Why Active Pickups are Awesome

[@DustinAlford]

Thought I'd share my opinions on active pickups today, what do you think of them? Love em or hate em?

[@aldo.a.fierro]

Love me some EMGs all day, baby! 😆 Been using them for more than 20 years now, almost on every guitar I own... they’re great for metal. Good to see you, dude! Cheers! 🤘🏻🤘🏻

[@DustinAlford]

Cheers! Good to see you pop by man! Emg's are sick. Every time I think of them, I think of Zakk Wylde ripping on Ozzy's No More Tears album, one of the best produced guitar sounds of all time. Also Emg's look slick in every guitar you put them in.

[@AugustJamesOdin]

I've had EMG pickups in previous guitars they weren't too bad.. I now have a Jackson RR flying v with seymour duncan blackouts.. I love the sound of this guitar, the pickups are cutting edge and chug like no other, I love this set of pickups

[@michaelinglis567]

Ive loved every pickup type ive owned. As long as its a quality pickup it can be made to sound excellent and can feel great to play through. My go to for years was a classic Seymour Duncan combo of a JB and a 59' neck that i add a Partial Coil split option to on the JB and a Parallel option for the 59'. But a few years ago i wanted a 7 string to cover a wider range of tonalities on one instrument and i wanted a pair of pickups that could reproduce that low B well. So i ended up settling on fishman Fluence Moderns after trying a couple signature sets of theirs. They are absolutely fantastic pickups and i modded my LTD 7 string to accommodate all the options the pickups offer like coil splitting north and sound for each pickup, Voice 1 and 2 for each pickup are on the Volume and Tone push pulls, i have a 3pdt to select voice one low gain etc etc etc. I even made my own variable power supply that supplies the DC voltage the pickups need through the guitar cable so i dont have to worry about batteries. I just plug in and play. They really are amazingly clear pickups. Ive never heard note separation and clarity to this degree with a passive pickup. I still love my Fender single coils in the tele i built and i still love the JB/59' combo etc etc etc. But to be honest i truly believe the Fishmans are superior and i would probably always use one of their pickup versions in all my guitars if it weren't for the low gain tones with actives being pretty much non existent. With actives i can get perfect high gain tones and stunningly pristine clean tones. But the only real con for me is that you really cant get those in-between high gain and clean tones with actives to the same degree as you can with passive pickups. With that said i love those Active pickups and i will always have at least one guitar (possibly more) with Fishman or EMG actives in it. And i will always have at least one guitar with true single coils and true humbuckers. The way i see it all pickup types have something to offer but not in a way that makes all other designs obsolete. We are lucky to have the option to play different pickup types and get different sounds depending on why inspires us at any given time. I just wanted to put this out there hoping if someone reads this who was on the fence about getting active pickups for one of their guitars they will see that they are a tool thats worth having in your arsenal for sure.

[@DustinAlford]

I totally get ya, I love all the varieties of pickups we have on tap these days. There are just so many options it's hard to really devote yourself solely to one type of pickup.

[@petru4335]

I HAD TO SHECTERS CONNECTED TO A DIGITECH GSO 1101, ONE WITH EMGs AND ANOTHER WITH BLACKOUTS, AND LET ME TELL YOU, EVERY STEP OF THE WAY THE BLACKOUTS STOOD UP, EITHER CLEANS OR DISTORTED, THE POWER OF THE SEYMOUR DUNCANS WAS AWESOME!!!

[@DustinAlford]

They are brutal!

[@jwchicano]

I have Jackson dinky with Seymour Duncan blackouts. Sickest pickups I've ever used my absolute favorite guitar. Definitely noticed with the same gain I use with passive pickups I get tons of noise. The blackouts chug and shine at lower gain imo

[@DustinAlford]

Rock on! I've always loved Jacksons, I've just never owned one. They are awesome for metal.

[@angusorvid8840]

A agree that Duncan Blackouts lack the sterility of EMG. I love the original ceramic Blackouts. I'm not saying EMGs are bad, but I've always liked Duncan's approach. I first tried LiveWires on a friend's custom ax around '87 and compared them to some EMGs I was using and found them to have a more natural tone. They had all the power, punch and crunch of EMG but not the boxiness.

[@DustinAlford]

They definitely have a better tonal profile.

[@angusorvid8840]

@@DustinAlford One thing I've learned in almost four decades as a guitar player is that you simply can't use a guitar, pickup or amp that doesn't work for you for any sustained period of time. Dave Mustain settled on the JB as his main pickup about the same time I did, about 1986. I owned many pickups at the time, including tons of DiMarzios, EMGs, etc, but found the JB the easiest to work with. I also liked the original Duncan LiveWires which a friend had on a guitar. My experience with Blackouts is limited to trying them on guitars at Guitar Center and Sam Ash. They sounded great, not sterile like EMGs. But they were never as popular as EMGs. One thing I've noticed is that the AHB-2, the Blackout for Metal, is supposed to be the same as the old LiveWire for Metal, which has an alnico 5 mag but is hotter than the ceramic standard Blackout, the AHB-1. Have you compared the two? Have you tried the Mustain LiveWires?

[@DustinAlford]

@@angusorvid8840 I think I have reviewed the AHB-2's. They are super hot. I'd like to try out the standards, haven't tried live wires yet.

[@IRONMAIDENISTRASH]

I've got seymour duncan blackouts in my Rhoads V

[@ky.holden99]

I would love to you do a comparison video between emgs and those Seymour Duncan’s 👌🏼

[@DustinAlford]

That's not a bad idea man I might in the future. Only problem would be completely taking apart and resetting the guitar in between pickups.

[@ky.holden99]

@@DustinAlford I get you. I want to switch to active too but it seems like all anybody ever recommends is emg’s but anything else seems a little more expensive you know?

[@DustinAlford]

@@ky.holden99 Duncan and Emg are pretty much the only way to go if you are looking for cheaper active pickups. Here's my review on the Blackouts if it helps at all, they are considerably hotter then Emgs kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZe3apmGe7SUiqM Stevefromboston has a great video on the Ahb pickups as well, this video sold me on those babies. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnezoneur99ogrc I don't use them anymore though because the Emg's are just overall more balanced and flexible pickups.

[@bluwng]

My understanding was the original actives had a flat response and you use your eq to get any tone you want. Ignorance killed this design because the user didn’t know how to use them now actives are influenced by supply and demand which resulted in specific frequency response designs. I feel you were not aware of their purpose. Use your eq you should be able to dial in anything.

[@shashankrao23]

Thanks Dustin maybe after the point if you could add a clip to show what you feel will really add to the point

[@DustinAlford]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean here. Make another video on it? Anyway, I still really like active pickups for all the reasons I mention here in this video. I did move away from the blackouts though because they just were a bit difficult to record with because they always like to clip your signal and weren't super versatile in respects to recording. I'm using EMGs now and they work very well for recording. TRy out some active pickups and see if you like them or not. Thanks for stopping by.

[@josephesposito3499]

QUESTION: Can a direct box make active pickups sound thicker?

[@BOYHUNF]

Nice vid! What are you using to display your vinyl records in the background??

[@DustinAlford]

Thank you, I just have painters tape behind each album at the moment.

[@danielmiller2886]

Great info, thanks!

[@DustinAlford]

No problem!

[@TonyLondonUk]

Coming from a blues lite rock guy those EMG’S are not my cup of tea, ordered the original ones for the 60th strat I purchased, the emg will either collect dust I’ll never put them in another guitar even Just don’t like them, previous owner sadly added them he was a metal head

[@DustinAlford]

Good to hear you changed them out, they're definitely not for everybody. If I were more of a blues rock guy I'd probably stick with passive pickups as well.

[@brownpunk1794]

Hello. Can any guitar take active pups? I have one with passive pups but dont want to meddle too much if its 2 hard

[@BlackoutDjent]

a few months from now I'm going to be getting the Jackson Pro SL Mick Thomson white and thats got the Seymour Duncan signature EMTY blackouts, that will be my first time playing with active pickups as rn I got a Jackson js12 which sounds alright (I think) and I look forward to hearing the difference between the two, the hotter sounding pickups sound awesome so I'm glad imma be getting that one

[@DustinAlford]

Awesome man, Mick Thomson definitely knows how to design good guitars. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with active pickups especially if you are a metal guy, they just give you all the volume you want without the noise.

[@mykindom666]

You wont be disappointed. I got to try one a few times. The EMTY pickups are the best actives (after fishman). I prefer them over regular blackouts

[@BlackoutDjent]

@@mykindom666 ended up getting the Cort KX507MS after seeing it on offer for black Friday at 50% off. 7 string go metalcore

[@mykindom666]

@@BlackoutDjent how do you like it?

[@BlackoutDjent]

@@mykindom666 its really clean, fanned fret, fishmen fluency active pickups, locking tuners, the body is a burl (forgot what wood mb) and has a 5 piece neck with the headstock being cut with the neck. My only complaints are that the edges are kinda sharp on the body and it digs into the arm so you have to adapt slightly to that. But other than that it plays beautifully and the tone is hench from the fishmans and the action is perfect 👌

[@patrickshannon4516]

Active pickups are better because of the low noise factor...

[@harveysanchez6993]

What’s everyone’s opinion on fishman fluence active pickups such as the modern ceramics

[@DustinAlford]

Thanks for the question, I haven't played them yet, but from all the videos I've watched with them in it, they freaking crush! I'd love to grab a pair sometime, the price is just a bit high lol.

[@adelreghis8842]

Hello super nice video thanks for it. What would you recommend as hss configuration in active and passive pickups ? Thanks

[@DustinAlford]

Honestly I've never been a single coil type of guy so it's hard for me to recommend a certain brand of single coils. As for bridge humbuckers I really like the EMG 81 because it's very flexible, and for passive pickups I like the Dimarzio Fred and the Seymour Duncan JB

[@olaf7007]

I really want for my second guitar emg pickups but i dont know what guitar the choose

[@DustinAlford]

Hard choices, they sound good in everything though.

[@thunder8585]

Schecter hellraiser

[@Ryan-kc5pl]

Esp/ltd

[@TheGospelIsTrue]

Is there anyway to be able to EQ active pickups to get some of those passive-ish tones?

[@DustinAlford]

I think you could get somewhat close with a 10 band EQ in front of your amp.

[@sinistermephisto65]

I have the Blackouts they kinda suck Getting an EMG 707x

[@DustinAlford]

Nice! I went back to EMG's as well because they're just more versatile for recording. The Blackouts I had clip a lot!

[@MikkoTolonen]

What is your opinion on Blackouts vs. EMG JH´s

[@DustinAlford]

The Blackouts I had were great tonally they were just way to hot for recording, they have a tendency to clip. It was like having a permanent tube screamer on all the time. I find the Emg's to be more flexible, they are about as hot as a hot passive but without the noise. I can't say anything about the Hetfield pickups but they are probably solid. I have the 60 and It's a great workhorse pickup.

[@paulanthony8335]

Are you talking about the Jeff loomis blackouts or abh

[@paulanthony8335]

Ahb.

[@DustinAlford]

The ahb pickups. I have yet to use the Loomis pickups.

[@paulanthony8335]

Dustin Alford Thanks for your response. Great video

[@DustinAlford]

Thank glad you liked it.

[@paulanthony8335]

Dustin Alford I have a question. I was looking into the warpig bare knuckles. But man there passive pickups. But they sound killer. It’s seems it would take a lot of gutting my guitar to get them in.

[@vincentdelmas2792]

hey what would you choose between a charvel 475 deluxe 89 with new shaller floyd against a Fender mex with Sl 20 equipped ? thx

[@DustinAlford]

That's a hard one lol, I'd probably go with the Mexican Fender though mainly because I am not a big fan of floating floyds anymore. The Charvel is probably more shred worthy but if It were me I'd block the Floyd so that it'd be dive only. I've never used the SL20 pickups but I'm sure they rock since Lukather rocks em. Best of luck!

[@omenworks]

I think you did something wrong... The room is filled with noise dumping foam, yet I can hear the echo-like from an empty room

[@DustinAlford]

Thanks for your insight, only one side of that room at the moment I recorded this video had the foam, the brick wall behind me also adds more echo. The Padding is mostly for show, I primarily record either direct in or close miked. I plan on adding more foam into the rest of the room later, it's just on my never ending list of things to buy lol. Hopefully more padding can help dampen it down more in the future.

[@tonywatson6752]

Super helpful! Thanks man

[@DustinAlford]

Your welcome!

[@Ryan-kc5pl]

Emg 57/66

[@DustinAlford]

Nice!

[@bertonedes]

For a clean jazzy stuff they are INVISIBLE. I bought an amg Gilmour set and im struggling big time😢

[@DustinAlford]

Sad to hear, I've never used the Gilmour set. I hope you find a pickup that works for you. I usually use the neck pickup in my guitar for cleans.

[@mikkjaggher4221]

How can anyone play metal without a good noise suppressor. 🙄 Duh. More noise more chug

[@DustinAlford]

II agree it's pretty much a must have these days.

[@thisiscrap34]

my experience is the reverse, two seven string guitars - both with active pickups.....both so goddam noisy, squeal prone, feedback loving crappy tone. I so far HATE, HATE, HATE, HATE.....Want to destroy them with a hammer, HATE active pickups!! SO NOISY!!!!!!

[@DustinAlford]

That's pretty interesting. I wonder if they were faulty pickups, because I've never had that issue yet with actives.

[@toneconsultant]

That means your settings on your amp are wrong.back off your gain. The result will be better gain and no squeal.

[@TheDeedeeFiles]

Awesome pickups

[@DustinAlford]

Glad you like em 👍