Jack Flash Jr wrote:
Apologies, I'm a pup philistine, but are you saying actives don't need to exist anymore?
Not at all. It's just high output power pickups are not essential to get distortion anymore, 'cos the amps have picked up the slack and are built with more gain on tap. Back in the 60's or early '70s (basically until Larry DiMarzio came along and then Mesa amps), you had to play a Gibson with humbuckers if you wanted to get distortion from most amps. You could use a fuzz box, but that's not the same as good ol' amp drive.
Specifically it's the passive models (Super Distortion and JB, I'm lookin' at
you) that have had their best days - and
especially the over-the-top stuff like DiMarzio X2N, Duncan Invader, etc.. There is a low and high frequency trade-off to get more output power and you end up with lower-mid mush. You can add some highs back by using ceramic magnets, but that tends to make the highs more brittle and harsh. Of course, if those are the tones you are chasing, these pickups are still valid, but if you want a broader frequency range that you can EQ better with amp and effects, lower powered pickups work best.
Actives use very low output power coils, so they can build them for any frequency response plus shape the tone further with preamp EQ as well as set the output power in any power range. The trade-off being a compressed dynamic range and no interaction between pickup coils, guitar controls and the amp (although those can be good things sometimes - that's why blues/classic rock players don't usually like actives, but they're perfect for high gain or effects-laden stuff).
In theory, actives should work well for the extended range of the multi-string guitars. But I've noticed many multi-string players hate them - I wonder if that's the dynamics thing or just the cheap actives in the less expensive guitars that spoil it for them.
