Active Pickups vs Active Electronics vs Passive Circuitry

[pablogilberto]

Hello!

Can you share with me the main difference between Active Pickups vs Active Electronics (on-board preamps)?

I'm planning to design/build on-board preamps.
Any suggestion on where can I start?
I have a background in Electronics but not so much with guitar applications like this.

Also, why is it that most bass players would want to install on-board preamps while guitarist still prefer passive pickups most of the time.
What happens to guitar sound with active electronics that most people do not like?

Thank you!

[newey]

An active pickup either has a preamp built into it, or is meant to be used with a dedicated preamp at all times. "Active electronics" means an otherwise passive pickup is run through a preamp inside the guitar. (A circuit is "active" if it's energized, i.e., powered -before it reaches the amp, that is).

You could add a third possibility- a passive guitar running into an external preamp, as in a pedal.

An active pickup has a disadvantage over an internal preamp, in that with a preamp not integral to the pickup, it can be switched from active to passive operation, whereas the active pickup won't produce enough signal without the preamp, and so cannot be used passively.

Many guitarists dislike the active electronics inside their guitars for two reasons- the need to change batteries, or having it go dead at inopportune times. Secondly, active electronics do not allow for the same interaction between passive pickups- guitarists feel that the tone suffers.

For bass players (who want more output to cut through the mix) and the metalheads (who willingly will trade "quack" for "crunch"), actives are the bee's knees. For the rest of us, not so much. If I want a preamp, I'll use one that's in a pedal.

JohnH has posted designs for circuitry for both zero-gain active buffers as well as for onboard preamps- which are basically the same circuit, but with some amount of "boost" available in the preamp circuits.

[yanyan]

Jan 16, 2020 8:04:10 GMT -5 pablogilberto said:

Hello!

Can you share with me the main difference between Active Pickups vs Active Electronics (on-board preamps)?

I'm planning to design/build on-board preamps.
Any suggestion on where can I start?
I have a background in Electronics but not so much with guitar applications like this.

Also, why is it that most bass players would want to install on-board preamps while guitarist still prefer passive pickups most of the time.
What happens to guitar sound with active electronics that most people do not like?

Thank you!

You can try taking the guts of a simple preamp pedal such as the MXR Micro Amp and wiring them inside a guitar. You would then need to mount the bypass switch and the gain knob on the guitar. Use that as a basis for making your own creations.