Passive pickups, EMGs and harmonics...

[Sunbane]

Hey guys,
I'm cutting right to the questions here:

- Have you found any passive pickup that competes with active EMGs at picking up harmonics from your guitar?
- How do active Duncans perform in this respect?

Background:

I've been out of guitar playing for a while, but recently got back into it thanks to the arrival of an Orange Dark Terror. And while I grew tired of my EMGs several years ago, I decided to give them a shot again (thinking I might like them better through the new amp). So I put the 58 (my old EMG favourite) back in my Model 6 with an 18v setup. Aaand... well, I still prefer the Duncans. It's hard to explain, but I'm kinda tired of how an EMG humbucker sounds.

What I do like though, is how well it picks up harmonics. It has both the Distortion and the Dimebucker beat in this department. Harmonics fly out of the EMG'd M6 effortlessly, whereas I really have to pay attention to how I do them with the Duncan equipped guitars. It's almost like it gives the guitar a broader sweetspot for producing harmonics, and makes playing the other guitars feel a little bit harder.

Thoughts?

[murkat]

Active vs. Passive.
Passive relies on the recipe on (mostly traditional, vintage) ingredients. Magnets, wire, etc. Hotter the magnet (ceramic), hotter the signal, but a cost of string / vibration pull.
Active relies on the preamp with a cocktail of pickup construction. The preamp amplifies the pickup output, not the pickup itself. very little string /vibration pull.

The battle is still on going to combine the best of both worlds. Like many other guitar related parts. some work, most have failed.
Getting an EMG to sound with some kind of organic quality of a passive pickup...mmmm, that is a tough one.
But, in my many years of guitarizm, I have heard plenty of EMG'd loaded guitars that turned my head saying to myself, wow, that's a EMG?

[paranoid]

maybe try some other Emg's. I like the 85 for rock and 81 for metal. got 60's in the neck of a few. I have a few old charvels with Jackson pickups that are hotter then the emg's, not sure the models.

[charvel750]

I would add that it's not only the pickups that create harmonics like you're talking about. The guitar itself has a lot to do with it. Some guitars are just "tone dogs" and you can pinch a harmonic till the cows come home and not get that J.E. Lee "squeal" no matter what. And then the amp, your technique. But if all things are equal, I would be surprised if you couldn't get some pinch harmonics out of any mid to high output passive pickup: Duncan Custom, Distortion, even a George Lynch "Screamin' Demon!" The Invader always had high output and a '59 set high up to the strings can squeal all night long.

[DonP]

I like actives, but for the most part I gravitate to passives. I think you have to look at the entire signal path. I think actives work better wit Mesa amps and passives with Marshalls, which is what I use.

[themisfit138]

I like actives, but for the most part I gravitate to passives. I think you have to look at the entire signal path. I think actives work better wit Mesa amps and passives with Marshalls, which is what I use.

I totally agree, I think the Mesa Mark II, III, and IV, sound much better when pushed with an EMG. And when I play a Marshall I prefer passives it just sounds better to my ears.

[Sunbane]

Thanks for the replies guys - I appreciate it, but I'm not asking for general pickup advice here. I'm specifically asking if people have experienced differences in how actives produce harmonics compared to passives.

I feel that harmonics somehow are easier to make with an EMG humbucker in the guitar. I would be interested in finding a passive pickup that is just as responsive when it comes to picking up overtones.

I wonder if the difference I'm percieveing lies in how an active pickup works compared to a passive one, or whether the EMG just is voiced differently compared to the other pickups, causing the effect. (However I think the Duncan Distortion in particular should be pretty close EQ-wise to the EMG-58.)

I better go back to "the lab" for more testing.

[themisfit138]

Oh I got you, the most similar passive to a EMG for harmonics,that I have used, was the X2N.

[Sunbane]

Oh I got you, the most similar passive to a EMG for harmonics,that I have used, was the X2N.

Oh yeah, the X2N! I had almost forgotten about it, although I had one at one point.
I wish I still had it so I could do a direct comparison - can't remember where it went though.
I do remember that I really enjoyed how it sounded with the coils split.

[Anders]

The X2N went to me...

Unfortunately I don't have it anymore, otherwise we could have arranged a return!

I know you're not asking for general pickup advice, but perhaps you could give the EMG X-series pickups a try. I think they're great!

[Guitarkid8]

I have a JB in one of my guitars that picks up harmonics very well. Never played an active guitar to compare though.

[Nightbat]

Might want to try a Bill Lawrence if it's harmonics you want

[xenophobe]

I think it's more the guitar than pickup. And by more the guitar, more the position your picking hand falls across the strings in playing position. Some guitars you need to adjust to the proper positions, others it comes more naturally.

Pickups do seem to help make it sound better or worse, but a dead guitar won't pinch as well as one that's got great attack.

[Sunbane]

The thing is, I used to have a J-80C in the M6 (and was perfectly happy with it), but switched to the EMGs for the sake of experimentation. Well, like I stated, I don't like what they did for the overall sound, but was amazed at how easily it started doing pinch harmonics. It might just be in my head though...

[themisfit138]

Another passive that does great harmonics is the EVH Frankenstein pickup. I just bought a Peavey Wolfgang, that has one installed, it is a pretty hot passive. Different eq than an EMG but still nice and saturated.