Better/less noisy DI's

[maroon_hate]

I use a ESP LTD MH250 (passive Emg Hz pickups) , about 10 euro cable and a Presonus Firepod!

I am happy with my tone itself, but der is too much noise going on the whole time while playing. (i use noise gate etc. ,but while playing the tone ist "too" noisy for my taste)

I know that i should buy better cables!, but what is good enough?
Would buying aktive Pickups solve the problems?

I want it as clean as possible

cheers.

 

[Omega_Void]

The most noise-sensitive thing in the circuit is the pickup coil itself. That puts a limit on how quiet you can get things.

Active pickups will reduce noise only if they have low output impedance. It could be 100 ohms or less, but may be much higher.

EMG 81 for example have 10k output impedance, which will not help much.
EMG 81-X has 2k, which is better.
Seymour Duncan lists Zout for their actives as N/A which implies it is negligible, but IMO they should provide an exact figure.

Shielding your guitar's control cavity with copper or aluminium foil may reduce noise. Better cables may help.

Shorter cable runs also help -- but not if that puts your guitar closer to sources of noise like computers, amps, etc.

Actually staying away from noise-emitting equipment is sometimes overlooked and moving your chair a couple of feet may reduce noise by a lot more than any investment in expensive gear could.

 

[deLuther]

Blackout AHB-1 has 1 kOhm, it has less noise than EMGs, but, maybe, not due to low impedance, but instead of better internal preamp.
AHB-1 also is less subjected to noise due to external interference than EMGs, from my experience.
Trying different placement or orientation to interference source is also good suggestion.
I found that sometimes rotation really helps, 90 degree about vertical axis, for example, rotating your chair.

 

[locus_coeruleus]

In my experience, I switched from an Ibanez guitar with stock passive pickups (which produced lots of hum due to an improper electrical connection in the building - i.e.: no grounding) to a Schecter with EMG 81/85 and the hum disappeared completely. I think that switching to actives might really do the trick for you!

 

[deLuther]

Depends on passives used, for example I had less or similar noise/hum with my caparison (caparison PH-R) than other guitar equipped with EMG 85 or AHB-1.