ACTIVE vs PASSIVE Pickups! - Can You Hear The Difference? 

This is why I want to stain the fretboard of my guitar. It's the least expensive way to make it sound less bright.

The easiest way to reduce treble is to turn down the tone knob.

Tone knob? What's a tone knob? Is that the little round thing I keep accidentally bumping which makes it sound like my amp's on the other side of a thick wall? ;)

Absolute poppycock warm colours in tone woods are as diverse as pickups Fact.

@@johncrafton8319 🔩

Which one? The blue one or the blue one?

Luey Tele Deluxe the les Paul standard is the one with the single cut away

I agree... any fade pattern on a les paul is beautiful… especially the colored ones.

@@yeboisiggy it’s a flame top

Me too amigo, and I have always professed my hatred of active pickups, I feel stupid.

Active pickups get a bad rap. I use EMGs with a coil splitter, and they do anything I want them to. I actually prefer them over my guitars with passive pickups when I'm doing softer stuff. I really only use the passives when I want that particular guitar (they can do a lot, but a coil-split EMG in a Les Paul is never gonna sound like a telecaster).

@@andrewjhollins Only thing that sucks about em really is the battery. Always a pain to change em out. Also looks ugly on the back of the body... Some have them under the pickguard but that means changing it out is even more of a pain lol. And for vintage sound lovers just stick to passive. Want some metal head crap? Passive is fun to mess around with a lil.

😄😄😄 Thanks Tom!

Don’t feel bad. The difference between the actives and passives here was not night and day like I was expecting.

John E for me it was the opposite, even though I listen to a lot of metal

@@ItsMinarmy me too! I only got them on the clean and because of that Im assuming that it was just luck lol (oh wait I think you actually meant that the high gain was the only time you got it wrong, but yeah still pretty interesting that none of us got 100% of them right!)

@@DatHombre I think it was luck. On the clean test I thought the active pickups were the best but for the 2nd test I knew isntantly as soon as he played the active ones.

there really isn't any difference lol

As time has gone on, and listening to so many people play the same song on different guitars, I've kinda come to the conclusion that the pick ups themselves really don't have as much 'tone' variation compared to the amp/effects you use. Yeah, some can be hotter and make a recording have this or that, but it's so minimal that I really don't think my $200 guitar is that different from my $1300. Although, the $1300 guitar has some added things like coil tap that does make it different.

@@user-yl4lf9mh1w there was a clear difference in the 2nd test. The first one I had no idea they were so close but the 2nd one I knew instantly

(6 years late but) To be fair, he did such a bad job at mentioning which ones were active vs passive. I feel like the video was more about his guitar playing than it was educational about active vs passive.

Replaced my warlock passive with actives.. well worth it. Gives you crunch like biting into an apple 🍎🍏 active the King when soul crushing distortion is in play... And crispy highs. Listen to Yngwie Malmstein

totally agree

Yeah, it's soooo pretty!

Check Kiesel Guitars - they specialize in such styles of finish.

I'd say it was a flamed type finish, not burst.

@@davew.5664 yeah, it’s a flammed maple. No burst.

@@davew.5664 The aqua burst references to the paint job itself. The "Flame" label references the wood finish used, NOT the paint job. A full description would be Flame Maple Aqua Burst, sometimes shorthanded to Flamed Aqua Burst. Note that this applies only to transparent finishes in which the wood grain are visible. In non-transparent finishes there are usually no references to the wood grain used even if there are such wood used in the guitar. In these situations any wood mentioned refers to the wood as structural components, not finishing component, eg: Gloss White Basswood or Crimson Red Metallic Alder. A few examples from my collection are three of my SCs. One is a 2010s Agile AL-3010, a SC with Flamed Oceanburst, is a much darker version of the featured Aqua Burst Gibson Les Paul Standard in this video. (My only complaint about this particular Gibson is the switch tip does NOT match the color scheme of the pup ring nor bindings used on this guitar. Too bright yellowish, it should've been a light cream or dark parchment.) My 2000s Austin AU-766 SC has that traditional red to yellow transparent finish similar to the Gibson Les Paul Traditional. The AU-766 called it's finish "Vintage Sunburst." While the wood grain used is nothing special, just regular maple, it still has an interesting grain pattern, just no flame nor quilt iridescence. The Sunburst Gibson has a lower grade flame maple, while lovely in its own rights, it doesn't compare to the flamed maple used in the other two guitars chosen by Darrell. Now, I don't have a worthy DC like Darrell's DC Les Paul Standard which has a nice vivid flame maple under the transparent sky blue finish. So I'll use my 2012 Ibanez S570DXQM-TGB, which is a SuperStrat that features a "Transparent Gray Burst," a transparent black to gray burst on a very nice (& thick) quilted maple capping a mahogany body. I'd call this one a Quilted Gray Burst. TBH, I DO have a DC (a 2013 Epiphone Limited Edition Genesis Pro), but its Transparent Black finish overlies an ok-grade flame maple veneer on a maple capped mahogany body. It's not worthy to be compared finish-wise to Darrell's DC, otherwise it's a respectable guitar in its own rights plus its relatively rare in that only 500 was made with this color. My opaque finished SC representative would be my 2015 Jackson JS-22 which is a flat black basswood SC which has Stratocaster-like contour cuts (tummy back, forearm and a neck relief cuts) that make for an ergonomically nicer SC. The only thing it doesn't have is the arch top, it's a flat top but the other ergonomic cuts more than makes up for that! The guitar used a satin black finish which is nice because EVERY other gloss black guitars I have are fingerprint magnets that requires frequent wiping EVERY time its handled by bare hands. :( EDIT: Typo errors not caught before posting.

I think EMGs get hate because of the fact that they're not traditional above all else. It's a mindset I personally try to avoid. I actually really like EMGs for clean. I think they add a lot of clarity so you can hear all the notes in a chord. I've personally never liked them for the overdrive that I use, but then I'm a blues guy so I never have a reason to go high gain. I see the appeal in actives for high gain though.

i had trouble with the double cut couldn't quite pinpoint the tone, but the Gibson less paul stuck out for me besides the active set. anyways good test darrell

I did the same with my neck pickup, I left the 81 in the bridge. It does make a difference with the headroom.

I guess (or at least I hope) you'll be playing clean everyday, no one should be all covered in mud while playing.

@@leandro8897 I was about to give a serious reply about my experience with both active and passive, only to realize I missed the obvious joke

for metal active pickups are betteR?

@@ShadowD2C as I've been told and from my experience, but they will pick up absolutely everything so noise gate it well

​@@SnavelsPassives being better only when playing clean is not really the greatest advice I would say. The best sounding tones on 8 strings seem to come from passives usually. Lundgren M8's or M8C's are a good choice. But maybe there's a grain of truth to what you say as the heaviest tones do tend to have dialed back gain. Humanities Last Breath for example.Actives are fine too though.

im thinking fo switching myself after hearing a $35 EMG set from China!, I know a EMG freak and they are identical..

@@mr.mikehunt4286 you might want to check out the GFS Active Gold series... they sound more in line with a more modern take on actives, somewhere between an 81 and a Het Set, with a slightly brighter sound and a little more definition than the 81's. The older GFS Active Red's are a bit closer to the EMG 81's, have a more 80's "power rail" tone to them. A pair of either will run you about $75 for both.

ppp

Impressed by the EMGs! Still slightly preferred the Double Cut LP. That thing sounds gorgeous.

I got none of the blind tests correctly, and i would be happy with any of these 3 beauties

I liked all three, but maybe my favorite is the Tradicional. There's something in that guitar. I hope you have a lot of fun with it!

Darrell Braun Guitar Got 7/9 right 😎🤣 Only mixed up the fist two in the middle position.. Double cut my fav! :)

I went two for three so I’m pretty happy. There’s just something about that double cutaway that really works for me, can’t put my finger on it but... another great video though.

Thanks man! I really appreciate the kind words ☺

Get the rechargeable battery pack from Fluence... So you can plug in your guitar for charging :D

DarthRegis i have active pickups and no battery

What active pickups do you have?

DarthRegis They last a long long time as long as you disconnect the cable when not playing

but its soooooooooooooooooo true

Thanks RC!

I'll see what I can do!

I have them, the single coil ones. BTW, they're always active. I absolutely love them.

Thanks Bret!

Thanks TS! I use a Dragon's Heart, Chicken Picks Bermuda III, or Brain (cat's tongue) 1.14

Yeah, it's a really pretty top! 👍

Thanks Julio!

Thanks! Tiago!

To my ear sounds like major 7th chords

Thanks RC!

😄😄😄👍

Nice! Congratulations

Thanks JC!