Active pickups.

HARLEYIII · Post by **HARLEYIII** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:25 am

Do any of you guys who davel in metal sounds use Active pick ups? Which ones do you like?

Country Boy Shane · Post by **Country Boy Shane** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:48 am

I have a EMG ZW set in my Les Paul right now. I really don't do much metal. They sound pretty wicked through my plexi setup. I would describe the sound as really fat, woody, and somewhat flat in the midrange. They do not have a high-end sparkle like PAF style pickups and the middle position doesn't sound as sweet like a PAF setup. Really if you want to get around that, just slam down your wah and use it as a temporary treble boost. Zakk Wylde does this a lot.

Now I'm not trying to emulate the Zakk Wylde sound on a plexi setup, but I'm saying it's a sound all it's own. I'm using a Marshall/MetroAMP '69 Superlead with a straight cabinet loaded with Celestion G12H-30's. You're definitely not going to get modern metal tones out of a setup like this. If you want clips of what this sounds like, you can message member "flemingras". He's the one that got me onto these pickups.

What's nice about them too is that you can get some nice cleaner tones by turning the volume down on the guitar a bit. If I set mine at about 4, I get a more classic rock sound.

mayrandp · Post by **mayrandp** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 1:20 pm

Country Boy Shane wrote:What's nice about them too is that you can get some nice cleaner tones by turning the volume down on the guitar a bit. If I set mine at about 4, I get a more classic rock sound.

A cool thing with active pickups/electronics (at least with the EMG's that I had) is that when turn down your volume, the tone stays the same. You won't get the slight treble loss as with passive electronics. Plus, you can have miles of cable without losing any highs because the output of those pickups is low impedance.

HARLEYIII · Post by **HARLEYIII** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:50 pm

mayrandp wrote:
Country Boy Shane wrote:What's nice about them too is that you can get some nice cleaner tones by turning the volume down on the guitar a bit. If I set mine at about 4, I get a more classic rock sound.
A cool thing with active pickups/electronics (at least with the EMG's that I had) is that when turn down your volume, the tone stays the same. You won't get the slight treble loss as with passive electronics. Plus, you can have miles of cable without losing any highs because the output of those pickups is low impedance.

That's what I like about them. I have the ZW set ups in my LTD Viper 400 and in my lawsuit ESP Explorer.(I dont try to imulate his sound, as I find it a bit thin. I like chunk and thump) I can go from Classic rock to metal with them. Alot of guys dont like them. When Im playing metal/sludge/stoner stuff, I still dont run the volume all the way up. My only complaint with them is the volume difference when playing live. (when switching to my Duncan Invader equipped Viper. Alot of guys hate those pick ups, but I find them great for metal/heavy stuff).