Hi everybody,

I'm a new member and if this question ever been submitted before please forgive me.

I'm planning to change my 72 strat pickups, which one is better? using the active pickups or the passive one?

fyi I played rock and jazz with my strat.

Thanks,
Andries

I'll have to say it will be purely a preference, as both have their pros and cons. However, if you are installing active pickups, you'll have to change the pots to accomodate the active pickups...

Whats wrong with the current pickups?

Personaly i despise active pickups for anything other than extreme styles. I've never heard one sound good clean without a load of effects thrown ontop of it. Their just not a straight to the amp pickup.

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No no and no

I actually like active pickups a lot , I installed EMG's on all but one of my guitars, not saying passive are bad I actually think they are pretty darn good too but I just happen to like EMG's a lot

I have SA's on my strats along with 81's in the bridges and also I have 85's 89's and S's too love them..... take a look at this video and tell me if they dont sound good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QYeakBwkqE

Whats wrong with the 72 pickups? Your guitar could even have pups that were made in 71 which were the ones with the the greenish/gray base which are what Hendrix used. In 72 they change the windings and started using the grey bobbins but there still stagered poles and had ba&&s until they went to the ones in 75'

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Nikki, you say this as if all active pickups are the same, and they're really not. I run a set of EMG Sv's straight into a tube amp all the time, and they produce amazing, full-range clean tones.

They're not all 81's.

+1 I think active pickups are for particular styles of music. I can't say I like them in a strat. Stick with the passives-they've been the industry standard on strats for many, many years.

Stratocaster Geeetars have passive PU's. Whatever distortions and perversions of the Strat are created wiil never reflect what they truly were, are and will be.

Welcome, andries!

Although it is purely a matter of personal taste:

It seems that active pickups are more used by those players who use a good deal of effects. Any active model has a very focused, pre-determined sound which maintains itself through heavy signal processing. Even if one chooses to go directly into an amp with actives, many players are quite happy with the results as they will sound the same under pretty much all circumstances. Also of note is the fact that actives don't give out a lot of line noise in comparison to so many of their passive counterparts.

On the other hand, there are those who prefer the traditional, passive stuff in spite of their quirks and inconsistencies (for better or for worse). The belief is, some phenomenal sounds are always there to be had within the right group of calculated circumstances. Active pickups are too electronically refined to do this.

As you can surmise, they both have their places in the industry.

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You dig?

Martian that is a far more eloquent statement than i could of made and says everything i wanted to.

Thankyou.

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No no and no

All the personal taste in the world won't flavor this. If you need a guitar to be something other than a Fender Stratocaster, buy one. Heck, if that doesn't meet personal tastes, eat a Gibson. They taste totally different!

True that. We all have different guitars because we want different sounds.

I won't try making it into something else when when I can go get that something else.

Your buddies are awesome for hanging out and drinking beers. But when you want something else...

Why make your buddies into drag queens, cus you wanna meet a girl, right?!?

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Damnit i wish i had some friends.

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No no and no

Stop trying to force em to be drag queens, and maybe your situation might change!!

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

You're quite welcome!

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You dig?