due to that battery. Without a battery, passive pickups cannot generate as strong of an electrical signal. As I discussed in the last section, the coiling of the wire around a magnet in a passive pickup can get filled with static.

This produces unappealing background sounds. Should you find yourself looking for a guitar with an active pickup, prepare to spend more money than you would for one with a passive pickup.

This price jump is likely due to the included battery necessary for an active pickup. I said as much before. You get much more brightness and tonal expression with a passive pickup. If you want to go for a subtler tone or a more overtone, you have that freedom. This too expands your range. To reiterate, yes, active pickups produce a greater output compared to passive pickups, thus making them louder.

With the pre-amp, you can adjust your frequencies for the active pickup, either increasing or decreasing them. While this does allow for more tone control, how much control you have depends on the type of preamp you chose and its functions.

While they do produce a snappy sound, it lacks range compared to a passive pickup. From jazz to pop, metal, and country, if you want to delve into these genres, you may wonder which pickup type to select. As you may recall from earlier in this article, I mentioned how passive pickups are the standard for most musicians. The dynamism and range are two major selling points for this pickup. Thus, in genres like metal, jazz, rock, and others, the passive pickup may be your best bet. Even crunchy garage rock sounds great with a passive pickup if you use that electrical feedback the right way.

Also, go for a passive pickup for any genre in which you might switch volumes and tones across a single song. If you play rock or metal music as well as any genre in which you need a lot of power, then an active pickup makes the most sense. Another consideration you might make for active pickups is the clarity of your music. If you need a clean-sounding guitar and bass tones without any audio feedback, you can get that with an active pickup. In pop music especially, that clean, homogenous sound is best.

The power you get with an active pickup is better suited to the energy of the metal genre of music. With their cleaner tones, active pickups are also better suited for studio recording. If you used a passive pickup instead, you'd have a lot more excess noise to work through while mixing the track.

The type of pickup you choose will come down to the genre of music you typically play in, your playing style and your own preference. Test out both types of pickups, decide on the type you think sounds best, and then just go with that one. With great deals and a dedicated and helpful team, we can help you find exactly what you want and need.

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