Active VS Passive Pickups | What's best for Metal? 

BEST INTRO EVEER

I'm a metal guy and I also like passive pickups more (loving my Seymour Duncan Black Winter) but actives are also pretty dope and in an ideal world you should have both, so you can use whatever pickup fits the situation best.

Dio said that the hand gesture was a sign to ward off evil, as passed down from his Gypsy grandmother.

Gary Moore used a single emg in his custom shop charvel strats around the mid 80’s and we should all know how amazing he always sounded.

Thank you for the video. This helped me to realized that I should stick with passive pickups. There's just something I love about that warmth in the tone.

That monologue is just AWESOME!!

The thing is, is that only us guitar players can hear and feel the difference. I like the tightness and compression of emgs. I feel like it makes sloppy playing sound better. (In my case 🤣) Passive pickups have more boddy, react better to your picking, sounds beefier and more alive with either high gain or cleans.

EMGs are good for 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Hey Joss, really cool meeting you at the UK Guitar Show. Bareknuckle are down here in Cornwall. Never ever heard you play a bum note. I’ll pop in next time I’m in GAKville. 😎 TB

This was a great example of the difference, and I agree with both points. I tend to choose guitars based on the wide range of tones that I can get from full clean to melt your face drive, my stock tone is Mesa liquid more than Marshall crunch. I have a Steinberger with EMG actives, a Jackson with EMG passives, and a couple Charvel Strats with SD passives so I use both a lot. I wanted to comment on the answer to the "Old School" users of actives. I know you are into and speaking from the very extreme side of metal, that said, if you look back past Zack, (a GOD from his debut), many players have been devoted to EMG actives. Slayer, Metallica, Prince, Steve Winwood, Vito Bratta, Vince Gill... I played for years in a country/rock band, as a player that never listened to country, in the beginning, I basically played Angus type blues leads in everything. I found as I grew into the gig the clean to dirty jumps that my gigging required active pickups were best, much like the point of going from heavy chords to high speed leads. Honestly I think pickup choice like instrument, amp, fx, strings, picks, ect is very personal. I play my Charvels most with Seymore Duncan humbuckers and coil taps, sometimes I pull out my electromatic, or my tex/mex Tele because I want that sound in this moment. For that reason as a player of 43 years I say you should strive to have as many tools at your fingertips as possible, active, passive, acoustic all that, . Yep I am saying it GO BUY MORE GEAR!!! My apologies to your wives. I have found that you can be surprised at the things you find in your fingers when laid on a different version of your drug of choice, rather its a different guitar or tone you will find things that sound good to you in that tone. Remember Randy auditioned for Ozzy on a 10 watt $75 bedroom practice amp and blew his mind because of the tone in his hands.

Amazing playing. So satisfying to listen...

Cool vid! I think the EMGs have a very emotional sound to them and were by far my favorite. It would have been nice to hear the clean tones too.

Hilarious intro!! Great playing🤘🏼

This is the first video ive seen or heard of from GAK. I wasnt expecting to laugh my ass off at the first 30 seconds but I did so naturally I smashed that like button and subscribed 🤣

The midevil intro was the best. Subbed for sure. My favorite right now is my EMG hot 70s hybrid pickups. Amazing

I was just about to buy the EMG 81/85's but this video just caused me to change my mind. Deff going passive.

The passive has more vintage and classic rock kind of sound to me. The active has a solid, straight to the point, pure metal. I think I could agree with what he said about sounding flat. It's consistent. Almost robotic in comparison to passive which could be described more alive.

Passives on digital amps are best, actives on high gain tube amps is best. Been playing about 25 years now as of april 16th my 31st bday. Plan to buy me a schecter guitar research omen extreme-6 electric guitar ocean blue burst and swap the pickups for the fishman fluence either modern or killswitch engage set. Those actives have the passive organics without it bleeding out to much extra sound when shredding. I live in the U.S. been trying to replace all my stolen gear now for about 4 years and get a recording setup again. Love your video showing the different pickups. I currently use Emg 81, 85 set on a Gibson Epiphone ex midnight blue guitar. Bugera Trirec amp with a not so great sounding 4x12 really really old Marshall cab. Used to own a Mesa boogie triple rectifier.. ahh the good ole days.. anyways props for your video post guys! Throwing you a sub.

WOW!! I have Zakk Wild 81 / 85 EMG's in my les Paul and I have to say the passives were SO MUCH BETTER, so clean with the heaviness of the gain all mixed up perfectly. Never thought I'd say that as a huge EMG fan, but those gold passives were simply incredible paired up with your great playing ability, SO GOOD MAN!

Hard to tell if it’s just my bias, for how they presented them, but the bare knuckles really sounded insane.

The Intro is why you're my favorite Joss

Excellent shredding, very clear playing.

I’ve used the EMG 81 since 1988, because I love it. Recently bought the E-II M-2 ESP with Bare Knuckle Aftermath set and immediately got the 80s metal sound, it was built in, the default tone was Lynch, which I had sought after for 20 years. Mind blowing guitars, ESP. This comes after many years of Fender and Gibson guitars, that ESP just stole the show. In summary I like all these options and swear by EMG single coils, which rival their humbuckers. Even went so far as getting a Rickenbacker 12, because all of these guitars are special. Anybody as unique as Joss, guy is one in a million, holds a special place in history. Rock on dudes!! 🤘

Nice shredding there Joss! Agree about the pros with the compression for my playing style as well. I always end up having a consistent compressor on my tracks anyway when I record with my YJM-signature guitar from 1990 (the DiMarzio years). It's simply needed for the mix in my music. Most feeling comes from articulation rather than volume. The same way you hear the difference between whispers, neutral singing and screaming (and the emotion in them) on heavily compressed vocals. I understand Mark's reasoning, but I know that I simply sound better when I play with EMG pickups. I definitely understans that it's not for everyone, but I really don't understand people who show contempt towards guitarists for having EMG as preference. Thanks for the clip. I've been meaning to buy humbuckers in singel coil-format for quite some time now, but I've been a bit ambivalent between buying EMG or SD Hot Rails. Leaning more towards EMG now, but all of you are welcome to comment if you got good points on why I should go for the SD Hot Rails instead or why I should stick to my current plan of buying EMG. 😊

The passive seem warm to me. I like warmth. Just like a good quality tube amp. I feel like any attack or bite the emg’s add can be altered in tuning the tone or pre amps or amp /effect settings. But that’s just my passive opinion. Loved the video. Beautiful tones and video recording

They both serve their purpose. My Schecter JL7 has the stock EMG 707s and I've never had a problem with getting a tone I like out of them.

That intro though, Lord of the pickups, return of the gain.

I watched the intro and was like "ok this is probably going to be really stupid and unhelpful" but that was actually a really great demo and discussion. Thank you both!

1st video I've ever watched on your channel, sub'd right after the into lol.

Tha KS for the video guys. This actually helped me alot with what kind of pickup I want in my 2009 Peavey PXD Tragic I. I have a knockoff sustainer pickup at the neck (mainly for testing purposes, will ve swapped out for a true sustainiac at some point), but I didn't know what to go with for the bridge pickup. This guitar originally have some active emg pickups, but I didn't like their tone (I'm not against active pickups, just these lol).

I was trying to find an Andertons video but found this instead. I think both styles sound pretty good. I also think it’s good to have 1 passive guitar and 1 active guitar in case you’re recording. Then, you don’t have to choose!

I also love my seymour duncan invader pickups (sh-8b and sh-8n). I have them on my 2010 schecter synyster gates custom. I love their sound and the coil tap function.

Depends on what kind of metal you play. I prefer EMGs for tight chug, but for doom, passive all the way. Just my opinion of course!

Regarding the intro… dude, you are nuts! I LOVE IT

I love EMG Zakk set 81 + 85 and installed it on all my guitars for play oldschool metal. But I love natural sound tone of passive pickups too. DP155 and TB4 SH6 SH8 is real huge sound for play riffs. And TB4 ,DP159 is real sweet tone for soloing.

Liked just for the intro...watching the rest now lol

I play both emg 81 85 and duncan sh5/jb for metal. I find emg to be compressed easier to play helping me play faster, but at times passive is more organic and more dynamic in touch sensitivity. If I'm playing the type of metal that never touchs the clean channel I go with emg. If want a combo of cleans and heavy plus places in between I go with passive. It's all personal preference , for me it's where my ear , my fingers, and mind meet together.

It's funny how an endorsement changes things

In Italy that hand gesture when pointed to the ground is believed to ward off the evil eye, or evil in general. It's believed that you are "grounding the evil intent by directing your fingers downward. Gotta go thank my College Italian language teacher now lol.

The EMG 66 57 combo is the best of both worlds and by far the best sounding active pickups I've ever used /heard. My new ESP horizon has the EMG 66 57 combo and it's an amazing guitar.

I recently replaced all my EMG loaded guitars with a Dean Tyrant humbucker. Replacing my EMG 81, 57, 85, Het Sets. My duncan jb my dimarzio dp-197 and bill Lawrence XL500. Which BTW the EMG 57 are in my opinion the best EMG out there as far as feel and sound. But that DTM Tyrant humbucker kills all these pickups in this vid hands down.

There is no argument! They sound different and there is only preference. I like the Seymour Duncan's :)

the intro was f**kin awesome :D

The horns are called the maloik. It's Italian. It's supposed to ward away evil. Dio is the one who brought it to mainstream.

Love my Seymour Duncan Nazgul Sound. Emgs sound compressed like they have been recorded and compressed. Its cool for Studio and live but if you Play alone or write, passive are the way to go imo.

great video and WOW I love that LTD Les Paul it is gorgeous but badass too, I would love to have one of those mainly becauuuuuse it's like a LP version of my Korean Warlock ProX, its pretty much the same setup all mohogany, matte black, cream binding, gold hardware EMG 81/60, hardtail but neck through vs set,, 25.5 scale and ebony fret board. Having the LTD LP as much as I think the warlock with EMGs sounds totally badass the LP with passive would be an awesome step brother companion for my BC Rich. Where It's same theme but more classic rock/metal style guitar to cover the bases, I just love that finish when I the warlock showed up (new) I just opened the case and gazed at it in awe and mesmerized by it's beauty and killer style, when I said that's it I'm want a warlock as soon as I clicked on it I said that's the one. Sorry for the rambling I just go on n on when I get excited about something.

Some people think emgs can't get good clean tone, but for my dream guitar I might check out some of the newer modernish sounding emgs which amazed me with the clean sounds. You could even add an eq pedal or an eq in a daw to a guitar to active pickups to have some sort of old school metal tones.

Installed my first EMG’s when I was 16 in shop class, now 54 in my gibson sounds awesome

I’d choose passive over active just where hitting those open chords sounds so good and picking and light palm muting. Active for most leads and chugging but when you pair a certain amp with a certain guitar, everything you think can go out the window. Hate worrying about the active battery or charging as well.

What an intro! Epic!

I just recently got the EC 1000 with passive and I love it. Been playing for 20 yrs and ALWAYS used and loved EMGs. It wasn’t until I started playing an EC-256 with passive that I finally understood the difference between the two. Both are awesome and have their uses. Passive can still be Metal AF though.

Those Gold Duncans look epic on THAT guitar tho.

For me it all comes down to dynamics. When I dig in, I want the instrument to respond accordingly. I love recorded tones for EMGs (AJFA, Black Album, At the Gates/The Haunted) but the compression/limiting just feels unnatural for me to play. Passives all day for me, personally.

I used to have emg 81+85. Now very positively impressed with the fishman fluence modern set. Just have to dial out the quacky cocked wah sound you sometimes get on the ceramic voice 1.

That intro deserves an instant like 👍🏻

Call me old fashioned but I like being able to hear every note. Joss' main argument against Bareknuckle is everyone else's main argument for them.. 😂🤷‍♂️

There’s also a difference between active pickups, 57-66 is going to sound different than 81-60 EMG and vice versa.

To me it depends on the music track ... both has different preference on how boost gain do you need from the source.

There is also a big difference in Active vs Passive if you are using a solid state vs real tube amp. Furthermore - using aa BOSS DS-1 with active I guess it not recommended. They don't do well with the impedance. There are distortion pedals that are better suited for active. I have recently swapped out the stock passive pickups in my Jackson Soloist with a couple Seymour Duncan Blackouts (Humbuckers). It seems that it is much more sensitive.

Best intro ever!! xD

I caught this video halfway through, I thought it was a EMG commercial, great playing though

That esp is gorgeous

Sounds more “authentic” as joss plays two “Les Paul” shapes guitars

This was such a great video! It really helped me make a decision on which new Axe I’m gonna get. 😀

wow you shred like a champion

EMG 57/66 Magnificent, SD JB Brilliant as well, Everything has it’s place, I recently bought one of Tone riders Alnico 8 which is really good and a pair of their Alnico 4 for my LP very very happy with both and exceptional prices

That dude shreds!

I like passive pickups for chugging and active pickups for solos. either or for rhythm, I just like the way passive pickups make the guitar really pop out when it comes to chugging, it has an aggressive choking like sound that cant be achieved with active pickups

Hmm, it would seem like the answer is "Play what you like" What I like about EMGs is they can be as simple or complex as you want. I like a simple 3 way switch with one volume knob no tone knob. And to get that, just read that part of the instructions

“Flat” sounds is a good thing y’all. Especially live. Ur sound guy will thank u lmao

The hand gesture is said to come from the hand shape of doing 2 strong power chords

Into made me like the video before even watching the rest haha

I honestly can’t tell 😅 both are good

ACTIVE: NEW AGE MACHINE PASSIVE: ORGANIC ONLY

Erik Rutan's BC Rich signature now has active Fishmans. Before he used passive SH4 JB. Nile is known for passive Invader sound. But now they use Invader (Karl) and also active emg 81 (second guitarist posted his BC Riches). Personally I like both.

Amazing intro

As someone with passive seymour duncans, dimarzzios, and stock gibson stock p'ups in several guitars and EMGs in others, I personally think both have their place. My personal preference in a live guitar though are the EMG 57/66 TW set. If you use the volumes/tone knobs, tweak mixes of single and humbucker mode blends, you can create a ton of tone pallets and retain much of the dynamics the passives provide at the same time. I do know that other manufacturers (Fishman immediately comes to mind) also offer similar multi-mode p'ups that allow you to live in both worlds on one guitar as well. For me though the 57/66 TW do anything I could want them to do as passive or active *in a live environment.* Recording is a different thing imo.

Dimebag and Chuck Schuldiner used passive!!

Good call, it was indeed RJ DIO

Damn at 7:19 I only noticed he switched guitars by looking at the pickups👀 looked away at that moment and heard fuckall difference....am I alone?

Depends what you're playing really. Active kick ass for metal

I have EMG in my other two guitars but I want to keep my third one passive but would still like to replace the bridge. The EC with the gold passives sounded great. Which pickup is that in the bridge?

and so good, that your taste is different, that really helps!

In my experience, they're all fun. Active, passive, Suhr silent single coil or noiseless.

The schecter apocalypse pups on my cr6 are pretty good they're passive

Yes Ronny came up with this hand thing ! So it was god

EMG forever

Out of 13 guitars my two emg guitars are played the least and toss up between Fishman and passives for most played on

Joss is from another planet. And I think that's cool.

best intro ever.

One guy says flat, the other says smooth. It's basically that the one guy likes pickups with lower gain and an EQ going into the amp for a more natural sound, and the other sees the planar frequency response and wall of sound as a blank canvas upon which to paint a mural masterpiece. Both approaches are right, and neither one is wrong. I like different types of pickups for different things. I'm gonna wire an Epiphone Les Paul with some boutique pickups on monday, and the neck pickup is a H-sized P-90, and I'm gonna pair it with a Seymour Duncan Blackouts universal preamp. I'll have the world's first active P-90 lol.

Devil's horns, known as 'Maloik' which is for 'devil to you'. RJ Dio popularized it as Ozzy embraced the peace sign, so RJ used this and hence this became the standard for metal.

Active pickups allow you play tight without having to throw an OD or EQ pedal in front of an amp. They are perceived to be "sterile" because they lack the cocked-wah upper-mid spike that you hear on most passives.

I put EMGs in some of my guitars and passives in others. Clearly, I'm playing the tribalism game wrong.

Lee Sklar use EMG prototypes on his studio bass… this bass is used on hundreds of records and it’s fitted with active EMGs!

I am an EMG kind of guy and I know where this dude is coming from. It really is like a comfort and feeling of you know I can shred that guitar because it has EMGs in it. It's really weird. Mostly I can't get anything from these videos listening to the pickups. I need to actually play the guitar because you can actually feel the sound, how hard to have to strum or hammer on/pull off on notes.

I'm a bit late but the story goes that RJ Dio used to see his grandma do the horn sign to keep evil and bad luck away (very common in southern italy) and incorporated it in his routine

Tbh I feel like the passives sound better they sound more open sounding if that makes sense, but I want to get this exact Ltd eclipse guitar with the Active emg’s for the songs that mostly use distortion

Years ago… Because of Master of puppets, I would have said active all the way. However, I have a bunch of flying V guitars and one of them has EMGs in it and the others have the stock Gibson pick ups. The stock pick ups sounds awesome for tight chunky fast guitar. They also sound more full-bodied. The EMGs sound thinner.

9:20 completely 100% agree, he's right.