Active VS Passive Pickups | What's best for Metal?

Mark and Joss ask the age old question.
Whats the best pick up for Metal...Active or Passive?
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#Pickups #ActiveVSPassive #EMG

[@jovanvukovic830]

BEST INTRO EVEER

[@rasputinsbeard3899]

Dio said that the hand gesture was a sign to ward off evil, as passed down from his Gypsy grandmother.

[@jerrysanders9101]

Rasputin's Beard epic

[@jerrysanders9101]

Satanic Beer Chugger holy diver I mean holy shit that’s super sick info, yea I thought Dio was Italian too 🙏🤟🏼

[@kadenromig8374]

That's pretty metal

[@OE-jy6yt]

@Ulf Joakim The old school evil eye protection

[@milos-7712]

Malocchio.

[@nihilistictanuki6947]

I'm a metal guy and I also like passive pickups more (loving my Seymour Duncan Black Winter) but actives are also pretty dope and in an ideal world you should have both, so you can use whatever pickup fits the situation best.

[@zakkmylde1712]

This right here! People love talking shit on actives (especially EMGs) but they have their purposes and areas they definitely beat passives in. I have a little bit of everything on my guitar rack, Wylde Audio Barbarian of course with the ZW 81/85 set, a Schecter Solo II with the 57/66 set, Jackson RR with Seymour JBs, an SG with 57 classics (gonna swap them out for the 3 way P Rails soon though for more options), an LTD EC 1000 with Fluence Moderns, and my Strat and Tele have stock fender pups in them because I want them to sound like fenders lol. Each one of them gets played and having that kind of variety around actually encourages me to play different kinds of music.

[@drivinsouth651]

@@zakkmylde1712 Show off, lol!

[@zakkmylde1712]

@@drivinsouth651 I've been playing for 20 years, shit just piles up lol. If you think that's showing off then you would hate to know how many instruments I own that aren't on that rack, there's 8 more electrics in cases and on my other stands, 6 acoustics (that I honestly don't know where 4 of them came from because I barely play acoustic), 3 basses and I think I have like 5 or 6 amps (3 of which currently live with my father because he's too cheap to buy one for himself lol). Like I said, shit just piled up over the last 20 years on top of having a wicked case of G.A.S.

[@drivinsouth651]

@@zakkmylde1712 I love Canned Heat too! kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3PTpmaflpx_rdE

[@alexlara4112]

I just picked up a guitar last year with the black winter pick ups and they are pretty good and stack up well to EMGS Not quite the same bite but very close for being a passive set of pick ups !

[@ettisivula]

Thank you for the video. This helped me to realized that I should stick with passive pickups. There's just something I love about that warmth in the tone.

[@MrJeffwards]

Gary Moore used a single emg in his custom shop charvel strats around the mid 80’s and we should all know how amazing he always sounded.

[@jerrysanders9101]

Jeffrey Edwards 🤟🏼

[@patrickshannon9281]

Well Randy Rhoades used Jackson stock and Les Paul stock he was a great player. He didn't have any problems.

[@mitchconnerandsometimesjlotoo]

@@patrickshannon9281playing 10/10 guitar tone was ok

[@drivinsouth651]

1982 guitar tone I still haven`t achieved yet and doubt I ever will... kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWqyoGuljM5rq8U

[@lowcountrythrash2874]

@@patrickshannon9281 While you are correct that Randy played passive, upon Randy’s passing active pickups we not common in those days on the rock and metal scene. In 1981 EMG had just hit the market and they were not well known at all. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Randy would have become interested in the actives later in his career had he chose to not get in that plane. Or he may have been like so many of us that love to straddle the fence……. I personally love both passive and active pickups, it just depends on what I am playing.

[@The_Apothecary]

EMGs are good for 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

[@angryktulhu]

Like it's something bad :) At the end of the day, it's a RHYTHM guitar not bzzzzz chord pussy crap

[@ericv215]

Omg passive pickups are sooo dynamic....lol wow. Active pickups rock at metal man period 00000011100111000 all day.

[@jmcsquared18]

Seymour Duncans are fantastic for chugging, too. They have a sexy voice when you dig in on high gain.

[@frankmoser6251]

Well I'm almost afraid to try black winters or active emg's in the Ibanez rg i just finished .... I went with h4's with the h4a in the neck and after i swapped the pots and all for the solderless system i had to drop the pu 's nearly all the way flush with the body .... Any lower and they'll be recessed and STILL extremely hot due to the resonance of the rg421ahm which is ash body and maple neck and fretboard ( and REALLY heavy like 10+ lbs) and after locking tuners,tusq nut,Gotoh steel bridge and the emg h4 pickups it's definitely the hottest guitar since my 77 les Paul black beauty custom lol .... Any hotter and be almost unplayable lol HOWEVER it is just about perfect and i JUST got it finished yesterday so I'm STILL dialing it in lol .... I like h4's lol

[@kinglakaka]

Can we play Holy wars with EMG?

[@whoracle82]

That monologue is just AWESOME!!

[@tonybutler9616]

Hey Joss, really cool meeting you at the UK Guitar Show. Bareknuckle are down here in Cornwall. Never ever heard you play a bum note. I’ll pop in next time I’m in GAKville. 😎 TB

[@StevenSwinehart]

This was a great example of the difference, and I agree with both points. I tend to choose guitars based on the wide range of tones that I can get from full clean to melt your face drive, my stock tone is Mesa liquid more than Marshall crunch. I have a Steinberger with EMG actives, a Jackson with EMG passives, and a couple Charvel Strats with SD passives so I use both a lot. I wanted to comment on the answer to the "Old School" users of actives. I know you are into and speaking from the very extreme side of metal, that said, if you look back past Zack, (a GOD from his debut), many players have been devoted to EMG actives. Slayer, Metallica, Prince, Steve Winwood, Vito Bratta, Vince Gill... I played for years in a country/rock band, as a player that never listened to country, in the beginning, I basically played Angus type blues leads in everything. I found as I grew into the gig the clean to dirty jumps that my gigging required active pickups were best, much like the point of going from heavy chords to high speed leads. Honestly I think pickup choice like instrument, amp, fx, strings, picks, ect is very personal. I play my Charvels most with Seymore Duncan humbuckers and coil taps, sometimes I pull out my electromatic, or my tex/mex Tele because I want that sound in this moment. For that reason as a player of 43 years I say you should strive to have as many tools at your fingertips as possible, active, passive, acoustic all that, . Yep I am saying it GO BUY MORE GEAR!!! My apologies to your wives. I have found that you can be surprised at the things you find in your fingers when laid on a different version of your drug of choice, rather its a different guitar or tone you will find things that sound good to you in that tone. Remember Randy auditioned for Ozzy on a 10 watt $75 bedroom practice amp and blew his mind because of the tone in his hands.

[@user-ks9ox9ie9v]

Amazing playing. So satisfying to listen...

[@nicolasisaksson1175]

Cool vid! I think the EMGs have a very emotional sound to them and were by far my favorite. It would have been nice to hear the clean tones too.

[@dominicgiovannoni7072]

Hilarious intro!! Great playing🤘🏼

[@pooder53]

This is the first video ive seen or heard of from GAK. I wasnt expecting to laugh my ass off at the first 30 seconds but I did so naturally I smashed that like button and subscribed 🤣

[@thereisnopandemic]

You easily amused

[@roosternm6830]

The midevil intro was the best. Subbed for sure. My favorite right now is my EMG hot 70s hybrid pickups. Amazing

[@WhatsupwSully]

WOW!! I have Zakk Wild 81 / 85 EMG's in my les Paul and I have to say the passives were SO MUCH BETTER, so clean with the heaviness of the gain all mixed up perfectly. Never thought I'd say that as a huge EMG fan, but those gold passives were simply incredible paired up with your great playing ability, SO GOOD MAN!

[@mfm6]

The thing is, is that only us guitar players can hear and feel the difference. I like the tightness and compression of emgs. I feel like it makes sloppy playing sound better. (In my case 🤣) Passive pickups have more boddy, react better to your picking, sounds beefier and more alive with either high gain or cleans.

[@Godflesh88v2]

Funny, as a drummer I can clearly hear the difference.

[@cyborgchimpy]

absolutely hate the compression and mega hot sound. I can imagine some people like the beefier sound, but to me its just a big slab of raw uncooked beef. it would only be applicable if I would even attempt to go and play something like cannibal corpse. for me. I only like active pickups in bass guitars.

[@OfficialJahn]

Nice shredding there Joss! Agree about the pros with the compression for my playing style as well. I always end up having a consistent compressor on my tracks anyway when I record with my YJM-signature guitar from 1990 (the DiMarzio years). It's simply needed for the mix in my music. Most feeling comes from articulation rather than volume. The same way you hear the difference between whispers, neutral singing and screaming (and the emotion in them) on heavily compressed vocals. I understand Mark's reasoning, but I know that I simply sound better when I play with EMG pickups. I definitely understans that it's not for everyone, but I really don't understand people who show contempt towards guitarists for having EMG as preference. Thanks for the clip. I've been meaning to buy humbuckers in singel coil-format for quite some time now, but I've been a bit ambivalent between buying EMG or SD Hot Rails. Leaning more towards EMG now, but all of you are welcome to comment if you got good points on why I should go for the SD Hot Rails instead or why I should stick to my current plan of buying EMG. 😊

[@professorpedropontes4402]

Excellent shredding, very clear playing.

[@TheDoubleB218]

I was just about to buy the EMG 81/85's but this video just caused me to change my mind. Deff going passive.

[@MarkStephensJr]

Passives on digital amps are best, actives on high gain tube amps is best. Been playing about 25 years now as of april 16th my 31st bday. Plan to buy me a schecter guitar research omen extreme-6 electric guitar ocean blue burst and swap the pickups for the fishman fluence either modern or killswitch engage set. Those actives have the passive organics without it bleeding out to much extra sound when shredding. I live in the U.S. been trying to replace all my stolen gear now for about 4 years and get a recording setup again. Love your video showing the different pickups. I currently use Emg 81, 85 set on a Gibson Epiphone ex midnight blue guitar. Bugera Trirec amp with a not so great sounding 4x12 really really old Marshall cab. Used to own a Mesa boogie triple rectifier.. ahh the good ole days.. anyways props for your video post guys! Throwing you a sub.

[@shinecustomstravisswedziak8814]

The passive seem warm to me. I like warmth. Just like a good quality tube amp. I feel like any attack or bite the emg’s add can be altered in tuning the tone or pre amps or amp /effect settings. But that’s just my passive opinion. Loved the video. Beautiful tones and video recording

[@brandontadday6288]

They both serve their purpose. My Schecter JL7 has the stock EMG 707s and I've never had a problem with getting a tone I like out of them.

[@RichLunaMusic]

I was trying to find an Andertons video but found this instead. I think both styles sound pretty good. I also think it’s good to have 1 passive guitar and 1 active guitar in case you’re recording. Then, you don’t have to choose!

[@garymaddux2000]

I also love my seymour duncan invader pickups (sh-8b and sh-8n). I have them on my 2010 schecter synyster gates custom. I love their sound and the coil tap function.

[@garymaddux2000]

Tha KS for the video guys. This actually helped me alot with what kind of pickup I want in my 2009 Peavey PXD Tragic I. I have a knockoff sustainer pickup at the neck (mainly for testing purposes, will ve swapped out for a true sustainiac at some point), but I didn't know what to go with for the bridge pickup. This guitar originally have some active emg pickups, but I didn't like their tone (I'm not against active pickups, just these lol).

[@Eventual420]

I’ve used the EMG 81 since 1988, because I love it. Recently bought the E-II M-2 ESP with Bare Knuckle Aftermath set and immediately got the 80s metal sound, it was built in, the default tone was Lynch, which I had sought after for 20 years. Mind blowing guitars, ESP. This comes after many years of Fender and Gibson guitars, that ESP just stole the show. In summary I like all these options and swear by EMG single coils, which rival their humbuckers. Even went so far as getting a Rickenbacker 12, because all of these guitars are special. Anybody as unique as Joss, guy is one in a million, holds a special place in history. Rock on dudes!! 🤘

[@TheOneTrueAJ]

The passive has more vintage and classic rock kind of sound to me. The active has a solid, straight to the point, pure metal. I think I could agree with what he said about sounding flat. It's consistent. Almost robotic in comparison to passive which could be described more alive.

[@timothy6966]

Hard to tell if it’s just my bias, for how they presented them, but the bare knuckles really sounded insane.

[@trentharmon7003]

I play both emg 81 85 and duncan sh5/jb for metal. I find emg to be compressed easier to play helping me play faster, but at times passive is more organic and more dynamic in touch sensitivity. If I'm playing the type of metal that never touchs the clean channel I go with emg. If want a combo of cleans and heavy plus places in between I go with passive. It's all personal preference , for me it's where my ear , my fingers, and mind meet together.

[@TherionXI]

I have EMG in my other two guitars but I want to keep my third one passive but would still like to replace the bridge. The EC with the gold passives sounded great. Which pickup is that in the bridge?

[@stringsattached67]

The EMG 66 57 combo is the best of both worlds and by far the best sounding active pickups I've ever used /heard. My new ESP horizon has the EMG 66 57 combo and it's an amazing guitar.

[@xxthatsnotmexx]

1st video I've ever watched on your channel, sub'd right after the into lol.

[@necrogirl666]

I love EMG Zakk set 81 + 85 and installed it on all my guitars for play oldschool metal. But I love natural sound tone of passive pickups too. DP155 and TB4 SH6 SH8 is real huge sound for play riffs. And TB4 ,DP159 is real sweet tone for soloing.

[@downandloud]

I recently replaced all my EMG loaded guitars with a Dean Tyrant humbucker. Replacing my EMG 81, 57, 85, Het Sets. My duncan jb my dimarzio dp-197 and bill Lawrence XL500. Which BTW the EMG 57 are in my opinion the best EMG out there as far as feel and sound. But that DTM Tyrant humbucker kills all these pickups in this vid hands down.

[@timmoore173]

Depends on what kind of metal you play. I prefer EMGs for tight chug, but for doom, passive all the way. Just my opinion of course!

[@JasonStephens7]

How about metalcore and melodeath?

[@timmoore173]

@@JasonStephens7 couldn’t speak on those

[@lukaszpiasecki]

Love my Seymour Duncan Nazgul Sound. Emgs sound compressed like they have been recorded and compressed. Its cool for Studio and live but if you Play alone or write, passive are the way to go imo.

[@fatboydashredder9877]

I feel that passive are way more dynamic

[@tedbundy6882]

funny everyone thinks the pickups they chose are always the best.

[@NotFine]

@@tedbundy6882 well of course

[@unkindestjohnny]

The Intro is why you're my favorite Joss

[@awonderingoneil206]

That intro though, Lord of the pickups, return of the gain.

[@mr.nazmir]

To me it depends on the music track ... both has different preference on how boost gain do you need from the source.

[@thenathanimal2909]

In Italy that hand gesture when pointed to the ground is believed to ward off the evil eye, or evil in general. It's believed that you are "grounding the evil intent by directing your fingers downward. Gotta go thank my College Italian language teacher now lol.

[@95Sn95]

great video and WOW I love that LTD Les Paul it is gorgeous but badass too, I would love to have one of those mainly becauuuuuse it's like a LP version of my Korean Warlock ProX, its pretty much the same setup all mohogany, matte black, cream binding, gold hardware EMG 81/60, hardtail but neck through vs set,, 25.5 scale and ebony fret board. Having the LTD LP as much as I think the warlock with EMGs sounds totally badass the LP with passive would be an awesome step brother companion for my BC Rich. Where It's same theme but more classic rock/metal style guitar to cover the bases, I just love that finish when I the warlock showed up (new) I just opened the case and gazed at it in awe and mesmerized by it's beauty and killer style, when I said that's it I'm want a warlock as soon as I clicked on it I said that's the one. Sorry for the rambling I just go on n on when I get excited about something.

[@svengotze215]

Joss....great playing! Love it! How do you hook up the Kemper?

[@SpartanLaserCanon]

Some people think emgs can't get good clean tone, but for my dream guitar I might check out some of the newer modernish sounding emgs which amazed me with the clean sounds. You could even add an eq pedal or an eq in a daw to a guitar to active pickups to have some sort of old school metal tones.

[@andrewday7799]

I watched the intro and was like "ok this is probably going to be really stupid and unhelpful" but that was actually a really great demo and discussion. Thank you both!

[@aegisreflector1239]

Same

[@BonJoviFan13]

Liked just for the intro...watching the rest now lol

[@Rooster7six]

It's funny how an endorsement changes things

[@ReverenXero]

There is also a big difference in Active vs Passive if you are using a solid state vs real tube amp. Furthermore - using aa BOSS DS-1 with active I guess it not recommended. They don't do well with the impedance. There are distortion pedals that are better suited for active. I have recently swapped out the stock passive pickups in my Jackson Soloist with a couple Seymour Duncan Blackouts (Humbuckers). It seems that it is much more sensitive.

[@DG-po3gi]

I used to have emg 81+85. Now very positively impressed with the fishman fluence modern set. Just have to dial out the quacky cocked wah sound you sometimes get on the ceramic voice 1.

[@79champions]

I played the 81/85 set for years and just recently installed a fishman modern set. I'm struggling getting rid of that quack. Any tips?

[@christopher.k.guitar]

Regarding the intro… dude, you are nuts! I LOVE IT

[@beratsamil]

the intro was f**kin awesome :D

[@bobilly]

For me it all comes down to dynamics. When I dig in, I want the instrument to respond accordingly. I love recorded tones for EMGs (AJFA, Black Album, At the Gates/The Haunted) but the compression/limiting just feels unnatural for me to play. Passives all day for me, personally.

[@AndrewStonerock]

The horns are called the maloik. It's Italian. It's supposed to ward away evil. Dio is the one who brought it to mainstream.

[@iamshields.632]

I feel like since this was geared towards metal. The eclipse ec1000 Fluence should've also been in here, and instead of the "vintage" one they used they should've used the other duncan model loaded with a sentient/pegasus combo which is more gears towards metal as well. That said the clear winner here tonally was the E-II M-II NT without a doubt.

[@noire1991]

There is no argument! They sound different and there is only preference. I like the Seymour Duncan's :)

[@markrosenquist8259]

There’s also a difference between active pickups, 57-66 is going to sound different than 81-60 EMG and vice versa.

[@The_Apothecary]

Those Gold Duncans look epic on THAT guitar tho.

[@Bradysaaa]

Installed my first EMG’s when I was 16 in shop class, now 54 in my gibson sounds awesome

[@_Sa-m_]

Does anyone know the riff he played with the les Paul that didn't have any power chords except for the E at the end?

[@joekil1278]

Erik Rutan's BC Rich signature now has active Fishmans. Before he used passive SH4 JB. Nile is known for passive Invader sound. But now they use Invader (Karl) and also active emg 81 (second guitarist posted his BC Riches). Personally I like both.

[@jamesryder9158]

I like passive pickups for chugging and active pickups for solos. either or for rhythm, I just like the way passive pickups make the guitar really pop out when it comes to chugging, it has an aggressive choking like sound that cant be achieved with active pickups

[@SirJamalong]

Good info

[@urbansk8r231]

Hi🤘😝 I 'm into metal. So i have a question, i just stumbled upon your channel. So i'm not sure if you done this already. So could you show us the difference between playing same popular metal riffs/ songs with same guitar but one passive vs active thanks. P.s wicked intro.

[@InfamouslyCantankerous]

Im pretty new to playing guitar and I have never played emgs. I bought my first guitar and it came with Fishman fluence moderns and Idk if it because I dont have a developed ear but they seem to have alot of dynamic sound and clarity even though there and active pick up.

[@MarkStephensJr]

Fishman are a hybrid active. Not true active. They are designed to have organic passive abilities with a active preamp still in play to help control the sound from getting to out of control. I checked out a ton of shoot out vids. Emg vs Seymour duncan emg vs fishman, fishman vs bareknuckle kinda things.. fishman are very unique and new to the pickups game. The killswitch engage set of fishman fluence is very nice. Plan to buy a set of moderns most likely when I get the Cash or the killswitch engage set.

[@Ibanezguy2007]

honestly Fishman Moderns are the most disappointing. They don't have the balls of EMGs and don't have the organic nature of Passives (Duncans, Bare knuckle) Its totally preference but a lot of people find this with Fishmans agree They just seem to be lacking soul. They do look fucking cool though

[@moosejaw9598]

i wanna play underoath/counterparts kinda stuff and i’m hoping there’s certain pickups that’ll help me out a lil more with chugging but also intricate chords with gain/overdrive that’ll still make it sound very clear

[@joeantolak4629]

Counterparts !!! You must be Canadian , such a dope band !!!

[@InsomniacMatt]

Hmm, it would seem like the answer is "Play what you like" What I like about EMGs is they can be as simple or complex as you want. I like a simple 3 way switch with one volume knob no tone knob. And to get that, just read that part of the instructions

[@AeonAxisProductions]

Same but i prefer 2 volume so I can do the tom morello killswitch trick Basically turning your toggle switch into a killswitch by turning the volume off on the neck pickup

[@nicksherman88]

What tuning are you using for both setups ?

[@richardsager842]

I just recently got the EC 1000 with passive and I love it. Been playing for 20 yrs and ALWAYS used and loved EMGs. It wasn’t until I started playing an EC-256 with passive that I finally understood the difference between the two. Both are awesome and have their uses. Passive can still be Metal AF though.

[@Anton_the_Vampire]

Fascinating video. I've always been a passives kinda guy myself (Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, George Lynch being favourite players of mine), though a lot of my recent listening has been to guys using actives. (Jeff Loomis, Andy James, Paul Wardingham) Am I right in thinking though that Keith Merrow actually convinced Jeff Loomis to try out Seymour Duncan Passives? I seem to remember that somewhere.

[@roflswamp6]

Seymour Duncan's passives are amazing man

[@ericv215]

And yahhh then keith switched to active fishmans over his own designed nazguals. You don't switch from a company that gives you everything like Seymour Duncan unless the fishmans are way better for the music you play.

[@yippy327]

When you switch between passive and active, do you make changes to the amps volume?

[@Colin.W]

I’d choose passive over active just where hitting those open chords sounds so good and picking and light palm muting. Active for most leads and chugging but when you pair a certain amp with a certain guitar, everything you think can go out the window. Hate worrying about the active battery or charging as well.

[@jeffleecust]

Worrying about the battery? 3000 hours on a single pickup, 1500 on dual, and 1000 on a 3 pick up set up. This is pulled straight from EMG website with actual testing

[@nighthawk9532]

Tbh I feel like the passives sound better they sound more open sounding if that makes sense, but I want to get this exact Ltd eclipse guitar with the Active emg’s for the songs that mostly use distortion

[@greggoryblock1071]

Bareknuckles are hands down the clear winner. I play holydivers. They are super articulate and the clarity bite and harmonic content are amazing. Nothing even comes close except suhr pickups. Best passive pickups money can buy

[@downandloud]

You should try a Dean Tyrant humbucker! Amazing. kills all these pickups. I have 17 guitars all loaded with EMG 57, 81, 85 and het sets. These Tyrants have power, tightness, soul and massive feel.

[@DevonAllen07]

That dude shreds!

[@joy211191]

Devil's horns, known as 'Maloik' which is for 'devil to you'. RJ Dio popularized it as Ozzy embraced the peace sign, so RJ used this and hence this became the standard for metal.

[@cjjams7930]

The schecter apocalypse pups on my cr6 are pretty good they're passive

[@rockemoore2192]

Sounds more “authentic” as joss plays two “Les Paul” shapes guitars

[@marcelkoebeli7863]

What an intro! Epic!

[@The_Apothecary]

9:20 completely 100% agree, he's right.

[@johndude2726]

wow you shred like a champion

[@paulallyngoff7472]

So is the key in a good metal tone (other than the player and the amp) in the guitar itself and the wood, more so than the pickup?

[@anthonymarez7188]

I caught this video halfway through, I thought it was a EMG commercial, great playing though

[@zarlodious1]

Out of 13 guitars my two emg guitars are played the least and toss up between Fishman and passives for most played on

[@Sammael757]

As someone with passive seymour duncans, dimarzzios, and stock gibson stock p'ups in several guitars and EMGs in others, I personally think both have their place. My personal preference in a live guitar though are the EMG 57/66 TW set. If you use the volumes/tone knobs, tweak mixes of single and humbucker mode blends, you can create a ton of tone pallets and retain much of the dynamics the passives provide at the same time. I do know that other manufacturers (Fishman immediately comes to mind) also offer similar multi-mode p'ups that allow you to live in both worlds on one guitar as well. For me though the 57/66 TW do anything I could want them to do as passive or active *in a live environment.* Recording is a different thing imo.

[@DoomOfConviction]

Lee Sklar use EMG prototypes on his studio bass… this bass is used on hundreds of records and it’s fitted with active EMGs!

[@jonschneider9758]

I am an EMG kind of guy and I know where this dude is coming from. It really is like a comfort and feeling of you know I can shred that guitar because it has EMGs in it. It's really weird. Mostly I can't get anything from these videos listening to the pickups. I need to actually play the guitar because you can actually feel the sound, how hard to have to strum or hammer on/pull off on notes.

[@seerking]

I prefer greater dynamic range and bigger sound stage. Dimarzio passives for me. Emg is nice but it is very compressed and really what this is for you is like wearing a pair of Nike shoes. it's famous trendy name brand but not the best at all. People buy things and grow up on things out of hype. Nothing wrong with active pickups specifically EMG. but it loses quality. It's all about preference in the end of the day. they all will perform when needed to in metal. I just like better sound quality.

[@JJames666male]

I'm a bit late but the story goes that RJ Dio used to see his grandma do the horn sign to keep evil and bad luck away (very common in southern italy) and incorporated it in his routine

[@iio58]

The hand gesture is said to come from the hand shape of doing 2 strong power chords

[@toemasmeems]

Passives I love but they can get out of control sometimes with the sounds they tend to get “pokey” if that makes since. That same thing is also what makes them great but for mixing EMGs are a blessing in the studio for mixing

[@JohnColucci88]

The "devil horns" is really "the malocchio" AKA - The evil eye. Is a southern Italian gesture that's meaning is that it puts a curse or bad luck on the person you point it at. they also have a necklace usually referred to as "the horn" (you know it when you see it. think a somewhat twisted red chili pepper) as protection against bad luck. Source - guy from NJ whose family is from Calabria region of Italy.

[@needsLITHIUM]

One guy says flat, the other says smooth. It's basically that the one guy likes pickups with lower gain and an EQ going into the amp for a more natural sound, and the other sees the planar frequency response and wall of sound as a blank canvas upon which to paint a mural masterpiece. Both approaches are right, and neither one is wrong. I like different types of pickups for different things. I'm gonna wire an Epiphone Les Paul with some boutique pickups on monday, and the neck pickup is a H-sized P-90, and I'm gonna pair it with a Seymour Duncan Blackouts universal preamp. I'll have the world's first active P-90 lol.

[@thebananamelon5065]

So my guitar with active pickups stopped working when I plugged it into my amp. I plugged in my cheap 80$ guitar with passive pickups and it seemed to work fine. Then I found the battery and took it out, still nothing from my guitar with active pickups. Then I waited, and now it’s working without the 9 volt battery inside. I am very confused right now, someone please help me Edit: I had to replace the fucking battery

[@sparechainge]

How often and do you have a battery slot in your guitar please answer lol

[@FatAlan_]

Depends what you're playing really. Active kick ass for metal

[@ReverenXero]

Good call, it was indeed RJ DIO

[@OaNautilus92]

Best intro ever!! xD

[@Twirlyhead]

It seems like my Harley Benton SC-Custom FR is a Floyd Rosed copy of the passive pickup Ltd here and I must say it also sounds _really_ similar even before I upgraded the pickups. PS. The passive pups sound best by a light year here but I can see why a studio engineer might like the active: no need to even switch the compressor on.

[@dazdaz713]

What pickups did you put on yours I just bought that guitar and I'm thinking of putting new pickups on it

[@Twirlyhead]

@@dazdaz713 Iron Gear pickups. I have the FR one I mentioned and also a non-FR of the same guitar which is actually quite different. I decided to change the Roswell LAFs in both (I found them to be rather meh and uninspiring). Initially I put an Iron Gear Dirty Torque (B) and Blues Engine (N) combo in the FR and a pair of Iron Gear Rolling Mills in the other. Both were a good improvement on the originals but not entirely satisfied I then swapped them around so the Rolling Mills are in the FR and the others in the other one and I am now delighted with both guitars. So, to answer you question, a pair of Iron Gear Rolling Mills (standard, not overwound) and I love them in it.

[@scottbickerton4152]

It's really hard to tell a difference unless you have trained your ear. But I'm totally sold on EMG. My dad and I have totally different musical tastes when it comes to the TYPE of music we play, he likes rock and blues and while I love all music, my preference to play is metal because I enjoy the technical challenge. He hates EMG and similar, and I can't stand passive

[@bradleythompson5737]

I'm more of a passive guy. I have a set of SD Invaders in 5 of my guitars, a set of black winter in two and a JB/59 set in one. My Schecter have a 81/85 EMG set.

[@davinderbuttar9651]

I’ve got emg hz’s - the guitar store manager said that these emg hz’s (the ones I have) are based on the 81 & 85 - I haven’t seen any of these online though the guitar is a 1997 Jackson Dinky - has anyone heard of these? (Passive pickups)

[@Tarantula_Fangs]

This was such a great video! It really helped me make a decision on which new Axe I’m gonna get. 😀

[@honigdachs.]

I put EMGs in some of my guitars and passives in others. Clearly, I'm playing the tribalism game wrong.

[@vonicrimson3619]

Same,I personally think EMGs sound good but can sound bad

[@baz6128]

I personally prefer passive over active. BKs are great although I'm more into D-activators.