baz Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 Here is one for anyone that knows. The active pups market seems to be run by a handful of companies all saying why their pups are best etc etc. which only adds to the confusing in trying to chose. To me there are 3 ways to go active 1. Use active pups with built-in pre-amps such as the EMG range etc. 2. Use active pups with seperate pre-amps and tone circuits. 3. Use PASSIVE pups with a pre-amp and tone circuits Both 1&2 are wound with larger diametre wire and weaker magnets allowing lower impedance and less string pull and more sustain I cannot seem to find active circuit diagrams for the passive type (3) or know of a good availability range of pups available with circuit diagrams etc. If anyone could point me in the right direction that'll be great Thanks - Baz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 All an active pickup is is a passive pickup with a built-in preamp/buffer circuit, so there's really not much difference electronically between the three. As for using active electronics with passive pickups, you don't need a special wiring diagram - simply wire the guitar exactly as you would for passive pickups and coonect the wire(s) you would normally connect to the volume pot to the preamp/active tone control input and wire the preamp's output to the jack. Most of EMG's accessories will work fine with passive pickups, as will almost every onboard booster avialable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 Has anyone seen the inside of an EMG. What kind of coil are we looking at in there and how sophisticated a preamp? Also, what's the battery drain like...how long do they last. I've actually been quite impressed with them on the right guitar for the right type of sound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 I use you're No. 3 quite often, and here are some tips: Use relatively quiet or noiseless pkps. Pre-amps are boosters, and will boost EVERYTHING, including noisy single coil pkps. I use pkps like Lace Sensors, Lawrence, Barden, those pkps are very quiet to begin with, so when hitting the boost, the white noise doesn't drive you out of the room. Shielding the guitar 100% is a MUST. ANY extra noise, no matter it's source, will get picked up and amplified, and drive you insane, and make you unhappy with boosters in general if you don't control/eliminate any source of unwanted noise, whether it be unpotted pkps or a non-shielded control compartment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 Has anyone seen the inside of an EMG. What kind of coil are we looking at in there and how sophisticated a preamp? Also, what's the battery drain like...how long do they last. I've actually been quite impressed with them on the right guitar for the right type of sound when you got right down to it. my 81 had 1 single coil in it that was larger than usual wire. and one smaller coil with a little closer to normal looking wire on it. the preamp was all smt and i ruined it getting down to it. so no luck there. some companies actually use fat single coils ie low imp of course and use a cascading preamp to bring up the signal to that of a humbucker as well as use filtering to roll off certain freqencies and amplify others. personally i was thinking of the same thing in my pickups but right now i have too much work to finish the last prototype. but so far its 1 Coil super low impedance. with a cascading preamp that has three trimpots for gain. to mix the balance of the pickup and the dial in three more thumbwheel trims for the eq balance. i think in the future it will acutally be outboard for the thumbwheels and such as that but keep the preamp inside the pickup. i have had nice luck with just nothcing out the standard freq range of a humbuckerand using a fat single coil with fat wire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 This should become a part of any FAQ on guitar electronics - call it Drak's First Law of Active Electronics. Shielding the guitar 100% is a MUST. ANY extra noise, no matter it's source, will get picked up and amplified, and drive you insane, and make you unhappy with boosters in general if you don't control/eliminate any source of unwanted noise, whether it be unpotted pkps or a non-shielded control compartment. Print it out, and tape it up over your bench! It doesn't matter how good your electronics sound if you can't hear anything over the noise! This is one place where a little attention to detail and planning on the front end will improve your results hundredfold, especially for axes that are used with high-gain setups. Your ears ( and your listeners) will thank you for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 Thanks... of course I'm asking because of the Sustainer I'm working on. I've made some super small pickups which of course are very low impedance (can't get alot of wire on something only 10x5 mm!) but the signal is crowded with noise...still working on it Ansil...I'm also thinking thumb wheels or such...ever seen any tiny slider pots? I've got some cheapo headphones somewhere that uses a rack and gear to turn a trim pot into a slider for volume control. I'll have to get a bit more clever with my sheilding as it's been said...I'm amplifying noise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 hmm nice i dea i have actually a slide pot thats the length of an emg pickup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 (edited) Yep, I thought it was cute... I'll dig it out, scan it and send you a copy This one has a travel of about 15-20 mm so is quite a bit smaller The parts could easily be molded in epoxy...if your into that...otherwise its just an open trim pot pete i have actually a slide pot thats the length of an emg pickup or did you mean the width of an EMG? Edited August 19, 2004 by psw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 you are correct sir sorry iam an idiot. lol i did have one that was the lenght too. but it is dead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Ansil, So did you scavenge them by dumpster diving, or do you have some supplier (mouser?) P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted August 21, 2004 Report Share Posted August 21, 2004 acually i just found them in some old console... so canibalization. speaking of canibals we got a new movie in from the record / dvd store.. "i will dance on your grave:Canibal hookers" lol no joke i thought i twas a joke but nope.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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