how tonally limiting are active pups?

[Misanthrope189]

Hi,
I'm trying to decide if I need a new amp, or if it's just my pickups that are limiting the tonal possibilities of my Triaxis. It seems that I get the same tonal characteristics from every patch, the same style brightness, bass, midrange control...it seems like I can't get anything but what it'll give me, and I wonder if it's the Live Wires I have in my guitar that are limiting the tonal capabilities. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Nick

[SixStringSuicide]

Re: how tonally limiting are active pups?

In my oppinion, they hugely limit your potential. The only person i know who uses actives with a triaxis is james hetfield, and even then his is a custom tailored job for his purpose, and i doubt youd want to go through the hastle to have it modded and such, just to adapt to your pickups. You could bring out so much more with a good set of passives. IMO dimarzios. I loooove my dimarzios and they bring out such great tonal characteristsics of your guitar. I had a set of emg's in my guitar first (dk-1) and they were, basically crap. I say switch the pups first.

[Outlander]

Re: how tonally limiting are active pups?

the triaxis I demoed had a wide range of tonal capability in the presets.Are you sure you haven't bypassed the unit some how?

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: how tonally limiting are active pups?

I've never been too impressed with the Triaxis. They seem flat, and flubby at high distortion. But, maybe I should own one a while, seems that Jeff Loomis got some very good tones out of them...

[Mordor]

Re: how tonally limiting are active pups?

Well,imo EMG has pros and cons,sometimes I prefer using it,sometimes not.They are flat,but they are really clear and articulated.I believe the problem is in your amp,usually active is a flat startin point and they don't give justice to the wood of your guitar,but your amp should be able to change tonal possibilities,after all it is the last in the chain.Try it with other guitars too.

[toejam]

Re: how tonally limiting are active pups?

Originally posted by Misanthrope189:
Hi,
I'm trying to decide if I need a new amp, or if it's just my pickups that are limiting the tonal possibilities of my Triaxis. It seems that I get the same tonal characteristics from every patch, the same style brightness, bass, midrange control...it seems like I can't get anything but what it'll give me, and I wonder if it's the Live Wires I have in my guitar that are limiting the tonal capabilities. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Nick

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I think it may be your amp. It sounds strange to me that you'd get the same tone when changing patches and tone controls on your amp. Do you have a fresh battery in the guitar? Have you tried other guitars with different pickups to get different tones and gotten the same result? I really dig the EMGs... they don't sound the same in every guitar and they don't sound sterile, IMO. I'm not familiar with the Live Wires, but I hear they're very similar to EMGs with just a little more gain.