I'm a passive pickup guy now!

[Charlez]

Never used seymours, but I dig the Crunchlab/Liquifire combo from dimarzio.

 

[Matt-Steele]

Aren't you the guy who just recently based his judgment on the worth of peoples' experience, based solely on their taste in music? Maybe lead by example.

I guess you grossly misunderstood my point, but knowing you, you"ll probably come to another HUGE REVELATION and either understand my point or totally agree with me months/years down the road.

 

[egan.]

There is nothing self-defeating here. It's a personal revelation. Experience after experience slowly eroding away inherent bias. In the real world, most call this a 'good thing'.

Of course it's a good thing b/c it's eroding the absolutism ("inherent bias") that I find self-defeating. I'm basically agreeing by pointing out the flaw in thinking it has to be EMG's, or mahogany, or neve or mesa or whatever when keeping an open mind will lead you down different and occasionally better paths.

 

[midget donkeys]

I used to have a JB and jazz in a guitar for a long time. I thought you could get a lot of different tones from them. I never got a metal rhythm tone that I liked though. Could have been the wood of the guitar.

A particular pickup can sound so different depending on what axe and wood type it is mounted in.

It can get rather expensive, but the only way to find the right pickup for a particular guitar is to try a bunch of them on that axe. A basswood Ibanez jem with an Evo in it doesn't let you know what the Evo will sound like in a Les Paul or what have you.

Eventually I just get sick of swapping pickups and say fuck it force myself to stop changing pups on a guitar and just play the thing.

 

[Rex Rocker]

I'm actually kinda curious about the JB right now. I remember back in the day when I tried it on a Jackson RR, I HATED it because I thought it was horribly trebly. But then again, those were the days when I was all about the EMG 85 and I disliked the 81 because I thought it was too thin... and well... nowadays I swear by the 81.

 

[ForHerDeadEyes]

I got a JB in the neck of my (cheap-ass) guitar, bought it earlier this year, because advice from you guys..
It sounds 100 times better than the stock shit..
Not noisy at all..
Though I've taped coppertape in the cavities (not in the pickup cavity).. the glue is conducting..
Bought the tape online from a store here in sweden.. pretty cheap..

 

[Lasse Lammert]

I LOVE emgs, always have, always will.
I don't think they sound sterile and undynamik at all (especially not with the 18 mod).
But I've recorded great tones with passives as well.
Although 90% of my guitars are emg equipped I still have some passive guits as well, I was never 100% exclusive.
But I've never been a fan I the JB tbh, always thought that it sounds like a great rock pickup, but I never liked the grainymess and mids in a metal context. I absolutely hated the JB that came in my USA jacksons always made the guitar sound "hardrock".
The first time I ever liked the JB was in Sneap's Edwards V, sounds great in that guitar (the V is a bit thinner than the regular Gibson one).


iPhone post, ignore te mistakes

 

[Ermz]

JB tends to work better in darker wooded guitars, in my experience. I've had it a few times in alder, USA series Jacksons and it's always been somewhat lackluster. Entirely workable - more so than the 81 ever was for me - but not ideal. In mahogany Schecters it's been quite nice, even with the thick coats of lacquer they use.

I'm keen to experiment with more natural bodied guitars, without the thick layers of paint and lacquer. There seems to be a purity there which may translate to smoother tones (or at least, it has seemed to so far).

 

[drew_drummer]

From what I've heard the JB is quite a bright sounding pickup, so when coupled with a darker sounding guitar, it kind of balances out. I had a Nailbomb in my Ibanez SA series, which was a pretty light sounding guitar on its own, and the Nailbomb has quite a deep low-end to it. So in that guitar they sounded very balanced. But more and more I'm noticed that in my Les Paul, the low end is quite powerful, to the point of being overpowerful. I've only recently discovered that I feel like a tonal change when I played a Schecter with EMG's into a Mark V, and I just noticed that even that the low-end was much cleaner. The highs were a bit too piercing for me however, so I'm looking for some nice middle ground I reckon.

 

[Osse]

Well, I was never much of an '81' guy, but I did have an appreciation for 85s and 707s, the latter of which I've had in my main personal guitar for several years now. The problem is that I keep hearing their undesirable characteristics whenever they're recorded. They always seem to have this flat, compressed sound, no matter how they're run. Sure, passives may take more work to seat in dense metal arrangements, but the end results usually end up being more sonically pleasing to me. I don't like to compromise whole mixes just for the sake of one element... EMGs always force me to do that.

There are only so many times you can have that experience before you stop trying to see the shades of grey, save yourself the heartache and just say 'screw the actives'.

On a sidenote you guys really ought to hear the guitar sound we're getting on an album that's being tracked here right now. '59 in an all-Mahogany guitar, Rosewood fretboard, no paint. It's absolute bliss. I don't think there is a single unpleasant high frequency in the raw sound. I'm trying to get Studio Fredman onto the reamps, to do it absolute justice.

Did you use it in bridge or neck position?

I've got a ESP M-II with JB in bridge and 59 in neck and while the JB is fucking awesome the 59 is very weak... might be something bad with it tho, I'm always going for the JB

 

[jangoux]

Love guitars with 59s..My friend has one and my wife has a a little 59 on his Ibanez Tele. AWESOME pickup.

 

[Harry Hughes]

Did you use it in bridge or neck position?

I've got a ESP M-II with JB in bridge and 59 in neck and while the JB is fucking awesome the 59 is very weak... might be something bad with it tho, I'm always going for the JB

The 59 is a low output pickup, nature of the beast really. It is based off of the classic PAF pickup after all

 

[Ermz]

Did you use it in bridge or neck position?

Bridge position. Though, truth be told, I'm not 100% positive that it's the '59. The owner of the guitar told me it was, but he didn't seem very clued into the gear aspect.

 

[korbiar]

I LOVE emgs, always have, always will.
I don't think they sound sterile and undynamik at all (especially not with the 18 mod).
But I've recorded great tones with passives as well.
Although 90% of my guitars are emg equipped I still have some passive guits as well, I was never 100% exclusive.
But I've never been a fan I the JB tbh, always thought that it sounds like a great rock pickup, but I never liked the grainymess and mids in a metal context. I absolutely hated the JB that came in my USA jacksons always made the guitar sound "hardrock".
The first time I ever liked the JB was in Sneap's Edwards V, sounds great in that guitar (the V is a bit thinner than the regular Gibson one).


iPhone post, ignore te mistakes

What do you recommend for a jackson sl2h ?

 

[ForHerDeadEyes]

Ah shit.. It's a 59' that I have in the neck position..
Sounds good..

 

[TomMartin]

Not so long ago, I had almost the opposite revelation. I've been a passive player all my life and never even entertained the idea of active pickups.

Long story short, now I have 2 ESP Horizons, my old faithful one with duncans that I use for all clean parts and leads, and my newest addition with EMG's that I use for all riffing. Quite happy with this combination and approach.

 

[Rupturemetal]

has anyone tried the lace drop n gains ?

 

[Kazrog]

To me what matters the most is that an artist is happy with their sound, and that they feel it conveys what's in their head. For me as an artist, switching from passives to EMG 707s and 85s helped me find the sound that was in my head back in 2004. I will probably always use active EMGs in my main guitars (although I also own guitars with passive Duncans, DiMarzios, etc.)

That said, I love passive pickups, and it really comes down to what's best for each individual project, song, or part. One of the most annoying things I've seen go on with this and other forums (with pickups and other categories of gear) is fads. It seems every few years, the majority of users on a particular forum decide that one gear option is somehow objectively better sounding than another option. It's all about finding the right tool for the job - gear recommendations are great, but use them to explore and find your own sound! Sometimes that quest takes years and lots of experimentation (as Ermz has done to arrive at his newfound preference.)

 

[drew_drummer]

To me what matters the most is that an artist is happy with their sound, and that they feel it conveys what's in their head. For me as an artist, switching from passives to EMG 707s and 85s helped me find the sound that was in my head back in 2004. I will probably always use active EMGs in my main guitars (although I also own guitars with passive Duncans, DiMarzios, etc.)

That said, I love passive pickups, and it really comes down to what's best for each individual project, song, or part. One of the most annoying things I've seen go on with this and other forums (with pickups and other categories of gear) is fads. It seems every few years, the majority of users on a particular forum decide that one gear option is somehow objectively better sounding than another option. It's all about finding the right tool for the job - gear recommendations are great, but use them to explore and find your own sound! Sometimes that quest takes years and lots of experimentation (as Ermz has done to arrive at his newfound preference.)

Don't think anyone would disagree with that. Your opinions change and evolve over time. I used to swear by my Bareknuckle Nailbombs - but now I'm feeling like I'm getting too much low-end and not enough note definition. I'm probably gonna switch them out at some point this year.

 

[Joshnano]

I think it honestly depends on the style you play and your personal preference.
I think actives go way better for metal but, just my opinion. To me, actives give much more of a beefy midrange and have way more of a punch than actives.
Passives to me just lack that growl but than again, It's different for every guitar, player, song, riff, etc.