Active pickups vs. gain booster... ?

[delt]

... so what do you guys think about it?

i figure i'd have the subtlety and tone of whatever dimarzio or seymour duncan passive pickup that i like, with the added benefit of a onboard or offboard gain stage before the preamp.

any advice?

[vwall]

Re: Active pickups vs. gain booster... ?

Well Im no expert on this matter...

But I think I would prefer the on board gain booster.. Tho I wouldnt care for the mini toggle.

EMG's have their pre amnp internal whereas say, Bartolini has theirs externaly with a PCB...

EMG, sells gain booster expander kits to drive the preamps in the pups as well...

If you want that extra boost and dont mind a mini toggle, Id say go for it.

[delt]

Re: Active pickups vs. gain booster... ?

i'd go for this one --->
http://guitarelectronics.zoovy.com/product/PASFX

variable gain boost and i can use a push/pull pot for the gain control instead of adding a toggle switch.

of course if anyone has schematics for building such a gain booster, i'd be really happy to take a look at them... !

[GodWentPUNK]

Re: Active pickups vs. gain booster... ?

I picked up the EMG boost for myself . It has a toogle switch to turn on/off, plus, I can dial it the amount of boost that I want. I think it was about $30 for the part, plus they'll need to add a $10 balanced 1/4 plug.

joe...

[GodWentPUNK]

Re: Active pickups vs. gain booster... ?

HEY... I just went GOLD!!!

goldie joe...

[delt]

Re: Active pickups vs. gain booster... ?

thanks for the advice. Is there any way to use a push-pull pot instead of the switch? and i guess you attach 2 of the wires to the pot for gain control... ?

[GodWentPUNK]

Re: Active pickups vs. gain booster... ?

The pull-pot would be used for coil splitting and does not have any gain boost to it. The mini-switch will toggle your gain boost on/off. I guess you could have the gain boost always active sitting inside the control cavity and hook it up to the pull section of your pull-pot so that when it is down -> no gain. Pull it up and active the gain section would then be in use. Sounds like a lot of work so there is probally some manufacturer out there that makes something in these lines, you'd think...

Good luck!

joe...

[bobvex]

Re: Active pickups vs. gain booster... ?

i will be installing the PA2 tomorrow after noon. . .i will tell you how it sounds when i hook it up and get it all strung up and what not.

[delt]

Re: Active pickups vs. gain booster... ?

cool!

does it consume battery when the switch is off? also does it affect the pickups tone (other than boosting it) ?

and can you put 2 of them in series for a 400dB boost [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[delt]

Re: Active pickups vs. gain booster... ?

oh - i see in your sig that you have a engl PA ..... how does it sound? how does it compare to a peavey 5150?

i've always found that Alexi's engl sound has some similarities with a 5150.....

[GodWentPUNK]

Re: Active pickups vs. gain booster... ?

In all active boosts that I'm aware of, including the PA2, the battery life is only used your cable is hook-up to the guitar. I always unhook my guitar chord so I've never had a problem. Batteries typically last for me about 1 year.

You can dial in the amount of gain you want to add. Besides that, things remain the pretty close.

joe...