https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 03:07:30 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-224509 Tue, 23 Jan 2007 22:16:32 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion peaveywolfgang5150 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-224509 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-224477 Tue, 23 Jan 2007 17:28:29 +0000
Active pickups came about because guitarists wanted 'hotter' pickups with a stronger signal. Pickups generate a signal when a string vibrates inside a magnetic field - so the way you get a stronger signal is to use a stronger magnet.

But using stronger magnets causes a problem - the magnetic field puts drag on the metal string, slowing it down. The stronger the magnet, the hotter the signal... and the worse the sustain.

Enter active pickups. They use weak magnets, and place a preamp circuit (usually with EQ circuitry as well) as close as possible to the pickup itself.

So if you mix them, you've got a weak, but boosted, signal, and a somewhat stronger, but unboosted signal coming out at the same time. Balance will be an issue, but you can probably overcome that . The real problem you'll have is impedance.

Audio devices have 'input impedance' and 'output impedance'. Think of these as the way devices talk to each other... if you shout to make yourself lounder (high output), and I'm wearing a hearing aid (low input), the result might get really muddy. When impedances aren't matched, you will use extra power and/or waste some of your signal.... which translates into hot amplifiers and lousy sound.

Your passive pickup will have a high output impedance. Your active pickup probably won't. To get a decent sound, you'll need to add one additional circuit board, called a 'buffer board' to one of the circuits before the signals are combined. That will let you (hopefully) match output impedances between the two pickups, and give you a fighting chance at having a workable solution.]]> Guitar Players Discussion NoteBoat https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-224477 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-224470 Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:10:15 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Musenfreund https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-224470 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-224430 Tue, 23 Jan 2007 04:38:10 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion TRGuitar https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-224430 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-224428 Tue, 23 Jan 2007 04:24:02 +0000
What kind of pickups and guitar are you thinking of?]]> Guitar Players Discussion racetruck1 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-224428 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-224375 Mon, 22 Jan 2007 20:38:44 +0000
As to how it'd sound...my guess is not good but you never know.]]> Guitar Players Discussion dl0571 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-224375 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-224371 Mon, 22 Jan 2007 20:12:29 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Anonymous https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-224371 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-23498 Mon, 22 Jan 2007 19:49:14 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion peaveywolfgang5150 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/active/#post-23498