Active vs Passive

[Loxley]

What are the differences, pros & cons, and your personal preference, and why?

[jhamnett]

With passive your signal won't cut out due to a battery dying.

[Ital_Stal]

With passive your signal won't cut out due to a battery dying.

 

 

How often does that happen

 

 

 

Passive is organic and raw, Active is sterile.

 

my $.02.

 

If you have a lower end guitar go with active, if you have a mid-high go with passive.

[GCDEF]

 

What are the differences, pros & cons, and your personal preference, and why?

 

 

They're just different. I wouldn't say either is better. Actives tend to be hotter and more compressed sounding when pushed hard. I have guitars with both and don't have a strong preference one way or the other.

[Brian Krashpad]

I have one guitar with actives. Admittedly, it's (I've read) the first large-scale production guitar with actives (Ovation Breadwinner), but I find them to be a pain in the ass. Why have a guitar that you need to put batteries in? A former bandmate of mine had a Gibson RD Artist, and yet another had an RD Bass, and both found the active circuits PITA's.

 

Maybe more modern ones are better, but I don't like the tone any better with actives, and there's the added expense of 9-volts and the chance of your axe dying on you.

 

Big thumbs-down from me.

[jr_vw2]

I on the other hand really like avtive pickups. I have emg's and I will soon be buying some sd Blackout pups.

 

But they are really hard to compair to one another. They are two totally different creatures. I agree that Passive pickups are MUCH more organic, I have never been able to find a passive pickup that was hot enough for me and provided clarity at the same time.

[jtr654]

Active has a real consistant preformance and I have EMGs and their RPC . Passive can be all over the place because of outside influances. I have both and don't change pickups in guitars unless Bad or broken.

[Harvester1199]

actives have less magnetic pull resulting in a more natural string vibration and loads of sustain

and i have never had a battery die on me in any of my guitars wich all have active emg's @ 18volts.

i change the batteries one a year to avoid having problems

[scolfax]

I had EMG's on my Ibanez RG for over a decade. I did like the tone, but didn't like that the guitar sounded almost identical on the bridge humbucker and the neck single coil.

[paulojcduarte]

I don't like actives, but I'm not really a connoisseur, but I do think they miss the little nuances. Ofc if you need the brootalz, apparently they do that well.

 

But, like I said, there could be lots of different actives out there, maybe some work nice.

[Darkstorm]

Active wether the pickups or via onboard preamp converts signal to lowZ which gives less signal degradation over long cable runs. In basses its very common to have passive pups and a 2 to 3 band active eq. This givers much more tone shaping ability and the lowZ signal lets the whole signal thru to the amp which most notably results in more detail in upper treble along with bit more articulate bass in my experience. Ive only had one guitar with active which was emg preamp booster. In guitars a active preamp in very unusual, occassionally a active preamp booster like emg's is found. This just boosts the signal and creates the conversion to lowZ impedance.

 

For guitar I like passive with individual pup volumes. For bass I prefer active 2-3 band eq preamp and pup blend for further tonal shaping.

[EADGBE]

Passive is warmer sounding. It also seems to sound richer. My EMG-81 equipped guitar can make for some nice solo tones. All in all I like passive best.

[GCDEF]

I have one guitar with actives. Admittedly, it's (I've read) the first large-scale production guitar with actives (Ovation Breadwinner), but I find them to be a pain in the ass. Why have a guitar that you need to put batteries in? A former bandmate of mine had a Gibson RD Artist, and yet another had an RD Bass, and both found the active circuits PITA's. Maybe more modern ones are better, but I don't like the tone any better with actives, and there's the added expense of 9-volts and the chance of your axe dying on you. Big thumbs-down from me.

 

A 9V battery lasts about a year and they cost $3.

[Poltergeist]

active basses often rock, but when it comes to guitar - passive all the way.

 

i have an active, an active/passive, and a passive bass and i like them all very much though.

[Nephilim-777]

I only like actives for high gain applications. If you are not in high gain mode the majority of the time, I would choose passives.

[CoqBelliqueux]

I only like actives for high gain applications. If you are not in high gain mode the majority of the time, I would choose passives.

I think anyone who likes to have a compressed sound might like them. One less pedal on the board.

[metalheadUK]

I like passives for pretty much everything, but I do like a split EMG89 in the neck for a really nice "Fender" from an LP tone, and I'm quite keen on actives for really heavy metal.

 

But for Blues. Classic rock and Punk, I like 'em passive.

 

[guitarman3001]

I can't stand actives. My most hated pickup is an EMG 81. Passives sound more natural, warmer, smoother, just better all around. Actives tend to feel sterile to me.